The Book Club Boom
Celebrities Harness Social Media Influence to Launch Book Clubs Creating a Novel Approach to Streaming Adaptations
"To know me is to have had me shove this book down your throat," Kaia Gerber enthusiastically tells her followers about Lillian Fishman's debut novel Act of Service. In March 2020, Gerber, the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, launched her book club, reaching her ten million Instagram followers. Gerber isn't alone; she and many other celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon, Mindy Kaling, Dakota Johnson, Emma Roberts, Dua Lipa, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Emma Watson, have started online book clubs over the last few years. Oprah, a driving force in publishing since the mid-nineties, relaunched her book club on social media in 2012.
Celebrities often use their meticulously curated social media presence to promote their latest projects. During the lulls between promotions, they need engaging content to keep their audience's interest. A book club allows celebrities to cultivate an image as literary tastemakers while demonstrating the celebrities' influence, as the chosen books typically experience a significant boost in sales following the announcement of their selection. Publishers send advance copies to celebrities, hoping to secure a coveted spot in their book clubs and gain exposure for their titles.
The current undisputed leader in literary influence is actress Reese Witherspoon, who first gained fame in 1999 with her roles in Election and Cruel Intentions. She quickly became a leading Hollywood star, culminating in an Oscar for portraying June Carter Cash in the 2005 biopic Walk The Line. However, Witherspoon noticed a change shortly after this career highlight. She told The New York Times, 'When I was about 34, I stopped reading interesting scripts.'
Around this time, Netflix was launching its streaming service. Demand for movies and TV shows soared, and programming budgets reached unprecedented levels. For instance, Netflix spent more on programming in 2021 than NBC did throughout the 1990s. Unlike traditional networks, streaming platforms bypassed the need for test pilots, opting to green-light shows and send them straight to series.
Witherspoon capitalized on these higher programming budgets by launching her film studio, Hello Sunshine, in 2016 and her book club a year later. She often purchases the film and television rights before announcing her book club picks, allowing her to sell the projects at a considerable markup once the books become popular.
In 2018, Delia Owens released her debut novel Where The Crawdads Sing. That September, Witherspoon selected it as her next book club pick, saying, "I'm not even sure I can express in words how much I love this book." By the end of 2019, it had outsold all other fiction titles. By 2022, a film adaptation was released in theaters and eventually landed on multiple streaming services, including Netflix.
Reese Witherspoon transforming Where the Crawdads Sing from a beloved novel into a captivating film is not a mere stroke of luck. She's been the powerhouse behind numerous hit streaming adaptations from her book club. Her lineup includes The Last Thing He Ever Told Me on Apple TV+, Big Little Lies on Max, Daisy Jones & The Six on Amazon Prime Video, and Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu. Witherspoon has a knack for finding stories that will transform into streaming hits.
Witherspoon was rewarded for her talent when, in 2021, she sold her production company to Blackstone for nearly a billion dollars. She still oversees the day-to-day operations and is a significant equity holder.
While 2021 likely marked the peak of boundless streaming budgets, it's unclear if these adaptations will continue to thrive in a more cost-conscious environment.
However, the trend shows no signs of slowing in the near term. Curtis Sittenfeld's novel Romantic Comedy, the April 2023 Reese's Book Club selection, is already in production for a film adaptation with Witherspoon attached to produce. Additionally, she recently announced the third season of Big Little Lies will start filming soon.
Moreover, celebrities continue to launch online book clubs, leveraging their considerable social influence to promote books. As one literary agent told New York Magazine in March, "We are all so desperate for people to give a shit about books that honestly, we'll take all we can get."