50 Shades of Grey trilogy goes from fan fiction to Random House

Mustafa said:

How do you know it wasn't edited. I read a snipit, and I didn't see any punctuation out of place, or any formatting errors. Poorly written does not mean poorly edited.

Click to expand...

I think it's not substantially different from its previous incarnation as fanfic, so that may be what folkchick meant. I'd also say if it ain't broke...

Mustafa said:

How do you know it wasn't edited. I read a snipit, and I didn't see any punctuation out of place, or any formatting errors. Poorly written does not mean poorly edited.

Click to expand...

Because the author said so? She said her husband editted for her before she put it up as fanfic, and then it didn't change (only in names of characters did it change by the way) between taking down off the internet and publication. Also this is a self pubbed book published through a self-publishing house that was instantly snapped up by a major publishing house and released a month later no different from the self-pubbed/fanfic.

Lol have you seen the ellipses? There's also lack of proper sentence structure. she. stops. like this a lot.

fireluxlou said:

I've heard of Wool before, it's a really popular self pubbed book. also I'm guessing it's a promotional deal if it's $0.99. It's £3.08 on Amazon UK for the omnibus.

Click to expand...

I just wonder why he self-published, if it's as good as reviews would indicate.

Torgo said:

I'd also say if it ain't broke...

Click to expand...

Or if the publisher cares about marketability more than quality ....

Okay, well let me retract that then and say it wasn't edited very well. A good editor would have pointed out repetitive phrases and unbelievable dialogue. "Can you word this sentence better? It doesn't make sense." That sort of thing.

And let me say that I don't mean to disrespect writers of erotic literature. I have great respect for any work that is written well, which I certainly see by my fellow AW writers.

Manuel Royal said:

Or if the publisher cares about marketability more than quality ....

Click to expand...

There's a metric for the former: you can count how many copies are currently flying off the shelves, both real and virtual. There's no metric for 'quality', which reasonable people will always disagree about. Publishers will always care about sales more than the chimera of 'quality'.

I haven't actually read the book, but several of my close friends have, including my girlfriend, and I will reiterate their take on it: it is that it is poorly-written in many ways, but that it is hot, and compulsive. It's very compelling trash - a guilty pleasure - and I completely understand and support both their enjoyment of it, and the decision to publish it.

(I know there are some sticky moral issues around the fanfic-ness of it; I'm choosing to believe, until I'm proven wrong, that it's been sanctioned by Stephenie Meyer in some way.)

folkchick said:

Okay, well let me retract that then and say it wasn't edited very well. A good editor would have pointed out repetitive phrases and unbelievable dialogue. "Can you word this sentence better? It doesn't make sense." That sort of thing.

And let me say that I don't mean to disrespect writers of erotic literature. I have great respect for any work that is written well, which I certainly see by my fellow AW writers.

Click to expand...

I still don't agree. A good editor, as you say, would have pointed those things out, and perhaps even suggested changes, but the author gets veto power on all things except punctuation. I blame poorly written or sloppy prose on the author. I blame punctuation errors or formatting errors on the editor/publisher.

Manuel Royal said:

I just wonder why he self-published, if it's as good as reviews would indicate.

Or if the publisher cares about marketability more than quality ....

Click to expand...

Because believe it or not some authors want to self-publish and not go the traditional route.

fireluxlou said:

Because believe it or not some authors want to self-publish and not go the traditional route.

Click to expand...

I would be very curious how many self published authors went direct to self publishing without trying for an agent/publisher first. I suspect it would be a fraction of one percent.

Mustafa said:

I would be very curious how many self published authors went direct to self publishing without trying for an agent/publisher first. I suspect it would be a fraction of one percent.

Click to expand...

Why would you assume so?

Mustafa said:

I would be very curious how many self published authors went direct to self publishing without trying for an agent/publisher first. I suspect it would be a fraction of one percent.

Click to expand...

I'm curious as well because I'd suspect that it would be a bit higher.

Manuel Royal said:

I just wonder why he self-published, if it's as good as reviews would indicate.

Click to expand...

As I noted in another thread, my understanding is that the first "book" was a short story he decided to put up on Amazon. After receiving good feedback from his readers he went on to expand the series with novellas and so forth.

AFAIK he never submitted to a publisher - and why would he? Publishers don't take on short stories and usually only e-pubs would consider novellas. The deal, if I got it right, is for the entire collection.

