How to throw readers off the scent of celebrity authors

Gwyneth Paltrow has been stealing literary thunder at a public event. How are plainer writers to take it back?

What's a jobbing author supposed to do when overwhelmed at a library book signing by the fragrant Gwyneth Paltrow? After an attempt to claim that she was an up-from-size-zero Gwynnie herself had failed, novelist Christina Oxenberg knew what to do: first waft "stinky steak sandwich" fumes in her direction, then take to one's blog to let off steam.

The signing in question, the ninth East Hampton Library Annual Authors Night fundraiser, had been hailed as New York's literary event of the summer and was crammed full of the great and good from literary circles including Robert Caro, Pulitzer prize-winning biographer of Lyndon Johnson, heavyweight economist Joseph Stiglitz and acclaimed New York novelist Jay McInerney.

All were eclipsed by Gwyneth's glow, and her crowds of fans, as she signed copies of It's All Good ? her healthy-eating manual packed with recipes free from "coffee, alcohol, dairy, eggs, sugar, shellfish, deep-water fish, wheat, meat, soy, and all processed foods." No wonder Oxenberg took to the buffet.

But she may be cheered to learn that UK train operator Virgin Trains could be starting an audience-focusing trend by hosting author signings in an altogether more controlled environment. The train company is planning a series of high speed on-board book signings. Starting on the west coast route on 14 September with Scandi-crime author Jo Nesb� signing his new Harry Hole thriller Police, Virgin are promising author events this autumn at up to 125 miles an hour between London and Glasgow. The signings will be announced over train's speaker system, and travellers will be invited to buy a book before meeting the author to have it signed. Also on the autumn line up are Joanna Trollope with her latest, The Soldier's Wife, and Ruby Wax signing Sane New World: Taming the Mind.

Do say: Let's do it in the buffet car. Don't say: If only Gwyneth were here.

• Gwyneth Paltrow

Liz Bury

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Source: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/15/readers-celebrity-authors-gwyneth-palthrow

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