Apparently Kate Gosselin has another book coming out, it’s called I Just Want You To Know. Know what? What don’t we know about this woman? It seems to me she puts out a book a year. Where the hell does she find the time to write? She has eight kids for crying out loud and a deadbeat ex husband. I have two kids and two ex husbands and I can’t put a book out in three years. I know a handful of people working on books right now and none of them have been working on them for less than a year.
I suspect she doesn’t write them herself. It’s just a sneaking suspicion but unless Kate Gosselin has more than 24 hours in a day or has a coke habit, it’s not likely that she has time to churn out a new book each year. I’m not sure she can type or spell either. The clicking of freshly manicured nails on the keyboard would be too distracting to me to be able to write for very long.
I have nothing against Kate milking her 15 minutes, though they should have been over a long time ago, she has eight kids, she has to support them somehow. If I had her opportunities I would be riding that gravy train as well. My issues are not with Kate, though I have had enough of her whining. What is so special about her? So what if she has eight kids? It’s not as if she spends much time with them, she’s too busy dancing, and dancing poorly as I understand it.
No, my issues are with the publishing companies who put these kinds of books out all the time. The publishing world has changed a lot in the last 15 years. Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon have changed the rules and nobody raised an eyebrow. That isn’t entirely true, some independent booksellers did but no one listens to them.
Every time a publishing company puts out a book like I Just Want You To Know, or Kitty Kelly’s Oprah, the public snatches them up. There are only so many book dollars out there and by publishing this crud the public won’t buy more worthy books by talented authors. They won’t because they won’t know about the more talented authors. Publishing houses don’t want to take a chance on real literature. They want to make money. I can’t blame them, really, but they are complicit in the dumbing down of the population.
By stacking the best seller lists with this kind of fluff, talented writers don’t stand a chance. The publishing industry won’t take a chance on an unknown author anymore. Luckily the publishing industry is putting itself right out of business. Luckily for the talented writers that is.
Self publishing used to be the last resort for authors who wanted to get a book in print. Authors who self published their work were scorned by the main stream publishing houses and didn’t stand a chance of getting any promotion unless they generated the buzz on their own. Today you can launch a website, and promote your book for relatively little expense. If you have a large Twitter following or lots of Facebook friends you can get the word out quickly. The Kindle, iPad and other book readers have evened out the playing field even more.
Kate and Kitty can keep churning out books, and people will buy them. So what if they are the people who watch Jerry Springer and have interior furnishings on their lawn? I’m not buying them. I want to read intelligent books. I want to read books that use words with more than two syllables. I don’t want to read about celebrities, if I need to know what stupid ass things they are doing I can watch the news.
That’s right I said the news. Not the entertainment shows but the nightly news, the place we used to go to catch up on the days happenings. They have sold out too. It’s all about ratings which translate to dollars. No on is interested in the death of the Polish first family, that got about 15 seconds of airtime right before a commercial break. Kate Gosselin got 8 minutes to talk about her “book”.
Something is wrong when we are more interested in Kate than we are in the death of president.
*If you haven’t joined Tribal Blogs yet what are you waiting for? You can meet real writers there. Talented people who can dance and writer their own material, just not at the same time.
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- Kate Gosselin: I’m Not Choosing Fame Over My Kids (people.com)
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- Hef doesn’t want Kate Gosselin for ‘Playboy’ (pbpulse.com)
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Who is she? We don’t have television. The name sounds familiar, but I haven’t a clue who she is. I don’t care either. I’m with you I don’t care one bit about celebrities. That’s why we don’t have television.
Have a terrific day. 🙂
.-= Comedy Plus´s last blog ..Bat Tutorial =-.
She is such a media whore. Can’t stand her.
.-= Kristina P.´s last blog ..5 K-arat Gold =-.
Oh, gosh. I’m a Tribal Blogs member and I’m not a real writer by anybody’s estimation! <<— But that right there is a 4 syllable word!
I watched John & Kate plus eight when it first came out because I'm a sucker for babies. Also, high multiples always catch my attention. You see, I was in a fertility program for years. I had a few tubal pregnancies and a few miscarriages. My doctor (now retired) was one of the responsible doctors who did every thing he could to make sure there were no multiple pregnancies. Of course his success rate of getting you pregnant was lower, but at worst, he may have had the occasional twins. I wish more of these doctors would take a lesson from my doctor.
It did not take me long to stop watching it because I do not care for Kate's "my way or the highway" style, especially when it came to her husband. I don't blame him for getting fed up. He might have handled it in a much better manner, but still.
