Fifty Shades of Rich

[dr_mabeuse]

If I missed mention of this, I apologize, but the BDSM trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey is kicking ass at the top of the NY Times' Best Seller list and has become a publishing sensation. Twilight for grown women, they say.

Google it. Or this here's a news story picked at random.

Ms Read just posted at thread on whether it was possible to write a great book based on explicit sex.

It would seem the answer is yes.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

So how does GREAT=POPULAR?

 

[sr71plt]

So how does GREAT=POPULAR?

Gotta agree with you one this one.

 

[Firebrain]

It's a bestseller because it was originally a very popular fanfic. When it was published, the fans bought it. Thus increasing its visibility.

This is now being repeated on the Amazon charts with other Twilight fanfics (Gabriel's Inferno, Love Unscripted, Trust In Advertising, Ploughkeepsie). This is, apparently, how you make an erotic bestseller...by ripping off somebody else.

 

[sr71plt]

that is a time-honored tradition, yes.

 

[Firebrain]

that is a time-honored tradition, yes.

Indeed. But most aren't quite so brazen.

 

[Anjasa]

that is a time-honored tradition, yes.

Haha, this made me laugh.

 

[Handley_Page]

Has anyone told the publishers ?

 

[Firebrain]

Has anyone told the publishers ?

Dude, they know. They don't care.

 

[lovecraft68]

Dude, they know. They don't care.

Maybe they're getting a percentage?

Also think of it this way, if people keep comparing this to Twilight and the person who just read 50 shades has not read Twilight, guess what they're buying next?

 

[RedMonkeyButt]

Maybe they're getting a percentage?

Also think of it this way, if people keep comparing this to Twilight and the person who just read 50 shades has not read Twilight, guess what they're buying next?

I read Twilight. Against my better judgement. I sat in the store and forced myself through it. I have no urge to read a dirtier version of it...

 

[PennLady]

I just read the first two chapters of Fifty Shades, and I am uninterested in the rest. It lost me at the very beginning.

****Possible spoiler but I really don't think so. Still, if you don't want to know anything about this yet, don't read the next graph.****

The story opens with a woman, Ana, preparing to go interview the CEO of a company. She is doing this because her roommate, who is the editor of a school publication, is sick and unable to go. For some reason, instead of turning to someone ON THE STAFF, she begs and badgers Ana to go. Ana caves. ????? Why would you send someone with no journalistic background to interview the "coup" you just got?

 

[PennLady]

I read Twilight. Against my better judgement. I sat in the store and forced myself through it. I have no urge to read a dirtier version of it...

I will, maybe, at some point, read Twilight, or some of it. At the least cost to myself, so perhaps from the library.

 

[RedMonkeyButt]

I will, maybe, at some point, read Twilight, or some of it. At the least cost to myself, so perhaps from the library.

It's not even worth the trip to the library unless you're also there for something with substance. Or you can walk and not waste gas. I seriously had to force myself through it. I have this thing where I don't like starting a book and not finishing it. I almost just let this one drop, but I kept hoping it would be better in the next chapter and someone would decapitate Bella. But that never happened and I was so disappointed.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Why bother when I can read SO MUCH filthy fanfic for free on the internet?

 

[PennLady]

It's not even worth the trip to the library unless you're also there for something with substance. Or you can walk and not waste gas. I seriously had to force myself through it. I have this thing where I don't like starting a book and not finishing it. I almost just let this one drop, but I kept hoping it would be better in the next chapter and someone would decapitate Bella. But that never happened and I was so disappointed.

I go the library about twice a week, to take my daughter to story time. So I poke around and get this and that. I just read the first of the Lemon Snicket books and may get more. I have a bit of an interest now in juvenile fiction, since my son is eight and I look for stuff for him to read. So I'd be there anyway.

Why bother when I can read SO MUCH filthy fanfic for free on the internet?

Because sometimes one feels one should try to check the source material? In my case, it's more seeing for myself what all the fuss was about.

 

[Stella_Omega]

...

Because sometimes one feels one should try to check the source material? In my case, it's more seeing for myself what all the fuss was about.

Ah, i didn't mean that-- I meant why pay for mutated fanfiction when it's already available online...

 

[PennLady]

Ah, i didn't mean that-- I meant why pay for mutated fanfiction when it's already available online...

Oh yes, well, quite. Why, indeed?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It's a bestseller because it was originally a very popular fanfic. When it was published, the fans bought it. Thus increasing its visibility.

This is now being repeated on the Amazon charts with other Twilight fanfics (Gabriel's Inferno, Love Unscripted, Trust In Advertising, Ploughkeepsie). This is, apparently, how you make an erotic bestseller...by ripping off somebody else.

I keep thinking there must be a universal attractor writers can add to their stories to increase the appeal but there is no such animal; what there is, is a fleeting connection that vanishes in time....like Rod McKuen poems. All the rage in 1970, no one gets them now. The context we live in changes.

 

[RedMonkeyButt]

I go the library about twice a week, to take my daughter to story time. So I poke around and get this and that. I just read the first of the Lemon Snicket books and may get more. I have a bit of an interest now in juvenile fiction, since my son is eight and I look for stuff for him to read. So I'd be there anyway.

I haven't gone to story time with my daughter since before Christmas. The Mom's Cult keeps trying to recruit me... >.>

But yeah, if you're already there, treat yourself to some of the worst writing to grace the top lists. Twilight is horrible. Knowing that 50 Shades started as a fanfic of that... I don't want to touch it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I go the library about twice a week, to take my daughter to story time. So I poke around and get this and that. I just read the first of the Lemon Snicket books and may get more. I have a bit of an interest now in juvenile fiction, since my son is eight and I look for stuff for him to read. So I'd be there anyway.



Because sometimes one feels one should try to check the source material? In my case, it's more seeing for myself what all the fuss was about.

Whenever some movie or book creates a buzz and people now have to check it out because everyone else was saying it was so good I always think about that part in Huck Finn with the guys who traveled and put on that horrendous show.

People would be pissed they wasted their money, but when others asked of it were good they didn't want to look stupid so they said it was good so others would waste their money to.

I usually like to make up my own mind about things, but I have heard so much shit about this thing from so many people here and elsewhere that I doubt I need to check out the source material.

If you think you would be genuinely interested then of course check it out, but picking it up to see what the buzz is about is how this crap sells so well.

 

[PennLady]

If you think you would be genuinely interested then of course check it out, but picking it up to see what the buzz is about is how this crap sells so well.

I'd be picking it up at the library, so hardly contributing to the sales figures.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I go the library about twice a week, to take my daughter to story time. So I poke around and get this and that. I just read the first of the Lemon Snicket books and may get more. I have a bit of an interest now in juvenile fiction, since my son is eight and I look for stuff for him to read. So I'd be there anyway.



Because sometimes one feels one should try to check the source material? In my case, it's more seeing for myself what all the fuss was about.

I loved those books! His name is Lemony Snicket, it's just so much fun to say!

 

[PennLady]

I loved those books! His name is Lemony Snicket, it's just so much fun to say!

I know, just typed it wrong. I was always curious about them, so now I guess I'll satisfy my curiosity.

 

[ishtat]

Dude, they know. They don't care.

They is one person, a housewife from the outer Sydney suburb of Hornsby. I saw her interviewed on TV and she is a smart marketer. And yes I don't think she does care overly much. She's spotted a winner.