From screen to page, Nova Moala-Knox
They Let Me Write a Book!
Jamie Curry
HarperCollins
2015
Sometime, a few years ago, publishers started noticing that YouTube was cool with the kids, and they must have realised they could make a bit of money by getting the YouTubers that had big followings to write books. Because, if you have a million followers on YouTube, there’s a good chance that all those million followers will buy your book.
Editor’s note:
Well known YouTubers like Miranda Sings, Grace Helbig, Alfie Days, Zoella, Marcus Butler and others have written books. They’re from England and America. But now a New Zealand YouTuber has written a book – Jamie Curry.
Editor’s note:
Curry first got famous from a Facebook page, Jamie’s World, then started a YouTube channel that today has 1,397,335 subscribers. Part of her popularity is because she’s funny, awkward, relatable, and never comes across as arrogant.
Her book is quick and easy to read. It’s broken up into short sections. As well as telling the story of her 19-year life, it’s full of photos, lists, advice and quotes from her parents.
Curry talks about growing up in Napier, and then about becoming a famous YouTuber. She admits that she is introverted and anxious and has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (as in a real diagnosis). The book is full of her usual relatable humour: “I like being embarrassing, because you’re embarrassing too, everyone is. There’s no point pretending you’re perfect, because you will trip over, say the wrong word or dribble soon enough.”
If you want to know what it’s like to be a successful YouTuber, there are some bits in this book that will interest you, but most of the book is probably only going to appeal to you if you’re already a fan.
Most YouTubers’ books have a ghost writer working on them as well, and inside this book, you’ll see it was written by “Jamie Curry with Alex Casey”. I looked online and found that Casey even wrote an interesting article about her work ghostwriting it, here: http://thespinoff.co.nz/15-12-2015/books-the-year-of-alex-casey/
Nova Moala-Knox is 13, and is home-schooled in Wellington.