Where Do Authors Stand Within the World of Celebrity?

Recently considering the standing of the novel today[LINK TO PIECE ABOUT DECLINE OF NOVEL], and the matter of celebrity[LINK TO NEW PIECE], it occurred to me that while I have written about celebrity of various kinds (that of actors, of musicians, of athletes), and even celebrity as such, I have not discussed authors much from that standpoint. I suppose that I did not even think to do so reflects the reality that authors, while not excluded from the world of celebrity when they attain a certain level of success, or at least visibility, also do not rank all that highly within the world of celebrity--in our times at least.

Consider those things that make a celebrity a celebrity rather than merely famous, or even merely famous because

1. They are not just famous, but famous among the general public in a "household name" way.

2. They tend to be highly visible--not just their name but their face well-known, in part because the public sees them at whatever work it is that makes them famous (on the screen or the stage or in the stadium where they give them an entertaining show).

3. Their performance tends to at least appear highly individual, and to be made possible by an extraordinary personal talent.

4. They are perceived as not just accomplished, but glamorous.

Consider how writers stack up here against, for example, singers.

In a culture where the written word matters less and less and fewer people pay attention to books, accomplishment in letters is less likely to make anyone a "household name."

Even if they do become famous we are more likely to know their names than their faces, in part because what they do doesn't lend itself to showy display before a public. The actor acts, the singer sings, the athlete plays in front of us. The writer doesn't write in front of us. In fact, when we see them they are taking time away from their writing, likely because their publishing contract made them do it--all as watching them write, aside from not being really interesting, wouldn't be a "performance" in the same way, the "performance" instead what we get when what they work on is published and we read it.

In part because few people pay attention to books, and because the accomplishment of a writer lacks that kind of performative-visual aspect, many simply don't recognize talent in writing the way they do acting or singing or athletic accomplishment. Personally moved by an actor or singer's performance, or perhaps even more easily impressed by an athletic feat. (Seeing a player hitting one out of the park, making a full-court shot, and of course, scoring four touchdowns in a single game, even people who know virtually nothing about the sport are likely ro know they have seen something extraordinary.) By contrast in the minds of many "anyone" can string words together, while the appraisal of the result is simply "subjective" (as every failing composition student is quick to say).

And of course, there is the plain and simple fact that writing is seen as "nerdish" in a way other artistic endeavor is not--with all that means in a nerd-bashing and generally anti-intellectual culture, and its prospects for glamorousness. It is the case, too, that publishing is less a young person's scene than the performing arts or sports, that the ability to spellbind with the written word is less likely to be linked to physical appearance or charisma than is the case with those who spellbind an audience from a stage.

Of course, like many others writers are for all that encouraged to constantly exploit and deepen whatever celebrity they may have, as seen in the aforementioned rituals of book publicity, like those book signings that the makers of atrocious films and television shows about authors love to shoehorn into the revolting crap they foist on the viewing public . And should an author, for example, see their book made into a movie doubtless they get some of the reflected glory of the Cinema. Still, if the movie reaches a bigger audience it is those who starred in the movie that I suspect people are more likely to associate with it than the author of the source material--the words "The Hunger Games" probably conjuring up in far more minds the image of Jennifer Lawrence than that of Suzanne Collins. The result is that even if after having made the journey to Park Avenue they take a second trip from there to Tinseltown, they are not likely to become truly of Tinseltown barring their becoming something other than a writer of fiction.

In all that there can seem a pattern. The low stature of authors within the celebrity world means that much less interest in what they do, while the lack of interest in what they do further depresses their stature--reflecting and reinforcing the shift of contemporary culture's center of gravity away from the written word in our time.