Ness and Kinsella chosen for second round of Zoella Book Club

Books by Patrick Ness, Sophie Kinsella and David Levithan are amongst eight titles chosen for the second Zoella Book Club.

Created by vlogger Zoe Sugg in association with WH Smith earlier this year, the Zoella Book Club, involves Sugg choosing eight YA or adult book titles to recommend to her fans on YouTube. Those eight titles are then sold in special displays in WH Smith stores.

Sugg's second round of books include Ness’ A Monster Calls (Walker Books), Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (Penguin Random House) and The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, which David Levithan wrote with Rachel Cohn (Electric Monkey).

The remaining five titles are Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman (Scholastic), The One We Fell in Love With by Paige Toon (Simon & Schuster), I Was Here by Gayle Forman (Simon & Schuster Children’s), Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell (Stripes) and If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (Usborne).

The eight books will be on sale in special “bays” at WH Smith shops from today (Thursday 20th October). The retailer will host interviews with the authors, as well as additional content, on its blog, and will encourage reader to talk about the novels on social media using the hashtag #ZoellaBookClub.

Sugg has also talked about the books and why she chose them on her YouTube channel. She said: “The response for the first book club was so overwhelming and positive and I’m so excited to share my next 8 book choices. I hope everyone enjoys these as much as the first.”

Jo Sayer, WH Smith trading controller, kids books, added: “We have been absolutely delighted with the hype created around the Zoella Book Club. It has been fantastic to see so many of the online posts from young readers who are now enjoying reading again, thanks to Zoe’s recommendations. We’re confident this next list will not disappoint and sincerely hope we can encourage even more young people to engage in books.” 

Zoella announced the book club in June this year, saying she wanted to “inspire more young people to want to read”. She said: “I know that a lot of you guys also share my love of reading, which is why the book club is possibly one of the most exciting things I’ve done this year because I can read books and recommend them to you. I’ve stuck to Young Adult titles mainly because I want to influence and inspire lots of young adults such as yourselves… or maybe you’re just like me, you’re 26 and you just frickin love a YA.”

Collectively, the first round of the Zoella Book Club has sold 261,729 print copies for £1.42m since they were announced at the start of June, according to Nielsen BookScan data, a 540% increase in volume and a 537% increase in value.

Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places (Penguin Random House Children's), which jumped 309% in volume the week it was announced, has gone on to sell 52,000 extra copies since the announcement, a 210% increase in volume on the 18 weeks before. In total, it has now sold 130,106 copies via Nielsen BookScan.

Every Zoella Book Club title has now sold in excess of 30,000 copies. All the Bright Places, Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything (Corgi Childrens), Emily Lockhart’s We Were Liars (Hot Key), Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (Macmillan Children's Books) and Sara Barnard’s Beautiful Broken Things (Macmillan Children's Books) are all among the top 15 bestselling YA books of the year to date—alongside Zoella’s own Girl Online and Girl Online: On Tour (both Penguin).

WH Smith today said All the Bright Places was the most popular book of the first eight titles, winning a "reader’s vote" online.