.-= Barb at WillThink4Wine´s last blog ..Papa Goose is on the loose =-.
HEAR! HEAR!
I can say without a doubt that the publishing industry HAS changed in the last 10 years, and the change is accelerating. The publishing houses and distributors are being challenged in many of the same ways that the music publishing industry was challenged by the changes in their industry.
As a aspiring writer and also someone who is currently undertaking the daunting challenge of breaking into the publishing arena, I can say that the advent of iBookshelf, iPads, Kindles, and the relative ease of both online promotion and digital content management has left me wondering why I need a publisher early in my career at all. In the past, young, talented writers had to sign their life away in order to get a decent publishing house to take a chance on their material. After you sold a few books and made them a pile of money and a name for yourself, you would finally get the leverage to renegotiate a better deal.
Now, young and talented writers are able to do most of the early stuff on their own, and control their own work and content while making a name for themselves. This has swung the power back to the authors, and they are finally getting to show the large publishers that they need us as much as we need them.
This is not even touching on how it is radically effecting the agents that represent authors! The ever changing landscape of digital rights, licensing deals, and the expanding world markets for American authors, particularly sci-fi and fantasy, has made it tough for the agents to keep up. Additionally, all of the abilities of the young authors I stated earlier also effect the agents. Being able to self-publish your book not only in print form, but also digitally to iBookshelf, Amazon, and your own website has made agents unnecessary unless you have (or want) to deal with a publishing house…or sell the rights to your book to a video game or Hollywood studio.
So in short, the changes make it so that the only reason any author will HAVE to deal with the big publishing houses, chain stores, or agents is if you are a big name, and/or if you want(or going) to make obscene amounts of money. May sound like a goal that everyone wants, but some of us just want to write, and tell the story…if the money and the fame comes, then we can deal with them on OUR terms.
.-= seejames´s last blog ..World Map For Erta Now Available =-.
Gag I hate that woman. Gag.
.-= Alison´s last blog ..Free Kraft Mac and Cheese =-.
She is grabbing the money while she can–plain and simple. She likes the life she is leading right now (well, monetarily speaking) and she knows her life in the public eye will only last so long. It will be interesting (or not) to see what happens to her in ten years and if anyone even remembers who she is.
.-= Lin´s last blog ..Cesspool-B-Gone =-.
BTW, with regard to Kate….she definitely has a ghost writer. The sad thing is that ghost writer is probably a great writer who, for whatever reason (probably wanting to pay some crazy high rent in NYC) took this job so that they could continue to write a truly excellent novel that will get turned down because he/she has not made a name for themselves. Yet somehow he/she was a good enough writer to translate what notes and little direction he/she had from Kate into a book that millions will read.
Comedy Plus: You are wise not to have a TV. I have to, babysitters are too expensive and then never clean up.
Kristina: She is but if I had that kind of exposure I’d get everything out of it I could too. 8 college educations are not going to be cheap.
Barb: Impressive (3). The show came out after my desire to watch screaming children had ended, I had my own, that was enough. She didn’t bother me as much as he did. The man had no spine. You are a great writer, don’t sell yourself short.
James: Yay, someone read more than the first paragraph! When I talked to an agent last year she told me all that I would have to do to promote my book, after signing all the rights to movies, sequels and any other cash generating aspect of the trip to the publishing house. What do I need an agent or a publishing house for if I have to generate my own buzz? Why would I want to give them a percentage of the money my book earns if they aren’t willing to work for me? It didn’t make sense.
Alison: You summed it up rather eloquently.
Lin: Weirder things have happened, she could be around in ten years. She could still have more babies. Ewww.
James: I would hate to be the ghost writer for Kate. I’m sure you are right about her skills. She’d have to be an excellent writer to take on a project like that.
All of the change in the publishing industry is a good thing long term, in my humble opinion.
First of all, the large, monolithic book stores will no longer be able to as prolific or profitable since more and more sales will go digital. This will make room for the small, independent, neighborhood stores which will cater to people who actually like to read. There will always be a demand for real books, especially hard cover ones. There is something very visceral about holding a book that cannot be duplicated by a Kindle or iPad. There is also something truly spiritual (for me anyhow) about wandering rows and rows of books, looking for that hidden gem that I know is waiting for me to discover it.
Second of all, it makes it so that older works and classics might actually get read again, similar to how older music got a boost from iTunes. The ability to “republish” one’s material easily and at a lower cost, makes it so that titles no longer in print and hard to find in second-hand stores can be made available again with very little risk or investment.
