That's the question being asked by a number of UK publishers, the Independent reports, after a number of high-profile celebrity deals that once turned into books, didn't exactly earn back the advances. Among the disasters is former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who has shifted little over 1,000 copies of his book in the three weeks since publication, despite a deal worth £400,000. Other expensive failures include memoirs by Rupert Everett, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney (well, his book's not doing so bad, but bear in mind his deal is worth in the region of £4m for five books over the next 12 years.)

"The problem is over-publishing. Across the board, books are suffering," said David Wilson, editorial director of Headline, which published Cole's book. "They are not getting the shelf space in the shops. There are just too many celebrity books out there - and a lot of the major sports memoirs are basically celebrity books too. A few rise to the top, but you can never predict which they will be." But a different viewpoint comes by way of frequent publishing commentator Danuta Kean, who says that for many publishers, celebrity memoirs were something of a loss leader: "When HarperCollins paid huge amounts to Jade Goody it put down a marker to show that it would be interested in these celebrities. With Blunkett, it showed that Bloomsbury is in the market for big political books." Besides, there's lots of money to be made from additional editions and especially first serial rights. "Publishers may make some dodgy judgements but they can do the maths and know how to operate in a tough market," Kean concludes.