50 Shades, the lemming theory in action.

[lovecraft68]

Yeah okay, I'll bite the fucking bullet and start a Shades thread.

However, instead of rendering my opinion on it (which we all know) or getting other people here's takes. Lets talk facts.

Check this out. Pasted from the 50 Shades kindle page

Customer Reviews
(8,598)
3.2 out of 5 stars
5 star
3,608
4 star
861
3 star
642
2 star
754
1 star
2,733
See all 8,598 customer reviews

“ So i started reading the first book and finished it in 2 days. ” Gülce Arman | 1,556 reviewers made a similar statement
“ Please, don't waste your time, money and brain reading this book. ” Jo G | 1,662 reviewers made a similar statement
“ The books are not well written, incredibly repetitive, there is little character development, and the sex scenes are, well, vanilla. ” sailorgirl27 | 1,984 reviewers made a similar statement


First off, let me give Amazon props for putting quotes from two negative reviews at the top rather than burying them to protect their best sellers rep.

Now here is the link to the page, please read at least the first couple of reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-...=1342359067&sr=1-1&keywords=50+shades+of+gray

Now I know there is "trolling" on amazon. Theres some haters reviewing this thing, but over 2500+? This book is closing in on having as many one bombs as 5's. I also want to point out that when this thing hit Good Morning America(first time I'd heard of it) I checked this same page and it had 3,000 reviews and a rating over 4. The people buying for the hype since then are not happy.

And the negative reviews are mostly long and detailed. These people aren't lit hate trolls they're thoughtful reviewers who are pissed they just wasted $10-$20 on this thing.

My point is people can see this. They are seeing it is barely a 3 out of 5 rating and they're still dumping their hard earned money on it.

This is the "Oh, you haven't read it yet? Well what's wrong with you? Mentality.

Proof? I was at my nephews Birthday party last week and my wife's cousin who is a school teacher told me she was reading it. She said so far she wasn't liking it. I asked why she was continuing and she said that:

"Everyone at school is talking about it and I want to be able to talk about it too"

That's Shades audience right now. This isn't about "mommy porn" or erotica breaking through, this is about keeping up with the jones', about being trendy, about not feeling like one of the cool kids if you haven't read this.

Again, brilliant marketing and lightning in a bottle and good for James making millions.

But end of the day this thing has all the substance of a Milli Vanilli concert.

Herd mentality.

 

[lance gt]

IMHO, it's readers (mostly women) who are flocking to it for the fantasy that it purports to have, but the majority find the writing below a good standard of talent. The only thing this story has done, is open a door for more writers in the genre to get exposure for similar works. It'll only take one, to knock 50 shades out of any position it has and become the standard, or benchmark for that fantasy.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Humans are a herd. I personally like some of the side effects of the herd mentality. They are amusing.

Here's one.

Go to your local grocery store, enter the store through the most often-used entrance.

Odds are, the store is set up so that you move throughout it in a counterclockwise fashion.

In sweden, they tested this by setting up cones and walls inside a store and attempting to force people to go clockwise. The herd resisted, and continued to move counterclockwise, even if it disturbed the flow of shoppers.

Face it, you are a counterclockwise goat.

What were we talking about?

 

[lovecraft68]

Humans are a herd. I personally like some of the side effects of the herd mentality. They are amusing.

Here's one.

Go to your local grocery store, enter the store through the most often-used entrance.

Odds are, the store is set up so that you move throughout it in a counterclockwise fashion.

In sweden, they tested this by setting up cones and walls inside a store and attempting to force people to go clockwise. The herd resisted, and continued to move counterclockwise, even if it disturbed the flow of shoppers.

Face it, you are a counterclockwise goat.

What were we talking about?

This goes back to an even simpler experiment and one upon the urging of my psyche teacher I tried.

Go outside or and start staring up in the air. People will walk by you and they will look up.

A few of them will ask you, what you;re looking at. When they do, make something up.

I told them I was looking at the rare sight of a hawk up on the ledge of an office building. (which of course was not there)

When they would squint and stare, I gave them a "what you can;t see that?"

I did this to 11 people 8 said of course they could see it.

2 shrugged and walked away.

One guy asked what I was smoking (obviously the counter clockwise goat)

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Humans are a herd. I personally like some of the side effects of the herd mentality. They are amusing.

Here's one.

Go to your local grocery store, enter the store through the most often-used entrance.

