Amazon.com
So what do you reckon? Is there any justification for Fifty Shades of Grey reaching the top spot on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and remaining there for weeks on end?
But what’s it all about? The author, E.L James is a TV executive, wife and mother of two, and is based in West London. Since early childhood, she dreamt of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey…and she’s had the courage to go on and write two more novels in the same genre. And what genre is it? The book (I’ll really only cover book 1 here) has been described as erotica, erotic romance, twilight fan fiction, fan fiction crap (is there such a genre?!), contemporary romance, erotic intelligence to beautiful disaster! Who thinks up these titles of genre? There are more than 90 on Amazon!
Opinions are of course personal things and looking through the 8658 reviews on Amazon (No! I’ve not read them all!), the swing meter goes from perfect 5 *****’s down to 1*’s that many reviewers begrudge even giving them. Interestingly for Fifty shades of Grey, book 1 the average rating drops down to 3***, but the other two books in the series although having less reviews are registering at 4****. So has E.L James improved or is it her dedicated followers who’ve taken the time to write a line or two about her writing leaving those more disgruntled readers to ignore putting their thoughts down?
But what’s it all about? The author, E.L James is a TV executive, wife and mother of two, and is based in West London. Since early childhood, she dreamt of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey…and she’s had the courage to go on and write two more novels in the same genre. And what genre is it? The book (I’ll really only cover book 1 here) has been described as erotica, erotic romance, twilight fan fiction, fan fiction crap (is there such a genre?!), contemporary romance, erotic intelligence to beautiful disaster! Who thinks up these titles of genre? There are more than 90 on Amazon!
Opinions are of course personal things and looking through the 8658 reviews on Amazon (No! I’ve not read them all!), the swing meter goes from perfect 5 *****’s down to 1*’s that many reviewers begrudge even giving them. Interestingly for Fifty shades of Grey, book 1 the average rating drops down to 3***, but the other two books in the series although having less reviews are registering at 4****. So has E.L James improved or is it her dedicated followers who’ve taken the time to write a line or two about her writing leaving those more disgruntled readers to ignore putting their thoughts down?
Amazon.com
What’s E.L James got that many thousands of other hasn’t? She published book 1 in April this year and book 2 a week later, followed by book 3 two months after that. A case in point and don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining…my two latest novels, The Seeds of Time and the sequel, Harvest were published in June and July this year. They are different genre and written very differently. Both books have 100% 5***** rating…but despite having a good following from my own more modest fan base I can only dream of being able to compete. And there’s a very good reason why…
…You see she has had the most perfect advertising campaign and exposure that any writer can dream of. For every time a review is written (warning, extremely bad language here), or there is a video made (very funny) E.L James simply can’t put a foot wrong! Bravo!
It’s not about the writing in this example. It’s in the publicity. Her marketing and promotional campaign has been phenomenal. Her product has been presented and pushed to the very top in a matter of weeks. Her publisher, Vintage Books says they have sold over 16 million copies of the books in the U.S since the spring!
Just today, E. L James is watching another phenomena take off! According to the Mail on line, Lelo the Swedish brand of high-end sex toys have seen a 400% hike in sales of their pelvic-floor exercise system! And Amazon has also been impressed by high sales of ‘sexual awareness’ geisha balls! And finally there has been talk of a spike in a baby boom due to fifty Shades of Grey.
So here’s me thinking…maybe I should be advertising these products on my website instead of my own books...just joking!
Seriously, whatever you may think, E. L James has done it right. Don’t knock her for being in the right place at the right time and producing something that just once in a while captures everyone’s attention, love it or hate it!
And if you’ve already read Fifty Shades and you want one more book to love then…you know where to look!
Thanks for dropping by and for your fab support. Have a great day and weekend to follow!
Faith x
…You see she has had the most perfect advertising campaign and exposure that any writer can dream of. For every time a review is written (warning, extremely bad language here), or there is a video made (very funny) E.L James simply can’t put a foot wrong! Bravo!
It’s not about the writing in this example. It’s in the publicity. Her marketing and promotional campaign has been phenomenal. Her product has been presented and pushed to the very top in a matter of weeks. Her publisher, Vintage Books says they have sold over 16 million copies of the books in the U.S since the spring!
Just today, E. L James is watching another phenomena take off! According to the Mail on line, Lelo the Swedish brand of high-end sex toys have seen a 400% hike in sales of their pelvic-floor exercise system! And Amazon has also been impressed by high sales of ‘sexual awareness’ geisha balls! And finally there has been talk of a spike in a baby boom due to fifty Shades of Grey.
So here’s me thinking…maybe I should be advertising these products on my website instead of my own books...just joking!
Seriously, whatever you may think, E. L James has done it right. Don’t knock her for being in the right place at the right time and producing something that just once in a while captures everyone’s attention, love it or hate it!
And if you’ve already read Fifty Shades and you want one more book to love then…you know where to look!
Thanks for dropping by and for your fab support. Have a great day and weekend to follow!
Faith x
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