Celebrity Trend: Hot or Not?

It seems like every other day a new celebrity has announced that they are writing a book. Beyond the normal, "Did x-celebrity actually write the book?" I wonder what other people are thinking about the sudden crazy with the celebrity-written book. Jennifer Love Hewitt is writing a self-help book, Lauren Conrad just wrote a novel, and Tori Spelling has now written two books. Now, I’m not saying these celebrities are Jessica Simpson, but I’m a bit worried about the future of publishing when all of these celebrity-written books keep coming out. I mean, really, what does Jennifer Love Hewitt know about dating, other than dating inside the celebrity dating pool? She’s been an actress for many years and has dated all over the place, but does that mean she has real life experience in the field? Probably not. Likewise, Lauren Conrad is writing a book that is loosely based on her experience being filmed in the Hollywood hills. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Lauren Conrad and have a lot of faith in her to be very successful, but writing a novel was not something I really pictured her being a part of. Tori Spelling may be one of the few who got the right idea on piecing together a memoir. Writing a tell-all about your own life as a celebrity is the tabloid of writing, but all the same, it gives you a better understanding of the person at hand, it gives you a sense of the ins and outs of what really happened, and the celebrity profits from work they (hopefully) have done instead of selling photos to a magazine. I’m not saying that I agree with having all celebrities write a memoir, but I can see why they would do it and the market for it is good. I’m not downing the celebs that want to write other things, but if I can be frank, they aren’t novelists. They became famous for something entirely different, and in an attempt to branch into a different market, are perhaps missing the mark a bit.

Admittedly, I’ve read Tori Spelling’s book, STori Telling. I thought it was interesting to get an inside look into her life and it gave her a chance to explain how she was brought up, and how her relationship with her parents has helped (and even hindered) her. I do not, however, think that it was eloquently written. On the other hand, the book doesn’t need to be. It’s a no frills style that gets its message across.

If I found a copy of Lauren Conrad’s novel, L.A. Candy, at a local second hand bookshop, I would absolutely buy a copy and read it on a Saturday afternoon curled up on the couch. I’m not sure I’d pay full price for a copy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in what her writing style says about her. I’m sure there are several scenes that will be right out of The Hills, Conrad’s former television show, and as a fan of the show, I’m sure I’d enjoy them just as much.

The downside to having these celebrity-written books on the market is not about the writing style of the author, or the quality of the product because I’m sure their marketing is well placed, but I wonder about the intentions of writing the books. Could it possibly be that when they were children, they wanted to write books instead of acting? I would hope that some little part of them wanting to be writers comes into play, but who can say. I can only hope that these writers are out here for the readers, and not for the extra publicity for themselves, or worse yet, for the financial gains of writing a Bestseller.

What do we think about celebrity writers?