I read that Pippa Middleton's next two books are to be cancelled by her publisher due to poor sales of her first. The world, then, will have to do without her advice on how to arrange a marriage and children's parties. Pippa was paid a reported £400,000 advance - virtually unheard of for an unsigned and untested author - for the much derided ‘Celebrate’ which was published last October, just in time for the lucrative Christmas market. The £25 books now languish in bargain bins, soon to be found, no doubt, in pound shops.
Pippa blames the Palace for not allowing her to pubicise the book properly.
For me, I think the public are more discerning than the publisher allowed for, and see Pippa as a 'hanger on'.
But how will we manage without Pippa's words of wisdom. We were told in Celebrate to avoid a cake going stale put it in an airtight container, and, if you were having more people than usual for Christmas dinner, then buy a bigger turkey.
A spoof on these pearls, (I'm told I haven't looked) can be found at @Pippatips on twitter.
For fun, what's the most useless piece of information you've been given?
Glyn
Maybe the book should have carried the warning "Supporting the Royal Family may seriously damage your wealth"
Agree there and think that, if we really, really think about half a century of well presented evidence, 'smoking kills' on tobacco products is at least redundant. About time they introduced all the bad and agonising things it causes in a nice neat paragraph instead.
Surely the most ridiculous piece of useless information has to be the "May contain nuts" warning that is now printed on packets of nuts!! Really - if you are allergic to nuts and can't work out that a packet of nuts contains nuts then really you are a Darwin Award waiting to happen!
:-)
I know that nut allergies are SERIOUS - but if it says it is a packet of nuts .......
Yes! I am sure we all do! There are lots of books that I am unlikely to ever buy - authors that I would never consider etc!
But I think there is a difference between that and criticising a book that you have never seen.
Of course I haven’t. There are many many books out there I would never buy. I judge them before I even turn to the first page. Don’t we all?
Speaking (or typing) as somebody who has seen it I think it is fair to say that I wasn't particularly impressed but I have been mildly entertained!
I am sure that if she wasn't who she is she wouldn't have managed to be published! I certainly wouldn't have paid full price for it - but I didn't have to! I have quite enjoyed the bits of it that I have read - in a light hearted way! It isn't rocket science - but it doesn't pretend to be! :-)
Certainly won't buy you a copy! Have you actually seen and read any of her book? I only ask because your post makes it sounds as though perhaps you haven't!! In which case I have to ask the question: "Do you really think it is fair to condemn it if you haven't seen it?" :-)
I've been around people who write books for so long that I have a very biassed view. In 1988 my ex-wife and I wrote a book that was a 'best seller' in its own terms. It sold a few thousand, was published in the USA and part translated into German. I still receive a few crumbs of copyright royalties each year but over that whole time we have probably earned perhaps £300 each. That is good. There are people who write very specialised academic works who sell perhaps 80 books, mainly to copyright library collections and thus are classified as best sellers in their terms. It is relative. The forthcoming one of mine will be ridiculously expensive and so specialised that I expect roughly 200 over about three years tops.
Pippa Middleton is riding on the tail of another one of those things that get lots of pictures in Paris Match and its ilk, but in the real world do not add up to much. Her audience will be so small that if the first one does not sell, having two in the pipeline is make believe anyway. I have not seen it, but this post made me look at reviews, and I am lightly amused but not one little bit impressed.
I do think Pippa was doomed to failure not matter how good the book. I just have a feeling she isn’t liked. People also don’t like to support those who are hanging on the coat tails of others.
It is good to hear from someone who has bought the book.
I’m prejudiced against her and the book.
But please don’t buy me one for my forthcoming sixtieth!
Glyn
That is unkind! :-)
For some people entertaining is a scary business and good basic (obvious) instructions are helpful! In some cases this is TOO basic to be viable!
But it is still a lovely book. Beautiful photos, well laid out, good chapters - it isn't a total disaster - but it is very basic in some parts!
Also - it is EASY to knock somebody else's efforts - but not so easy to do any better!!
I thought you were going to write, coffee table book, good for putting under a wobbly leg.
I think all she was doing was "fannying around"!!
Actually I have bought a copy of "Celebrate" - and it is a lovely coffee table book . It is only when you start reading what is inside it that its true worth is recognised!
Most useless piece of info my mother was ever taught - how to say "Lo the postillion has been struck by lightning! in French!! Not an expression she has ever had to use in English never mind in any other language!!
I thought it was like the American expression 'fanny' and to do with her sitting somewhere writing the next one ;-)
'pubicise' - Queen's English for publicise!
"Pubicise" Glyn! The mind boggles.
The moral is, I guess, cashing in can cost a lot of kudos. I am not sure she had any to begin with, so perhaps nothing lost. Good for my children though, rock bottom cheap paper for them to recycle for their paper making in a while.
My mother got this in a bargain bin and has had much fun laughing at the hot tips.
I can't remember any useless information I've been given. I don't retain stuff like that (or much of anything else for that matter...).