Many previously unknown people are also enjoying success with memoirs based on compelling personal stories, including Kevin Lewis, author of The Kid, a book about childhood abuse which has sold more than 150, 000 in the last few weeks.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Magazine | I'm a celebrity, get me a ghost writer

Even as the country's overprotective parents whip themselves up into a moral panic about kid-on-kid cruelty, the numbers don't point to any explosion of abuse.

WSJ: The Panic Over Bullies