-Famous YouTubers, such as Connor Franta, Tyler Oakley, and Grace Helbig, have started to expand into other media forms including book writing.

YouTubers have hijacked the top spots of the New York Times Best Sellers list for the past year, despite the fact that they seem to be unlikely candidates for successful writers.

These books tend to chronicle the lives of the YouTubers themselves, give insight about the valuable life lessons the authors have learned, or provide how-to guides on obscure topics. However, they have captivated vast audiences and sold millions.

The inspiration and overall purpose of the books vary greatly depending on the author, but they all have one aspect in common: they enable the reader to get to know a little bit more about the YouTuber’s true personality.

“It’s completely different from just watching their videos on the Internet. You are able to read their books and find out more things about them, like personal stories. It makes you feel more connected when you read about their life and become engaged with what they have to say,” said Reagan Olive, a sophomore who is a fan of various YouTubers.

A pair of these successful YouTuber authors are the widely renowned Dan Howell and Phil Lester, who wrote The Amazing Book is Not on Fire. Howell and Lester created their book as a compilation of their memories that they can look back on later in life. “We made a book because we wanted to compress everything Dan and Phil into a book that would be remembered forever,” said Lester.

Complementing the actual release of the books, many YouTuber authors have also gone on book tours where they sign books and meet their fans up close. This kind of interaction between the YouTubers and their viewers allows a new level of connection, which is one of the many benefits the YouTubers have gained since expanding into the book industry.

“I think the YouTubers going on book tours to meet fans and talk about the messages in their book in real life is amazing. The YouTubers are able to actually talk with their viewers and understand the degree of the impact they have,” said Jenna Thompson, a dedicated fan of YouTubers.

Thompson has read Connor Franta’s book, a YouTuber with nearly five million subscribers, titled A Work In Progress. She is one of the many readers whose life was greatly affected by the messages Franta had to share through writing. “It was interesting to see Connor Franta’s perspective of the world. He’s a very creative person and his book consisted of a lot of unique thoughts and ideas that really make the reader reflect on life,” Thompson said.

Franta’s book is one of the numerous YouTube books that have made it on the New York Times Best Sellers List, his staying on the prestigious list for over eleven weeks.

The amount of YouTubers that have written books is significant–there’s Connor Franta, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, Joey Graceffa, Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, Hannah Hart, Shane Dawson, and Miranda Sings just to name a few. Each of these books is extremely unique depending on the author, and all have an influential quality.

YouTubers are generally underrated celebrities, but the profound impact they have had on the book industry has proved that YouTube is a force to be reckoned with. They have been able to get their messages across to a greater and more diverse audience through the power of words. Only time will tell what other media forms they will begin to dominate.