This is the most frustrating thing for unpublished writers to see. Cheryl Cole has revealed that until her “mega-deal” (see mega-bucks-deal) for her novels, she had never “thought of  [her]self as a writer.” She probably didn’t know she was a singer either until her album was handed to her on a shiny disc. I suspect she may still not know she’s a singer judging by some of 3 Words. Wasn’t she a dancer before she was a singer? Where will it end? The rolling over into other areas of mediocrity.

What hope is there for beginners if publishers are just going to sign up ghostwritten (and I’m willing to bet mega-bucks it is ghostwritten) books by celebrities. In my writing class there is a girl endevouring to write chick-lit, but what hope has she if the pop-behemoth that is Cole moves into the territory? A slim one. It sets the bench mark. Publishers will spunk all their money up the Cole hole (sorry), and people of similar levels of stardom, and be left with less cash to spend on new talent. I know publishing is primarily a business and Cole is big business. So it makes sense in an immediate way but that is short sighted. It’s lazy and it narrows the publics taste even more until unless a book is written by a celebrity, supermarkets won’t stock it and it won’t sell. They are chasing a dream that makes every body more stupid. It retards all of us. It adds another wave to the shit-storm of crap writing that’s beating against are brains, leaving gross tide marks up and down the bookshops of England. I’m not intending to be a snob. I just want talented new writers to get their chance.

I hope the slew of ghostwritten celebrity books encourages new writers to compete and create truly exciting work that gives the industry a massive kick in the balls. My only fear is that they will be ignored in favour of Gordon Ramsey’s new series of thrillers about a crime fighting chef who says fuck a lot.