Odds are, the store is set up so that you move throughout it in a counterclockwise fashion.

In sweden, they tested this by setting up cones and walls inside a store and attempting to force people to go clockwise. The herd resisted, and continued to move counterclockwise, even if it disturbed the flow of shoppers.

Face it, you are a counterclockwise goat.

What were we talking about?

That explains the popularity of NASCAR

 

[lovecraft68]

That explains the popularity of NASCAR

Thanks for saying that.

Every guy I work with loves that shit!

Every Monday its all they talk about.

I for the life of me don't get it, except for the sick hope there might be a crash, I see nothing that could hold their interest.

Then again its a great analogy for some people who are content to sit back and watch their life go by in an endless monotonous loop.

 

[PennLady]

My point is people can see this. They are seeing it is barely a 3 out of 5 rating and they're still dumping their hard earned money on it.

This is the "Oh, you haven't read it yet? Well what's wrong with you? Mentality.

MAYBE they'd like to read it for themselves to decide whether they like it not, despite what the Herd says/does.

MAYBE some of them genuinely enjoy it, much to your disappointment. There are plenty of people who like things that aren't popular, and who don't like things that are (I often fall into the latter category).

MAYBE they would like, as the teacher says, to be able to discuss this with some knowledge with their friends, and not have to start with "I haven't read it, I've only read about it, and..." I can tell you from personal experience that being on the outside of things like this is not always fun. Some of the other moms on my son's baseball team had read it and I couldn't participate in those conversations because I hadn't read it. (I'm out of sync with them on other things too, don't misunderstand; this is just one instance.)

WHY DO YOU CARE if I spend money on this series? It's not your money after all. If *I* want to spent my money on this, I will. (I don't, but I'm just saying.)

I just don't get why you care so much. This book was not written for you. You are not funding its publication. Quite likely, most women who read this are not into much of what you write (probably too outside the norm for them), so it's not costing you sales. Surely you have better and more constructive things to spend your time on (I probably do, too, but apparently I'm a sucker for a lost cause).

 

[lance gt]

Put enough hype to anything and people will buy it and suck it up. The TV shows being made are another example of feeding the masses shit and getting them to accept it.
Swamp People, Navajo Cops, Ragin' Cajuns, Storage Wars, Hoarders, etc., are now the norm of 'reality' shows. They're pushing it down to its lowest limits, so I'm sure we'll have some winners to come yet.

 

[lovecraft68]

MAYBE they'd like to read it for themselves to decide whether they like it not, despite what the Herd says/does.

MAYBE some of them genuinely enjoy it, much to your disappointment. There are plenty of people who like things that aren't popular, and who don't like things that are (I often fall into the latter category).

MAYBE they would like, as the teacher says, to be able to discuss this with some knowledge with their friends, and not have to start with "I haven't read it, I've only read about it, and..." I can tell you from personal experience that being on the outside of things like this is not always fun. Some of the other moms on my son's baseball team had read it and I couldn't participate in those conversations because I hadn't read it. (I'm out of sync with them on other things too, don't misunderstand; this is just one instance.)

WHY DO YOU CARE if I spend money on this series? It's not your money after all. If *I* want to spent my money on this, I will. (I don't, but I'm just saying.)

I just don't get why you care so much. This book was not written for you. You are not funding its publication. Quite likely, most women who read this are not into much of what you write (probably too outside the norm for them), so it's not costing you sales. Surely you have better and more constructive things to spend your time on (I probably do, too, but apparently I'm a sucker for a lost cause).

If you went car shopping and all of your research said the car barely had a three out of 5 safety rating would you put the pennkids in it? Course not.

Why do I care?

As for the book itself I don't.

But herd mentality/lemmings is a deeply imbued belief of mine (read the Satanic bible) and It just flat out amazes me that people, will do, say, read, or watch something because everyone else is.

Goes back to the "If they jumped off a bridge would you?"

 

[PennLady]

If you went car shopping and all of your research said the car barely had a three out of 5 safety rating would you put the pennkids in it? Course not.

Why do I care?

As for the book itself I don't.

But herd mentality/lemmings is a deeply imbued belief of mine (read the Satanic bible) and It just flat out amazes me that people, will do, say, read, or watch something because everyone else is.

Goes back to the "If they jumped off a bridge would you?"

