Pan Mac to publish YouTuber Jim Chapman

Pan Macmillan has acquired a book from YouTuber Jim Chapman, taking readers on a whistlestop tour of the universe, from the mind-blowing to the ridiculous. 

World rights to the book, 147 Things: My User’s Guide to the Universe, from the Big Bang to Bellybuttons, were acquired from Abigail Bergstrom at Gleam Futures. It will be published on the Sidgwick & Jackson imprint in October 2017 and be a lead title from Pan Macmillan in the autumn, supported by "major" PR and marketing campaigns.

Chapman has over 2.5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel with over 159 million video views. He created his first YouTube channel in 2010 where he frequently features his dog, his wife - fellow YouTube star Tanya Burr -  his drawing, baking and fellow YouTubers.

Editor Jamie Coleman said: “Anyone who’s ever seen Jim’s videos will know his warmth, generosity, curiosity and humour. The good news is he’s a brilliant writer too and his user’s guide to the universe will delight his legion of existing fans and win him many new ones too. I can’t wait for people to start seeing the world through his eyes.”    

Chapman said: “You and I are just about the rarest things to have ever existed, and I think that’s amazing. I also think it’s amazing that horses can’t vomit, you’d turn into human spaghetti if you went anywhere near a black hole and kangaroos have three uteruses. I think nothing equips you more for the madness of life than knowing where we came from, where we’re going and the sheer unlikelihood of the incredible stuff happening all around us. My brain is full of this stuff and so I’ve decided to write a book about everything I know… that’s turned out to be exactly 147 things. I’m thrilled to be working with Jamie and the team at Pan Macmillan and hope my audience has as much fun reading the book as I’ve had writing it.”