Photo by Christopher Pledger from The Telegraph
I'm sure most people are now aware of the recent controversy making waves not only across the blogging/YouTube world but basically all over British media: that YouTuber Zoe Sugg, AKA Zoella, has recently released a fiction book for young teens which, because of her absolutely humongous young fanbase, actually managed to outsell novels by Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling, selling an unbelievable (and apparently record-breaking) 78,000 copies in its first week. Unfortunately, however, at seemingly the very height of Zoe's success the press, who just hours earlier had been singing her praises, changed their tune when Penguin released a statement last week announcing that "To be factually accurate, you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own".
This revelation, which many will say was really quite obvious to begin with, has prompted hugeee debate over the blogging and YouTube scene regarding how much of the book really was Zoe's. Fans are currently divided, some questioning Zoe's integrity, others vowing to support her wholeheartedly through thick and thin. I will say, however, that I personally am one of the former.
The rise of the YouTube celeb is something that's made me feel a little uneasy for quite some time for reasons that for a long time I couldn't quite put my finger on. I've been following Zoe for probably over 3 years now and as anyone can see, and I will certainly vouch for, she's really just a nice, normal girl sharing bits and pieces of her life online; or at least, that was all it was to begin with. Over the last year or so YouTubers have taken off astronomically, shooting people like Zoella et al to legitimate superstar status (to get a better idea skip to about 4 minutes into the video below). Of course, Zoe could never have predicted when she first starting blogging and vlogging that she'd ever become as big as she is today but even so, what I'd like to say to Zoe is that with great power comes great responsibility, whether you like it or not.
The reason I'm rambling on about the whole general YouTube craze is because it's something that's helped form my overall opinion in light of the 'Girl Online' controversy. I loved Zoe, I listened to her and respected her opinion, tuning in to each and every vlog and main channel video religiously. Any time I was feeling down her videos would cheer me right up which I know is also the case for her millions of other fans. However somewhere in the midst of Zoe and her boyfriend, Alfie's unimaginable success this past year, (somewhere, I'd say, around the time young teens were being charged £75 to meet their idols at Amity Fest) something changed.
I'll be the first to validate blogging as being extremely hard work. Even though I only post twice a week at most, it still manages to take up a huge portion of my free time so I can only imagine how much of their whole lives Zoe and Alfie put into YouTube. I will also say I certainly don't have an issue with people monetising on hard-earned success. However, I feel like we need to remember that Zoe, and the rest of us as bloggers, are in the business of influencing people. Anyone who makes money from blogging/vlogging are marketers, endorsing products with their faces, their words, making use of the confidence of a loyal readership/following who trusts in their opinion. I feel like this is probably the reason why I've seen so many bloggers respond negatively to the whole 'Girl Online' situation since I believe most people who are familiar with the blogging world can see how easily this sort of influence could lead to exploitation.
I bought 'Girl Online' because I was a fan of Zoe's and I was proud of her achievement. I also bought it believing I was getting something that was authentically hers because she never really said otherwise- I mean why else would I have any interest in reading a book aimed at a demographic much younger than me? I always knew she'd had help because that's what she'd said from the beginning but I in no way thought it would have been to the extent that it now appears to be. I mean really, the whole premise of ghostwriting is simply for publishers to cash in on a big name and not much else so I have difficulty understanding which part of this whole book deal was to to celebrate Zoe's ability or creativity and not to do with $$$.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say on this for now. I really hope my opinion doesn't seriously offend anyone but I felt like I just had to say it, if anything just to work out how I really felt about the whole thing myself. I'd really love to hear your opinions in the comments as well.
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