In the second part of our exclusive interview with Estelle Maskame, the teen author talks about her legions of fans and we hear from her proud parents.
Thanks to the rise in social media Estelle Maskame’s books have a gained a global audience with readers in American, Canada, The Philippines and Australia.
The 16-year-old from Peterhead self-publishes online a chapter at a time before the full novel goes to print.
Her success online got her shortlisted for a prestigious Shorty Award in the Best UK in Social Media Category alongside the likes of pop group One Direction and journalist Caitlin Moran.
Her fans are loyal and supportive with one even going to the extreme of having a symbol from the book tattooed on her wrist.
Estelle has gained almost 130,000 Twitter followers (more than the likes of Ian Rankin and Jaqueline Wilson), she has a box full of fan-mail from across the world and her teenage readers flock to meet her when given the chance.
She said: “It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes having so many people wanting to talk to me.
“But at the same time I like it because I feel like I have really grown close to some readers and consider them friends.
“Its just crazy to think that people in places like America and Asia are reading my books.
“We were in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago and I’d been telling some people where I was and then there were groups of people wanting to meet me.”
Mum Fenella, 45, said her daughter takes her new found fame in her stride but was amazed at how popular her work had become.
She said: “When a 13-year-old says they are going to write a book you never really take it seriously – but she has proven us all wrong.
“My husband and I support her 100% as we know this is what she wants to do and she clearly has a natural flair for it.”
On Friday Estelle shares her plans for the future and those of her characters – as well as revealing some exciting news for fans.