HC wins Younger's take on 'crazy' influencer culture

HarperCollins has won rights to publish an "extremely funny" book by comedian, writer and brand consultant Bella Younger, a.k.a. Deliciously Stella, about the highs and lows of being an accidental influencer.

Younger, who is better known as Deliciously Stella, founded an Instagram account in 2015 parodying wellness influencers reaching 150,000 followers at its peak and spawning a cookbook, podcast and sold-out live show at the Edinburgh Festival. In 2018, Bella "killed" Stella off, finding she had "accidentally been sucked into the very life she set up the account to satorise", according to the book’s synopsis.

Uk and Commonwealth rights for Under the Influence were struck in a deal by HarperNonFiction editorial director Katya Shipster with Laura Williams at Greene & Heaton. The book will be published on 20th August 2020.

Younger said: "This book is my chance to share the highs and lows of being an accidental influencer, have my final say on wellness and tell you why I think social media is making us all crazy."

Shipster said: "I vividly remember when Bella digitally killed Stella off. Why on earth, having built up such a fantastic phalanx of devoted followers, would someone as effortlessly funny choose to just stop? Bella has truly lived through the maddest part of this odd corner of our culture – and this extremely funny book is as much for people secretly spiralising wishing they were eating a Crunchie, as it is for anyone lurking on Instagram, wishing their follower numbers would magically go up overnight."

Twice named as one of the Evening Standard’s most influential Londoners, Younger has previously written for The Sunday Times Style, Stylist, the Telegraph, Vogue, InStyle and the Debrief and Deliciously Stella saw her appear on the cover of the Times. She has also starred in a BBC3 sketch, presented BBC3's "Girls Get Stuffed" and appeared in Comedy Central's "Drunk History".