SA PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 2016
AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW
Penguin Random House, Caspar Lee and his mum Emily Riordan Lee, announced today the upcoming release of Caspar Lee. With more than 7.6 million subscribers across his two channels, Caspar Lee is one of the biggest YouTube stars in the world.
Caspar and his mum are presenting his story in an exciting new way. Unbeknownst to Caspar, his mum signed a book deal with Penguin agreeing to write his life story. Luckily, Caspar found out about the book at the last moment and dashed to the printers in the nick of time to make corrections in the margins and over his mum’s text, telling his side of the story. The results are both hilarious and heart-warming. Caspar and his mum Emily are incredibly close, and Emily often features in his videos.
“I’m really pleased to be the only YouTuber who has published a book in the last couple of years… oh wait,” said Caspar Lee. “In all seriousness it’s been so interesting to hear about all the things my family went through when we were living in South Africa but that I wasn’t aware of because I was too young. Thanks so much to my mum for capturing my life story so far and to everyone who has gotten me to this point."
“What an extraordinary journey it's been for me bringing up my children and then getting to write about them!” said Emily Riordan Lee. “Caspar's life has been unusual, and a little crazy, and I am so proud to be able to share his formative years. It's been such a pleasure for us to work together on this project, and I hope people may learn that even though life can take some unexpected turns, the glass should always be half full."
The deal for Caspar Lee was negotiated by Fenella Bates, Editorial Director at Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, who bought World Rights from Gleam Futures, Caspar’s management company. “Caspar Lee is a YouTube superstar and we are delighted he’s decided (okay, he’s been forced…) to tell his story in such a unique and wonderful way with his lovely mum Emily. It’s a brilliantly funny book and I know his fans are going to love it.”
Grand Central Publishing have bought the US rights and will join Penguin in publishingCaspar Lee. Editor Brittany McInerney said, “Grand Central Publishing is thrilled to bring this unique biography to Caspar’s millions of American fans. Caspar and his mum Emily have created something very special together—a book that is every bit as funny, charming, witty, and honest as Caspar himself.”
“Everyone at Gleam is so proud and excited to see Caspar and his mum publishing their first book together. I am sure Caspar’s millions of followers will be fascinated to hear Caspar’s story told by the one person who knows him best”, said Dom Smales, MD and Founder of Gleam Futures.
Caspar Lee is a 21-year-old, self-made social media entrepreneur. He entertains millions with his original brand of comedy and life observation in hilarious self produced videos which hit an average of 1.7 million views each – some of the most popular being his 'Best Friend' series with the likes of Kevin Hart, Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell, which can reach anywhere up to 13 million views each. With his friend and fellow social media entrepreneur Joe Sugg, Caspar recently starred in the record-breaking movie Hit the Road, which set the record for the biggest first day pre-order on Amazon UK last year. As well as writing his own scripts, Caspar has a passion for acting and spends his time traveling between South Africa, LA and London. He never wanted to do anything else and considers himself very fortunate.
Emily Riordan Lee is an Irish author. Born in Dublin in 1956 to a poet father and a novelist mother, she inherited their love of literature from a young age. After receiving an Honours Degree in English from Trinity College Dublin, Emily worked as a journalist and later pursued a career in film and television production. Not only interested in the art of storytelling, Emily also created an artisanal chocolate brand, and currently divides her time between South Africa and Ireland.
For more from Caspar, please visit: youtube.com/caspar, youtube.com/morecaspar,twitter.com/caspar_lee, instagram.com/caspar_lee , facebook.com/casplee.
Notes
5.8m YouTube main channel subscribers
489m views on YouTube main channel
1.7m YouTube second channel subscribers
71m views on YouTube second channel
3.4m Twitter followers
3.8m Instagram followers
1.4m Facebook fans
Click here to view Caspar's announcement video on his Youtube Channel: http://bit.ly/1RxUSL8
Caspar will be doing topline media in the UK and US
Penguin Random House: (http://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.
Grand Central Publishing: Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, reaches a diverse audience through hardcover, trade paperback and mass market books that cater to every kind of reader. Our imprints are Twelve, Grand Central Life & Style, Forever and Forever Yours. Hachette Book Group: Hachette Book Group is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest trade and educational publisher in the world. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, Orbit, Hachette Books, Hachette Nashville, and Hachette Audio.
Gleam Futures: is one of the first and biggest independent management companies specialising in managing the careers of some of the world’s leading digital first talent:gleamfutures.com , twitter.com/teamgleam.
Caspar Lee by Caspar Lee and Emily Riordan Lee
Published by Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House
Cover art: http://we.tl/t8RvK0MePR
SA Publicity Contact:
Kim Peters | kpeters@penguinrandomhouse.co.za
Pre-order now:
Amazon UK: http://bit.ly/CasparLeeAmazon
Waterstones – SIGNED: http://bit.ly/CasparLeeWTSsigned