Celebrities and Book Deals

Recently, it was announced that Glee star Chris Colfer signed a two-book deal with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and it got me thinking again.  Whenever I hear about celebrities publishing books I always get a wave of emotions.  Besides the usual envious feeling because I still haven't gotten published yet, I also often find myself disappointed and even angry.  Are these celebrities getting book deals for the shear fact that they're celebrities and therefore are likely to sell more books than a newbie author as myself or do they really have the talent?

I usually make a mental note not to buy celebrity books, just for the pure fact that the first-time author spot they took could have been mine or perhaps another struggling author.  One who houses a stack of rejection letters in his or her draw just like I do.  And what about these celebrities?  Do they have rejection letters?  Probably not, because who wants to say no to someone with a fan base of millions of teens.  I do get the appeal, trust me I do and I realize I'm probably being petty, but I can't help the way I feel.  I have to struggle and fight my way through a process that these celebrities can just walk past.  It's like being the one waiting in a long line at the club and watching the pretty girls step right in.  It doesn't feel fair.

Chris Colfer aside, who seems to have writing experience between writing a Disney pilot and a movie screenplay, I wonder about some of these other celebrities.  Celebrities like Hillary Duff, who wrote the YA fantasy Elixer, Madonna and her The English Roses series, Ricky Gervais, Josie Bissett, Will Smith, LeAnn Rimes, Billie Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.  Some of which, I will admit, I have read even though I don't own them.  And, I also admit, some of them were good.  But, I wonder, would these books have been published if they were not written by celebrities?