Britney drag brunches and silent discos? Book publishers have lost the plot

Something strange is happening in book publishing. This week, a group of Britney Spears superfans descended on London to celebrate the launch of the singer’s new memoir, The Woman in Me. Dressed in flight-attendant costumes, like the one Spears wore in the music video for her 2003 single Toxic, they’ve been part of a big promotional push by publisher Simon & Schuster, which has also included a silent disco at Waterstones’s flagship shop on London’s Piccadilly, a Britney-themed “drag” brunch, tak