The birthday girl is an online phenomenon...
Zoella is an online phenomenon. The YouTube vlogger has amassed millions of followers with her fashion and beauty videos. She's aimed at a young demographic with her (mostly) female teenage fans hanging onto her every blog post. But what about us, the generation above her target audience? This is what you need to know to get up-to-speed on Zoella:
1. In February 2009 Zoe Sugg, from Lacock, Wiltshire, started a blog called Zoella, posting fashion, beauty and lifestyle tips. Fast forward to 2014 and she now has six million YouTube subscribers and 2.6 million Twitter followers, as well as her own make-up range and a book. There are estimates Zoe earns up to £50,000 per month, with brands willing to pay up to £4,000 for a single mention of their product.
2. That book, Girl Online, is the fastest-selling debut novel of all time. Shifting more copies in its first week than Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades of Grey. Demand for the tome was so popular that every bookseller broke the sale embargo and it reached number three on the Amazon bestsellers list before it was even officially released.
3. But now there's been a furore over Zoella's admission that the wildly successful book was ghostwritten. Leading to a lot of snarky coverage in the media about her talents as a writer. She admitted she'd had help with the book, saying: 'Of course I was going to have help from Penguin’s editorial team in telling my story, which I talked about from the beginning. Everyone needs help when they try something new. The story and the characters of Girl Online are mine.'
4. She once quit the Internet. Yes really! Responding to her fans, who were all desperate for a Christmas blog post from her in 2015, she told them she was giving herself some time away from the spotlight. She wrote on Twitter: 'Bare [sic] with me on vlogmas. I’m taking a few days out and off the internet because it’s clouding up my brain. Thanks for understanding.'
5. Siobhan Curham is likely to be the true author of Girl Online. She wrote in a since deleted blog post that she'd been asked to write 80,000 words for a novel in six weeks and that she did it alone. Zoella has also personally thanked Curham in the book's credits.
6. Zoella may not be a writer, but she sure is an entrepreneur. A digital superstar. At 25-years-old, Zoe Sugg has created a brand, and legacy, that is unrivalled in the UK right now. She took her chance, has created a loyal fan base and is running with every single opportunity she's been given. Maybe we should give this young, successful woman a break?