Stocking filler or flop? Six high-profile book disasters

Thoughtful gifts go a long way with loved ones, friends and family and according to a recent poll, only sweets, chocolates and toiletries came above books as the perfect stocking filler.

But is your choice going to demand pride of place on the bookshelf, or be used for nothing more than kindling to get the Christmas fire roaring? Unfortunately, a high profile, a big-budget, or indeed a big-name celebrity author isn’t always the simple path to literary success and the riches it promises.

The publishing business can be a cut-throat environment and no amount of big names or expensive marketing spend can guarantee success. Louise Stephenson is managing director at WTTB, one of the UK’s largest independent printers of books, leaflets and other literature. Last year, they printed more than 4.5m books, booklets, reports and pieces of literature. A self-professed book addict, she gives her verdict on some of the most high profile flops in the publishing world.

I feel we have to start at the most recent high profile publishing disaster. Former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson promised to lift the lid on his controversial time in the top job with his new book, Unleashed in October of this year. Sadly the hype, promise, and a rumoured £2m advance from the publishers, all failed to find favour and he sold just over 40,000 copies in his opening week. That put him well behind opening week book sales by other former PM’s opening sales like Margaret Thatcher (120,000) and Tony Blair (92,000).

That was despite a vigorous publicity tour that culminated in him being admonished by host Emily Maitlis on the night of Channel 4’s American election coverage in early November. He’d been invited on for his political insight, but the appearance descended into farce when he repeatedly worked the name of his new book into his analysis.

Liz Truss, Ten Years to Save the West: Lessons from the Only Conservative in the Room

Liz Truss’s 49-day reign as Prime Minister is the shortest time any Prime Minister in history has ever served. She famously couldn’t outlast the freshness of a lettuce the Daily Star had cruelly put on display as a prediction of how long she would spend at Number Ten in 2022. It should, therefore, have come as no surprise that the former PM’s book launch earlier this year would be met with indifference. But the publishing world would have expected a tad more than the measly 2,228 copies being sold in its first week of launch. Her book lasted as long on the shelves as her premiership did and was soon in the bargain bin.

Ekin-Su Cűlcűloğlu, Be Your Own Best Friend

It seems you don’t HAVE to be a controversial political figure or former Prime Minister to struggle in the publishing world. Ekin-Su, a former Love Island champion, proved that a reality star’s window of fame can be a very short-lived one. The launch of her autobiography this year saw sales in the first week peak at just 500 when it first hit the shelves this summer. Even now, she sits a forlorn 221,755th place in the Amazon Book charts, so will be praying for a boost in the run up to Christmas.

Meghan Markle, The Bench

A host of top-name celebrities have found the transition into children’s books a rich and successful option, with David Baddiel and David Walliams selling millions of copies of their popular novels in recent years. However, Prince Harry’s wife and actress, Meghan Markle found that path a little trickier to navigate. According to Neilsen BookScan, the former Hollywood actress sold just 8,000 copies of her 2021 children’s book, The Bench. Husband Harry’s book, Spare, while tackling a subject matter of an entirely different kind, was the UK’s biggest selling book in 2023 and shifted some 700,000 copies in the year it was launched.

Jamie Oliver, Billie And The Epic Escape

Over a 25 year period, Jamie Oliver has sold a staggering 50 million copies worldwide of his numerous cook books. So it was with massive embarrassment that his entry into the children’s book market came to an abrupt end in November, when he and his publishers were forced to withdraw his book, Billie And The Epic Escape from the shelves.

They had to issue a joint apology for the offensive nature of its depiction of First Nation Australians after the subplot of the book, which tells the story of a First Nations girl living in foster care, for contributing to the ‘erasure, trivialisation and stereotyping’ of First Nation people and experiences. Jamie might be better served if he sticks to telling us how to make the perfect roast spuds.

Brooklyn Beckham, What I See

​Everyone needs help from their parents at one stage in their life, but even having arguably the most recognisable Mum and Dad on the planet couldn’t help Brookly Bekham’s debut book gain much traction. It seems that having David and Victoria Beckham as your parents is no reason for a discerning book-buying public to take an interest. His book What I See, which depicted photographs he’d taken from various moments in his burgeoning life, sold less than 4,000 copies in the first four months after launch in 2017.