NDM Story #21 YouTube star takes online break as she admits novel was ‘not written alone’

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/08/zoella-bestselling-girl-online-written-siobhan-curham-zoe-sugg

YouTube star Zoe Sugg has announced that she is taking a break from the internet after admitting that she did not write her bestselling debut novel alone. Sugg took to her Twitter account, where she has tweeted "I’m taking a few days out and off the internet because it’s clouding up my brain. Thanks for understanding." The fastest-selling debut novel ever, was not written solely by the popular YouTube video blogger, or vlogger, as readers had been led to believe. After sustained pressure over whether or not the book was ghostwritten by Siobhan Curham, who is named in the acknowledgements, Sugg posted a statement on Sundaylate Sunday afternoon, saying that, “for the doubters out there, 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,” added Sugg. “The story and the characters of Girl Online are mine.” It has also prompted some backlash on Amazon, where reviews of the novel now include the comment that: “I was considering purchasing this book, but today I have seen that the publishers have admitted that it was ghostwritten. I feel like this is cheating young girls out of their pocket money.”

• 2.61 million followers on Twitter

• It sold 78,109 copies in its first week

In my opinion, I do not believe that Zoe has gotten enough credit for what she has achieved. Writing a first novel is not easy, however she could have been more clear of whether she wrote it alone or not as it seemed that she did.