Forget Celebrity Books Lets Have Celebrity Book Clubs

Celebrity payola is back and they appear to be queuing up to cash in on their names and brand.

In the US Oprah Winfrey is about to make a book club comeback with her sticker going on books on September 17th . The books will of course be brand new hardbacks.

Meanwhile in the UK it appears we can’t get rid of Richard and Judy, who are bringing back their Book Club in yet another guise. On the same day the Book Club returned the duo have also categorically ruled out a return to daytime TV on which they last appeared with their Book Club mark 2 on the digital channel ‘Watch ‘in 2009. The second time they failed to capture the audience and saw their audience dropped as low as 8,000. Having worked together for 21 years on TV they have now said they had no plans to come back to television, either together or apart. Perhaps they are past their TV sell buy date?

However not only have they turned their backs on TV they believe the brand is so strong that they can exploit it even without the TV audience, celebrity couch and media attention. They honestly believe that their sticker on a book on the High Street is enough, they even have done a deal to make it an exclusive to WHSmiths. Some would suggest this is vaniety to the extreme others that the public will remember the duo and like sheep follow the two everywhere.

It is unclear what the commercials are but some would suggest someone has to pay and they aren’t doing it for free.

So we now have bypassed literary review and ignored peer review and like everyone else believe celebrities know best. Would a Jordon, Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Wayne Rooney or Peter Andre sticker sell books. We already have ghost writers so why not ghost reviewers and endorsers? Why not the Del Boy Trotter Book Club which would go well with the image of Richard and Judy and the suitcase.

Madeley and Finnegan will review a book every two weeks and post their reviews online, alongside interviews with the authors and reviews from book lovers across the UK. But what is the point and why is it exclusive to WHS? Is this the same WHS are discounting the 'Blair' best seller?

Remember that other recent celebrity book review programme with Jo Brand, Gok and company? Do we now just believe a celebrity book endorsement is the difference between success and failure and forget the content?

Is It The Same Old Song?

Below is a story we published on the back of a Mirror article and other coverage. Today the story is reported as being unfounded and that no agreement has been reached. It interesting to see the twist and turns of the club and wonder what next?

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan’s book club is to return to TV.

The Mirror reports that the show that died a million deaths on that obscure digital channel ‘Watch’, has been snapped up by Channel 4, or should that be More4!

Can the phoenix rise from the ashes and be the savior of all? Well it appears that the Richard and Judy Book Club return is without Richard and Judy. A bit like Jonathan Ross Show being hosted by Michael Parkinson perhaps? Apparently there are some great names in the frame to host it but they aren’t called Richard or Judy!

Television offers so much but has never really succeeded in getting past the couch. It tried with the book quizzes but they often made university challenge questions look simple and didn’t sell books and some would say reading. Programs such as IQ , Have I Got News For You have made highbrow fun, but there again they don’t sell product. So it’s a return to the couch, the celebrity reading group and the stickering of the books in the shop window. We can’t knock it but just wonder if there is a better way to do it and whether the Richard and Judy format is past its sell by date?

The Fairytale Ends

Richard and Judy tried to move from primetime TV on a major channel, to an obscure new digital channel. It was soon apparent their audiences hadn’t moved with them and unless something exceptional were to happen, the curtains were coming down on their illustrious show. The question the book business had to ask itself was whether their successful Book Club could continue?

Some may say that it was little more than a brand and once the visibility waned the brand would obviously wane with it. Some may say that the backing by the industry made the Book Club and that Richard and Judy were merely the dressing. It is often easier to make a success by backing it , getting mass exposure and spending money. It is difficult to expect it with the average effort and money that is spent on most titles.

A good friend US publishing consultant and thinker James Lichtenberg once related that publishing was similar to two frogs mating. They produce thousands of spawn, which turns into hundreds of tadpoles, who eventually become tens of baby frogs swimming around avoiding their many predators. Finally, a mere handful made it to the bank and came ashore. One is kissed by Oprah and book is turned into a ‘Prince’ and a bestseller. The moral being that you needed the thousands to get to the one best seller and predicting that is often very difficult. Sometimes to get that best seller we may still need an Oprah, but Richard and Judy will no longer be Prince-makers.

Who's Going to Kiss the Frog Now?

A good friend publishing consultant and thinker James Lichtenberg once related that publishing was similar to two frogs mating. They produce thousands of spawn, which turns into hundreds of tadpoles, who eventually become tens of baby frogs swimming around avoiding their many predators. Finally, a mere handful made it to the bank and came ashore. One is kissed by Ophra and is turned into a ‘Prince’. The moral being that you needed the thousands to get to the best seller and predicting them is often very difficult.

We could help reminding ourselves of the story when we read that Richard and Judy's new show on digital channel Watch attracted an average audience of 100,000 viewers, even with the repat figures rising to 143,000. This is a far cry from the 1.5 million viewers who watched their last show on primetime Channel 4 and it begs the question whether the UK has lost its ‘Ophra’.