Zoella Launches Her Debut Novel, ‘Girl Online’ – But Who Is She?

YouTuber Zoella has today launched her first novel, ‘Girl Online.’

The 24-year-old British vlogger (that’s video blogger) celebrated the book launch with a swanky party in central London alongside Tanya Burr, Alfie Deyes and Jim Chapman.

Who on earth are they, we hear you ask?

They’re the cream of the YouTube crop, earning mega-bucks filming videos from their bedrooms – with Zoella the most successful of the bunch.

The Rise Of Zoella

Wiltshire-born Zoe Elizabeth Sugg achieved three A-Levels but turned down uni for an interior design apprenticeship. She started blogging in 2009 as a ‘creative outlet’ before turning to YouTube soon after.

Her first vlog was simply her talking about sixty items she has in her bedroom. Now, she has six million subscribers (that’s more than global superstar Beyonce), averaging 12 million views a month and 260 million video views to date.

Her audience is 26 times the circulation of British Vogue.

Zoe’s avid fans (mainly girls aged 13-17) tune in from all around the world to watch her talk about her guinea pigs, beauty buys and her latest clothing purchases (which are called ‘haul’ videos in the YouTube world).

And her influence hasn’t gone unnoticed. She won the Best British Vlogger at the BBC Radio Teen Awards and the UK Favourite Vlogger at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award, giving her global recognition even beyond her vast YouTuber audience.

Zoella’s Earnings

YouTubers are famously discreet about their earnings but the fact Zoe lives in a gated £935,000 five-bedroom Brighton penthouse with her 21-year-old YouTuber boyfriend Alfie Deyes suggests the pair are doing all right for themselves.

They earn mega-bucks from their YouTube videos, arranged through network Style Haul, who sort out fees for adverts at the start of their vids.

For example, every 1000 times a pre-roll advert is shown before a video, YouTube gets a portion of the revenue and the vlogger gets a cut too (55 per cent).

Zoella continues to write blog posts too and is thought to charge £20,000 per month for a side-bar advert and £4,000 for product placement on her blog.

But these elite video bloggers aren’t simply making money from their videos – they’re branching out to become brands themselves, with Zoella even trademarking her name for ‘Clothing, Household And Glass Products.’

Sponsorship deals are where the big money is, with Zoe recently working with clothing e-tailer Boohoo.com on her blog while her boyfriend Alfie joined forces with Danio yoghurts. Although she insists she turns down ’90 per cent’ of offers.

Then there’s the beauty line. Zoella recently launched her eponymous label in Superdrug that includes candles, bath products and a make-up bag, that is no doubt going down a storm with her tween viewers.

She was also announced as the First Digital Ambassador for mental health charity Mind (she’s been open about suffering with anxiety) and her face is splashed across adverts on the tube as she promotes joining YouTube as part of a new campaign.

And The Book?

‘Girl Online’, released today, is a coming-of-age, loosely autobiographical novel about a blogger who finds fame overnight but struggles with her anxiety.

“It's kind of like a modern day Notting Hill. It's about a girl with a blog and it's got romance and it's got friendship and fall-outs too,” Zoe told Sugarscape.com.

“The main character also has anxiety, which I could also relate to quite a lot as well. Hopefully lots of people will enjoy reading it.”

We don’t know Zoella’s advance for writing ‘Girl Online’ but we do know that it’s already topped the Amazon bestseller list after just a few hours on sale.

Advances on a debut book range from hundreds to millions of pounds, with Lena Dunham receiving $3.5 million for penning ‘Not That Kind Of Girl’.

But with Zoella’s fanbase of more than six million girls waiting on her every word and a promotional tour spanning the length and breath of the UK, you can guarantee that the 24-year-old will earn a pretty hefty sum for simply being a Girl Online.

[The beauty vloggers earning mega-bucks from their bedrooms: We reveal the secret to their success]

[Zoella book launch on Yahoo News]