That's a ridiculous comparison (50 Shades/cars) and you know it. There's nothing the same about buying a book and a car. You buy each for different reasons and each has a totally different set of external reasons for needing or wanting it.

Look, things get popular. All you hear about is the consumption of the item -- the book, the car, the shirt, the movie, the tv show -- but you don't often hear about afterwards, when perhaps a big section or even majority of the purchasers might be dissatisfied with the purchase.

And let's go to your herd mentality; okay, so the average rating of 50 Shades at Amazon, let's say, is middling. Why is NOT buying it based on that a good thing? After all, I'm only following the herd that said they didn't like it, right? No sense in exercising my own judgment, right? I should just go by what everyone else said, right?

In 50 Shades, at least you're getting people who bought it say they didn't like it. And they're saying that after reading it and making their own informed decision.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's a ridiculous comparison (50 Shades/cars) and you know it. There's nothing the same about buying a book and a car. You buy each for different reasons and each has a totally different set of external reasons for needing or wanting it.

Look, things get popular. All you hear about is the consumption of the item -- the book, the car, the shirt, the movie, the tv show -- but you don't often hear about afterwards, when perhaps a big section or even majority of the purchasers might be dissatisfied with the purchase.

And let's go to your herd mentality; okay, so the average rating of 50 Shades at Amazon, let's say, is middling. Why is NOT buying it based on that a good thing? After all, I'm only following the herd that said they didn't like it, right? No sense in exercising my own judgment, right? I should just go by what everyone else said, right?

In 50 Shades, at least you're getting people who bought it say they didn't like it. And they're saying that after reading it and making their own informed decision.

Lets go this route. The mentality over the product is my point here. Shades is the latest vehicle that proves people are followers and half the time are incapable of going against the grain, even intelligent people.

Proof? I was at my nephews Birthday party last week and my wife's cousin who is a school teacher told me she was reading it. She said so far she wasn't liking it. I asked why she was continuing and she said that:

"Everyone at school is talking about it and I want to be able to talk about it too"

This woman is in her early 40's and a high school English teacher. Pretty bright and as a single mom of two I consider pretty independent and when you speak to her very opinionated.

When I asked why she didn't like the book, it was pretty much everything. She said as an English major the writing itself annoyed her and she was bent the publisher didn;t edit her down.

Most of all she hated the characters, she said "Ana" was a wek willed simpering naive girl, the kind of portrayel of a female that pissed her of. She said Gray was nothing short of an arrogant prick she wouldn't spit on.

so okay, she is having a hard time reading it, and loathes the two main characters. Yet she is 250 pages in and plans on finishing it.

Why? so she's not odd man out in the lunge conversations.

yes, many bought this because they were interested in it and maybe they are the people who enjoyed it. But there are now thousands upon thousands, buying it, hating it and publicly stating how poor it is, but the masses just keep lining up for it.

Now, you yourself go against the grain. You're technically in their demographic and you actually write erotica/romance yet for whatever your reason you have decided you don't need to read this thing.

My point is that you are the minority. The counter clockwise goat as Cruel said.

So my point is simply pointing out the latest example of mindless masses.

hell we live in a country where our president was elected by reasoning of "he's gotta be better than the last guy" and "wouldn't it be cool to have a black president?(and yes this was the reasoning behind the majority of the college age voters, O'bama was cool and trendy to them.)

Just waxing philosophical PL, and as you always tell me when I'm griping, "but you're posting right?"

 

[PennLady]

You're missing my point.

Your teacher friend doesn't like the book, but by reading it, she will be more fully informed about the book and its contents and be better able to participate in conversations about it. She will, in fact, be able to point out to the people she's talking to, WHY she didn't like it. I have to say, well, from what I heard/saw/read in the first two chapters, I didn't like x y or z. SHE can say things about Ana's character, or Grey's, etc., and be on more solid ground. I think it's fine to read something to be able to argue against it. You seem to think the simple act of buying this book and reading it makes a person stupid and that's not true. Sometimes you want or need to see for yourself how bad (or good) something is.

Or, perhaps, just because a person does something the herd is doing does not mean they are doing it BECAUSE the herd is doing it.

I saw Titanic, as many did (although on video, not in the theater), and I did it to see what all the hubbub was about. I think my opinion on the movie is pretty well known at this point. Was I being a sheep in seeing it? I don't think so. I was doing it so I could make my own informed opinion; I had my opinion before, based on reviews and audience reaction, and that opinion was negative. It stayed that way, but without watching the movie, how would I know how solid my opinion was, or even whether I'd missed out on a good movie?

