E.L. James ‘Publishing Person of the Year’ by Publisher’s Weekly
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, completely off the grid, you’ve heard of The ’50 Shades of Grey’ Trilogy. It made gazillions of dollars this year. This so-called mommy porn was hailed on morning talk shows and book clubs around America. It did wonders for opening up the erotica/romance market. E.L. James sold her self-pubbed book to Random House and the movie rights to Hollywood as well. Speculation has been ripe as to who will play Christian Grey (my hopes are on Alexander Skarsgard- the only way I’ll see the movie, even on cable! Think Eric’s basement in True Blood)
And most authors I know, or have read who commented on it, consider it nothing more than trash.
I’ll admit when I first read it, before I knew it was ‘only-the-names-have-been-changed’ Twi-hard fan-fic I enjoyed it thoroughly. I suppose I have grown inured to self-published books that are poorly written, edited, and full of typos. I just enjoyed the relationship between Christian and Anna. I even wrote the rare 5 star review. So sue me.
Then I learned of it’s origins as fan fiction and my tuned changed. When I saw Dear Author‘s comparison of Master of the Universe (the original fan fic) and 50SofG and saw the 89% sameness, my disgust only grew. Shame on the author, and shame on Random House that bought the rights, claiming it was ‘new’ work.
But, whether one loves or hates the trilogy, or its origins, I don’t suppose one can really argue that the impact on the romance/erotic industry can be ignored. But that this drivel is the one that makes the breakthrough when so many others standout (Sylvia Day comes to mind), well that is a blot on the industry.
Here is the article from LitReactor.
What are your thoughts?
Renee
Related articles
- EL James wins ‘publishing person of the year’ for making erotic fiction ‘hot’ (guardian.co.uk)
- ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Sales Spark ‘Twilight’ Fan-Fic Book Deal, ‘Beautiful Bastard’ (booksnreview.com)
- Should ‘Fifty Shades’ Writer E.L. James Be TIME’s Person Of The Year? (preprod.cbslocal.com)
- ‘Twilight’ Fanfic: Is ‘Beautiful Bastard’ The New ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’? (mix965houston.cbslocal.com)
- The New Wave of Writing? (cultofajracewood.wordpress.com)
- ‘Reflected in You’ Author Sylvia Day Denies ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ Her Books Created Erotica Trend (booksnreview.com)
- Universal files lawsuit against ‘Fifty Shades’ porn ‘rip-off’ (sfluxe.com)
- ‘Reflected in You,’ By Sylvia Day Tops ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ on Bestseller Lists (booksnreview.com)
- http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/f-reviews/review-fifty-shades-of-grey-by-e-l-james/
I liked the 50 Shades books. I really didn’t care for the s&m stuff but I liked how their relationship grew. Maybe the reason I liked it was because it reminded me of ff stuff. I love me some Eric and Sookie.