Celebrity authors - fairy floss books

It seems to me that publishers bear some responsibility for this situation. They certainly know what a good quality children’s book is. To favour a celebrity brand-builder, who offers a short-term sugar rush of poor quality sales, over a professional author, who offers long-term sales 

to happy customers, is making bad business decisions. William Peace

 “I just feel like: ‘Oh, Jamie, why do you need to do it?’” said Torday. 

“You’re already a successful cook and you already do really great things, but we just don’t need a children’s book from you. I mean, I’m not about to inflict my cooking on anyone.” Piers Torday

“The most telling difference is how hard the author is put to work by the publisher: a celeb might have a couple of contractual days going on chat shows to talk about their book, 

but an unknown author is expected to do schools visits up and down the country 

to establish a fanbase from the ground up.” Guardian

Begin with my previous post about this issue.

I seem to be seeing even more books by 'celebrities'. I just despair. I am not going to add any book covers here because I don't want to promote their books but here are a few names from USA, UK and Australia - I am sure you could add lots more:

Jimmy Fallon; Jamie Oliver; Joanna Gaines; Rebel Wilson; Adam Goodes; Emma Thompson; Mariah Carey; Serena Williams; Erin Napier; Jennifer Lopez; Reese Witherspoon; Marie Kondo; Ray Romano; Matthew Mcconaughey; Josh Pike; Adam Hills; Richard Roxburgh; Zoe Norton Lodge; Magda Szubanski; and Ash Barty. 

I did laugh when I 'Googled' this topic and found long lists of books on US sites with so many names I did not recognise - so much for being a 'celebrity'. I had one example from Australia recently of a book about weather written by the weather news presenter from Melbourne - I had never heard of her. 

Here are a few comments that might give you food for thought:

“Real authors like me have little to fear! Celebrity status may get your foot in the publisher’s door, but you won’t get a kid past chapter one if your story doesn’t cut the mustard.” Robert Muchamore

We may not be able to compete against these celebs on the football field or on the (big or small) screen… but books are books. Write yours the best it can be and then, just as we do with our kids, give it the best possible start in the world. ...  Writers who (like me) maybe never played a football game or appeared on TV… but wrote great books and changed children’s lives.

A common refrain among new celebrity children’s book authors is that, after having kids of their own, they were unable to find the types of books they were looking for, which smacks of entitlement, not to mention a lack of familiarity with the field. ... Celebrities getting enormous advances and commensurate promotion budgets can conceivably make it harder for mid-list writers and writers who don’t have built-in promotion platforms to be promoted in bookstores or to get book tours.

“The issue is with celebrities from other fields who have previously shown no interest in creative writing and see the children’s book market as a fairly pain-free way to extend their brand,” he said. ... “If harried adults don’t have time to keep up with reviews, they’ll just go into Sainsbury’s and if they’ve heard the name, they’ll just grab it.” Piers Torday