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New books from bestselling comedians Peter Kay and Paul O'Grady have been confirmed by Random House as publishers look to fill their lists with upbeat titles.
Century is not releasing any details on Kay's follow-up to The Sound of Laughter yet, but confirmed that the book would be out this autumn.
A publication date for Paul O'Grady's new volume of autobiography, provisionally titled The Devil Rides Out, has not yet been confirmed. Transworld publishing director Doug Young said: "We won't schedule it until he has finished writing it." The deal for the new book was done through O'Grady's agent Lord Waheed Alli for an undisclosed sum.
Memoirs from comedians Jack Dee, Ant and Dec and Dara O'Briain are also due out this autumn, with feelgood titles being tipped to feature heavily in upcoming schedules as publishers commission for the recession. Agent Jonny Geller predicted: "Comedies and love stories will be bigger, and books by comedians will be bigger. It's this [need for upbeat stories] that's behind the success of 'Slumdog Millionaire'."
The move coincides with a further dip for the sales of misery memoirs, revealed in the latest Nielsen BookScan figures. By this point in 2008, 13 mis-mems had sold over 10,000 copies through the TCM, but just four have achieved that feat in 2009, and at lower sales volumes.