Dear Zoe,
I'm a fan of yours, let's start off with that. I do genuinely like you. Not that it really matters, who cares if people like you? I'm just an eighteen year old girl half way across the world sitting in my bedroom resisting the urge to run to the fridge and get myself some left over pizza. But you too are just a girl, halfway across the world, perhaps sitting in your bed, perhaps tempted by pizza. We've both been inspired by people. We've both inspired people. On paper we're not that different. But when you take into consideration the fact that you have 6 million subscribers on YouTube (me being one of them), a beauty range and a newly published and highly successful book we are. I have a few thousand followers on a fanpage about fandoms and stuff. The most reads I've ever received on a book of mine on Wattpad (Nora by AFairyTaleEnding if you ever want to read it, which you probably don't) is 9 thousand. When you compare the people who know of our existence there's a big gap. A huge one. But I'm not afraid to reach out and try and cross it. I'm a bit of an adventure woman like that *cue inspirational music*.
I love your vlogs, I love your positivity, I love what you're doing for mental health. You are a good role model (not that I really believe in them, we shouldn't model our behaviour on anyone because you see, what happens is the lines get blurred and we can't see our role models good and bad traits but hey let's talk about that another time). What I don't love is that you had your book ghost written. I know it hasn't been said directly but by now we all know that you did not write Girl Online. It's been said in so many words. Ambiguous ones but clear enough. You had it mostly done for you. Yes I'm sure you came up with the characters, the plot which is an achievement. But it's not the same as writing a book. Maybe you wrote a few paragraphs, a chapter which is once again an achievement but it is not the same as writing a book. It's just not. And if you didn't write at least 80% of the novel, then you don't (sorry if this sounds harsh) deserve your name on the front of that book. You don't deserve the praise you've gained from it and you don't deserve your 6 million dedicated fans going out and snapping it up off shelves. Why? Because it's not yours, and you claimed it to be. You promised to naive and supportive fans that this was a book written by you, for them. Personally I don't really care, I had a feeling from the start it was ghost written and I'm not offended or shocked in the least. Actually that's a wee lie. I'm offended as a writer. As someone who's main goal is to have a book published. I've written two, started and got halfway through a dozen others. And I know the blood sweat and tears that goes into writing. It's bloody awful, but it's worth it. Even if I only have a few hundred people read it for free on the internet, it's worth it. Why? Because it's mine. I created it, every single bit of it. I can say, I wrote that. Can you say the same for Girl Online? Sure you're going to get paid, you're going to widen your fan base but you didn't write it. Deep down you know this isn't yours. I too could hand off a list of characters and a plot outline to someone like Siobham Curham and say, make this into a novel. If I had the legion of fans that you do. But I don't. And even if I did I wouldn't want to. Because it's not right, it's not honest and it's not mine.
Here's the thing, I'm not mad because this is going to make you more successful than you already are or because you have a book published and I don't (though it is a tiny bit infuriating, just a tiny bit). I'm upset because there are millions of gullible kids out there who've gone and bought your book and said, 'Oh wow, I'm so proud of Zoe, because she made this. This is hers and I'm going to support her and I love it.' But it's not yours. You used your position as a celebrated person to take the money of teenagers, and probably some adults too, without putting in the work. If you can't write a book, don't write one and don't pretend you did. It's not rocket science. You already have so much, this is not depriving you. If you really, truly do want to write a book then write it. It's hard, I'm sure you'll figure that out once you get a few hundred words in. Then once it's done, try and get it published. Don't get someone else to do it for you and act self righteous when people are outraged that lo and behold you didn't actually write a book you're selling as your own. You said this was your dream, to write a novel. Make it happen then. Don't just say it because you want people to believe you wrote Girl Online.
I do like you Zoe. And I'll support your Youtube channel, what you're doing for mental health (because I too suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and know how horrible they are) and whatever else you do in the future that you put the hard yards into. But this? This book that you did not spend hours slugging away at, no. Because firstly, ghost writing annoys me. As a writer and as a reader. Personally I think it should be illegal, isn't it really fraud in a way? And secondly because you were dishonest. You, like all other people that did not write their books, pretended you did. And now there are teenagers everywhere supporting you. They are standing up and saying 'It's okay that she didn't write it, she said she was going to get help.' But an editor is one thing, someone writing the entirety of the novel is another. Or 'Leave her alone, she does so much already with YouTube, she's busy'. Fair enough, I'm sure you are busy. We all are. Doesn't mean we use it as an excuse when we don't write our books. You have these girls and boys defending your wrongs, how is that right? You're encouraging them to be placid about dishonesty, about the downfalls of the celebrity industry. Because let's be honest her Zoe, you're quickly becoming one. Is any of that right? That you're getting credit for a book you didn't write? That your 'loyal' fans are saying it's okay? It doesn't sit right with me and I feel that if you had any kind of moral compass it wouldn't sit right with you either.
The hate you're receiving for this, is not okay. I understand that it must be incredibly hard with your anxiety. I have it too and I know how difficult it is to deal with and I can only imagine what is must be like when something like this happens. But people telling you that you've done something kind of, how do I put this, repulsive and dishonest is not wrong. It's letting young people know that you shouldn't take credit for other people's work just because you can. Is it really any different to a school kid paying their friend to do their assignment? To me, what you've done is actually worse. And with your audience comprised mostly of impressionable kids how are they meant to know the difference?
I think the reason why you're really feeling the punch on this one is because you know, I know you know, that what you've done is detrimental. Or maybe not, because then you wouldn't have done it in the first place.
I like you Zoe, I really do. But I don't like this. And I think it's time I told you.
Xoxo Fangirl Out
