Many celebrities have made the transition from TV to movie or from acting to singing. So why not also from on-screen to in print? For A-listers, the tell-all memoir about living with fame, fortune, and best friends-turned-frenemies is a popular way to go. But others decided to try their hand at penning fiction or children's books.

Some celebrity-turned-authors have had more success than others. A few have admitted to using a ghostwriter. Even more have tapped into their personal experiences with Hollywood parties, paparazzi, and starring in reality shows as plot points in their works of fiction.

The books included in this list may not be held up as literary masterpieces any time soon, but sometimes, a novel that helps you escape a little is *exactly* what the librarian ordered. If you looking to sprinkle a little tinsel town onto your next reading list, here are 40 celebrities you didn't know wrote fiction.

While Hilary Duff may play a powerhouse editor on Younger, the actress and singer has also proven herself capable on the other side of the table as well. The Lizzie McGuire star released her first young adult novel, Elixir, in October 2010.

The book centers on Clea Raymond, a talented photojournalist whose life starts to unravel after her father's disappearance and the appearance of a mysterious stranger, Sage, who might be the only one who can help her.

“I’ve always loved the escape of a great book, especially one that features a strong, inspiring female character you feel you really understand," Hilary told Entertainment Weekly at the time of Elixir's release. The story of Clea and Sage continues in two more books in the series, Devoted and True.

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Before TV's favorite fast-talking mom penned her two nonfiction books, Lauren Graham released Someday, Someday, Maybe, a novel about an aspiring actress who is trying to make it in New York City. However, the Gilmore Girls star was quick to point out in an interview with USA Today at the time that the story is autobiographical in "only the most general way."

Lauren told the paper she wrote the novel on her off days from shooting Parenthood, and that she planned on writing a second book with some of the same characters. While Someday was released in 2013, it's never too late for a reboot.

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By February 2001, when she was 19, Britney Spears had already released two platinum albums, headlined international tours and been nominated for a Grammy award. Might as well also add published novelist to the list.

A Mother's Gift, the second book co-written by Britney and her mom, Lynne, tells a slightly familiar story: a girl from small-town Mississippi who dreams of being a superstar singer and relies on the support of her mother when she's accepted to a prestigious school of music, according to Publishers Weekly.

However, Britney's writing didn't seem to be as much of a hit (me baby, one more time) with critics. "A portion of the proceeds from sales will go to the Britney Spears Foundation, which operates a performing arts camp for disadvantaged 11 to 14 year olds, but I suggest a less painful way of supporting the cause would be to send the money direct–I'd pay them to take this book off my desk," wrote a reviewer for RTE.

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Chris Colfer knows a thing or two about making fairy-tale dreams come true. After starring for six seasons as Kurt Hummel on Glee (and winning a Golden Globe for the role), Chris turned his attention to writing and final finished the book that he had been working on since he was 7 years old, he told the Miami Herald.

That book became the first in his Land of Stories series, which focuses on a twin brother and sister who find themselves in a magical kingdom that also happens to be the home of familiar characters, including Cinderella, Goldilocks, and Sleeping Beauty. The best-selling YA series now includes six books, with plans to expand to universe with stories about other characters and even a TV show in the works, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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Mo'Nique is known for encouraging women to embrace their curves, so it should come as no surprise that the Oscar Award winner describes the main character of her novel, Beacon Hills High, to Reuters as "F.A.T. - Fabulous and Thick."

The comedian told the publication that the story about Ebony Michelle Imes is based on her own years in college when she was learning to be comfortable in her own skin. Mo'Nique tackles other issues surrounding weight by including a character who becomes anorexic—a popular male character who is attracted to Ebony, but isn't sure how his friends will react.

"The message is that you can be any size but you must be healthy," she says. "I have always said I don’t care what size you are but be as healthy as you can and love you."

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Meet Marge: a zany babysitter who's one part Amelia Bedelia, one part Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and one part the imagination of funny girl Isla Fisher.

