'50 Shades Of Grey' author nails down top spot of top earners

[Alexander Turcic]

E L James, the author of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, has just topped Forbes' list of top-selling authors. She raked in $95 million from sales of her kinky erotic trilogy, which sold more than 70 million copies in 2012.

Originally a "Twilight" tribute titled "Master of the Universe," "Fifty Shades of Grey" vaulted its author from fan-fiction websites straight to the top of every best-seller list. The e-book format was a key factor, giving readers an easy way to purchase the sex-filled sequels -- and a discreet way to read them in public.

I read this story, and I feel a sense of deja vu... where I have read about this….. ah, I know, right here. So it's true: sex sells.

Anyhow, here's the list of Forbes' top-earning authors, with some of their best-selling novels:

1. E.L. James, "50 Shades of Grey" — $95 million
2. James Patterson, "Maximum Ride," "Witch & Wizard" — $91 million
3. Suzanne Collins, "Hunger Games" — $55 million
4. Bill O'Reilly, "Killing Lincoln," "Killing Kennedy" — $28 million
5. Danielle Steel, "The Sins of the Mother" — $26 million
6. Jeff Kinney, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "The Third Wheel" — $24 million
7. Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum detective novels — $24 million
8. Nora Roberts, "Thankless in Death," "Dark Witch" — $23 million
9. Dan Brown, "Inferno," "The Da Vinci Code" — $22 million
10. Stephen King, "Under the Dome," "The Shining" — $20 million
11. Dean Koontz, "Watchers", "Odd Thomas" — $20 million
12. John Grisham, "The Racketeer", "The Litigators" — $18 million
13. David Baldacci, "The Forgotten", "Zero Day"— $15 million
14. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson fantasy series — $14 million
15. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series — $13 million
16. George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones series — $12 million

[FizzyWater]

More power to her and all that, but it's really disgusting that three books could bring in so much money! Especially those 3 particular books.

[Mivo]

Well, part of it is the hype and people checking out what's so delicious about the books, but the idea or the popularity of the theme itself isn't new. Half the vampire stuff out there is essentially "weirdly sexual" in nature (Anne Rice wrote several BDSM-inspired novels under a pseudonym), and classics like Lady Chatterley played a substantial role in the "sexual revolution".

I haven't read the Shades books, so I don't know if there is more to their popularity than the lure of the inappropriate. It would surprise me if so many people had a genuine interest in BDSM, so it's probably just a form of voyeurism. (And a novel is less "dirty" than a movie?)

Of course, I may just be totally naive and boring.

[spellbanisher]

It always surprises me how little authors make per book sold. 95 million dollars on 70 million books only comes to $1.36 per book.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

It always surprises me how little authors make per book sold. 95 million dollars on 70 million books only comes to $1.36 per book.

Maybe a bunch of them got price- matched down to free?

[Namekuseijin]

a whip in her ass for that

[JAcheson]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

So it's true: sex sells.

Sometimes. For every 50 Shades, there are tens of thousands of (your adjective here) novels that came and went without attracting worldwide attention.

[spellbanisher]

Originally Posted by teh603

Maybe a bunch of them got price- matched down to free?

It really shouldn't surprise me, don't know why it does. Most of those 70 million books sold in 2012 were probably paperbacks and ebooks, which go for under ten bucks. So $1.36 per book wouldn't be abnormally low.

[speakingtohe]

If 70 million people bought the books then possibly well over 100 million read them
Who knew there were so many readers out there? She has 3 books and James Patterson has about 95 I think, many on the best seller list. and she sold more books it seems.

I'm not likely to read the 50 Shades books. Just not my thing. But possibly in a weird way she is contributing to overall literacy.

Helen

[medard]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

If 70 million people bought the books then possibly well over 100 million read them

Why do you think that? Have you read every book you bought in 2012? Bestselling author Umberto Eco once said in an interview in the late 80ies that he thinks that arround 10% of every sold copy of his books will be read.

In this specific case that would be 7 Mio people. Now this is a trilogy and most people buy all three volumes, so let's say 2 - 2.5 Mio people actually read this stuff worldwide.

This is a rough guess of course but don't forget: It's a trilogy. It's not 70 Mio. people that bought the books, but 70 Mio copies sold which is something different.

[jersysman]

Whatever the actual figures are on how many were read, 70 million copies sold is still an impressive figure!

[Katsunami]

Is this the amount of money that the author has made during his or her career, or in the last year, or with the books mentioned?

As I said in the writer's forum already: I always find it astounding to see that the cheapest, simplest things always bring in the largest amount of money. I would never have guessed an author with only three simple, almost banal books on her name to outsell someone like George R. R. Martin by almost 8 times.

I'm going to quit writing the fantasy novel I was starting and outlining. Expect a bondage/porn novel from me, next week. Blergh.

Can it really be true that so many women are actually interested in sex and even BDSM? In that case, there's no reason anymore to accept "unexplicable headaches" if your girlfriend is reading this. Just ignore that, and follow the Shades of Grey practices.

Edit: Yes, I read the first book, partially. Borrowed it from my aunt to see what it was all about. To be honest, I'd rather watch some well-shot videos on the darker side of the internet.

[mr_nihilism]

I've heard criticism that the trilogy of trash (my opinion of course) wasn't even well written and that it was little more than fan fiction or whatever. If that is indeed the case, then it really says something or other, doesn't it?

Does smut (errotica, sorry) really sell so well that quality takes a back seat? Or was it just so much incredible hype that people jumped on the bandwagon?

My wife read all of it. Thank goodness she didn't turn into a S&M freak. I just wouldn't be able to keep up.

[jersysman]

Sex has always sold in the marketplace and always will. It is not surprising that an erotic novel would sell so much. Especially when word started going around (good or bad, it doesn't matter). The more that the trilogy was talked about, the higher the sales went.

Question - when does the quality of writing have anything to do with the amount of sales a particular book has? Lots of well-known authors out there who are lacking in that quality as well, but sell lots of books.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by medard

Why do you think that? Have you read every book you bought in 2012? Bestselling author Umberto Eco once said in an interview in the late 80ies that he thinks that arround 10% of every sold copy of his books will be read.

In this specific case that would be 7 Mio people. Now this is a trilogy and most people buy all three volumes, so let's say 2 - 2.5 Mio people actually read this stuff worldwide.

This is a rough guess of course but don't forget: It's a trilogy. It's not 70 Mio. people that bought the books, but 70 Mio copies sold which is something different.

I did say possibly

But the people know who have bought the book(s) seem to be still lending them to others.

My library has 81 copies of the first ebook and has 215 people on hold. So at least 81 people a month are borrowing the book . I am sure that many other libraries (over 10,000 in North America) have similar numbers. My library is not the largest. And I am sure they have paper copies as well.

Then there is the second hand bookstore distribution. I don't think that saying 100 million people possibly read the book is that far fetched.

As far as people reading all three books goes, my library has only 27 copies of the second book and 123 people on hold, and a mere 6 copies of the third book with 3 available copies. This proves nothing, but seems to at least indicate that far fewer people are interested in reading the second book and hardly any are reading the third. (British Columbia Libraries)

And yes I do read every fiction book I buy and have finished all of the 2012 ones. That is why I buy them.

Helen