In the US, Vintage printed 1.25m first-run copies of Grey, the latest novel from Fifty Shades author EL James. Before it was even released last week, the book topped both online and print bestseller lists, based on presales. These numbers are a reminder of why James’s publishers were so keen to see her add another title to her softcore saga, but also of why James got published in the first place: the explosive popularity of her online writing, which guaranteed a readership, and a good backstory, when she eventually arrived in print. Publishers have been hunting for online sensations ever since, and as the stakes have got bigger, the audience new acquisitions bring with them has needed to grow bigger too.
There are few larger personal audiences today than those of the young stars of YouTube, who command armies of dedicated followers. Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, had 5 million subscribers to her fashion video blog when Penguin signed her up for a two-book deal in 2014. Her first novel, Girl Online, was the fastest-selling book of the year, despite weak reviews and mutterings about ghostwriters, and she’s since increased those subscribers to eight million. Swedish gamer Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, who has 37 million, recently signed to the same publisher for a book of “indispensable advice and inspirational quotes”.
Contrary to publishers’ hopes, it’s hard to see these celebrity YouTubers convincing a teen generation to switch from screen to page – at least through their writing. Perhaps the people we should be supporting are not the makeup bloggers, but those who already read like their lives depend upon it. Book review bloggers like Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia, 169,000 subscribers), Tiernan Bertrand-Essington (TheBookTuber, 37,000), and Sarah Churchill (ClumsinessisaCurse, 15,000) have all the wide-eyed candy-rush excitement of their fashion peers, but what they’re sharing is the books they love. It’s a crazy idea, but maybe if anyone can convince the YouTube generation to read more, it might just be the book reviewers they already love.
