The Princess and The Fool has been self published by the YouTuber. TenEighty caught up with him about the book.
“It’s a rollicking fantasy adventure set in a magical kingdom,” Paul Neafcy tells us, on what his new book, The Princess and The Fool is all about.
“It’s the story of a young Princess lost in the wilderness with only her court Jester for protection. It’s a tale of duty, destiny, desire, danger and derring-do. A fairy tale with an irreverent sense of humour, a heart full of hope and a talking puppet.”
The self-published fantasy novel is available to download from Amazon now, where it has received a positive reception.
“An Amazon reviewer described it as ‘Brothers Grimm meets Game of Thrones meets Disney’, and I will take that any day,” says Paul.
The novel was self published by Paul, and we asked him why he made that decision.
“Because no bugger would publish it for me,” he quips. “I tried the traditional route, but eventually got bored of rejection emails and decided to just put it out there. A book isn’t a book until it’s being read, and this was just sitting on my hard drive doing nowt.”
Following Alfie Deyes‘ The Pointless Book, Tanya Burr‘s Love, Tanya and Zoe Sugg‘s Girl Online, and with Joe Sugg releasing a graphic novel later in the year and Carrie Hope Fletcher‘s All I Know Now due next month, The Princess and The Fool joins an ever growing list of books released by YouTubers. Some are calling the phenomenon a fad, but Paul doesn’t agree.
“I don’t think it’s a fad, any more than celebrity book deals are a fad,” he says. “Some YouTubers have just reached a level of popularity where a publisher sees them as a sound investment. A publisher wants to sell books, and someone who comes with an engaged, passionate, built-in audience like that of a YouTuber would be a very appealing prospect!”
“I am a little wary of the “ghost writer” controversy however,” he continues, referencing Girl Online . “I mean why not just credit them as co-writer? It seems a bit disingenuous. Of course, this is a practice that far pre-dates YouTube and is just another example of old media culture creeping onto new media’s turf. It was pointed out to me by another YouTuber, Professor Daniel J Layton, that whatever your opinion on the content of YouTube books, they are getting kids and teens reading and that is never a bad thing!”
As well as The Princess and The Fool, Paul has also been producing a new series Phillip Human with Wildseed Comedy to be released 10 March. We asked how he managed writing the novel while also creating the series.
“The novel was mostly done when I started writing the Phillip Human series, but it was useful to finish a draft on it and then go back to The Princess and The Fool to fine-tune for a while as a distraction,” he says. “Always leave a draft alone for a bit when you finish! Helps you forget what you wrote and rediscover it later.”
“Phillip Human is a comedy horror vlog series, and The Princess and The Fool is a fairy tale adventure novel so it was good to have that variety,” he continues. “It’s the spice of life, apparently.”
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