Finally, we will start seeing more and more content for the books themselves. Things like maps (I love maps), annotations, illustrations, glossaries, etc. Yes, it is geek stuff, and yes it is sometimes unnecessary fluff, but for those people who are truly fans of the work, the move to digital can help broaden the experience and immersion into the worlds that we create (both real and imaginary) for those who will enjoy it. Traditional books with color illustrations and expanded appendices were expensive, but now it can all be added with a click of the mouse.
Ick.
Makes me glad I am a goat.
Goats do things the natural way.
We dance for joy not dollars.
We eat bad books. burp
No waste here – except for the good garden growing kind.
.-= Pricilla´s last blog ..Not So Wordless Wednesday =-.
I am SOOOOO with you!!! You know what bugs me, I feel like this is even happening to bloggers. There are some incredibly popular bloggers out there that I don’t think have the talent of some others and popular keep getting more deals and the well written (And in no way am I talking about me or ranting on my behalf) don’t get anything. I just read so many great people and think, THEY should be at the top and not some others.
I hate Kate but I can’t get enough of her . I would NEVER buy her book but I do like to see what she is up to, I enjoy watching her fail…
.-= Holly´s last blog ..Dear Denver Drivers (Especially you RTD): =-.
James: The large monolithic bookstores aren’t that profitable. They blow their wad on the openings and then spend years trying to make a profit, many of them don’t. However, they manage to put a lot of independent booksellers out of business in the process. I was one of them. What people don’t realize is that Barnes and Noble and Borders are deciding for us what is worth reading. They stock the best sellers because they are best sellers. My son needed Antigone last week, we had to go to three stores to find it. Ended up finding it at Half Price Books, which is owned by Barnes and Noble.
Pricilla: Be thankful you haven’t been corrupted by corporate greed.
Holly: Agreed but they have better PR. Some of the big ones do deserve the attention they get. The Bloggess is one of them. The rest of them not so much. I want to be like them…
I envy Sandee that she doesn’t know who Kate Gosselin is.
You make great points here, Jen. I think those of us who never thought we could get a book published in our lifetimes are thinking twice with the availability of self-publishing outfits. Sure, we need to put up money first, but I think we stand a better chance than through the regular publishing houses. There is hope for us.
Now, I just have to write the book.
.-= Junk Drawer Kathy´s last blog ..Windy Cake and Bacon Shoes! =-.
Kate plus eight is enough already. I can’t even stand to watch her as the dancing train wreck anymore. But if people keep buying…I guess she’ll keep having other folks write books for her.
I dearly love walking into a book store. I love the smell, the racks of yet unread pages, the hush. Buggy girl and I can spend hours just choosing 1 book to take home and add to the collection. When I read to her at night, I pick up a real book, made from trees and together we read and lick the finger and turn the page. At the risk of sounding like a dinosaur, I have a fear that book stores won’t be around much longer. Buying online is so much easier and then there are kindles, etc.
Sorry, I know I’m taking a left turn here. Kate? She makes me nauseous but if I were her, I would grab hold and do the very same.
.-= Buggys´s last blog ..The Dream =-.
Kathy: I think the market has opened up for everyone who has ever wanted to publish a book. Many self publishing authors are doing very well. Usually they get picked up by a large publishing house if they can sell just 1000 copies on their own, which isn’t that many if you think about it.
Mrsblogalot: They will keep buying. Eventually they will stop buying her books and buy someone elses book. Octomom must have a book coming out soon. The chicks who slept with Tiger, bestsellers already.
Buggys: Me too, except for the half price books here in my neighborhood, it smells funny, lots of B.O. and wet dog feet. I don’t think bookstores will go out of business but I do think we will see a shift back to the small independents of yesterday. Bookstores where the clerks know about books. Which is not to say that B&N doesn’t. They do, at least the one I go to.
My lawyer son John is married to Kate. They have 4 kids. He wanted to pitch a new reality tv show called “John and the Whore Plus Four”. (He’s joking. He loves his wife. He’s just a weird guy.) I have never watched the show, and don’t plan to. I don’t think reading about this woman’s idea of what she wants me to know would be anything I would want to know.
.-= Linda Medrano´s last blog ..Harry’s Way – Mom’s Way =-.
I have to say that, though the name rings a bell, I haven’t a clue who she is either. I am completely out of touch with celebrities. Basically, because I’m not one bit interested in them. I’m far more interested in the people who have left their mark on the world in a meaningful way, and who, sadly, are unknown to most.
