Sophie McCartney's book Tired and Tested: The Wild Ride is a hit

Sophie McCartney, based in South Warrington, has garnered more than 1,000,000 followers on Facebook and an army across other platforms too following a parenting remix of Shape of You by Ed Sheeran that went viral and she has continued her comedic videos on social media since.

And her latest venture has been writing Tired and Tested: The Wild Ride into Parenthood which is inspired by collective mistakes everyone makes moving into parenting.

The book looks at Sophie’s journey into parenting with 90s and noughties nostalgia, exploring dating and how you find someone you like enough to have a child with.

She said: “Before I went to University I couldn’t find a guy to share a bag of crisps, never mind share my DNA with.

“Then it goes into making the plunge into the unknown, having kids and everything that comes with like the school life, the mum mafia, coming out of the other side of the little kids days.

“Nobody can afford to go out because everyone’s saving for a kitchen extension so life isn’t as rock and roll as you thought it might be when you are 18.”

Daring to dream

And the book, which came out on February 3, has topped the chart of the Sunday Times bestseller list, a title Sophie did not expect after she said she dared to dream that she might be on the list.

The 37-year-old added: “It’s mad. I had no idea where I’d go in. I felt so sick all day waiting to find out and time crawled.

“I screamed when I heard I was on the list, when I got told number one I just told my editor to ‘shut up’ repeatedly.

“There are some amazing books on that list and to be top of them for a debut book is crazy but I am very grateful.

“I don’t care if I’m off the list next week, I’ve done it and I will take it to my grave,” joked Sophie.

“I didn’t want to write a mum manual because it’s not me and I don’t want to be like ‘this is how you should ween your baby’ because I can’t write a book about how to be a parent when I’m not entirely sure I’m great at parenting myself. It doesn’t sit well with me.

“You won’t really find great words of wisdom on becoming a parent, what I was more centred on was validating people who are in the same position as me and saying ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, you probably don’t know what you’re doing but it’s fine because I don’t think we are meant to know.”

Overwhelmed by book response

Sophie, who was born in Liverpool, has been so pleased with the reaction to the book since it came out.

“All the responses have been really overwhelming,” continued Sophie.

“There are core people who follow me on Facebook and Instagram and I thought they might read it.

“It’s been spread and pushed out further and further. People who don’t follow me have messaged me saying that their friend told them to read it and I loved it.

“The reaction has been really, really good. I write things sometimes and think ‘that’s quite funny’ as that’s my humour, it’s individual.

“With my videos, I get instant feedback on it so I can if someone likes it but to make something and it’s only me and my editorial team that have seen it without gauging other people’s reactions before it goes out into the world is a bit tense because it could just fall flat on its face.

“It’s always a bit of a gamble to see if other people are going to like it.

“A bit of me thought that no one would read it so I went really unfiltered with it, didn’t really think through some of the scenarios then about a week before it was published I had a bit of an existential crisis thinking ‘oh my god people are going to read it, what was I thinking’? she joked

“I’ve calmed down a bit now it’s out and I feel a little bit more zen about it.”

Sophie tells all about the realistic ride into parenthood

Being real online

The author, mum to Jack, eight and Evelyn, six, feels that being transparent and relatable is key.

She added: “It’s so important to be real because your authenticity is everything, especially when you work in the online space.

“I think 90 per cent of people follow me because they see themselves in me whether it be having a disaster of a morning or the kids being late for school, everybody has been through that situation and seeing someone else go through it makes them feel a lot better about themselves.

“I want people to laugh and feel better because they feel that’s them too.

“Social media can be very aspirational and it’s important to remember what you see is a snapshot of someone’s lives and behind the scenes, it’s never the same.

“You see pictures of all these beautiful people but they might have used filters or photoshop as well as these picture-perfect parents on Instagram and the kids are smiling but you know they spent seven hours bribing them children with a bag of buttons.

“My life and pretty much everyone’s life isn’t perfect so I try to show that. Authenticity is everything.

The connection is even more special with her audience with them seeing Sophie for who she is.

“I get a lot of messages about people feeling like they are my friend.

“That’s what it is like. We share that common ground and a lot of people who follows me are very similar to me.

“It feels like I’m talking to friends. It’s like a little community that I have built and on Facebook, community is everything and it’s brilliant.”

A look at the cover of Tired and Tested: The Wild Ride into Parenthood