Zoella’s publisher admitted to the Sunday Times that YouTube star Zoe Sugg wasn’t burning the midnight oil parsing sentences for her new bestseller, Girl Online. It was ghostwritten. But who did write it? In an era of transparency–transparency especially demanded by Zoella’s digital native contemporaries–isn’t it fair we should know who wrote the book? Shouldn’t that person get some credit, at least? Instead of just a faceless check? Because, after all, the Zoella’s ghostwriter wrote a #1 bestseller. And he or she can’t even say anything about it? C’mon Zoella, come clean. Share your success!
Was it a man, a woman? Was it someone close to Zoe Sugg’s age, or a washed up midlist novelist in his/her seventies who finally hit the bestseller list? In the Girl Online acknowledgments, Sugg thanks: “everyone at Penguin for helping me put together my first novel, especially Amy Alward and Siobhan Curham, who were with me every step of the way.” Curham is a prolific author with a mere 1,684 Twitter followers. Zoella has 2.3 million followers. If Curham wrote it, should Zoella come clean? Help a sister out? Or did Ian McEwan do it for a beach house? It’s murky. It shouldn’t be. Tell us who wrote the book, Zoe. Then go back to being a video star!
