The 50 Shades marketing monster

[PennLady]

Okay yes, I found this on Salon but it's an AP article, not one of their opinion pieces.

It's everywhere!

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/16/50_shades_of_grey_marketing_phenom_goes_mainstream_2/

 

[RjThoughts]

Okay yes, I found this on Salon but it's an AP article, not one of their opinion pieces.

It's everywhere!

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/16/50_shades_of_grey_marketing_phenom_goes_mainstream_2/

A recent trip to Barnes and Noble saw all three 50 Shades books placed near the Sports section. A new marketing tool? Place a book that your wife/girlfriend might want to read near the sports ones?

 

[lovecraft68]

Well, you have succeeded in drawing me out of my lit sabbatical.

Let me ask you PL, did you answer a marketing add for 50 Shades?

Is there a deal that the more threads you start and the more people that click on the links you get some type of referral fee?

This is the 7th thread you have started about this book. A book you not only have not read, but claim that you won't

7 threads.

And each one gets less response than the last because all kidding (and my opinion) aside it is a dead horse people here are tired of beating.

50 shades is not responsible for the growing sales of sex toys. Increased ways to discretely buy said sex toys is. Before Shades reared its head women were already watching(and directing and producing) their own porn and buying, reading, and writing more erotica. Shades may be the current standard bearer helping continue a trend. but not the cause of any revolution.

The article you posted is another planted article written by someone getting a fee thrown their way and that you are probably getting a kick back for each time someone clicks on it.

I think the next time Shades gets any play here is that these threads should start being marked as Spam.

 

[PennLady]

I figured it would be a 50 Shades something that got LC back here.

And no, LC, I'm not any kind of shill for 50 Shades. And I still haven't read it. The book I've most recently finished (just this afternoon, in fact) is Roger Ebert's "Life Itself," for the record. Also read an interesting series at Slate.com about the life and death of prog rock. So you can stop with the unfounded accusations, thank you very much.

What does interest me -- and not just about 50 Shades -- is the cultural response, I guess you'd say. You can be interested in how people react to something without caring much about the source itself. Like Titanic; I was kind of dumbstruck by the response that movie got, although it took me probably a couple of years before I decided to take the time to watch it.

I found this article -- which was from the Associated Press, btw -- amusing. I thought this being a site about erotic stories, some people might also be interested or amused by the effect of an erotic book, even a bad one, on society.

If you don't like these threads, then don't post to them.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

It is just this decade's Fear of Flying. Nothing new or revolutionary about it. But if it creates a few more opportunities for writers of erotica -- especially some of the better writers who have been posting on this site for free -- I am all for it.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

I would pay real, serious money if all of my friends would STOP bringing up 50 Shades every time my own book comes up in a conversation. If one person asks, "How's your book doing?" or "How close are you to putting out your sequel/sci-fi book/whatever?" and there are at least four people in the conversation, INEVITABLY one of them brings up 50 Shades.

Far as I can tell, about all they have in common is that there are characters in both that book and mine who get laid. (Is it in Seattle? I've heard it's set in Seattle. I guess that's a commonality, too.)

I know my friends mean well, and they're trying to talk about mainstream acceptance of erotica, or about people from amateur writing backgrounds being "discovered" and breaking into the bigtime, but... for the love of God, I wish they'd just stop.

 

[PennLady]

Ha. Luckily I know almost no one who's read it, or at least they don't bring it up. And most of my friends around here, the other moms and all, they don't know about my stories.

And yes, 50 Shades is set in the Pacific NW, although I'm not sure if it was Seattle specifically.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

We're about to put an addition on our house to double the size of our kitchen, so I, for one, am thrilled to see this:

[DRS and Associates, a luxury marketing and PR firm in Los Angeles for architectural, interior design and building clients] recently pitched “Shades of Gray” kitchen and bath decor, including a Laufen washbasin with seductive curves and edgy Graff faucets in a brushed nickel.

My very own 50 SOG kitchen! I can't wait! Screw you, IKEA--I'm going 50 SOG style!

(I kid, I kid.)


To be honest, I'd have no idea that there was this popular book called 50 SOG if I didn't a) go to Costco (where it is on display near the entrance) and b) read this forum. And I'd have no idea what it was about if I weren't on this forum.

Obviously, there's a demographic that's reading it, but it isn't mine. And for that, I'm thankful (and I can say that since I downloaded the free sample last night from amazon and only got through 50% of it).

 

[estragon]

Leaving aside the existing spam, I'm pleased that the marketing types have leapt all over 50SOG. That will kill it even faster.

 

[PennLady]

I've reported this spammer on a few threads. And yes, nothing kills a phenomenon like excess marketing and overexposure.

 

[estragon]

SA Penn Lady, rather like the Facebook IPO. Or Scouries.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Well, you have succeeded in drawing me out of my lit sabbatical.

Let me ask you PL, did you answer a marketing add for 50 Shades?

