Week 7 Prompt

For our prompt this week, I want you to think about fake memoirs, author mills (James Patterson), and celebrity inspired book clubs. Basically write a readers' response to one of the articles you are reading for this week (see syllabus or links in this post for readings) - or talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.

When I consider how celebrity inspired book clubs have impacted my job as a circulation assistant, I realize how much of our circulation at the library is actually influenced. One of the top books from a celebrity book club that comes to mind is Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens since it was a Reese’s Book Club pick in September 2018 before becoming a movie (Reese's Book Club LLC, 2023; Gomez, 2022). Shortly after discovering that the movie was coming out, my library began having hold requests from patrons for the books and the requests continued for several months. I found the book to be incredibly popular as my library increased the number of large print and regular print copies on the shelf at both locations and the increase in quantity was still not meeting demand. Of course, that demand indirectly affected me since it impacted my work at the library with everyone wanting to check out the book and read it before the movie came out. 

The Variety article "How the New Celebrity Book Clubs Are Boosting Literary Sales" mentions in part that "celebrity book clubs are also helping draw customers to local bookstores," and I would venture to suggest that such book clubs are not only drawing customers to local bookstores, but to libraries as well (Nichols, 2019). I have experienced quite a few patrons coming in the library throughout my employment to request a book that was part of a celebrity's book club (not necessarily Where The Crawdads Sing) and there is usually at least a few holds if not more. However, in my experience, patrons are generally willing to wait for a book and appreciate the fact that they still don't have to pay for it like they would at a bookstore. 

References

Gomez, D. (2022, August 31). How to watch 'Where the Crawdads Sing': Is the adaptation streaming? The Wrap. https://www.thewrap.com/how-to-watch-where-the-crawdads-sing-streaming/

Nichols, M. (2019, August 14). How the new celebrity book clubs are boosting literary sales. Variety. https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/reese-witherspoon-celebrity-book-clubs-little-fires-everywhere-1203279897/

Reese's Book Club LLC. (2023). Our picks. https://reesesbookclub.com/picks