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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1 The Ripple Effect of Online Giving 2 A Parent’s Guide to Breakups
Choose Collaboration Over Confrontation
3 Key Metrics to Measure Right Now
Chocolate-Covered Banana Brownies
4 Celebrity Book Clubs Drive Book Popularity
The Celebrity Effect How Star-Powered Book Clubs Drive Bestsellers
Nowadays, celebrities influence countless consumer decisions, from buying cosmetics to backing charities. However, few sectors have been more deeply affected than book publishing. Celebrities from Reese Witherspoon to Dua Lipa are triggering rising sales of an increasingly varied selection of books. Publishing industry sources credit their book clubs with creating closer reading communities and more adventurous book choices among millennial and Gen Z readers. Oprah’s Book Club kickstarted the trend in the 1990s, sparking millions of book sales with a single mention. In a recent shift, other celebrities are using their clout to fast-track book choices into TV adaptations. Reese Witherspoon, who rivals Oprah in her book- picking clout, turned Celeste Ng’s “Little
Fires Everywhere” into a bestseller and a TV adaptation (starring herself). Actress and producer Dakota Johnson founded a book club called TeaTime last year, which is linked to her production company by the same name. The club aims to adapt book picks such as Maria-Helene Bertino’s “Beautyland” into TV shows and movies. Actress Emma Roberts’ book club, Belletrist, has produced two TV shows based on books she recommended, “First Kill” and “Tell Me Lies.” With her friend and co-organizer Karah Preiss, Roberts tends toward indie bookstore picks with an intellectual vibe, heavy on literary and historical fiction and memoirs. Pop star Dua Lipa calls her Service 95 platform a “cultural concierge” that includes shopping guides, travel ideas, and book picks. The singer has recommended a global
potpourri of works to broaden readers’ perspectives, including Polish author Tomasz Jedrowski’s “Swimming in the Dark,” Korean- American author Michelle Zauner’s “Crying in H Mart,” and Argentine author Hernan Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Trust.” Actress Emma Watson followed a different path when she launched Our Shared Shelf in 2016. The “Harry Potter” co-star’s choices tilt more toward political and personal causes, including Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge. Whatever their motive, these stars deserve credit for endearing books to a much bigger audience. In an era when many talented authors have a hard time paying the rent, that can only be a good thing!
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