Cindy Pham’s Briar Rose path runs from BookTube to bestseller

Cindy Pham’s Briar Rose story now comes with a bestseller glow, but the author and creator told Mashable she is still keeping her day job as a graphic designer while writing books and making videos for Read With Cindy.

Pham, known online for book commentary on YouTube, has built an audience of nearly 600,000 subscribers there, according to Mashable. The outlet described her as a New York Times bestselling author whose debut young adult novel, The Secret World of Briar Rose, grew out of a manuscript she first drafted in high school.

The twist: Pham said she has no interest in turning every creative impulse into rent money. She told Mashable that a full-time job gives her financial security, letting her write and make videos because she wants to, rather than because she needs online approval to cover bills.

What is Cindy Pham's The Secret World of Briar Rose about?

The Secret World of Briar Rose is a sapphic reworking of Sleeping Beauty, according to Mashable, built around the idea of a heroine who may not want to wake up. Pham said the core story has long been tied to depression and suicidal ideation, using the fairy tale as an allegory.

Pham told Mashable that writing came before her public book persona. She said she wrote story versions of games and TV shows in elementary school, fanfiction in middle school, original fiction in high school, and a first draft of The Secret World of Briar Rose during her senior year.

Reading arrived later. Pham said she became a serious reader only after college, when books were no longer assignments. After graduation, she started reading enough that Instagram posts felt too small for her reactions, so she launched a YouTube channel to talk through what she was reading.

She said she expected the channel might be a short-lived hobby, but viewers began watching, commenting and subscribing. As the channel grew, Pham said she kept making videos about books that genuinely interested her, rather than chasing what she thought would perform best.

Why does Cindy Pham still work a full-time job?

Pham told Mashable that keeping design as “just a job” protects the joy in her other work. She said relying on creative output as a whole livelihood can make every book, video or public reaction feel heavier.

She also described herself as a slow writer who likes to sit with ideas, live life and let experience shape the story. That pace, she said, does not always fit what publishing wants, so she would rather create on her own timeline.

Pham also criticized the pressure on authors to become marketers. She told Mashable that authors should not have to sell themselves online and said a book should be able to stand on its own, while acknowledging that her own platform has helped her.

When The Secret World of Briar Rose debuted at No. 1, Pham said she highlighted other books released on the same day, especially by debut authors without the same platform or publisher backing. She said bestseller lists also reflect where publishers put investment and promotion.

Pham told Mashable the book’s creative production was shaped by women with South or Southeast Asian backgrounds, including Pham, who is Vietnamese, along with her Pakistani editor, Filipina cover artist, Taiwanese cover designer and Black and South Asian interior designer. She said that makes the book’s wins feel broader than her own career.

She also spoke about identity, saying the internet helped her become more socially and politically aware and contributed to her realizing she is queer. Pham said she met her girlfriend through the online book community, while also noting that public assumptions about her identity made her second-guess herself.

For Pham, the aim is “resonance,” as she put it to Mashable, more than trying to represent every person in a group. She said she writes from character and theme first, hoping the emotional truth connects with readers, whether or not they see themselves represented in every detail.

This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.