YouTube star Zoe Sugg didn't write all of her novel Girl Online on her own, according to her publisher.
But Sugg's publisher has now confirmed that her team employed a ghostwriter to anonymously write parts of the book.
"To be factually accurate, you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own," Penguin told the Sunday Times.
The use of ghostwriters is relatively common in the world of young adult fiction and celebrity books, although Sugg and her team had not previously mentioned that she had assistance on the project.
But there are clues: in the acknowledgements of Girl Online 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".
Alward is Sugg's editor while Siobhan Curham is a prolific author of young adult fiction. It is not clear to what extent or in what role Curham was involved in the writing of the book.
On Sunday afternoon Zoella confirmed she had "help telling my story" but said all the story and characters are hers.
This might answer some of your tweets! X
Depending on your point of view, this is either a depressing indictment of the publishing industry:
Success of Zoella's ghost written novel just shows how powerful a brand can be. Money talks, I guess.
Zoella's book was ghostwritten? You mean a publisher abused an online sensations young followers for monetary gain?! SHOCK HORROR.
people are srsly comparing zoella to jk rowling sellout blogger that released a ghostwritten novel vs. a real literary author ??? just no
Or a perfectly acceptable behaviour for someone whose main talent lies in making vlogs:
In other news along the lines of Zoella's book being ghostwritten, water is wet and the Pope is Catholic.
Why the stressing re Zoella? Nobody minds that tv, sport or film stars are ghostwritten cos, like her, their day jobs aren't being writers.
Either way, the book is still number one on Amazon, beating the latest Jamie Oliver cookbook in the important pre-Christmas sales period.
