<
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/12/famous-first-words-how-celebrities-made-their-way-on-to-childrens-bookshelves>
"What do David Walliams, Lil Nas X, Ricky Gervais, Dermot O’Leary, Geri
Halliwell, Bruce Springsteen, Miranda Hart, Greg James, Chris Hoy, Frank
Lampard, Clare Balding, Konnie Huq, Marie Kondo, Paul McCartney, Julian
Clary, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Fogle, Tom Fletcher, Julianne Moore, Lupita
Nyong’o, Sandi Toksvig, Natalie Portman, Spike Lee, Fearne Cotton,
Russell Brand, Pharrell Williams, David Baddiel, Simon Cowell, Danny
Baker, Prince Charles, Coleen Rooney, Madonna, LeBron James, Lorraine
Kelly, Ben Miller, Sarah Ferguson, Adrian Edmondson, Jamie Lee Curtis
and Keith Richards have in common?
They are all children’s authors. And celebrities. Which makes them,
depending on who you speak to, either the saviours of publishing or
proof of its decline. And of the many celebrities who have tried their
luck in children’s books, Walliams is the giant. Since his 2008 debut,
The Boy in the Dress, he has sold more than 40m books and racked up
more than 180 weeks at No 1 in the children’s charts; a feat even JK
Rowling has never achieved. He alone accounted for 14.4% of
HarperCollins’ £133m revenue last year, and singlehandedly sold a third
of the top 50 children’s books of the year: 2.4m copies from 11 books,
compared to 4.7m between the rest."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
