‘It’s quite galling’: children’s authors frustrated by rise in celebrity-penned titles

“A modern classic by Keira Knightley” reads the provisional cover of the actor’s debut children’s book, I Love You Just the Same. Set to be published next October, the 80-page volume, written and illustrated by Knightley, is about a girl navigating the changing dynamics that come with the arrival of a sibling.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star is the latest in a long list of celebrities to have turned to writing children’s books. McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter have been hovering at the top of the bestseller chart since the publication last month of their latest book The Dinosaur that Pooped Halloween!. Earlier in the year, David Walliams dominated with his newest book Astrochimp. The entertainer has sold 25m copies of his children’s titles in the UK alone, according to Nielsen BookData.

The celeb-to-author pipeline is nothing new: Julie Andrews’ children’s novel Mandy was published in 1974, while Madonna’s picture book The English Roses came out in 2003. What has changed in recent years is that the non-celeb side of the playing field has been hollowed out, with author incomes in decline.

“These celebrities do not need any more money or exposure, but plenty of genuine writers do,” says the author, poet and performer Joshua Seigal.

When news broke of Knightley’s book deal, authors expressed frustrations online; in one viral tweet, the writer Charlotte Levin joked about deciding to become a film star.

Authors say that stars wading into children’s publishing discredits the efforts and talents of non-celebrity authors. “Writing for children is an art,” says Seigal. “It requires skill, practice and discipline. I work really hard on my art, and it’s quite galling that people seem to think it is something that’s easy to do.”

Celebrity authors do not have to face the “query trenches” – an industry term for the challenging period a writer spends seeking an agent to represent their work. “Before landing a publishing deal, I had sent over 180 queries across three manuscripts over four years,” says the author James A Lyons. “Non-celebrities face hundreds of rejections and ghosting, and not a fast-tracked ticket to the front of the queue.”

Famous names also benefit from extensive marketing and media coverage that “most authors, especially children’s authors, simply do not get”, says Helen Tamblyn-Saville, the owner of Wonderland bookshop in Retford, Nottinghamshire. It’s increasingly commonplace to see celebrity authors talking about their books on programmes such as BBC Breakfast or The One Show, she said, adding that it’s not unusual for a bookseller to be asked for a newly published celebrity book because someone saw the author on TV.

Buyers don’t necessarily care whether the book is good – “some are, some aren’t” – it’s “the name on the front that has got the sale”, she says. Lyons says that if celebrities used their platforms to “promote access to the wider children’s book market, rather than just publicise themselves”, their involvement would be more welcomed.

Authors, critics and booksellers acknowledge that quality celebrity children’s books do exist. “Some celebrity children’s publishing is good – the new Kate McKinnon novel is brilliant, and I admire Marcus Rashford’s nonfiction collaborations with the journalist Carl Anka and the performance psychologist Katie Warriner,” says the author Katherine Rundell.

“But my particular exhaustion is with those celebrities who put their names to ghost-written children’s novels,” she adds. “We would be shocked if you put your name to a concerto you hadn’t composed; we would find it supremely embarrassing if you signed a painting you hadn’t painted. It poisons the water. It makes it harder for parents and teachers to find great children’s fiction, and it makes children’s fiction look like something cheap and thin, instead of what it is – a literature with its own strangenesses, its own rigours, its own power.”

Some argue that celebrity-backed titles help keep the industry healthy. “Attention paid to any children’s book creates a rising tide that lifts the entire publishing industry,” says the author Howard Pearlstein.

Books written by celebrities can also help increase representation in children’s fiction. “Celebrity fiction has been one of the key ways to get Black and brown characters on shelves in recent years,” says Jasmine Richards, a former ghostwriter of celebrity fiction and founder of StoryMix, which develops fiction with inclusive casts of characters to sell to publishers.

“A series like Marcus Rashford’s Breakfast Club Adventures does it in a way that feels positive because it also breaks out talented new writers from underrepresented backgrounds in the industry,” she says. Rashford’s fiction series has sold 327,000 copies in the UK, while his nonfiction titles have sold 419,000, according to Nielsen BookData.

Celebrities whose children’s books have been hits

David Walliams
Though Walliams’ books have faced criticism – the anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe described them as “sneering, classist, fat-shaming nonsense”, and a story about a Chinese boy named Brian Wong was removed from his book The World’s Worst Children after being criticised by campaigners – they have been an undeniable commercial success; more than 37m copies have been sold worldwide. It is safe to say that Walliams is now known just as much for writing The Boy in the Dress and Gangsta Granny as he is for his work as an actor and comedian.

David Baddiel
As with Walliams, there are children who would know Baddiel only as an author: he has written more than 10 books including The Parent Agency. His novels for children have been translated into 26 languages and have sold more than 1m copies worldwide.

Tom Fletcher
Among the most respected of celebrity children’s authors within the publishing community, because of the support he shows to other authors, the pop star has written bestselling adventure stories The Creakers and The Danger Gang, a popular series about a pooping dinosaur, with his McFly bandmate Dougie Poynter, and a dystopian YA love story with his wife, Giovanna.

Celebrities whose children’s books have been flops

Meghan Markle
The Bench, the Duchess of Sussex’s 2021 picture book, might have made a lot of headlines, but it didn’t sell well at all: only 8,000 copies have ever been sold in the UK according to Nielsen BookScan. Based on a poem the duchess wrote for Prince Harry on his first Father’s Day with Archie, Times critic Alex O’Connell said it “lacks the crucial ingredients for a successful tale for this age group: a good story and basic rhythm”.

Keith Richards
The Rolling Stones guitarist published a children’s book, Gus & Me, in 2o14. Featuring illustrations by Richards’ daughter, the picture book is about his grandfather, who played in a jazz big band and introduced the young Keith to music. It’s safe to say that this one hasn’t become a staple of children’s bookshelves.

Simon Cowell
It is perhaps incorrect to describe Simon Cowell’s Wishfits series of children’s books about a group of magical creatures as a flop – it has simply never happened. The X Factor judge and his son Eric were meant to publish their first title in 2022, which was then pushed back to 2023, and then … nothing. Perhaps Cowell realised the celebrity children’s book market was crowded enough.