Pippa Middleton pens party book, startled at fame

Paparazzi favourite Pippa Middleton is already a global celebrity. Now the 29-year-old sister of the future British queen is aiming to become a global brand.

The woman whose appearance at the spectacular 2011 wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William caused as much of a sensation as the bride herself has written a recipe and party planning book which hits the shelves this week.

Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Families and Friends has been praised and pilloried in equal measure ahead of its Thursday release, but, perhaps predictably, Middleton's introductory comments have dominated the headlines.

In them, she addresses her status as one of the world's most photographed individuals, and even tackles the topic many people most closely associate her with - her behind.

It's a bit startling to achieve global recognition (if that's the right word) before the age of 30, on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom, she wrote with a candour that won admirers in the royalty-obsessed British press.

One day I might be able to make sense of this. In the meantime I think it's fair to say that it has its upside and its downside. The upside could be the size of the book deal.

Penguin imprint Michael Joseph, which is publishing the 416-page glossy hardback in Britain, has declined to give details of the size of the agreement, although a spokeswoman said some media coverage of the book had bordered on fiction.

The widely reported, but unsourced, amount is 400,000 pounds ($640,000), a sum which to most unpublished authors would appear astronomic although such advances are not unheard of.

Lena Dunham, three years Middleton's junior and the American creator of HBO comedy Girls, was paid more than $3.5 million for her first book, according to the New York Times.

... contd.

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