First published a year ago, Fifty Shades of Grey has now sold 10 million copies
Mirror News - 1 July, 2012
Michael Lionstar
It's the “mummy porn” phenomenon that’s breaking bookselling records on a daily basis.
The UK’s fastest-selling paperback of all-time, it has beaten all of the Harry Potter books and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
First published a year ago, Fifty Shades of Grey has now sold 10 million copies and has also become the best-selling e-book of all time, hitting a milestone million digital sales this week.
The novel and its two sequels now sit at numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the bestseller charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In total, they have sold 20 million worldwide.
But ask first-time British author EL James, 48, about the graphic scenes in Fifty Shades (and follow-ups Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed) and the married mum of two could hardly be more embarrassed.
“Well, yes, they are my fantasies lived out and explored,” she says, somewhat sheepishly. “But I don’t know how much detail I want to go into! Um, well, let’s just say I had a very nice time researching the book. That’s all I’m going to say! I’m actually now blushing!”
She does seem quite shy, I say, for someone who has described in detail “intense”, “delicious”, “violent”, “all-consuming”, “turbulent,” “agonising”, “exhausting”, “body shattering” and “Earth-shattering” orgasms, using a variety of methods from being tied up to being spanked with paddles.
“I am shy!” protests James, a former TV executive from West London whose real name is Erika Leonard. “You know, I didn’t expect it to be a huge bloody success.
“I put it out there quietly, I had a pen name, I thought I would carry on working in TV and just write this stuff on the side. Who would have thought a racy romance would be a No 1 bestseller?”
The plot – for the uninitiated – follows naive graduate Anastasia Steele, who falls for handsome young billionaire Christian Grey, who happens to be into sado-masochism and bondage.
Remarkably, it began as a piece of internet-published fan-fiction featuring the characters Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from the bestselling supernatural teen romance series Twilight.
But it saw the couple (played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the film versions) get up to all kinds of sexy mischief they never do in Stephanie Meyer’s books.
It’s this mix, says James – romantic longing plus hardcore sex – that’s the key to her books’ success.
“Women like to read a good romantic story. And that’s what it is at its heart. Plus it’s quite spicy and racy. I think of it as a romance... I don’t think of it as erotica really.”
Full story at The Mirror
The UK’s fastest-selling paperback of all-time, it has beaten all of the Harry Potter books and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
First published a year ago, Fifty Shades of Grey has now sold 10 million copies and has also become the best-selling e-book of all time, hitting a milestone million digital sales this week.
The novel and its two sequels now sit at numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the bestseller charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In total, they have sold 20 million worldwide.
But ask first-time British author EL James, 48, about the graphic scenes in Fifty Shades (and follow-ups Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed) and the married mum of two could hardly be more embarrassed.
“Well, yes, they are my fantasies lived out and explored,” she says, somewhat sheepishly. “But I don’t know how much detail I want to go into! Um, well, let’s just say I had a very nice time researching the book. That’s all I’m going to say! I’m actually now blushing!”
She does seem quite shy, I say, for someone who has described in detail “intense”, “delicious”, “violent”, “all-consuming”, “turbulent,” “agonising”, “exhausting”, “body shattering” and “Earth-shattering” orgasms, using a variety of methods from being tied up to being spanked with paddles.
“I am shy!” protests James, a former TV executive from West London whose real name is Erika Leonard. “You know, I didn’t expect it to be a huge bloody success.
“I put it out there quietly, I had a pen name, I thought I would carry on working in TV and just write this stuff on the side. Who would have thought a racy romance would be a No 1 bestseller?”
The plot – for the uninitiated – follows naive graduate Anastasia Steele, who falls for handsome young billionaire Christian Grey, who happens to be into sado-masochism and bondage.
Remarkably, it began as a piece of internet-published fan-fiction featuring the characters Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from the bestselling supernatural teen romance series Twilight.
But it saw the couple (played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the film versions) get up to all kinds of sexy mischief they never do in Stephanie Meyer’s books.
It’s this mix, says James – romantic longing plus hardcore sex – that’s the key to her books’ success.
“Women like to read a good romantic story. And that’s what it is at its heart. Plus it’s quite spicy and racy. I think of it as a romance... I don’t think of it as erotica really.”
Full story at The Mirror