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

Anybody wants to read something "durdy" outside the usual needs to pick up Roald Dahl's Switch Bitch and the sequel My Uncle Oswald. NOT his standard kids' fare, which is why I had to let my mother read it before I could (she monitored everything until I was 16).

I may be assuming when I make this opinion, but I think that parents aren't really monitoring what they're kids are reading anymore these days.. as long as they're reading. With the rise in trashy reality tv, video games, it's a wonder to see a book in a kids hands of any age, especially in the early teens. I think parents are just happy that they're reading a book and not looking for Jersey Shore.

And that's good. Kids should be reading more. Is this what they should be reading? Maybe not, but as long as they're opening their minds to literature... to some extent.

What bothers me about 50 is not that it's BDSM, it's not that she managed to cash on being somewhat self published.. it's that she seems to only do all of this for the money.

Twilight had a HUGE demographic to fill and that was to finally give the readers the release of all that sexual tension built through all the books. She was very smart to be the first, and maybe only one to cash in on this, because finally women everywhere were getting what 4 books built up to.

I'm not saying that's a BAD thing but it seems that she's only done it for the money. All the things I've read and looked up on her old accounts and the livejournals and the confessions of associates... she was just cashing in. Aren't we, as writers, writing to share a world that we built and love, hoping that other people will enjoy it too? Maybe I'm naive in saying this, but isn't the real reward seeing people immerse themselves with our characters in our world, and loving it just as much as we do?

How could she had experienced any of that joy if what she's created is a carbon-copy of Twilight? THAT'S what bugs me.

Channy said:

She was very smart to be the first,

Click to expand...

Hardly FFn's full of twi-porn.

First to publish it I mean and cash in on it.

Ah - my mistake.

carry on... nothin' to see here... don't mind me... just pedaling backwards...

Channy said:

What bothers me about 50 is not that it's BDSM, it's not that she managed to cash on being somewhat self published.. it's that she seems to only do all of this for the money.

Twilight had a HUGE demographic to fill and that was to finally give the readers the release of all that sexual tension built through all the books. She was very smart to be the first, and maybe only one to cash in on this, because finally women everywhere were getting what 4 books built up to.

I'm not saying that's a BAD thing but it seems that she's only done it for the money. All the things I've read and looked up on her old accounts and the livejournals and the confessions of associates... she was just cashing in. Aren't we, as writers, writing to share a world that we built and love, hoping that other people will enjoy it too? Maybe I'm naive in saying this, but isn't the real reward seeing people immerse themselves with our characters in our world, and loving it just as much as we do?

How could she had experienced any of that joy if what she's created is a carbon-copy of Twilight? THAT'S what bugs me.

Click to expand...

Not somewhat self-published. It was published by a royalty paying small publisher who don't charge any upfront fees. This has been said over and over. It's been said in plenty of reviews and articles so I have no idea why some people keep claiming it is.

It's not a carbon copy either and much of what's said about the author is one sided and unreliable hearsay.

While it's lovely you are in publishing for your art and all(It doesn't make you naive, if that's what you want). Some of us are writing because we love writing but publishing to get paid. Otherwise what is the point? If I wasn't in it for the money and just wanted to share, I would be giving my stories away or posting them free on my website.

Publishing is a business. The idea of entering a business for most people is usually to make money.

I would assume the "sort of self-published" is a nod to the trilogy's fanfic roots. It's a form of non-profit self publishing.

Cyia said:

I would assume the "sort of self-published" is a nod to the trilogy's fanfic roots. It's a form of non-profit self publishing.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't, since 50 shades was never published as fanfiction. Masters of the Universe was.

That's like taking The Hunger Games, search/replacing the names, changing Katniss to a were-cougar, but leaving the story, dialogue, and text otherwise in tact and trying to sell it as a "new" book under a new title. MotU and 50 shades are over 80% identical, so yes, it was fanfiction first.

Channy said:

...it's that she seems to only do all of this for the money....

I'm not saying that's a BAD thing but it seems that she's only done it for the money.

Click to expand...

So posting Masters of the Universe as fan fiction was part of doing it 'only for the money'?

And going with a teensy Australian micropress once she filed off the serial numbers was part of doing it 'only for the money'?

Cyia has cleared up the misconception. 50 Shades IS a carbon copy of Twilight, or Masters of the Universe, which was Twilight fanfiction, which therein stills remains.. a carbon copy of itself. I've seen comparative side by sides of the original and the new.. and swapping out the names is pretty much all that occurs. Reading the books, you can see who is supposed to be who in comparison to Twilight, because the fanfic was a very obvious throwback to it and barely anything was unchanged.

I'm not 100% on the whole publishing story. I HAVE read this entire thread over a period of about 3 days so I'm sorry if my mind can't instantly grab every little piece of information waddled in the back of my mind that needs correcting.

ETA:

So posting Masters of the Universe as fan fiction was part of doing it 'only for the money'?

Click to expand...