I read The Hunger Games trilogy after reading a lot about it in the wake of the movie coming up. Was that a herd thing? No; I wanted to see for myself.

I don't think I'd like 50 Shades, for a bunch of reasons, and I'm not going to spend money on it. If I had the chance to get it for free, I might read it just to see it for myself. I imagine I'll still dislike it; perhaps I won't even finish it, like your wife; OTOH, why shouldn't I see for myself?

You never did answer my question -- if the herd is now running against 50 Shades (evidenced by low reviews), wouldn't I just be being part of the herd by not reading it for myself?

And yes, I know I'm still posting; part of me hopes to get an answer out of you instead of your knee-jerk opposition. The other part apparently enjoys banging her head against a wall.

 

[3113]

That's a ridiculous comparison (50 Shades/cars) and you know it. There's nothing the same about buying a book and a car.

Actually, no, it's not a ridiculous comparison. Consider how many huge gas guzzlers were bought through the early part of this century in spite of oil crises. Gas guzzlers that couldn't fit in tiny spaces, and that few people would never take off-road, that were environmentally bad if not bad cars. Why did people buy such vehicles rather than sensible ones that suited their lifestyle? They did it because it was the cool car for a person to buy--the one that the lemmings said you had to have in order to be respected and feel powerful. What other reason would a single women with a dog and a toddler be riding around in such huge vehicle whether or not she could afford it? And it didn't do our society any good to drive such, did it? It may have done our air quality and climate change a lot of harm.

And I consider what people read or watch as very important--and sometimes very alarming. In the 1920's "Birth of a Nation" was a huge movie hit and so was it's source material "The Klansman." It became very popular to join the KKK and that all-white club had its biggest numbers ever.

Now I'm not saying that "50 Shades" is dangerous or any more of a threat in its popularity (which I'm guessing will be brief) than "Love Story" was back in the 70's or "9 1/2 weeks" in the 80's, but I don't consider rants about what's popular, and what has got us into a lemming mentality to be frivolous. Sometimes this mentality can be alarming and dangerous and worth worrying about and discussing. Especially if it bleeds into politics or people joining certain organizations or religious cults.

I'll add that I don't think "50 Shades" even comes close to this, it's popularity being a brief flame-up that is getting more milage thanks to the media than it really is from readers. This isn't the Harry Potter books, it's not even Twilight. But I don't think we should discourage or shut down any such discussion just because the material is light and fluffy or even stupid. You never know where stupid can lead--and I don't mean just leading the lemmings, but everyone else. War fever gets a whole nation into debt, not just those gung-ho about entering an ill-considered war.

 

[Recidiva]

There's a really good book by Malcolm Gladwell called "The Tipping Point" that profiles some authors and how their books presented themselves and filled (or created) a niche.

I've read the books because they showed up on the top sellers and I tend to swap back and forth between free books, recommended books, top sellers and so forth.

They're not that great, but they're not that bad. I'd say they're on par with the "Twilight" series. It's hot people arguing with each other way too much and mistaking lust for love. Fairly typical as themes go, and the main flaw I could find is that the main characters are supposed to be American but they have a suspicious amount of British culture, interests and slang.

I don't think there's any real way to explain the popularity unless you're Malcolm Gladwell and you go back and do some real research. I know his other research points up things like being picked up by Oprah, or reading clubs sponsoring and discussing the book, etc.

This is one of those things that don't indicate genius so much as the chaos theory corollary of "A whip cracks (or doesn't crack) in another country, causing a hurricane."

 

[lance gt]

I can understand the herd mentality about the book, in that a great number of people would never actually buy the book, but are, because of the hype surrounding it. Readers want some fantasy in their lives and this provides a bit of it, albeit, badly written. I've heard plenty about the writing quality of the story being poor, but the fantasy, however vanilla, is still appealing to many.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll add that I don't think "50 Shades" even comes close to this, it's popularity being a brief flame-up that is getting more milage thanks to the media than it really is from readers. This isn't the Harry Potter books, it's not even Twilight. But I don't think we should discourage or shut down any such discussion just because the material is light and fluffy or even stupid. You never know where stupid can lead--and I don't mean just leading the lemmings, but everyone else. War fever gets a whole nation into debt, not just those gung-ho about entering an ill-considered war.