The Confessions of a Shopaholic star wrote three books about the adventures of Marge and her charges Jakey and Jemima Button for the U.S. series (the titles and availability change in other countries). She told Entertainment Weekly that her most important editors are her kids.

"If the story becomes boring, they just walk out of the room," Isla told the publication. "If my real editor, who’s brilliant, asks me to cut something, but the tiny people I have read it to have laughed in that moment, then I won’t trim it. I am not writing the books for 30-year-olds, and I just want to please my audience."

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They say write what you know. So, if you're looking for a novel about a young woman who moves to Hollywood and becomes the star of her own reality show, there's probably no better expert on the subject than Lauren Conrad. Although, the Laguna Beach and The Hills star insisted to MTV News that none of the characters or plot points on her debut novel, L.A. Candy, are meant to be characters on either show or represent late-night fights at Les Deux.

"I didn't take anything specifically that happened to me. The only thing that I did was ... it was a way to show not necessarily me but just the other side of being on a show like ours," Lauren told MTV News. "For everyone that's done it I think you see one side and you don't see the other. It's kind of an interesting story to tell."

Much like The Hills, however, Lauren was able to dream up enough drama for two more books in the original L.A. Candy series and an additional two-book spin-off series called The Fame Game.

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Tyra Banks smized her way onto the New York Times bestsellers list in 2011 with her young adult novel, Modelland. But you know Tyra never does anything halfway. Her sci-fi book takes place on an "alternative Earth," according to Publishers Weekly, where amateur models compete to attend "Modelland," an elite school where students are trained to be an "Intoxibella"—a.k.a. a supermodel.

The new Dancing With The Stars host described the story as, "'Harry Potter,' 'Hunger Games' and 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' meets 'America's Next Top Model'" in an interview with VH1, which means there's no way you're not getting your hands on a copy.

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If there's anything that sounds worse to a tween than leaving friends behind and moving to a new town, it's having to leave friends behind and then discovering that you might have a superpower that's going to turn your life upside down. Luckily for twin sisters Caitlyn and Cassie—the main characters of Tia and Tamera Mowry's Twintuition series—they know they'll always be able to rely on each other.

The Sister, Sister stars were inspired to pen the series by their own love of reading, especially when it comes to having the chance to spend quality time reading with their own kids. "Tia and I both feel that reading and learning has played a huge role in our lives, and even more so as moms, and we wanted to pass that onto those who have grown up with us, and their kids too!" Tamera wrote on her blog.

It seems like the sisters have been definitely tapped into a love of writing; the two teamed up to pen four books for the Twintuition series.

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It was a fan contest that led to the name of Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe Kardashian's novel, Dollhouse. Courtney Powell, who came up with the title, also won a guest cameo in the book as part of her prize, according to Digital Spy. It's unclear how many people, other than Kardashian fans, kept up with the novel.

The semi-autobiographical story follows three sisters who are working hard to help their family's struggling restaurant survive and find themselves thrust into the spotlight when one of the sisters is discovered by a modeling agency and becomes famous.

"It is based on our lives but we've added a lot of crazy fictional twists and turns," Kim previously told Digital Spy. "You'll have to decide for yourself which storylines are true to life, and which ones we dreamed up. LOL."

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The idea for Shay Mitchell and Michaela Blaney's debut novel, Bliss, started with the real-life BFFs and business partners casually reminiscing.

The Pretty Little Liars star told Cosmopolitan that they were sitting in her dining room one time and, "we were just talking about all the experiences we had from our past and what led us to be where we are right now." They then started writing the ideas down on a whiteboard in Shay's garage, and by the end of the conversation, they realized that they had enough material for a book.

"Yeah, so we were like, 'Let's get writing.'" Michaela told the magazine in 2015. "So we did little sample chapters for the agents and the rest is history."

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Not to be outdone by their older sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner released their own work of fiction, Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia, in 2014. The science fiction/dystopian novel focuses on two young women, one who comes from the haves and one who comes from the have-nots, who both have superpowers and who are both trying to make sense of their world.

