Two upbeat memoirs of northern childhoods have proved such publishing sensations that both are to have sequels this year.

Reversing the recent trend for "misery-lit" the hugely selling autobiographies of Peter Kay and Paul O'Grady will take readers on from the antics which lit up their young days in Bolton and Liverpool.

Both have been given major advances to continue their stories in time for the lucrative Christmas market, which saw them topple much more fancied titles with their first efforts. Kay's The Sound of Laughter was the bestselling hardback of 2006 with 750,000 copies, while O'Grady ‑ creator of the cult comedian Lily Savage ‑ sold 600,000 last year.

Each comic prudently ended their debut books very early on, in Kay's case before he had even teamed up with Patrick McGuiness or started Phoenix Nights. His new book will deal with his rise to stardom, but is also expected to leave plenty for further volumes, in the showbiz tradition milked successfully by previous stars.

Spike Milligan, who was helped by a bit part in the cataclysmic events of the second world war, managed seven autobiographies, describing them as he went along as "an increasingly misnamed trilogy". Eventually bracketed together as the Tolstoyan-sounding War (and Peace) Memoirs, they were all bestsellers.

Dirk Bogarde wrote five memoirs, Bobby Charlton four and David Niven three, with the two actors acclaimed by critics for their literary style as well as interesting content. Kay and O'Grady have also been well-received, with the Bolton comedian ‑ who still lives in the town and hasn't been unduly horrid to anyone there ‑ described as a more cheerful sort of Alan Bennett.

"He is a gifted writer with a keen sense of the absurdities of family life," said Hannah Black, his editor, who gave The Sound of Laughter a spoof cover, with Kay as a podgier version of Maria von Trapp. Misery memoirs have meanwhile seen a fall in sales of 35% in the last year, in spite of some bookshops devoting whole sections to them, as a distinct genre like DIY or Travel.

Jollity in the Christmas lists will be reinforced by the autobiographies of at least seven other well-known comedians, including Jack Dee, Ant and Dec and Dara O'Briain. Most are expected to be upbeat along Kay and O'Grady lines.

O'Briain, whose Tickling the English will describe the touring stage life of "an anglicised Irishman with baggage", said: "Sadly, I have no battle with heroin or nightmarish locked-in-an-attic childhood memories with which to pad my book out."