Celebrity authors come in for criticism

by: Romany Howes (29 October 2009)

The phenomenon known as Katie Price, or alter ego Jordan, has come in for a lot of criticism recently and Martin Amis is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, describing her as just "two bags of silicone."

In fact, he is planning to use her as a character in his new novella, State of England. He recently said at the Hay Festival in London: "She has no waist, no arse ... an interesting face." His new character in the novella, Threnody, is not solely based on the model/author/reality TV star but we should bear her in mind, he said.

Amis admits to having read Price’s two autobiographies but revealed that the words Number One Bestseller on the front of one of her books was "more terrifying than anything inside."

His barely veiled views have come on top of crime writer, Lynda La Plante’s comments about so-called celebrity writers. She commented: "Katie Price's book outsold the Booker Prize list. She's a terrible thing for young girls who just want pink welly boots."

Martine McCutcheon's first novel, The Mistress, also came in for criticism, with LaPlante saying: "I have nothing against Martine McCutcheon, but who knows what she was paid?" To which McCutcheon, replied somewhat tartly: "I just want to do a book that will be a bit of entertainment for Joe Public."

Whether Price will be offended by the comments is not known as her spokesman declined to comment but she can at least take solace in the fact that her novel, Crystal, outsold the 2007 Man Booker Prize shortlist in its entirety and she has made millions from her autobiographies so far.

Scarily for both Amis and LaPlante, she has been awarded the accolade of one of the 100 most powerful people in the industry, according to The Bookseller magazine.

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