Week 7 Prompt

Fake Memoirs, Author Mills and Celebrity Book Discussions

Having worked at a library for the past 11 years I have seen it all fake memoirs, author mills and celebrity book discussions. Personally I have not had much personal experience with reading books from any of these categories but I know how much these things affect readers. I remember clearly when "A Million Little Pieces" was released, it was flying off the shelf. Everyone wanted to read this crazy memoir specially since Opera had featured it on her show. Then when it came out that it was fake people still continued to ask for it and it almost seamed to increase in popularity. I wondered if that was the author's intentions to begin with, a scandal can be very profitable.

Opera's book discussion created a book craze. People who didn't typically read would read a book because Opera said it was good. I actually remember talking about the Opera affect in college. Some of the books were not even considered that great but being endorsed by Opera, caused them to be best sellers. It's sad to say that celebrities can have a greater affect on people, motivating them more than our politicians, educators and leaders. If you do a survey to see who knows who Kim Kardashian is and about everyone knows her. If you ask who knows who John Boehner is and most people may not know he is the Speaker of the House.

Then there are author mills, is it a big deal that James Patterson doesn't write all his books himself? Every reader can make this decision for themselves. Frankly, I have never read a James Patterson novel. One of the reasons I have not read a Patterson is because they are so popular. Typically anything really popular, I am hesitant to read sometimes because in the back of my mind I am thinking is it really that good if everyone likes it. Just because Opera likes it or the who world is reading it, doesn't mean I will like it. I figure my reading list is large enough from book recommendations from trusted sources. If Patterson has written so much so quickly how can it be that good, however, I will admit I enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels.

Stephanie Plum novels are my guilty pleasure because the writing is very formulated and cheesy. The stories are very predictable and that is why I like them. They are my cozy reads that I like to listen to on my drive into work. I waited till about a year or two ago to start reading the series. So I am no different than Patterson fans but I choose my books not because they are popular but because they were recommended. In the case of Evanovich, I was in a pinch and needed an audio book for the ride home and I grabbed the first thing that sounded half way decent based on the description. This is my least favorite way to pick out a book because usually they turn out to be duds.

Going back to the issue of authors writing with co-authors, I don't think it really matters. Some people will snub their noses at these titles but other readers will not care. Everyone has their own reading tastes. As librarians we need to be respectful of all reading tastes. As long and people are still reading that's what is important. Promoting reading, whether it is the latest Patterson, a faked memoir or an Opera book club novel, is our job. We have broken away from trying to encourage readers to read good literature. The lesson to learn from these situations is how readers are affected. If we know a celebrity is hosting a book club we know those titles will be in demand. If a book has created a scandal we know people will want to read it. James Patterson releasing a book whether it is co-written or not it is going to be popular. The real question is how are we going to use these reader's preferences to lead them to their next book?