Wait… what?
Prior to today I had never really heard of Zoella outside of seeing her face pop up on the YouTube homepage every now and again, but apparently her online popularity is so immense that her debut novel, Girl Online, just smashed the book sales record, beating both JK Rowling’s Harry Potter debut and the first entry in EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey series.
Fans of the YouTube makeup guru/vlogger helped Zoella shift 78,000 copies of the book in its first week on sale in the UK, with it also now being the fastest-selling hardback of 2014.
Zoella, real name Zoe Suggs, attracts roughly 1.5 million views per video with fans clamouring to see her latest upload in which she also has a penchant for talking about her life, her family and her anxiety disorders, something which she has been very candid about in the past.
Girl Online sounds like it closely follows the personal life of its author, as it centres around a socially anxious blogger. It is the first entry in a two-part book deal with Penguin, though considering its extraordinary popularity expect to hear a lot more of Zoella in the future.
As someone who is apparently increasingly out-of-touch when it comes to the rising world of video blogging, I have no idea what to make of this news but I guess a congratulations in order. Well done, Zoella! It’s always nice to hear about young people reading – I just hope your book isn’t shit!
