Haley Pham is a YouTuber and social media personality who posted her first YouTube video in 2012, when she was only 11 years old. Pham’s YouTube channel focused on beauty tutorials, dancing, and vlogs until 2022, when she transitioned to focusing more heavily on reading and book-focused content. Pham’s channel currently has over three million subscribers, and her videos generally receive hundreds of thousands of views.

Pham is not the first YouTuber to write a book. Numerous famous YouTubers have written nonfiction and fiction texts. Vlogger Zoe Sugg wrote a young adult romance novel titled Girl Online in 2014 and a sequel titled On Tour in 2015. Vlogger Connor Franta wrote a memoir titled A Work in Progress in 2015, followed by 2017’s Note to Self and 2021’s House Fires, while vlogger and comedy video creator Shane Dawson wrote a memoir titled I Hate Myselfie in 2015. Social media has helped boost book sales in recent years, especially with the rise of “BookTok,” a book-focused community on the social media platform TikTok. 59% of 2,000 girls between the ages of 16 and 25 polled claimed that “BookTok” inspired them to enjoy reading (Barnett, David. “‘I Can’t Stress How Much BookTok Sells’: Teen Literary Influencers Swaying Publishers.” The Guardian, 6 Aug. 2023).

Giving book deals to celebrities and social media personalities doesn’t always lead to successful book launches, though New York Times journalist Elizabeth A. Harris notes that “social-media followings have become some of the main data points publishers use to try to make their guesses more educated” (Harris, Elizabeth A. “Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’” The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2021). Pham’s over three million YouTube subscribers, over a million Instagram followers, and over two million TikTok followers likely helped Just Friends reach publication, as Pham’s following offers a built-in audience for her novel.