Penguin Random House and YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg have recently come forward to reveal that Sugg's newly released novel, "Girl Online," was written with the help of ghostwriters.

Sugg, who is known by her online fans as Zoella, recently published her first novel, "Girl Online," through Penguin Random House publication. The book has gone on to break "the highest first-week sales for a debut author since records began, selling 78,109 copies in seven days," The Telegraph reports.

Despite the large success the book has garnered over a short span of time, critics began speculating as to whether or not Sugg wrote the entire book herself. Ghostwriter speculation first began once Sugg thanked her editors, Amy Alward and Siobhan Curham, in her acknowledgements page and revealed that they were with her "every step of the way" during the writing process.

Although Sugg's acknowledgements page made it unclear whether she issued the help of a ghostwriter, the famous YouTuber, who has over 6 million YouTube subscribers, and her publisher, Penguin Random House, recently confirmed with the Sunday Times that "Girl Online" was ghostwritten.

"To be factually accurate you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own," a spokesperson for Penguin Random House said.

On Sunday, Sugg addressed the "Girl Online" ghostwriting controversy via Twitter.

"Of course I was going to have help from Penguin's editorial team in telling my story, which I talked about from the beginning.Everyone needs help when they try something new. The story and the characters of Girl Online are mine."

The Telegraph reports that "Girl Online" details the story of a teenage girl whose blog goes viral after she meets a rockstar, prior to the blog's publication.

Related