Here's how Reese Witherspoon, Emma Watson and Emma Roberts are making reading cool again
That there was a time when books were deemed as going out of style is unthinkable. Today, the publishing industry (prior to the coronavirus pandemic) is going strong with book influencers accounting for some of the most popular Instagram accounts. Among influencers who talk about books, several celebrities are present, including Reese Witherspoon and Emma Watson.
Of course, it all started with Oprah's Book Club which was launched by Oprah Winfrey on her talk show all the way back in 1996. Oprah's Book Club has also had its fair share of controversies (remember James Frey?). The most recent controversy surrounded 'American Dirt' by Jeanine Cummins, for propagating racist and stereotyped caricatures of Latin immigrants to the United States, while purporting to tell their stories.
Other celebrities have steered clear of controversies. 'Harry Potter' star Emma Watson — who is also a celebrated feminist and activist today — started the feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf. She would select books twice a month and invited readers through social media to discuss books that have had a profound impact on society.
Her selections include books like 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison, 'Pachinko' by Min Jin Lee, and 'The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write' edited by Sabrina Mahfouz. The book club's current reads are 'Sex and World Peace' — by various authors which discusses that the security of women is a vital factor in the security of the state and its incidence of conflict and war — and 'Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion' by Elizabeth Cline.
Reese Witherspoon's book club contains selections from a wider range and includes selections like 'Little Fire Everywhere' by Celeste Ng — the Hulu adaptation of the book stars Witherspoon herself. The club's current read is 'Untamed' by Glennan Doyle — a memoir by the founder of Momastery, an online community where she wrote about faith among other things.
In 2017, Emma Roberts started her book club, Belletrist. Roberts' selection includes Joan Didion's 'South and West', Lisa Taddeo's 'Three Women', and 'Searching for Sylvia Lee' by Jean Kwok.
Other celebrities who have founded book clubs include 'Sex and the City' star Sarah Jessica Parker — who also has her own imprint with publishing company Penguin Random House — and singer Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine.
Other celebs have jumped on the bandwagon during the current isolation period, including models Kaia Gerber and Kendall Jenner, with the latter's involving bikinis and yachts as well.
Moreover, actresses Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams came together to launch Save With Stories, to help kids impacted by school closures amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The campaign's Instagram shared videos of celebrities reading children's books aloud to entertain, educate, and distract kids and parents who are social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic.
These celebrity book clubs go a long way in helping publishing houses and authors. An analysis last year by the global information company The NPD Group, the volume of the sales bump varies with the celebrity's level of popularity, but having a book selected by a celebrity reader with a big following can result in a huge increase exposure and sales.
When former President Barack Obama shared his summer reading list in 2018, it prompted a 2,300 percent increase in three-month unit sales for 'A House for Mr Biswas' by VS Naipaul and a 32 percent increase in three-month unit sales for 'Educated' by Tara Westover.
Meanwhile, Witherspoon’s pick for October 2018, Laurie Frankel’s 'This Is How It Always Is' achieved a 276 percent increase in unit sales in the three months following the book club selection, while Maria Hummel’s 'Still Lives' posted 103 percent growth after appearing on Witherspoon’s list.
Just as television and film studios are struggling due to the ongoing pandemic, the publishing industry is taking a hit. Authors are no longer able to promote themselves by going for conferences and book readings and with many forced to stay indoors, hard copies of new books are hard to come by. More authors are turning to promote the ebooks of their works.
At this time, authors — especially newer and independent ones — need their books to be picked by these celebrity book clubs. Even if it's just e-copies, celebrities could use their platform to help out another industry and sector severely affected by the pandemic.