Whats the point of autobiographies on people in their 20's ?

Question

Or are they written because those people have not had much of a life and have no prospect of adding any more value to it.

Answer 1

They are adding more value to it - they are trying to make people buy these books and get rich.

Answer 2

The bigger worry is why do people buy them and publishers are ploughing resources into this genre instead of talented up and coming writers!

We live in the age of celebrity, and the books you describe are quick fix, zietgeist vehicles to milk as much cash as possible before their fifteen minues are up.

I do not know many people whao could possibly have done anything that interesting in so short a time (there will be exceptions - Anne Frank, people who have been through extraordinary situations etc).

Society itself appears to have a never ending appetite for "celibrity" no matter how watered down it is, and these books can often promise (although not necessatily deliver) salacious details of liaisons with other "celebrities", that have niot already appeared in HEAT, et al!

So the point is that they "tap into the moment", as previously discussed, and also sadly many young people use these books as guidebooks/have these people as "role models"!

I think it si fair to say many realise nobody will be interested in their autobiography when they are 40, as the best is probably behind them, and nobody will no who they are then (though I suspect theri autobiogrpahies at that age would be far more interesting e.g. how they coped after fame)!

I don't buy them, but I will flick through one if it's around!!

One of the tabloids weekdned magazines runs a good 60 second thru this weeks celebrity autobiography e.g. Billy Piper, went to Drama School, got a record deal, got to No 1, career faltred, married Chris Evans, beame an actress, divorced!

Answer 3

Yes , I can see what you are getting at, but I don't think anyone at that age just sits down and thinks "I must write my autobiography"!!
They have done it because they have been 'sold' the idea by some agent who is obviously out to make cash from the story!
There must be a story to be told , and there must be people willing to buy it or the book wouldn't be sold, and the agent wouldn't have bothered in the first place.
The other alternative is that some young 'budding author' feels his or her life is interesting enough to merit publication, and has a go at 'do it yourself' and actually pays for the publication!! (so called 'vanity publishing')!!
Either way I have no problems about it, good luck to anyone who writes a book and wishes to have it published, whatever the reason and whatever the authors age !

Answer 4

I understand what you say - I can remember the tv show 'This is you life' surprising a YOUNG sports player, his first words were 'I'm only 23!'

There are however exceptions, namely people who have gone through amazing / tragic things in their early years where there is public interest about what happened to them in that time. Although these are really micro biographies EG If the Vienna girl who was kidnapped & locked in the cellar wrote about her experiences a few years down the line.

I think, as others have pointed out, it is to do with money and self publicity.

Answer 5

It's not that bizarre when given that a lot of young children have their childhoods ripped from them for whatever reason (child actor, sports prodigy, etc.). I suppose that these autobiographies are meant to be precautionary tales more than anything. Outside of that, some people do have really fascinating childhoods or teenage years, so it would be good to have their accounts in print before they mixed up too much with their adult lives.

Answer 6

Vanity, and the fact that nowadays, a book can make a fortune just by having the right name on the cover. It tends to be celebrities like Paris Hilton, or Jordan who right such drivel, rather than genuinely talented people, who are successful through talent and hard work, who tend to wait til much later in life to boast. Maybe it's a way of convincing themselves that they really have achieved something.

Answer 7

So many predictable responses here. By their mid 20s, The Beatles had produced many of their major albums, Brian Wilson had made Pet Sounds and began 'Smile'- the same is true of a few artists, musicians and writers.

This was their peak- they never made music quite as good again.

John Lennon was philosophising and cracking wiity jokes that feature in book of famous quotations.

Who says their story and their view of the world then wasn't worth as much as it is 40 years later?

Answer 8

I know, it's ridiculous. B/C list celebs having a ghost writer glorify their rise to fame and fortune. Often they are pretty ordinary people who just seem to have hit a nerve and risen through no real endeavour or talent.

Reality TV writ large. It's all bollocks really. And the gullible (bored?) public swallow it whole. It's pathetic.

Answer 9

Normally the C list celebs like Jade Goodie etc who do this - its a money spinner pushed by their agents and a waste of paper and peoples time.

Answer 10

So that they have enough money to keep them until their next autobiography.