YouTube Sensation Turns to Novels
YouTube名人跨行小說界
By Alexandra Alter

Nearly five years ago, an animated 16-year-old named Paige McKenzie uploaded a video to YouTube. “I know this is a little strange,” she says, adding that her house is haunted and she aims to capture the ghost on camera.
差不多在五年前，16歲活潑少女佩姬．麥肯錫上傳一段影像到YouTube。她說：「我知道這有點奇怪」，還說她家鬧鬼，她要把鬼給拍下來。

More than 130 million views later, Ms. McKenzie’s web series, “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl,” has become her job. Ms. McKenzie said she spends 80 hours a week shooting, acting in and editing the show, and trading messages with viewers.
瀏覽次數超過1.3億次後，麥肯錫的網站系列《陽光女孩撞邪記》變成工作。麥肯錫說自己每周花80小時拍攝、演出和剪輯節目，並且和觀眾交換消息。

“Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, Google Plus, YouTube, Meerkat, the occasional smoke signals, you know,” she says when asked how she keeps in touch with her fans. “The interaction is key. I’m accessible. My life is on YouTube.”
「推特、臉書、Instagram、Pinterest、Snapchat、Tumblr、Google Plus 、YouTube、Meerkat，各種風吹草動，你知道的，」她回答如何和粉絲保持聯繫的時候說：「關鍵在於互動。我很好找。我在YouTube上面過日子。」

Now, in an inversion of the usual page-to-screen adaptation process, Ms. McKenzie is turning her show into a series of young adult novels. The story follows a teenage heroine, Sunshine Griffith, as she investigates a spirit haunting her house and tries to rescue her mother from demonic possession. The first book, “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl,” was published last month by Weinstein Books, with endorsements from the author R. L. Stine and the filmmaker Wes Craven.
現在，常見的小說改編成電影模式反其道而行，麥肯錫正把自己的節目改編成青少年小說。故事主人翁是一名勇敢的青少女陽光．葛瑞菲斯，調查家裡鬧鬼並試圖從惡靈魔掌中救出母親。第一冊《陽光女孩撞邪記》上個月由溫斯坦出版社發行，獲得作家史丹和導演魏斯克萊文的推介。

“Sunshine Girl,” written with a collaborator, is the latest literary adaptation to emerge from YouTube. Publishers have also released “The Pointless Book,” by Alfie Deyes; “Girl Online,” by Zoe Sugg; and “Grace’s Guide,” by Grace Helbig. So far, the results have been mixed. “Epic Meal Time,” a cookbook based on a YouTube show with more than 6.7 million subscribers, has sold just 2,192 copies.
與另一個人共同寫作的《陽光女孩》是改編自YouTube的最新文學作品。出版商還發行了艾菲．戴伊斯的《無意義之書》、柔伊．薩格的《女孩上線》和葛蕾絲．海畢格的《葛蕾絲的指南》。到目前為止，成果不一。《史詩型用餐時間》在YouTube擁有670萬名訂戶，改編成烹飪書只賣出2,192本。

“I’m holding my breath,” said Jennifer Bergstrom of Gallery Books, which will publish a book by the YouTube comedian Miranda Sings this July. “The concept of people watching videos and wanting to buy the book, I question whether that’s going to be a natural progression.”
藝廊出版社今年七月將發行YouTube諧星米蘭達．辛斯的作品，出版社發行人珍妮佛．柏格斯壯說：「我正屏息以待。人們看了影片後會想去買書來看的這個概念，我懷疑會這樣順理成章發展。」

Weinstein Books is aiming one marketing campaigns at Ms. McKenzie’s YouTube audience, and another at the potential readers who have not heard of her.
溫斯坦出版社的行銷策略之一是鎖定麥肯錫的YouTube觀眾，另一策略則瞄準沒聽過麥肯錫的潛在讀者。

A television show – based on the novel based on the YouTube show – is in production at the Weinstein Company, and Ms. McKenzie’s contract locks her in as the star.
根據改編自YouTube節目的小說而打造的電視節目，正由溫斯坦影業製拍，並且和麥肯錫簽約當主角。

The project started in 2010 when a film producer, Nick Hagen, contacted Mercedes Rose, Ms. McKenzie’s mother, who is an actress and voice-over artist, about collaborating on a YouTube show. Ms. Rose, her daughter and Mr. Hagen formed a production company, Coat Tale Productions. They quickly learned tricks for luring in viewers, like posting warnings on the videos that say “Don’t Watch!” Rumors swirled that the ghostly apparitions were real. Nearly a year later, the videos passed five million views. The show now brings in around $6,000 a month in advertising.
整個計畫始於2010年，電影製片尼克．海根找上本身是演員兼配音員的麥肯錫母親梅西迪絲、羅斯，洽談聯手製作YouTube節目事宜。羅斯與女兒及海根合組Coat Tale製作公司。他們很快就學會了吸引觀眾的撇步，像是在影片上張貼「別看！」的警語。有關鬼影是真的的傳言四散。大約一年後，影片點閱次數超過五千萬。節目現在每個月帶進六千美元廣告收入。

Now 20 and lives outside of Portland, Oregon, Ms. McKenzie says Sunshine’s character is “99.8 percent” based on her.
麥肯錫現在已經20歲，住在俄勒岡州波特蘭市郊，表示「陽光」一角有「99.8%」來自她本人。

She spent much of her adolescence in front of the camera. When she was harassed at school, she spoke about it on camera. She griped about her wheat allergy and her frizzy hair. “I pretty much grew up on YouTube,” she said.
麥肯錫的青少年時期大部分時間在鏡頭前度過。在學校被騷擾，她在鏡頭前談論；她還抱怨自己對小麥過敏及頭髮鬈曲。她說：「我可說是在YouTube長大的。」

In 2013, the literary agent Mollie Glick paired Ms. McKenzie with a young adult novelist, Alyssa B. Sheinmel, who wrote sample chapters and an outline. A book deal quickly followed. Last spring, Weinstein bought a partial manuscript – in two-book deal for something more than $100.000 – and separately optioned screen rights. The company recently bought a third book.
2013年，文學經紀人茉莉．葛利克讓麥肯錫與青少年小說家艾莉莎．項梅搭檔，後者寫樣章和概要。出書合約很快就上門。去年春季，溫斯坦影業買下還沒完成的手稿，簽下兩本書的合約，價值超過十萬美元，以及拍成電影的版權。公司最近買下第三冊。

When asked about her writing process, Ms. McKenzie readily acknowledges that Ms. Sheinmel did the bulk of the writing.
被問到寫作過程時，麥肯錫很快承認書的大部分出自項梅之手。

“I can’t do this by myself, are you crazy?” Ms. McKenzie said. “I’ve never written a book. I don’t know how to do that.”
麥肯錫說：「這事我沒法一個人做，你瘋了不成？我從來沒寫過書。我也不知道該怎麼寫書。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/business/media/youtubes-sunshine-girl-comes-to-print.html

2015-04-14聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版左