If there is one thing better than a famous person writing about themselves, it is a famous person writing about their famous family. Not convinced? Well, publishers hope the lineup of new celebrity biographies and autobiographies this autumn will entice readers with a rich harvest of real-life dynastic sagas. Among the illustrious families offered up for dissection are the Bush clan, the Spencers, the Hustons – via the memoirs of the actress Anjelica – and, of course, the Kennedys again.

In some cases the perspective on offer is particularly intimate, with Charles Spencer, brother to the late Princess of Wales, writing about his own ancestry and George W Bush bringing out an appreciation of his father. And the British literary biographer Selina Hastings has published the life story of her father, the rakish 16th Earl of Huntingdon.

"Generally, readers like history with a human face on it. You can position yourself against them, as a family, when it comes to how fathers and mothers treat their sons and daughters," said Gordon Wise, a senior editor at the literary agency Curtis Brown. "There is also a family history element, a Who Do You Think You Are? quality to it. These can be epic stories if they are about people who were historically involved with public life."

The biography of George HW Bush, the 41st president of the United States, written by his son, the 43rd president, has been seen by some as a well-timed reminder of America's most successful recent political dynasty ahead of the decision still to be made by George W's younger brother Jeb, the former governor of Florida, about his own White House run. Asked about Jeb's ambitions in 2016, George W said: "I think he'd be a great president. He understands what it's like to be president, for not only the person running or serving, plus family. He's seen his dad. He's seen his brother. So he's a very thoughtful man and he's weighing his options."

The Ebury Publishing imprint WH Allen, which has acquired the British rights to 41: A Portrait of My Father, is promising a "highly personal" and "unique and intimate" biography, due to be released on 11 November, as the American edition comes out. Publicising the book earlier this year, the author – whose previous book, Decision Points, detailed the most important dilemmas in his life – said: "George HW Bush is a great servant, statesman and father. I loved writing the story of his life and I hope others enjoy reading it." The US publishers say it will cover the "entire scope of the elder President Bush's life and career, including his service in the Pacific during the second world war, his pioneering work in the Texas oil business, and his political rise as a congressman, US representative to China and the United Nations, CIA director, vice-president and president". The first printing will be of one million copies in America. His last book sold just under 30,000 copies, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

Fans of a more glamorous presidential family can look forward to publication of two more books about the Kennedys on 28 October. The Good Son: JFK Jr and the Mother He Loved by bestselling biographer Christopher Andersen is said to contain revelations about John Kennedy Jnr's girlfriends and the night of his death in a plane crash on 16 July 1999. However, the focus is firmly on his relationship with his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and will chart her depression following the assassination of her husband in Dallas and her attitude to the succession of celebrated women her son was linked with, including Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Daryl Hannah and his wife, Carolyn Bessete.

The other Kennedy chronicle out that day is Barbara Leaming's "sensitive" biography of the former first lady. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story will describe her struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder following the killing.

The most famous British family in public life to be affected by a brutal sudden death, the Spencers, are the subject of a new history out last month which traces their aristocratic family from its beginnings in medieval sheep farming, through centuries of service to the crown, to the marriage of the author's sister to the Prince of Wales. The book, which has won praise from critics for its storytelling skill, has benefited from the 9th earl's access to private papers.

Hastings's book, The Red Earl, also plunders aristocratic vaults to tell the story of her father, Jack Hastings, who in 1925 rebelled against his conservative background by eloping with a beautiful Italian and leaving England for Australia to become a painter. The couple then moved to an island in the South Pacific before heading back to England by way of California, where Hastings led a glamorous social life with Charles Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks.

Wise suspects that Hastings has been shrewd to focus on just one of her well-bred forefathers. "The difficulty with a family saga is that you usually get a generation or two who are not as interesting, so sometimes it can feel a bit stretched."

The aristocracy in general is in vogue, Wise said, partly because of the interest in Eton and in the activities of the Bullingdon Club, the Oxford undergraduate dining society featured in the film The Riot Club. "It all provides a kind of soap opera," he said. "These stories just fall into place with all the complexities around property and wills. It is often more Downton than Downton. Readers are intrigued that this goes on in what is now meant to be a democracy."

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, is to bring out his study of Sir Winston Churchill later this month. His book, The Churchill Factor, will examine both the war leader's relationship with his father, Randolph, and the historic prime minister's enduring standing as a political role model. "Boris, although a former journalist and editor like Churchill, is in awe of his achievements," said Wise, who admits that the authors of books about great dynastic figures are often also saying something about themselves. "If they belong to the family, they are often trying to distinguish themselves against famous relatives or to say something about their own standing."

Anjelica Huston's new book may fall into this category. Following her acclaimed memoir A Story Lately Told, the actress picks up the story of her battle to establish her career in the shadow of the careers of her father, the late film director John Huston, and her famous former partner, Jack Nicholson.

And what are the commercial prospects for these dynastic sagas? According to Wise, they can sell well if the story is ably told. "Heritage books tend to do fine in Britain because of the appeal to National Trust and English Heritage members, but newspaper serialisation is not worth as much as it once was and so publishers are often relying on a book being shortlisted for a high-profile prize."