A friend of mine who works in advertising had an interesting take on the current Shades "push"

She pointed out that as popular as it is, its being treated as a "15 minutes of fame" campaign.

Amazon is pushing it with an air of desperation as if its not selling. You know how when you buy a book on kindle it has similar books under it?

My wife bought an e-book on "Angel numbers" (yeah I know what is she doing with me?) and all over the page was 50 shades.

They are going to rush the shit out of the movie and push it to be discussed (lets face it a lot of articles and things about something popular are "plants". Best example of that was the idiotic article that claimed sales of rope were up in New York, due to Shades, those are contrived planted articles.

Why their pushing something that needs no pushing is they're waiting for the backlash. They're waiting for it to 360 into people being so sick and tried of seeing/hearing about it that it will implode.

The smart move would be to let it sell itself, but that's not what advertising is about, its about wringing things like a sponge until there is nothing left and moving onto what's next.

Good point on Potter, because from what I hear of the story the trilogy is it. Not much room for sequel or continuation so what they have is what they have.

Also awesome point on the Klan. And that also goes for Hitler's rise and how normal people were suddenly sitting back and allowing and justifying his atrocities.

People can be sold anything. absolutely anything. The average person at the end of the day wants to be left alone, they want someone to tell them what to do, read, watch and buy. They exchange their independence for comfort and that leads to problems. In general the US has been too comfortable for to long and now under adversity no one knows what they want to do, so they keep putting the same pieces of shit in office.

 

[Recidiva]

I can understand the herd mentality about the book, in that a great number of people would never actually buy the book, but are, because of the hype surrounding it. Readers want some fantasy in their lives and this provides a bit of it, albeit, badly written. I've heard plenty about the writing quality of the story being poor, but the fantasy, however vanilla, is still appealing to many.

I'd describe it more as "Why do you want to hurt people?" in viewpoint rather than "I like to hurt people."

There's no real exploration or understanding of BDSM other than naming some toys and practices.

I don't think it's even BDSM for Dummies because it doesn't touch on any of the themes of BDSM other than the pop psych sense of "Control Issues" and "This Is Wrong."

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I have no intentions of reading it, havent read any Harry Potter, either.

From what I know about Class in America the Peasants and Elites do pretty much what they wanna do, and dont much give a shit what anyone thinks about it. Its the Middle Class (I dont mean Middle Income) who sweat everything and feel safer in a herd. They have no confidence in their preferences and tastes, and fret about what people think. Theyre the folks who are ruined by THE WRONG FRIENDS.

 

[lovecraft68]

I can understand the herd mentality about the book, in that a great number of people would never actually buy the book, but are, because of the hype surrounding it. Readers want some fantasy in their lives and this provides a bit of it, albeit, badly written. I've heard plenty about the writing quality of the story being poor, but the fantasy, however vanilla, is still appealing to many.

I believe there are two waves of Shades buyers and it shows in the reviews.

The intial buyers bought it because it appealed to them. They saw it liked and and said why not? Most probably enjoyed it because it did interest them from the start enough to buy it. The ones who didn't like it had "themselves" to blame.

Once it blew up, the second wave of buyers were the ones saying "Oh, man if its that hot I have to read it"

The last couple of thousand reviews attest to what their reaction to it is. Fact is if you buy something just because everyone says to, you're going to bash it even more if you don;t like it then if you made your own choice on it.

But again the people marketing are going for as many fast bucks as possible and don;t care. They'll kick out a rushed horribly done movie and walk away from there.

Good strategy would have been to let the sales cool off, then make a movie and spark a whole new wave of sales like Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

A friend of mine who works in advertising had an interesting take on the current Shades "push"

She pointed out that as popular as it is, its being treated as a "15 minutes of fame" campaign.

Amazon is pushing it with an air of desperation as if its not selling. You know how when you buy a book on kindle it has similar books under it?

My wife bought an e-book on "Angel numbers" (yeah I know what is she doing with me?) and all over the page was 50 shades.

They are going to rush the shit out of the movie and push it to be discussed (lets face it a lot of articles and things about something popular are "plants". Best example of that was the idiotic article that claimed sales of rope were up in New York, due to Shades, those are contrived planted articles.

