Liann Zhang chats Julie Chan is Dead

Have you ever dreamed of having a massive following on your social media pages? Now imagine if it comes to you freely, without you having to work for it. Liann Zhang’s Julie finds herself in this situation when her influencer twin sister Chloe passed away suddenly. Thinking on her feet, Julie decided to adopt her sister’s identity and tell the world that Julie Chan is Dead.

To celebrate the release, we invited Liann Zhang to chat about her book.

Julie took over Chloe’s YouTube channel and social media pages. If you had the opportunity, would you want to be an influencer of this scale?

I wouldn’t mind being a content creator with a mass following, but not Chloe’s style of influencing. I’d like to be the type of creator that presents a less manufactured persona, more ‘internet-tainer’ than influencer. Think Jenna Marbles or Brittany Broski. They seem to have more fun!

You wouldn’t tell us who, but we still have to ask, is each of the influencers in Julie Chan is Dead based on a famous YouTuber?

Some of the influencers are styled after certain people more than others. However, the group of Belladonnas are archetypes of their specific content niche–so, a conglomerate rather than a single entity. But eagle-eyed readers are sure to pick up on reference to real influencers/scandals…maybe this easter egg hunt is part of the fun!

How did you make sure the details about influencers are realistic? For example, everyone is dying to know what YouTubers earn via AdSense.

Part of my unique perspective in writing this book is my own experience being a skincare ‘influencer’ in my teens. I got to see a lot of the behind the scenes, which contributed to the realism of the everyday minutiae of influencing. As for AdSense revenue, the system is rather transparent in how they pay out YouTubers. From what I understand, they get x amount per 1k views, but the x can differ based on which rank of content creator you are. For example, more family friendly creators that have mass appeal can earn more per 1k views, since ‘premium’ ads can be placed on their channels.

Why do you think influencers have a more cult-like fandom than traditional celebrities?

There’s a certain level of kinship associated with influencers that we don’t get with traditional celebrities. They allow us to peek into their lives and often go about calling their fans/followers their friends/family–which contributes to an in-group vs out-group dynamic that’s often conducive to a cult-like fandom. Personally, I have always felt that many influencers purposefully play into the parasocial relationship between viewer and creator for monetary gain. There is a lot of incentive in creating a cult-like following that will buy anything they promote. The more dedicated and attached your fans are, the more likely you’ll get that cut in referral money!

Julie Chan is Dead explores diversity in the influencer-circle and how creators of colour need to work particularly hard. Do you think this an even bigger problem for influencers than regular 9-5 workers?

I don’t think it would be fair to say if this issue is more prevalent in the 9-5 space or the influencer space. The intersectional dynamic between race and success and privilege penetrates every layer of society. There’s no avoiding it! The influencer world is simply another microcosm that demonstrates it. However, since there is a sense of autonomy online, (though, I don’t want to overstate our agency–since I believe it is less than you’d think) allowing more freedom of creation and thought, which might mitigate the burden of these societal structures compared to regular 9-5 workers who have less voice.

Finally, the Belladonna’s in Julie Chan is Dead are fairly superficial, and they all echo each other in everything. Is this necessarily bad? Or should we embrace more sisterhood?

The echoing was supposed to invoke how it feels to look into an Instagram comment section where friends or followers often say similar things. I don’t think this is all bad–that’s why Julie loves it for most of the book! It provides a lot of validation and a sense of comfort. However, I only think it’s good when the echoing is genuine. Sometimes, you can get trapped in that box and struggle to find your voice, or get afraid to defy the norm, or actively shed parts of yourself to fit in. Then it becomes negative.

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang is out May 1 (Bloomsbury Raven Books).