HarperCollins pays six figures for teenage author

A teenage author who has built a huge following online has been snapped up by HarperCollins.

Abigail Gibbs, 17, began publishing her novel The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire when she was 15 on the online writer’s platform, Wattpad.

Now HarperFiction commissioning editor Amy McCulloch and Erika Tsang from HarperCollins in the US have pre-empted world English language rights for the novel and its sequel. The rights were acquired for a significant six-figure sum from Scott Mendel at Mendel Media Group LLC.

On Wattpad, the novel has been read more than 17 million times, as readers follow the story of 18-year-old Londoner Violet Lee, who is kidnapped by the charismatic heir to the vampire throne, Kaspar Varn.

It will be released as an e-book on September 13th, followed by a paperback edition on October 25th.

Gibbs, originally from Devon, is about to begin studying for a BA in English at Oxford University.  She published her story in episodes online, under the pseudonym Canse12.