In this case he never submitted and had no reason to. It's a success story after a fashion - but I'd say more for short stories than for self-publishers, imo.

fireluxlou said:

Why would you assume so?

Click to expand...

Because I think it's generally accepted that a contract with a major trade publisher is the feather for your cap to prove you have writing chops. I think all writers know that they're going to have a hard time being taken seriously if they don't have that feather.

Mustafa said:

Because I think it's generally accepted that a contract with a major trade publisher is the feather for your cap to prove you have writing chops. I think all writers know that they're going to have a hard time being taken seriously if they don't have that feather.

Click to expand...

RYFW. That's not every writers desire jsyk, and depending on your genre it's not available to every writer. I suggest you browse and look in the self-published forum on Absolute Write, there a lot of authors have chosen that route without ever going into trade publishing to begin with.

Mustafa said:

Because I think it's generally accepted that a contract with a major trade publisher is the feather for your cap to prove you have writing chops. I think all writers know that they're going to have a hard time being taken seriously if they don't have that feather.

Click to expand...

Not all think that.

Ditto everything else fireluxlou said.

fireluxlou said:

RYFW. That's not every writers desire jsyk, and depending on your genre it's not available to every writer. I suggest you browse and look in the self-published forum on Absolute Write, there a lot of authors have chosen that route without ever going into trade publishing to begin with.

Click to expand...

Please, point me the way, because I have looked here, and on numerous other forums, and blogs, and I've never seen anyone who hasn't *tried* to go the trade route first. i.e. querying agents or publishers.

Mustafa said:

Please, point me the way, because I have looked here, and on numerous other forums, and blogs, and I've never seen anyone who hasn't *tried* to go the trade route first. i.e. querying agents or publishers.

Click to expand...

Here it is and your experience is not the be all and end all.

Mustafa, there are lots of writers who only want to self publish, and there's no shame in doing so: it's an increasingly useful way for writers to work. Here's a thread in which some of our members talk about their successes with self-e-publishing, which should get you started.

Now, let's try to get back on topic, everyone. Thank you.

Old Hack said:

Mustafa, there are lots of writers who only want to self publish, and there's no shame in doing so: it's an increasingly useful way for writers to work. Here's a thread in which some of our members talk about their successes with self-e-publishing, which should get you started.

Now, let's try to get back on topic, everyone. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I never said self publishing wasn't good. Nor did I say that self publishers couldn't be happy with their decision to go that route. I only said that from what I've read, here on AW too, it isn't the FIRST choice. I have read the AW self publishing pages. I am even considering that route for some future work.

fireluxlou said:

Also this is a self pubbed book published through a self-publishing house that was instantly snapped up by a major publishing house and released a month later no different from the self-pubbed/fanfic.

Click to expand...

No, it wasn't self published. The Writers Coffee Shop is not a self publishing company.

Alitriona said:

No, it wasn't self published. The Writers Coffee Shop is not a self publishing company.

Click to expand...

Ah right I thought I remember reading they are a vanity press though? I do know that they publish fanfic though and they are considered a Twilight homegrown business, owned and set up by Twilight fans to publish their fanfics.

fireluxlou said:

Ah right I thought I remember reading they are a vanity press though? I do know that they publish fanfic though and they are considered a Twilight homegrown business, owned and set up by Twilight fans to publish their fanfics.

Click to expand...

They are twilight based as far as twific is listed along side published work and the fic site was set up to host fics deleted from fanfic.net for content. Big ole red flag there.

You've been misinformed as far as the vanity aspect of the publishing arm. They are royalty paying, no up front fees, and rejections, although I can't give specific figures. They no longer accept ex-fic for publication.

Love that. my favorite is still Ellen's reading of FSoG. I've only seen passages quoted but Ellen totally cracked me up.

callalily61 said:

Guess the quote--is it from John Travolta's massage-scandal deposition or a passage from FSoG?

Click to expand...

Soccer Mom said:

Love that. my favorite is still Ellen's reading of FSoG. I've only seen passages quoted but Ellen totally cracked me up.

Click to expand...

Do NOT eat the pancakes!

When she got to the sound effects, I could. Not. Breathe.

Speaking of which, I've recently heard there was a Twilight AU fanfic based on FSoG. Which caused someone else to comment, "Isn't that like dividing by zero?"