famous people with ‘black’ who sell books… and others who write them well

The ashes say that in these times when no one reads, anyone writes a book. A derogatory and exaggerated way of referring to a common trend: that famous people, whom many assume illiterate, multiply in the publishing market. A practice older than a forest, since everyone should know by now that You don’t need to have any literary talent to publish. and that there are as many types of books as there are readers.

That said, it cannot be generalized. And it must be taken into account in advance that publishers are companies above all else. That is to say, if there is someone, whoever it may be, who can make them sell many copies, they will always give them a chance. Not to mention that many are happy to lend themselves: a book gives prestige and there are many celebrities -bold- to say yes. Isn’t it nice to sign at your Retiro booth and post the photo on Instagram? It pains many authors to see it, but the longest lines at the Madrid book fair that ends tomorrow are in front of, precisely, famous people, vips, celebs with no other known profession than appearing in magazines and on TV. We spoke with people from the union about this phenomenon.

“Generally, they do not offer books. We, in a meeting, think about which characters can sell well and we propose it to them. Some are eager to receive such an offer and others are disinterested. Sometimes they turn out well and other times they don’t. When they don’t, It’s because either they don’t get involved or they weren’t as famous as we thought. Sometimes they don’t work when the public doesn’t pigeonhole them into the literary industry,” he tells us. an editor in conversation with this supplement who prefers to remain anonymous.

“In general he rents to us. Yes, it pays us to have a quota of books written by famous people. It is true that there is the figure of the black man (a person who writes the book of the famous person in question in the shadows), but not always.” Ana Obregon, Without going any further, he wrote a large part of The Shrew Boy (Harper Collins). He finished what his son had written Aless“. [Libro que vendió más de 80.000 ejemplares, que a unos 20 euros cada uno, se traduce en más de 1.600.000 euros ].

“However, there are other famous people who openly turn to someone to write their book for them, as was the case with Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, My story (The sphere of books), which he chose his friend the journalist Pedro Narvaez to write his biography and his name appears on the cover as a contributor.

In general, editors do not like that black people – a difficult profession valued with a lot of literary and psychological value – are not recognized and they encourage famous people to write. “It may be surprising, but famous people with a certain talent who dare to write their own book don’t do it badly at all. Only those who know, and we know, that they are capable of doing it, take the plunge. There may be style corrections and such. supposed, They will never be Vargas Llosabut they assume it and end up measuring up.”

The publishing market celebrity has changed in recent years. The thing started with biographies, but today they are more informative. “We like famous people who are famous because of their profession. Athletes, singers, actors…With a career behind them. Although we are also interested in Instagrammers because of their number of followers. Curiously, in this group, the one that works, does it super good, but if he doesn’t, there is no middle ground.”

The secret to the sales success of VIP books is in the promotion: they have gained a lot due to their high level of knowledge among the public. “The promo It is crucial, that is why they have to get involved, present it everywhere…”. A good example of this is the ubiquity of these last few days in the media. Cristina Pedroche with his book Thanks to fear (Planeta), in which she narrates her experience as a new mother. What’s more, the day after she went to present him to The Anthill of Pablo Motosslipped into number 1 of best-selling books.

There are also examples of the opposite, the most notable being that of Tita Thyssen(The Baroness. A life of a novelEdiciones B), who regretted having entrusted his memoirs to the journalist Nieves Herrero at the last minute and left her composed and without a boyfriend just before the presentation, which produced a failure in sales. Shortly after, the baroness negotiated a biopic for Netflix.

OSTRACISM

Another example of collaboration between famous and writer is the biography of Emmanuella Dampierrefrom The Sphere, written by Begoña Aranguren, which was like a shot. “You usually get it right when you remove from ostracism a character who is present in the collective imagination.”

Returning to the case of Pedroche, his is a typical case of human history with which the reader feels identified and which triumphs in bookstores. “The same thing that happened with the presenter Angel Martin. He sold many copies of In case the voices return (Planet), in which he told his experience after suffering a psychotic break, now that talking about mental health is so fashionable. He sold more than 300,000 copies and later wrote Behind the noise, also from Planeta, another editorial hit. “One of the longest lines to sign copies this week at the Retiro was the journalist from The countryFernando Navarroauthor of Something that serves as a light: Supersubmarine (Aguilar), which tells the story of the musical group and the aftermath of the terrible car accident that cut short their career. “It has been an unexpected publishing boom, so it gives us new clues about what today’s books have to offer to explode in sales.”

A separate case is that of a famous person who establishes himself as a writer. As Jorge Javier Vázquez and Boris Izaguirre. “They began as television characters but have revealed themselves as great novelists, even awarded by critics, something that is not easy at all, since it is prejudiced. It is true that they have academic preparation and are cultured and well-read people, as well as outstanding columnists.”

Another historic backfire hit him, to everyone’s surprise, Paz PadillaWhose book The humor of my lifein which she narrates the death of her husband, was the best-selling non-fiction text of 2021 -post-pandemic- with more than 350,000 copies and the second best-selling book among all those published that year behind siranovel by Maria Duenas.

One of the big questions is what the cachet of celebrities is when it comes to signing a publishing contract. “Initially they are not high. You are never going to pay them the same as Perez Reverte. They accept for image, for visibility, for ego, and for royalties. 10% per copy, which in large sales figures is a peak,” slips another consulted editor.

“You have to get rid of the cliché. There are books written by famous people that are excellent, like the autobiography of Miguel Bosethat he wrote from cover to cover without barely correcting him (Captain Thunder’s sonfrom Planeta)”, says another third editor in an interview with LOC, who adds: “Rafael Nadal It does not yet have an authorized bio. I could do like Agassiwho commissioned his memoirs to a ghost writer (black in English) with Pulitzer Prize, JR Moehringerwhich was later signed by Prince Harry. Two best-sellers“.