Beauty vlogger and YouTube sensation ‘Zoella’, Zoe Sugg, has come under fire this week after it was revealed that she did not write her best-selling romance novel, Girl Online. Following the accusations, Sugg announced to her 6,678,979 subscribers that she was "taking a few days out and off the internet because it's clouding up my brain.”
Sugg’s debut novel Girl Online broke the all-time record for highest first-week sales, selling 78,000 copies in its first week of publication in the UK, beating the likes of J.K Rowling and Dan Brown. As rumours circulated about a possible ghostwriter, Penguin confirmed that Sugg did not write Girl Online on her own.
The questions focused on whether or not the novel was ghostwritten by Siobhan Curham, who is named in the acknowledgements. Sugg responded by tweeting this to her 2.5 million Twitter followers: “For the doubters out there, of course I was going to have help from Penguin’s editorial team in telling my story, which I talked about from the beginning”.
“Everyone needs help when they try something new,” added Sugg. “The story and the characters of Girl Online are mine.”
“To be factually accurate, you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own,” a Penguin spokesperson stated. “As publishers, our role is, and always has been, to find the very best talent and help them tell their story and connect them with readers. For her first novel, Girl Online, Zoe has worked with an expert editorial team to help her bring to life her characters and experiences in a heartwarming and compelling story.”
When several media outlets reported that Sugg was quitting YouTube all together, she tweeted: “The stuff press write about it is literally ridiculous! I AM NOT QUITTING YOUTUBE.”
Girl Online is the latest in a string of successes for the beauty vlogger this year, who was invited to sing along with pop sensations on this year’s Bandaid Song, and took home 2014 Teen Choice Award for "Choice Web Star: Fashion/Beauty".
Carousel image credit: Vogue UK
