Huge congratulations go out today to Zoe Sugg – aka Zoella – as news that her novel has sold 78,000 copies in its first week. In a world where male authors consistently outsell female authors (despite the fact that women buy two thirds of all books on the market, and 80% of fiction), Zoella’s achievement as a 24-year-old woman is pretty impressive. She’s overtaken all the male stalwarts, as well as Harry Potter and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code which is nothing if not mind boggling.
Following the fictional character of Penny, a teen who blogs about her insecurities, friends and boys she fancies, the story has been billed as a ‘modern Notting Hill for teens’, as Penny starts a relationship with a US pop star. It’s pretty easy to see the similarities between Zoe and Penny – they both blog, they’ve both seen unprecedented success at a young age (Zoella’s two YouTube channels have attracted over 9million subscribers), and they both are in high profile relationships (Zoe is dating Alfie Deyes who has over 5million subscribers).
With over 9million followers, and considering her incredibly successful opening week, it’s no surprise that there’s already a sequel due out in 2015, and that the rights have been sold in 25 different languages worldwide. The publishers knew this was going to be massive, so Zoe is already busy working on a follow-up.
Like this? You might also be interested in...
Is Zoella A Bad Role Model? Not If You Believe That Makeup Can Be Empowering
Meet The Girl With More Followers Than The Population Of Finland, Denmark or Singapore
We Expect Female YouTubers To Be Good Role Models, But Why Not The Male YouTubers?
Follow Stevie on Twitter: @5tevieM
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.