Against The Celebrity Memoir Industrial Complex

I read the New York Times Best Sellers list every week. I’m a literary agent, so it’s part of my job. But I’ll tell you a secret. These days, I pretty much know what I’m going to find, especially on the nonfiction list: celebrity memoirs.

Let’s look at it, as of the week of June 29, 2025. On the hardcover list, you’ll find memoirs from comedian Nate Bargatze and Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand. On the paperback list, reflecting likely summer beach read buying, there’s Vice President JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, as well as memoirs from Trevor Noah, Matthew McConaughey, and Amy Tan. (The week of June 22, the list included Elias Weiss Friedman, better known as Instagram’s The Dogist; two actors from The L Word, Leisha Hailey and Kate Moening; Itchy Boots YouTuber, Noraly Shoenmaker; and journalist and author — and daughter of Erica Jong — Molly Jong-Fast. The week before that featured Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles; and actor Jeremy Renner. The list is fickle week to week.) And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Last year at this time, Bill Maher, Darius Rucker, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Selleck, and Kathleen Hanna took up half of the top nonfiction spots. The year before that? Jennette McCurdy, Prince Harry, Michelle Obama, Andy Cohen, and Matthew McConaughey’s books shone bright.

Readers seem to enjoy these memoirs — or at least they’re buying them. So why should anyone care? I’m all for anyone reading anything they want, high or low, art or trash, literary or commercial. If you really want to know what Jeremy Renner thinks, I’m not going to stop you. And some of them are even good! But when celebrity books suck up all the oxygen, there are consequences.

Celebrities write books (and “write” books — shoutout to those hard-working ghostwriters) because they can. And why not? A book is just part of a star’s slate of accomplishments, maybe even something they think they’re due. Maybe the release is timed to coincide with a big movie or TV show — synergy! Maybe it’ll revive a career slump. Maybe they’re repairing a tarnished image. Maybe some are going for their B.E.G.O.T.: Bestseller, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony. Or, like any other writer, they want to cash that check.

There are signs the trend is broadening in scope, too. While the celebrity memoir has been a staple for decades — along with its close cousins, the celebrity advice book and the celebrity children’s book — new innovations are infiltrating the celeb-led publishing space. There’s an uptick in big-name co-authors (as if one celebrity isn’t enough), especially in fiction. This fall, Reese Witherspoon and bestselling thriller author Harlan Coben are releasing a suspense novel, and Mr. Beast is writing (“writing”) a thriller with James Patterson.

Consider, too, the growth in books-as-merch. I’m looking at you, Taylor Swift and the Official Eras Tour Book, which sold more than 800,000 copies in the first two days — exclusively through Target — but was later criticized for its production and textual errors. (Sounds like she could have used a good editor. Don’t come for me, Swifties.)

Publishers want these titles for the same reason Hollywood wants celebrity-led films and TV: Fame sells. Contrary to popular belief, publishers are not tasked with releasing “the best” writing out there. Some books exist just to appeal to the lowest common denominator or to make you mad or support your worldview, and celebrity memoirs are the closest thing to a sure bet in an industry in which there are no guarantees. If one star’s memoir doesn’t go gangbusters, maybe the next one will.

Publishers want these titles for the same reason Hollywood wants celebrity-led films and TV: Fame sells.

Many people probably don’t know this, but when an editor at a publishing house buys a book, they have no idea how it’s going to sell. It’s not like Coca-Cola putting out a new flavor. No focus groups, no up-to-the-minute marketing data — no imprint has the money, personnel, or infrastructure to treat each title like that new flavor of Coke. Two mystery novels set in Maine could have wildly different paths.

And how can you even know about those two Maine mystery novels if the media doesn’t tell you about them? Book-related coverage has been dwindling for years, too — a byproduct of media outlets shrinking in general. And as more and more shopping goes online, readers are less likely to stumble upon a title in the wild. Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool, but it’s hard to start in the first place — especially on social media, where imprints’ attempts to build their own audiences have seen limited success. (While publishers’ in-house publicists and marketing teams are amazing, they are overworked looking for all the new and shifting places to promote their lists.)

Celebrities, though? They come with their own Coca-Cola-level infrastructure. They know how many people bought their album/streamed their songs/went to their movie/downloaded their podcast/bought a ticket to their show. They have robust social media platforms and fans eager to amplify their posts. They have publicists with extensive networks and staff to help them make TikToks.

I don’t blame editors for picking up lots of celebrity memoirs. Publishing CEOs are not immune from the Graph Must Always Go Up disease that plagues everything else. Those sales also often pay for the other books that don’t make a splash. And I want publishers to stay in business! That’s harder now than ever.

So where does that leave readers and writers who dream of a bustling industry with plenty of space for titles of all stripes?

It’s easy to point the finger at publishers, to say what they should do. Publishers should absolutely invest in more publicity and marketing staff because the ones we have are overworked and underappreciated. With more staff, they could work closely with all sorts of authors to best position and market their books, rather than falling back on one-size-fits-all solutions. I dare not suggest they release fewer books — I bet we’d just get more celebrity-led ones — but maybe they could take a zero or two off the end of some big-name advances and invest that elsewhere. In reality, however, industries driven by sales don’t run on should.

This can’t be all on the publishers’ shoulders, anyway. Media outlets should cover more books. They might not be as flashy as movies, but according to the American Association of Publishers, readers bought $5.12 billion worth of trade adult books in 2024, more than half of that in nonfiction. That’s not nothing! And Amazon, which got its start in books, should invest more resources in Goodreads, a fraught but oft-utilized marketing tool used by authors and publishers alike. We can’t forget, too, that self-publishing works for many writers and genres.

Still, at the end of the day, celebrity books aren’t going anywhere. I know writing a memoir is easier than starting a skin care line but maybe, just maybe, stars can put down the pen — or consider writing a diary instead? A journal? A blog? Really long Notes app posts? Imagine the splash it would make if a celebrity revealed the release of 10 years of their diaries (edited, please), instead of two or three middling tell-alls along the way.

Leave a few spots on the Best Sellers list for others. Maybe your story could exist on a different narrative plane. YouTube channel? One-person show on Broadway? Screenplay? I hear Substack is really popular these days.

Kate McKean is a literary agent and the author of Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, now on sale.