As far as publisher’s standards dropping. I have seen standards dropping in many areas over the years. It seems that the general public don’t care any more. We are becoming a very ‘Who cares, as long as the money rolls in’ world. It doesn’t pay to be highly skilled now days. The majority don’t want quality, they want cheap!
Oh don’t get me started on this subject! I might go into one of my rants!
.-= babs-beetle´s last blog ..TV Unit, and now more! =-.
Oh, I thought this was going to be an article about Kate. She’s soooo pretty and soooo interesting–even more so than Paris Hilton. But then it turned out to be a diatribe about how dumb the public is, and how good writers don’t get published. And then I lost interest and moved on. I wonder what’s on TV?
.-= MikeWJ at TooManyMornings´s last blog ..My Back Hurts =-.
Drek, Drek and more drek.
I’ve been working on a book for a year now, and with two at home, it’s not gonna get done anytime soon. But then, I’m trying to write a GOOD book.
.-= The Mother´s last blog ..I’m Serving Dog Barbeque. Anyone Coming? =-.
You couldn’t pay me to buy or read this book. Seriously.
.-= meleah rebeccah´s last blog ..Just A Little Filler =-.
I’m with Meleah…couldn’t pay me to read it. And I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to sleep at night not knowing what she wants me to know.
.-= Nicky´s last blog ..Zamboni Revisited =-.
Very good argument! Bravo! I never really thought about it from the angle of there being such good authors out there going without recognition and book deals. So very true!
Visit me at FourthGradeNothing.com
.-= ally´s last blog ..Is There An Ugly Ben? =-.
Kate Gosselin couldn’t write her own shopping list.
The state of publishing sucks, just like the news. It amazes me how much pulp is sitting in any of the major bookstores. Crap just gets churned out endlessly.
If you want to read some hilarious fiction about publishing and the ‘Self Help’ book craze, read Will Ferguson’s ‘Happiness’. It’s pants-wettingly hilarious.
.-= mike´s last blog ..Zamboni Revisited =-.
I’m sure Kate has never put pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – in her life. She undoubtedly has ghost writers who do all the work for her. I know this because I am an author and have written professionally for over 20 years. I would love a gig like this, especially if I was able to negotiate a contract for a percentage of the advance and royalties, and not a flat fee. Well, except I wouldn’t want a gig with HER specifically (or at all), but a gig with some celeb I had an affinity with. My agent is actually looking around for me at the moment. I’m a rock ‘n’ roll person, so that’s more likely what/who I’ll end up with.
Sparkle has a book coming out in August and at the moment I am working my butt off trying to figure out all angles to promote it. It’s a humor book (according to the publishers, who have her listed in both the humor and pet categories) and it’s not exactly deep, so it will appeal to the Jerry Springer crowd, or rather the cat lovers among them… if I can get word out to let them know it’s there. Fingers crossed!
.-= Janiss´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: Happy Day-Before-Tax-Day! =-.
In her defense, she’s way hotter than the Polish president.
Just throwing that out there.
.-= moooooog35´s last blog ..The One About Ruben Studdard Ninja Spiders =-.
testing
Cool!
it seems to be working now. Yay!
Oh great! It just needed a bit of time then 🙂
I think it might have helped that I cried and submitted a ticket to them.
Right. Was there something wrong then? I told you not to cry, and you disobeyed me.
I don't know what happened. They just sent me an email asking for more details so they didn't fix it. It fixed itself I guess. Sorry about disobeying you but I was getting frustrated. Do you know if Comment Luv works with this?
You are forgiven 😉 I can't get Comment Luv to work with it unfortunately. Maybe there is a way that I don't know of, or will be in the future.
I didn't realize she even had a single book out. Much less “another” book. Couldn't she just write a blog? I feel sorry for her kids. And I have no idea who that Kitty person is. But I know what you are saying and I agree. I'm sick of seeing people on TV who are famous for reasons nobody seems to know.
It takes less talent to be famous for nothing. Kitty Kelly writes all the unauthorized biographies of the stars. She did Liz Taylor and a bunch of other starts who are dead. They seem to be pretty thorough (accurate) but they are scandalous.
People read these books for the same reason they read National Enquirer and watch Entertainment Tonight: they need to live vicariously through those media sources. Not necessarily because they envy the people they read about, but because they want to feel better about themselves. I have the same feelings about anything related to Tiger Woods or the whole Michael Jackson thing.