Is there a deal that the more threads you start and the more people that click on the links you get some type of referral fee?

This is the 7th thread you have started about this book. A book you not only have not read, but claim that you won't

7 threads.

And each one gets less response than the last because all kidding (and my opinion) aside it is a dead horse people here are tired of beating.

50 shades is not responsible for the growing sales of sex toys. Increased ways to discretely buy said sex toys is. Before Shades reared its head women were already watching(and directing and producing) their own porn and buying, reading, and writing more erotica. Shades may be the current standard bearer helping continue a trend. but not the cause of any revolution.

The article you posted is another planted article written by someone getting a fee thrown their way and that you are probably getting a kick back for each time someone clicks on it.

I think the next time Shades gets any play here is that these threads should start being marked as Spam.

LC!!!

Welcome back (for however briefly.)

When you do come back (I saw WHEN, not IF) Can you put up your old cthulu avatar? That was my favorite.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

This is how to read it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nIjEKUnjrw

 

[Verdad]

We're about to put an addition on our house to double the size of our kitchen, so I, for one, am thrilled to see this:



My very own 50 SOG kitchen! I can't wait! Screw you, IKEA--I'm going 50 SOG style!

(I kid, I kid.)

I'm engaged in a redecorating battle with the bathroom, myself. (Well, more like putting the engagement off, but that's a story for another day. ) I naturally couldn't suppress my enthusiasm about this 'seductive washbasin' but found no pics when I googled. Meh.

 

[PennLady]

Obviously, there's a demographic that's reading it, but it isn't mine. And for that, I'm thankful (and I can say that since I downloaded the free sample last night from amazon and only got through 50% of it).

Ha, that'd be some kitchen. Seductive curves on the sink, hmm?

Yes, whatever demographic is reading it, I'm either not in it or I'm the odd demographic out. As I said earlier, I really find the response at large interesting, and these days it's so fast. If you look on Amazon there are a ton of parodies already, plus there are things like the alleged rise in sales of sex toys, etc. This kind of reaction is interesting to watch from the outside.

 

[Verdad]

Ha, that'd be some kitchen. Seductive curves on the sink, hmm?

Note the elegant yet unflinchingly masculine design of the faucets, too. If they make them fittingly sizeable and maybe just a little threatening, I'll scarce be able to help myself.

 

[PennLady]

Note the elegant yet unflinchingly masculine design of the faucets, too. If they make them fittingly sizeable and maybe just a little threatening, I'll scarce be able to help myself.

I can't have a kitchen like that. I have kids. but when they're older and gone...

 

[Verdad]

I can't have a kitchen like that. I have kids. but when they're older and gone...

I’ll survive without one myself, I’m pretty sure. I think I’d like to write for catalogues, though. Those people have all the fun!

 

[estragon]

Sorry, I Should Have Let This Die

a well-deserved death, and maybe this is ancient history, but Avìon Tequila has decided to cash in on 50 Shades of Bullshit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkU1p03pjZ0

Those of us who enjoy reading, writing about, and copy editing (formerly) BDSM should seriously think about boycotting this brand.

Not that I'm a fancier of tequila or was going to buy any anytime soon; old Joe Cuervo Gold is good enough for me. I have a SIL who keeps about a half-dozen different kinds and can tell the difference among them by scent alone.

But enough already!

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

As long as you revived the thread, I'll admit that Mr.Tat thought I was serious when I told him I wanted a 50 Shades kitchen.

Bwa-ha-ha! Ten years and I still manage to get him every now and again.

Poor guy. I'm lucky he puts up with me.

 

[PennLady]

*whew* With other people keeping this going, lc can get on someone else's case.

That's pretty funny about Mr Tat. Was he going to attempt to talk you out of it?

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

That's pretty funny about Mr Tat. Was he going to attempt to talk you out of it?

We didn't even get to that point. He sat down on the couch, looked at me in silence for a several seconds, and then said, "so do you really want a 50 shades of grey kitchen? And what does that even mean?"

My laughter ended the conversation.

 

[PennLady]

We didn't even get to that point. He sat down on the couch, looked at me in silence for a several seconds, and then said, "so do you really want a 50 shades of grey kitchen? And what does that even mean?"

My laughter ended the conversation.

That is excellent!

 

[SydneyBlake]

We didn't even get to that point. He sat down on the couch, looked at me in silence for a several seconds, and then said, "so do you really want a 50 shades of grey kitchen? And what does that even mean?"

My laughter ended the conversation.

Tat, that's a shame. I had a contractor all lined up for you, too:

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Tat, that's a shame. I had a contractor all lined up for you, too:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not building a 50 SOG kitchen, but that doesn't mean we can't build a "Tatyana's kinky-sexy-fun-times" kitchen.

And since I have no idea what that would entail (OK, so I have some idea), I'll need some tradesmen to help me. With research, of course. Lots and lots of tradesmen for lots and lots of research.