“The fans seem to love it. That’s why we did it,” Kylie told the Toronto Star. “(The characters’) names are Lex and Livia. I think we wanted to make Lex more like me and Livia more like Kendall, and they kind of evolved into their own characters.”

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While looking for her next film project in between shooting as part of Marvel, actress Krysten Ritter got fed up with the types of roles she was being offered. She wasn't into playing a stripper or the wife of a much older husband, she told The New York Times in 2017, as neither were what she wanted to "put into the world."

Instead, Krysten used her time off to write her own novel with a flawed female main character who looks at the world through noir-tinted glasses that you could definitely see the Jessica Jones star playing in a future screen adaptation. Bonfire focuses on the story of Abby Williams, an environmental lawyer who finds herself back in the small town where she grew up and dealing with the people, scandals, and unsolved mysteries that she thought she had left behind. Sounds like Netflix has its next hit TV series.

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After two autobiographies, one of which became the best-selling autobiography by a woman since the category started being tracked when it was released, according to the Independent, Sharon Osbourne turned her attention to fiction. Instead of the expected downfall of a romantic relationship, Revenge tells the story of the competitive dynamic between two sisters who fight over men and fame and have a lot of sex along the way.

If you're looking for some salacious drama, look no further.

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With the kind of ambition that would make Ryan Howard proud, B.J. Novak released a collection of stories entitled One More Thing, and a children's book called The Book With No Pictures, in 2014. The later is quite exactly what the title says it would be—there are no illustrations, no author's photo, and even a debate whether the traditional logo of Penguin Books could appear on the spine, the Emmy nominee told to the Los Angeles Review of Books at the time.

B.J. explained to the publication that when he was growing up, reading for him was something that was rebellious, independent, and empowering, and he wanted to be able to convey that spirit to his young readers. "For a young kid who doesn’t know if books are boring, or interesting, or a chore, or homework, to frame it right away as something that is always on their side," he said. "That reading is a fun, rebellious tool that they will always have. They can interpret this code and use it to their own advantage."

At least with children's books, the Office star seems to have cracked the code. According to its site, The Book With No Pictures spent 55 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

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Prolific Hollywood star Carrie Fisher wrote seven books throughout her career, her first in 1987. Postcards from the Edge is the story of a young actress who is struggling to rebuild her life while battling a drug addiction but is still able to find the humor in everything.

Carrie adapted Postcards into a film starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in 1990, and the When Harry Met Sally star, a bestselling author, went on to pen three more novels and three autobiographies about her own struggle with drug addiction, fame and of course, a little film series called Star Wars.

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With the release of Naomi Campbell's first (and only) novel Swan, the buzz came with rumors that the international supermodel maybe wasn't the only person who had penned the story of the world's most successful supermodel who is looking to appoint her successor before she retires.

According to the Independent, it quickly emerged that most of Swan was written by Naomi's editor, Caroline Upcher, which led the Making the Cut star's agent to state that while Caroline may have been the "writer" or the book, Naomi was the true "author."

However, the whole affair worked out for both Naomi and Caroline. Caroline went on to write her own novels under her own name and her own pen name. Naomi, of course, continued to slay on runways and magazine covers around the world.

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Steve Martin had been writing comedy sketches and stand up for decades before the Emmy Award winner decided to try his hand at more serious fiction. Shopgirl, released in 2000, tells the story of a woman who works at the glove counter of a department store and her search for companionship.

Steve told Time that when he first started working on the story, he thought it would be 10 pages and then, "the pages began accumulating on the word processor." In 2005, the comedy legend adapted the 130-page novella into a film of the same name starring himself, Jason Schwartman, and Clare Danes as the title character.

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Is there anyone better to write children's stories than Mary Poppins herself? Julie Andrews (under her married name of Julie Andrews Edwards) has been writing books for kids and young adults since the 70s.

Now, alongside her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, the Oscar winner runs the Julie Andrews Collection, a selection of books by Julie and other authors that "nurture the imagination and celebrate a sense of wonder," according to the site. The Sound of Music star herself has written over a dozen books, including The Very Fairy Princess series.

