Secrets of a Children's Book Publisher: Part 4 - The Celebrity Book Club

You get what you pay for

Barack Obama, LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon, Reese Witherspoon… It seems like every day you hear about another celebrity pushing their new children’s book. Is this just a trend? Is it just easier for celebrities to take a manuscript to the next level? Are celebrities better writers?

Surprisingly, many of the books you see on the shelves by celebrities were not sought after by the writers themselves. They were headhunted. Publishing houses are well aware that celebrities bring in big bucks. This is why they actually spend a lot of their time asking celebrities if they would be interested in writing a book. Yes, that’s right. Many celebrities only decide to publish a book either after they are asked or when their publicist comes to them with the idea.

The most depressing part of this equation is that these books don’t even need to be any good. They just need to sell. Look at Meghan Markle’s book Bench. It is quite clear that she is not a famous poet and only has amateur prose. Nevertheless, paired up with Christian Robinson, a Caldecott awarded illustrator, and her name, it flew off the shelves. Although Meghans book got a ton of poor reviews it earned Penguin Random House a ton of money. Megan’s book displays the biggest problem with many celebrity books and that is that they have not been through the grinder. Most authors have seen countless rejections. They have written hundreds of manuscripts. Their published works have been edited numerous times. Nevertheless, the big publishing houses know that they don’t have to spend all this time with celebrities because their books sell on name alone. It’s easy money.

Life in Wysteria Lane

The big five publishers earn the big bucks from their top 1% of authors. Even those lucky few mortals that do get a traditional publishing deal often end up with little in their pockets. The median advance of a picture book author is only $8,000 (#PublishingPaidMe). You heard me right. $8,000. And it can take two years for a book to be published from start to finish. Most of the 6 figure advances go to big named stars, influencers, and an infinitely small group of debut authors. This has led more and more authors to go the route of self-publishing, otherwise called Indie Publishing. I know authors that turned down deals from Scholastic and Penguin because they knew that they wouldn’t earn enough to make a living. One friend of mine, who got a deal with Harper Collins, actually needed to get grant money in order to continue to write. In addition, the publishing houses are asking authors to spend more of their own time marketing.

Most authors have day jobs or receive their income through other means because it is otherwise difficult to survive. According to the Author’s Guild 2023 Survey, a full-time author makes on average only $10,000 per year. I remember watching Terry Hatcher as Susan in Desperate Housewives and being baffled at how she could afford to live in the affluent Wisteria Lane while only working as a children’s book illustrator. All she did was wear fancy dresses and drink coffee with her friends. How was that supposed to work?

A guy opening his wallet and it is empty.

a girl with glasses reading a black book

The silver lining

It is tough being an author. The children’s book industry is crazy competitive. There are millions of books out there competing for attention. Not only that, but in the end, kids have to like your book and they are a tough bunch. Your book might look great, but if kids don’t want to read it, then it won’t stay on the shelves very long. Money can sure buy a lot, but it can’t always buy talent. Hollywood might romanticize just how easy it is to create a children’s book, but in the end the true winners are the books that children continue to read again and again. Very few celebrity books make it into that category.

Kelley Donner