Pippa Middleton Takes Legal Action Against @PippaTips - The Streisand Effect

Mat Morrisroe and Suzanne Azzopardi started tweeting as @PippaTips. Their hilarious tweets spoofed
Pippa’s predictable party tips.

Some gems include:

@PippaTip: avoid awkward silences by talking

@PippaTip: when driving at night lights aren't only a legal requirement, but a fun way of seeing the road and other things

@PippaTip: if you're shopping on a budget, try purchasing things that cost less to buy

@PippaTip: breakfast is a yummy way to get rid of hunger after waking. Toast (re-cooked bread), cereal or eggs with bacon are always winners

@PippaTip: the weekend is a good opportunity to do things you don't have time to during the week

@PippaTip: headache tablets can be a great in helping deal with a headache

@PippaTip: form friendships by being nice to people you like

@PippaTip: a refreshing afternoon nap can be enjoyed by taking a nap in the afternoon

With more than 50,000 Twitter followers, the dynamic duo launched "When One is Expecting: A Posh Person's Guide to Pregnancy and Parenting". It’s a parody of Pippa’s quite unsuccessful book Celebrate.

Ms. Middleton was not amused and instructed her lawyers Harbottle and Lewis LLP to demand that the @PippaTips Twitter account must be deleted

Part of Pippa’s chagrin could be the fact that the spoof is outselling the original on Amazon. Celebrate ranks at #3,370, while the @PippaTips book ranks at #961.

Sales in bookshops are still better for Celebrate. Pippa did not do herself a favor with her public outcry. It generated a lot of publicity that only helps to boost sales for @PippaTips. It’s a classic example of the Streisand Effect.

Sales of Pippa Middleton's Party-planning Book Fall Flat

Pippa Middleton penned a party-planning book “Celebrate: AYear of British Festivities For Families And Friends”. The book only ranked #177 on the Amazon best-selling book list.

Publisher Penguin invested heavily in publicity and paid a whopping £400,000 in advance to Ms. Middleton the Younger.

To boost sales, Penguin discounted the book from £25 to £12.50. Up till now, it only sold around 2,000 copies in its first week.

On Amazon's US list, the book ranked #303 in the book charts.

At the launch of her book, PM stated: "I just feel really fortunate to be able to build a career as a writer."

Not everybody agrees that she is a writer. Critics deemed her 416-page book to be “banal”.

One reviewer wrote: "You would think, with the amount of PR and media interest in the author of this book that she might have written her book carefully, or perhaps even taken some expert advice.”

"For reasons best known to Miss Middleton, she has traveled the globe, shamelessly promoting an unbelievable pile of rubbish. The book is uninspiring, verging on insulting."

On the bright side, she is in good company. Many big names have flopped with books before. Alec Baldwin’s book “A Promise to Ourselves:a Journey through Fatherhood” only sold 12 copies, raking in the grand total of £175.01.

Note to all writers: if possible, make sure that you get that book advance in full!