"It is an awesome responsibility to write for young people, for I am always aware that they face more choices today and have to make more difficult decisions than I have ever known," Julie wrote on her site. "The joy of reading is that it asks us to use our imaginations...and therefore we engage, and play an active role in our experiences. And I can think of no better way for young people to discover their passions, their values, their world, and their own places in it than through the portal of a wonderful book."

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In When It Happens To You, the Riverdale star tells the story of a Southern California couple whose marriage is ending and those impacted by the fallout.

"I originally thought that I was going to write a collection of short stories along the general theme of betrayal," Molly told NPR in 2012. "And as soon as I wrote the first story, I realized that that wasn't going to work at all, that I really wanted the characters to be—I wanted there to be less characters. I wanted them to be more connected, and that's really sort of when the novel began to take shape."

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For those looking for a book about a sexy, former male escort turned amateur sleuth (and who isn't?), look no further than the Tennyson Hardwick series by Blair Underwood. The L.A. Law star set the mystery novels against the backdrop of Hollywood, hip-hop, violence, and betrayal that results in an erotic, noir read.

Casanegra, the title a tongue-in-cheek reference to Casablanca, according to the Los Angeles Times, is the first novel to feature Hardwick (there are now four), and Blair told the paper that he hopes there is a Casanegra movie one day. Us too, Blair. Us, too.

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PSA for anyone who wasn't already in the know: Hugh Laurie is funny. While many fans these days know him as the crotchety Dr. House, Hugh was one half of the comedy duo Fry and Laurie (with fellow British comedian Stephen Fry). The Golden Globe winner tapped into his satirical side for his first novel in 1996, The Gun Seller.

Publishers Weekly referred how Hugh portrays the spy thriller genre as the equivalent of Douglas Adams's take on science fiction with A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

There's also a story that The Night Manager star initially submitted the manuscript under a pseudonym.

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Two-time Academy Award winner (one for best adapted screenplay) Ethan Hawke has written three novels and one graphic novel since 1996. His most recent book, Rules for a Knight, is a letter from a knight to his children before he rides off into battle that Ethan imagined as one of his early, early ancestors, he told The New Yorker.

He also told the magazine that the book started simply as the rules of his family's house, but turned into a reflection on their values and what they believe. The first recipients of a published copy of the rules were his kids before the Boyhood star invited all of us to be part of his roundtable.

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Madonna has worked on 30 books—11 coffee table books, 12 chapter books, and seven picture books for kids. In terms of her writing career, the Grammy and Academy Award winner is probably best known for her English Roses series, the first of which was published in 2003.

The books follow the friendship of five girls, and the ups and downs that come with it, and are named after group of friends Madonna's daughter plays with at school, she told Publishers Weekly. The idea for the series was planted by the Queen of Pop's Kabbalah teacher, who suggested she write children's books to "share the wisdom you've gained as an adult." The first book in the series debuted at number one on the New York Times children's bestsellers list.

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In his debut novel, 50 Cent took on one of the biggest problems affecting students today: bullying. But instead of telling the story from the perspective of the victims, Playground focuses on Butterball, a student who is bullying others because of he lacks the tools to deal with his emotions.

“I had more experiences where I was a part of the problem, where I was actually bullying,” the Grammy winner told Today, HuffPost reports. “To know now from an adult’s perspective and be able to write things, I can look back on those actual situations and say, ‘That was completely wrong.’ But I know what was motivating it now.”

But Playground wasn't 50's first foray into writing. The rapper founded his own publishing imprint, G-Unit, with Pocket/MTV Books in 2005, that focused on novellas and graphic novels about 50's former rap crew, according to CBS News.

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When you're Tom Hanks learning from acclaimed screenwriter Nora Ephron, it's the best learning from the best.

