Blink Publishing has acquired a funny and nostalgic look at modelling in the early noughties by fashion model turned content creator Ruth Crilly.
Former publishing director Susannah Otter acquired World rights for How Not to be a Supermodel from Adam Strange. The book, due for release on 29 August 2024, will be published by editor Lucy Tirahan.
Crilly is an award-winning online writer and content creator respected for her honest beauty reviews and loved for her hilarious, unfiltered life updates. After spending over a decade as a fashion model, she became one of the UK’s first social media stars in 2010 and her eponymous blog has been read more than 50 million times. In How Not to be a Supermodel, Crilly dives headfirst into one of the world’s most fascinating industries, offering a glimpse into both the high glamour and juddering reality of a by-gone era.
Crilly said: ‘I wanted to tell my story because so much of it was so completely farcical. There have been plenty of grim exposés on the modelling industry and I have always thought that my own experience was more comical than traumatic – a relatively normal girl, dealing with the distinctly mundane (debt, travel issues, sartorial dilemmas) in a world that was distinctly insane. Some of the things I shrugged off in the noughties seem quite outrageous by today’s standards. I wanted the book to be filled with my most absurd anecdotes but also feel entirely relatable; readers will, I hope, come away feeling as though they’ve had first-hand experience of life as a model in the noughties.’
Strange said: ‘Ruth is one of the most effortlessly and unselfconsciously funny people I know. What’s more, she has a knack for translating absurd real-life situations onto the page, and is an absolute joy to read.’
Tirahan said: ‘I found Ruth’s writing a breath of fresh air at a time where people tend to take themselves too seriously. How Not to be a Supermodel offers an insight into a world which many of us remain perennially fascinated by but only a select few will ever really get to experience. And yet, this is not merely a book for those interested in fashion or indeed the noughties, it’s a coming-of-age story relatable in its unexpected life opportunities, the shared feeling of starting a new job and faking it until you make it, and the chaos of finding your way in one of the most formative decades of your life.’
How Not to be a Supermodel will be published in hardback, audio and eBook on the 29 August 2024.
