Madonna performing on the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008). Pictures taken during the tour by her manager Guy Oseary were released in the coffee table book titled, Madonna: Sticky & Sweet.
Her first release as an author was the coffee table book Sex (1992), published under her company Maverick.[1] It consisted of sexually provocative and explicit images, photographed by Steven Meisel. The book received negative reaction from the media and the general public, but sold 1.5 million copies at $50 each in a matter of days.[2][3] Madonna continued releasing coffee table photography books, including those associated with her concert tours like Madonna: The Girlie Show (1995), Madonna Confessions (2006) and Madonna: Sticky & Sweet (2009). She also wrote forewords for a number of books, including Alan Parker's coffee table book about the making of the film Evita (1996) and wrote a chapter for The Emperor's New Clothes: An All-Star Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale (1998). Madonna has also written columns for publications like Harper's Bazaar, the inaugural issue of George magazine and the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
In 2003, Madonna signed a contract with Callaway Arts & Entertainment. The first release was the children's book, The English Roses, which was translated into 42 different languages over 100 countries.[4] The book debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, spending a total of 18 weeks there.[5][6] Telling the story of five friends, The English Roses was deemed by critics as a reflection of Madonna's childhood, and received mixed reaction.[7][8] Her second children's book, Mr. Peabody's Apples, was released in the same year and also debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. She continued releasing other books like Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The Adventures of Abdi and Lotsa de Casha; all five books released were included as part of an audiobook in 2006. As of 2007, her first six children's books sold over three million copies worldwide.[9]
Madonna's interest in Kabbalah inspired her to venture into the children's book market. Her Kabbalah teacher had suggested her to share her spiritual knowledge in the form of written stories.[10] All the books included the lessons Madonna had learned in Kabbalah, teaching about strong morality and warning against greed and envy.[11] A sequel for The English Roses was released in 2006, titled The English Roses: Too Good to be True. Madonna also released a total of twelve chapter books for the series in 2007.[6] Her success as a children's author was noted by Ed Pilkington from The Guardian, who believed that Madonna "lured a host of other celebrities and publishers into the [children's book] market".[12]
The book contains erotica influenced photographs taken by Steven Meisel and film frames shot by Fabien Baron. An instant commercial success, Sex sold over 150,000 copies on its first day of release. A week later, the book's sales exceeded the 500,000 units there and eventually topped The New York Times Best Seller list. Declared as the "publishing event" of the century, Sex sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.
The photographs in the book showcased behind-the-scenes of the 1993 Girlie Show World Tour with images taken by Herb Ritts. An accompanying CD was released with live tracks "Like a Virgin", "In This Life", and "Why's It So Hard".
Featuring an introduction by Madonna, The Making of Evita chronicles the creation of the 1996 American musicaldrama filmEvita. It features more than a hundred film stills and photographs. Alexandra Jacobs from Entertainment Weekly gave it a rating of C−, criticizing the image captions and the price of the book.
This fully illustrated retelling of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen was accompanied with a CD containing audio readings from 45 personnel from the entertainment world. Madonna penned the eighth prose piece of 1,000 words, titled "The Empress", and the book features a cartoon rendition of herself as Marie Antoinette.
In 2002, Madonna had collaborated with photographer Steven Klein for an art installation called X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS. The photographs were released as the titular coffee table book, containing 1,000 pages of images. Author Lucy O'Brien described the images as "a performer in her rehearsal space".
Behind-the-scenes and on-stage pictures from Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour, with photography by her manager Guy Oseary. The book consists of 224 pages of around 250 color photographs, handpicked by Oseary and Madonna, and are interspersed with quotes from her.
The book contains excerpts from interviews with Malawian children, their biographies, and images taken by photographer Kristen Ashburn for Madonna's 2007 documentary of the same name. Sales proceeds were donated to the charitable organization, Raising Malawi.
Behind-the-scenes and on-stage photography from Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09) by Oseary, with editing from photographer Tom Munro. The book consists of 308 pages of over 500 full-color photographs, and was limited to 7,500 initial numbered copies for purchase.
Munro's self-titled first monograph book consists of photographs taken by him throughout his career. One of Madonna's images by Munro was used as the book cover, and she also wrote the foreword. The book was released with an exhibition in Paris, displaying portraits shot by him.
Mayumi Nishimura worked as Madonna's private chef for seven years, and she specializes in macrobiotic cooking. In 2010, she released the cook book Mayumi's Kitchen: Macrobiotic Cooking for Body and Soul, which contains a foreword by Madonna.
A moral tale about five friends, The English Roses was inspired by Madonna's daughter Lourdes. It sold over 500,000 copies worldwide in its first month and 8,000 copies in the first week in United Kingdom. The book debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Madonna's second foray into children's book, Mr. Peabody's Apples talks of a juvenile protagonist called Billy Little, and the importance of always telling the truth. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.
The story takes place in 18th century Europe with Spirin choosing a baroque painting style to depict it. Yakov and the Seven Thieves talks about a dying boy named Mikhail and his parents search for a cure for him. It debuted at number seven on The New York Times Best Seller list.
The book tells the story of Young Abdi, who works as an assistant to a magical jeweler named Eli. Madonna promoted the release with a number of magazine, radio and television interviews in London.
Consisting of a fable, Lotsa de Casha is based on the phrase that "money cannot buy happiness". Depicting the characters as animal, the book tells about a rich Italian greyhound who is self-absorbed.
The sequel to The English Roses continue the story of the friends as they prepare for their first school dance. Madonna appeared on Home Shopping Network (HSN) to promote the book
Amy thinks her life is changing for the worse when her mother becomes pregnant. The English Roses have to help her realize the good things about being a big sister.
There is a Secret Santa gift exchange at school and Charlotte is determined to find the perfect gift. The English Roses have to help her remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Madonna wrote about her romance with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat to commemorate an exhibition of his paintings at the Serpentine Gallery in London. She sponsored the show.[54]
Madonna remembered her friend, fashion designer Gianni Versace, in this eulogy. Versace had been murdered outside his home two weeks ago by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
Madonna reminisced about her childhood during the summer, gardening with her father and favorite summer songs. The cover was shot by David LaChapelle and featured her as a Hindu Goddess.
A piece about American violinist and music educator Roberta Guaspari, whose life was made into a film called Music of the Heart in which Madonna was set to act but left due to creative differences.
On their 30th anniversary issue, People asked people from the entertainment industry, including Madonna, to write about the moment that had defined their career. She wrote about how Kabbalah had changed her life.
^Jacobs, Alexandra (December 13, 1996). "The Making of Evita". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 7, 2017. Retrieved August 19, 2016.