The Academy Award winner told WBUR that there was a particular part of the Sleepless in Seattle script that he was "really cranky about," so he brought it to Nora and fellow screenwriter Delia Ephron (Nora's sister). Before this, Tom had worked on screenplays, but since he wasn't "coming up with the more detailed bones of structure of a story," he didn't count that as real writing. The Forrest Gump star ended up doing a major rewrite with Nora and Delia, and when the film was released, Nora told him, "You wrote that."

The rest, as they say, is history. Tom went to release a collection of short stories, Uncommon Type, in 2017.

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When Julianne Moore was little, one of the names she was often called by other kids was "Freckleface Strawberry" due to her red hair and face covered in freckles. The joke ended up being on those school-age playmate. The Academy award winner turned the nickname into the title character of her bestselling children's series.

"I always make jokes, like when I talk about the books, I’m like, 'They’re all autobiographies!'" she told Entertainment Weekly.

Since the first book was released in 2007, there have been eight books in the series, two apps related to the characters, and one musical.

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It's hard being the older brother to a younger brother who's a show-off—especially if that younger brother is particularly good at solving crimes. Mycroft Holmes spends much of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books in the shadow of his brother, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gives him the spotlight he deserves in his series of the same name.

Created with writer and producer Anna Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes was launched in 2015, and the third book in the series is slated for release later this year.

The NBA legend told The New Yorker that he first discovered Conan Doyle's series while he was a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks. He also claims the fictional detective helped teach him deduction and observation, which he was able put to use on the court. With that history, writing his own version of the Sherlock stories was for Kareem, as they say, elementary.

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Nicole Richie has pretty much been famous her whole life. Before starring in the reality show The Simple Life with ex-BFF Paris Hilton, Nicole grew up with mega-watt stars, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones.

In 2005, the Great News star turned some of her experiences with Hollywood, paparazzi, and drug addiction into her first novel, The Truth About Diamonds. The main character of the book is Chloe Parker, the adopted daughter of a music legend, and the narrator is aptly named Nicole Richie. Nicole also told the New York Times Chloe's boyfriend is based on her then-fiancé DJ AM but insisted that the BFF-turned-enemy who Chloe starred in a reality show with is definitely, definitely not Paris.

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Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz released his sem-autobiographical novel, Gray, in January 2013. The book centers on a young man who also happens to be a rockstar and also has some issues with drugs, women, and fame that he needs to work out.

The musician told the Independent that writing is another outlet for him. "My inspiration and my ideas don't begin and end at the beginning and the ending of a song," he said. "It is too limiting."

Despite not-so-great reviews (The AV Club's critic gave Gray an "F"), Pete seems to have been able to say thanks for the memories to the project and moved on to bigger and better things. Namely, Fall Out Boy's surprise announcement that they were reuniting in February 2013.

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Venting in a journal is a classic way to deal with the traditional perils of high school (boys, friends, cliques). But the process ends up being anything but traditional for Autumn Falls, the title character in Bella Thorne's fantasy trilogy, when everything she writes in her father's old journal she wished would happen starts coming true.

The former Disney Channel star published the first book in the series in 2014 and followed it up with a sequel in 2015 and 2016. Bella told Marie Claire in 2017 that the message of the novels is to not be afraid of being who you are. "You can't waste your time trying to be perfect because it's going to backfire," she said. "You have to trust yourself. That's really what the book is about."

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Late night TV host Jimmy Fallon admits that when he wrote his first book, Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada, he wasn't focused on imparting wisdom to his two daughters with a moral-based ending, but was purely trying to satisfy his own selfish agenda.

“There is no moral to this story," the SNL alum told the Associated Press after the book's release in 2015. "There’s no like, ‘Hey, don’t be a bully.’ The only thing is the secret agenda for the baby to say ‘dada.’ It’s a little sad but it’s what dads want."

Since then, Jimmy has published four more children's books, including a sequel to his first entitled Everything is Mama.

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For an actor who is probably most well known for playing someone who investigated extraterrestrial events for a living, the subject of David Duchovny's first novel is both exceedingly normal and exceedingly not. The main character of the X-Files star's book Holy Cow is, of course, a globe-trotting bovine named Elise.