Why their pushing something that needs no pushing is they're waiting for the backlash. They're waiting for it to 360 into people being so sick and tried of seeing/hearing about it that it will implode.

The smart move would be to let it sell itself, but that's not what advertising is about, its about wringing things like a sponge until there is nothing left and moving onto what's next.

Good point on Potter, because from what I hear of the story the trilogy is it. Not much room for sequel or continuation so what they have is what they have.

Also awesome point on the Klan. And that also goes for Hitler's rise and how normal people were suddenly sitting back and allowing and justifying his atrocities.

People can be sold anything. absolutely anything. The average person at the end of the day wants to be left alone, they want someone to tell them what to do, read, watch and buy. They exchange their independence for comfort and that leads to problems. In general the US has been too comfortable for to long and now under adversity no one knows what they want to do, so they keep putting the same pieces of shit in office.

When was the last time you saw an ad for Rolls Royce?

No one advertises gold mines, we advertise stuff thats crap OR stuff with plenty of competition.

 

[mcguinness]

Honestly, I'm just happy people are reading and talking about a book, even if it's a shitty book.

I went through this all with Twilight, when I visited my family and everyone in the house was nuts over it. When I said I wasn't interested in Twilight, I was loudly told to "get over myself, because it's good, hater!" And then they'd go off to talk about how dumb I was for not liking the thing they liked.

The object lesson being that equally important to human nature is an "other" to feel smarter, more enlightened, or otherwise better than. Which is a knife that cuts all ways.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd describe it more as "Why do you want to hurt people?" in viewpoint rather than "I like to hurt people."

There's no real exploration or understanding of BDSM other than naming some toys and practices.

I don't think it's even BDSM for Dummies because it doesn't touch on any of the themes of BDSM other than the pop psych sense of "Control Issues" and "This Is Wrong."

The fact the author has Gray using cable "zip like" ties shows her ignorance of BDSM. Those things can easily cut of circulation, cause injury and permanent scarring. Its why terrorists use them.

James obviously did no research on the matter.

 

[Recidiva]

The fact the author has Gray using cable "zip like" ties shows her ignorance of BDSM. Those things can easily cut of circulation, cause injury and permanent scarring. Its why terrorists use them.

James obviously did no research on the matter.

Yes, I agree. My objections extend to the psychology of those in the BDSM community. Only one was represented, and it was treated as a psychological disorder, not a healthy expression of being human.

When not using zip ties, of course.

 

[PennLady]

The fact the author has Gray using cable "zip like" ties shows her ignorance of BDSM. Those things can easily cut of circulation, cause injury and permanent scarring. Its why terrorists use them.

James obviously did no research on the matter.

Yes, I agree. My objections extend to the psychology of those in the BDSM community. Only one was represented, and it was treated as a psychological disorder, not a healthy expression of being human.

When not using zip ties, of course.

These are valid reasons not to like the book. And I'm sure I'd find many others that would make it tedious, if not downright impossible, for me to finish the book.

But again, James wasn't writing for the true BDSM community. She was writing a fantasy for herself that hit a chord with a lot of other people. She didn't start out, as far as I know, expecting this would get picked up and published. She wrote for FUN, for HERSELF. And I don't think you can fault her for that.

And LC, you still haven't answered my question. why is it ok to go with the herd AGAINST 50 Shades (now that negative reviews are coming in), but not for it?

 

[Mirisa]

Yes, it is poorly written. The characters are atrocious. It never should have been published without thorough editing

Personally I generally read 4 to 5 books a week. Despite all the horrors of 50 shades, I loved reading the books. I could not put them down until I was finished with all three. They totally consumed me. I fell in love with the horrid poorly developed characters and I'm sure I will read them again at some point.

It is no different from the trash that people flock to on tv. They want to know what happens. It gives them an escape. It is something different from their ordinary, boring herd lives.

So what has 50 shades done? It has woman reading erotica (however poor the quality) and then searching for more. Authors are going to start filling this need with quality erotica that is marketed to the mainstream population. This is beginning to happen... Something good will come out soon and just take off.

I can't tell you how many women actually wanted to have sex with their husbands again after reading these books because they were so aroused. There were a lot of really happy husbands walking around for awhile.

I think it opened some role playing for women that had never considered it before. Spiced up the sex life a bit.

So yes the book is horrendous but honestly its main purpose is to entertain. There is a large portion of the population that does not want to sit down and read a deep, thought provoking book every time.