These people are all human and they make human mistakes. Why in the world do I want to hear about the nitty gritty details of a family of 12 falling apart? Why do I want to watch a no-talent mom dancing on television? Truth is, I don't! But there are evidently a lot of people who do. Probably great dancers ticked off because they can't get on Dancing with the Stars. Speaking of which, when did Kate Goselin become a “star”? I guess we've lowered our standards there too.
Sorry for the rant.
Feel free to rant all you want. I don't watch the dancing show but I bet there are people who are upset that they can't get on a show like that but she can. Which is exactly how I feel about her getting all these book deals. But, Mama said life wasn't fair.
I just want to read good books, too. If I wanna read about celebrities every once in a blue moon, I can just buy a People magazine. I am sick of celebrities being “news” as well.
You don't even have to buy a magazine. I can't seem to get away from celebrity news, it's everywhere.
Wait wait wait! Does that mean I'm a REAL writer! Wooo hoooooo! 😉
You know, I am all for any woman trying to make money to make ends meet with her kids. After all, I would love to have that kind of money – this weekend we have no food and no money for groceries!
BUT… I don't care about her at ALL…. I have no interest in her and will not be buying her book… too many people get money and publicity who don't deserve it. Now all the writers of Tribal? WE deserve it! 😉
What is this comment plugin btw?
You are right about everything.
I'm trying Disqus. I got sick of not being able to keep up with the comments. I had to scroll up and down about 2 dozen times to respond to everyone. I don't know if this is the best way yet but I like how it sends an email and keeps the conversation going.
Well said. And don't even get me started on the whole Sarah Palin book/ 15 minutes of fame. There are so many talented unknown writers out there. At least we have the Internet to find them if they are blogging. Otherwise, how would we know?
Hey, you got Disqus. Yay! Good post. This was what I was talking about too in “Junk Food TV.” You just can't get away from this crap. I don't understand why Kate hasn't been booted off DWTS. Either she really does have a lot of fans and supporters, or there are just a lot of people who love train-wreck TV — probably both. I have seen a couple of interviews she's given this week and she's surprisingly candid and comes off quite sincere. I can't believe that's acting talent. Anyway, it's going to cost a shit-load of dough to take care of her litter of kids and that tool ex of hers sure as hell isn't going to bring in a dime. In fact, I'm sure she'll end up taking care of him, too. Bottom line… I don't begrudge her, but I have no interest either. Although I would watch Kate over Palin any day.
It's so true. What don’t we know about this woman? And I resent how she's calling herself just another working mom. Bullshit. She works to support her new lifestyle. The whole thing is just creepy.
And have you heard how her brother says her kids are damaged? And how Kate said he says it to make money himself? It's sad how fame and money have destroyed this family.
People want quick, fast entertainment. Video games. Entertainment magazines. Celebrity books.
Not many people want to do a lot of thinking these days. It could be that we're all so overworked that when we do have some free time we don't want to think at all.
But we are certainly part of the blame. As long as these companies and corporations are making money, they'll just keep churning out garbage.
I watched John and Kate Plus 8 when it was on TV, but haven't followed anything she has done since then. I do think her ex husband is useless so she will have to support those children by herself. My feeling is that if this is how she is able to do that, good for her. She has 8 college educations to pay for. That is a boatload of money.
I'm with Sandee… we don't have TV and I'd probably know even less than I do if it wasn't for blogs. I just revel in being so out of touch with the mindless drivel out there. In radio, we call it “fluff.”
I have noticed the depreciation of books in bookstores, too. :-p I mostly stick with the classics or how-to stuff.
Hi Jen,
I've been meaning to stop by to say hello. I can't believe Kate has written several books without a ghost writer. What insight are we supposed to glean from her anyway? How to have a failed marriage? How to have a litter of kids? I guess it's the rubbernecker appeal of seeing a wreck on the side of the road. I hate it when drivers slow down to gawk at brain matter splatter on a shattered windshield a.k.a. Kate.
Btw, I just joined Tribal Blogs.
I am still trying to figure out what redeeming quality Kate Gosselin has that we should care one iota about her and how she became a celebrity. How did shows like hers and the rest of that ilk become entertainment.
and as for your tribal blog ending, I am not much of a dancer, does that mean I have to give up my spot in the tribe?
I've never been fond of Kate since the get go. There is just something about her that I don't like. I agree with you that she probably didn't write it herself.
I never liked that woman. She always came across as a big phony, controlling b*tch on TV, and now I just could care less what she does. At least the billion kids she has will be taken care of when they get older.