David, who comes from a family of writers and majored in English at Princeton, told Salon that writing a novel is something that he wanted to do for a while, although the discipline associated with writing was hard for him to master.

"It's hard for me to sit; it took me a long time, between having an idea and actually sitting down to write it," the Californication star said. "If that was my primary job, I would have starved to death long ago."

That being said, David has also published three more novels since Holy Cow—Bucky F*cking Dent, Miss Subways, and Truly Like Lightning.

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The life of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi may have seen like it was stranger than fiction at times, but the Jersey Shore star published her novel in 2011. Set in a place that Snooki is more than a little familiar with, Seaside Heights, N.J., A Shore Thing tells the story of Gia Spumanti, a party girl who is focused on having a sexy summer.

But despite the seemingly familiar plot, Snooki told Reuters she felt like she kept people on their toes in other ways. "I didn’t want to do what everybody expected me to do, like an autobiography, or how to be a guidette,” she said. “I wanted to surprise everybody, so I did a novel."

Unfortunately, low book sales didn't end up turning G-T-L (Gym, Tan, Laundry) into G-T-R (Gym, Tan, Read A Book).

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The legendary actor made his fiction debut with the novel Montaro Caine in 2013. The book is a corporate espionage thriller with some reflections about fate, morality, and the nature of the universe sprinkled in, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Academy Award winner penned three autobiographies before taking on the new genre with a novel that, unfortunately, didn't have critics cheering as much as his on-screen roles do. "Of course I admire and honor the author, now in his mid-80s, for trying something new," the Tribune's critic wrote. "But when I think of him for the rest of my life, the images that come to mind will be the brave, noble, indelible characters he created onscreen as an actor. None of them will bear the slightest resemblance to Montaro Caine."

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There is no doubt that Pamela Anderson is a star, and the former Playmate tapped into her experiences in Hollywood and with the tabloids to help form the plot of her novel Star. Published in 2005, the book is about a small-town girl who becomes one of the most famous celebrities in the world...and all the ups and downs that come with it.

The Baywatch actress followed up Star with Star Struck, a semi-autobiographical story based on her marriage to Tommy Lee.

Pamela told Healthy Living that she's often reading multiple books at the same time, and she listed Pablo Neruda, Reinaldo Arenas, Carl Jung, Nicolas Bouvier, and Anais Nin as some of her faves.

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King of melancholy and dark humor Tim Burton channeled that energy into a collection of poems and short stories, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, that was released in 1997.

In true Tim fashion, the work focused on characters named things like Robot Boy, whose parents hate him because he reminds them of his mom's affair with a blender, Junk Girl and Char Boy, who identify with garbage so much that they actually become it, and Stick Boy, who is too fail to handle anything difficult, the AV Club explained in a review.

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If you have to fight in an epic battle between angels and demons in a fight to literally save humanity, you could have a worse sidekick than Wesley Snipes. Talon of God focuses on a young ER doctor who encounters something otherworldly on her way home from work one night and realizes the world might not be as it seems in the Blade star's debut novel that was given three stars by USA Today.

Wesley told ABC News that he wanted to challenge himself to express his creativity in a new way with Talon. “What are the limits and the boundaries of my creativity?" he asked himself. "How can I express the god within me in other ways through my creativity? And what kind of challenge would it be to try to do something like writing a book? Do I have the discipline? Do I have the words?”

Well, that, and wanting to make his English teachers "very, very happy," he told the outlet.

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Former late-night funny man Jay Leno was inspired by a true story from his childhood for his children's book entitled If Roast Beef Could Fly, published in 2004. The book tells the story of Little Jay, whose hunger threatens his family's end-of-summer barbecue on their new deck, complete with his dad's brand new rotisserie.

The comedian told Variety that he was approached by a publisher to write the book and noted that sharing his experiences is "what I do for a living."

“This story is one of many of my family stories that I enjoy telling people,” Jay said.“It’s a funny story and there are some things in there for the adults, so we’ll see what happens."

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