Celebrity Flops

I for one am very happy about this sort of thing. Having propped up the counter at a couple of bookstores, it was at the time you got many of these things flooding in and flooding out, and it was very depressing to see people buying books on nobodies. Like most people who worked in bookselling, you were there because you loved literature—sff, crime, literary, whatever. Biographies were great—so long as there was a life to discuss. Bill Clinton's for one is a great read.

But I love this sales stat:

Chantelle

Living the Dream

DEAL: £300,000

SALES: 4,000 (published 26 Oct)

This is what happens when publishing becomes commercial. It is SO ironic that at a stage where things are most conservative in the industry—"oh, but will it sell?"—the losses are potentially huge.

—Mark N