Tuesday 9 December 2014

My thoughts on Zoella

Let me begin this post by saying I'm not setting out to make Zoella feel any worse about her current situation than she already does. It's well documented online that she suffers with anxiety, and I'd hate to be the person to trigger any bad feeling in her.

Zoella (aka Zoe Sugg) is an online beauty and fashion blogger, and if you weren't already familiar with her posts, you can find her blog HERE. She has a highly successful blog, Youtube channel, beauty range and most recently, a novel, entitled Girl Online. This is where the recent events begin to unfold. Today Zoella and her boyfriend, Alfie Deyes, who also has a strong online presence, announced they were taking a break from the internet. Zoella posted the below tweet.



This comes only a few days after it was revealed by Penguin that Zoella had had help in writing her book, and that in fact the characters and the stories were hers, but a ghost writer had actually written the novel alongside her. Her full statement can be seen below regarding the revelation.


Now, despite the news that Zoella didn't actually write her first novel (which, by the way, is the fastest selling debut novel of all time, selling an incredibly 78,000 copies in its first week - an achievement in its own right) entirely by herself, does this really detract from the success of the book itself? I mean, come on, this is a girl who's quite literally forged an entire career from having a strong online presence, being smart and savvy about marketing her brand, and has now outsold the likes of J. K. Rowling in the first week of sales alone. I'd say that's incredibly impressive for a 24 year old girl who, until recently, had probably never even thought about releasing a novel, let alone had the support, knowledge, vision and online presence to make it happen.

Firstly, how much do we really believe Zoe was allowed to disclose regarding her book deal with Penguin? As I'm sure many people could vouch, Zoella is just an ordinary girl, documenting her life online as a blogger, as hundreds of thousands of us do - or at least that's where she began. With great power comes great responsibility and whilst she's skyrocketed in terms of success and popularity, we can't forget that there will have been contracts and clauses behind the scenes that may not have actually permitted Zoe to inform anyone that she didn't actually write this book entirely on her own. She has, as above, clearly stated that the story and characters are entirely her own, and thus a lot of her creativity and charm has gone into the book already. 

I've seen a lot of negative posts about Zoella today - "She does nothing for a living and she can't even do that right?" being my least favourite of the many I've browsed. I can only do one thing, and put this down to jealousy. I know myself and many others would love to have the success Zoe has had, and the skills, knowledge and dedication to get to that point. To those making negative thoughts regarding the announcement and Zoe's break from the internet over the festive period, I ask you to take a look at how your comments are being construed. Negativity is poisonous, and turns my perception of usually wonderful people into a not very nice one at all. As my, and many others', mum used to say "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." 

I think it's time to take a moment to remind yourselves of that mantra, and provide support to Zoe during what must be a difficult time, especially for someone whose entire life is literally documented online. Allow her some privacy, and I'm sure she will reward that with more of the creative, innovative, exciting content she's used to get to this place in her life so far.

12 comments:

  1. Preach! Thank goodness someone is sticking up for her :) everyone can do with a little help sometimes & this shouldnt distract from her book success

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  2. I love this blog Cheri. She definitely deserves it and as always there's going to be people who want to suck all the happiness out of such an incredible achievement. Jealousy is a theme that can clearly be seen in a lot of the comments made about her.

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  3. Thank You! Although is unsettles me that the book was ghostwritten, I think it's incredibly selfish for others to post comments that are hurtful - mostly because they want a reaction from Zoe and her (sometimes over the top) fans. Your post shows some clarity in a kind of clouded situation, it's nice to know your opinion. I think in these kind of situations you've got to give people (Zoe) the benefit of the doubt - if I was in this situation I'd want that from the internet community. Love your blog!

    Riley xo

    http://rileyjxo.blogspot.com.au/

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    1. Thanks for your kind words Riley, means a lot! I'm very new to blogging so to have someone who's obviously been at it longer than me complimenting my blog is really lovely! :)
      I know, I think she has become a victim of her own success in a way and its sad, I only hope she's not feeling too down and not focusing too much on the negative things people have to say. I do agree that she has some very over the top fans though...!

      Cheri xo

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  4. Can't blame her to be honest! it has to be stressful being under the spot light all the time, everyone needs a break every now and then! good on you Zoe!!

    http://alittlebitoflifeerh.blogspot.co.uk

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  5. Thanks for your kind words Riley, means a lot! I'm very new to blogging so to have someone who's obviously been at it longer than me complimenting my blog is really lovely! :)
    I know, I think she has become a victim of her own success in a way and its sad, I only hope she's not feeling too down and not focusing too much on the negative things people have to say. I do agree that she has some very over the top fans though...!

    Cheri xo

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  6. Awh, thank you Natalie! :) xo

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  7. Thank you! It's nice to see people understanding things from her perspective too xo

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  8. nice post and i agree on everything :)
    http://allornothing-blog.blogspot.co.uk/

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