They are two awkward guys who share their life on the internet. They are also the bestselling authors you have probably never heard of.
Dan Howell and Phil Lester have become the latest “YouTubers” to jump the genre barrier and top the book charts. The duo, whose internet videos share their observations on life spliced with “amusing” games in their London flat, have conquered the publishing industry’s most competitive chart.
Released on Super Thursday — when publishers launch their assault on the Christmas market — The Amazing Book is not on Fire is set to be announced as No 1 on the non-fiction bestseller chart this weekend.
“It’s an honour to be among the first few YouTubers to burst out of the internet and gate-crash the book charts,” Howell and Lester said this week.
Andrew Goodfellow of Ebury, which has published the book, said that the success of the YouTubers proved that younger generations had not turned their backs on the written word.