Actually, apparently that's part in truth. She appeared at a TwiCon and continued to write MORE MoTU fanfiction for a fundraiser and proceeded to raise about 30K$ (for whatever it was, I can't remember). She then later decided how easily she could cash out on this. People were eating it up. She did the fundraiser/con out of the 'kindness of her heart' and 'took time out of her hectic life' and decided to publish the story later for the money because 'she deserves it for her time and effort in the twicon work'

Channy said:

Cyia has cleared up the misconception. 50 Shades IS a carbon copy of Twilight, or Masters of the Universe, which was Twilight fanfiction, which therein stills remains.. a carbon copy of itself. I've seen comparative side by sides of the original and the new.. and swapping out the names is pretty much all that occurs. Reading the books, you can see who is supposed to be who in comparison to Twilight, because the fanfic was a very obvious throwback to it and barely anything was unchanged.

I'm not 100% on the whole publishing story. I HAVE read this entire thread over a period of about 3 days so I'm sorry if my mind can't instantly grab every little piece of information waddled in the back of my mind that needs correcting.

ETA:



Actually, apparently that's part in truth. She appeared at a TwiCon and continued to write MORE MoTU fanfiction for a fundraiser and proceeded to raise about 30K$ (for whatever it was, I can't remember). She then later decided how easily she could cash out on this. People were eating it up. She did the fundraiser/con out of the 'kindness of her heart' and 'took time out of her hectic life' and decided to publish the story later for the money because 'she deserves it for her time and effort in the twicon work'

Click to expand...

Lots of authors publish for money, some are even, yes that's right ARE even commissioned by publishers to write books, some infact *gasp* make a living of their work. I don't know why you're mad at her for making bank off something she's written and making it available to people who wanted to buy it.

She isn't forcing you to part ways with your hard earned money dear penniless tortured artist who only makes art like stories so others can immerse themselves in their worlds. You can do that and make money you know! Successful artists I(as in fine art art) these days aren't penniless either, take Damien Hirst etc.

I'm not saying that's a BAD thing but it seems that she's only done it for the money. All the things I've read and looked up on her old accounts and the livejournals and the confessions of associates... she was just cashing in. Aren't we, as writers, writing to share a world that we built and love, hoping that other people will enjoy it too? Maybe I'm naive in saying this, but isn't the real reward seeing people immerse themselves with our characters in our world, and loving it just as much as we do?

How could she had experienced any of that joy if what she's created is a carbon-copy of Twilight? THAT'S what bugs me.

Click to expand...

Yes you are a naive in saying this. You have a very narrow scope of what enjoyment in writing means. Of course she got enjoyment out of writing it. Are you saying that fanfiction writers don't get enjoyment out of writing about universes and characters they love? Are you indirectly implying that fans cannot enjoy worlds and characters other people have created?

Of course it'll bare similarities to Twilight. It was originally posted as twilight fanfiction. It doesn't mean she doesn't experience the same joy.

These seem like minor grievances in the scope of the real issues with the books which is the unhealthy relationship and the BDSM that's not correctly portrayed.

Based on what Cyia said the other day, I checked at Wal-Mart today and there was a whole shelf of 50SoG books, low enough for a typical seven year old to reach, I think. I randomly opened to a page of the second book and indeed there were three "murmurs" on two pages.

What really shocked me tho, derail, is that WM also had a shelf of classics, most of them banned books, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, 1984, and several others. //derail

lorna_w said:

What really shocked me tho, derail, is that WM also had a shelf of classics, most of them banned books, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, 1984, and several others. //derail

Click to expand...

Are these still banned in places? They were required reading when I was in high school (a state-funded school district in the midwestern US).

Aerial

Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm and 1984 are much, much more dangerous than FSoG. And I mean that as a compliment.

I don't know how correct this is, but I found this thing.:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012...books-fiftyshadesofgrey-idUSBRE85R0WR20120628


--

Good for her. That's a great accomplishment.

I apologize for not reading this thread front to back. I'm not that interested in the book.

What *was* interesting to me was that a med tech at my clinic visit today asked, by way of small talk, if I'd heard of it. When I said yes and asked if she was reading it, she said she is. Only through 4 chapters so far but she likes it. And she said she doesn't read much at all, although she encourages her children to read. She said she didn't grow up reading and wishes she had.

She's probably in her 30s, seemed smart, and she's enjoying the book quite a bit. She picked it up because she said patients kept coming in with it. So she became curious about it.

That's all I got for this thread. Carry on.

As a case of parental guidance, I was forbidden from reading James Clavell' Shogun before I was 16 because of the explicit scenes and the brutality. So yes, there are times when parental guidance can be enforced I guess, but there should be in no way censorship.

If the reader wants to read it, then so be it. I think the parents should provide the necessary guidance when it comes to more sensitive books

Searching said:

This self-published trilogy has now overtaken Harry Potter in paperback sales

Click to expand...

(Warning! Super rant approaching!)

This makes me very, very angry. Don't care if I sound selfish, bitter, or jealous. My god, this series was a fanfic based on Twilight (which can still fuckin be found online for goddamn free. Hell, you could download it and just search and change the character names to what they are currently if you wanted to) and gave up its first print rights. And none of that even matters. Not one bit. How can it outsell something like Harry Potter?

How?!

Before hearing this, I shrugged and said, "Whatever. Things happen."

I'm not a Harry Potter fanboy, but I loved its story and writing and could see why it sold so well. Yet, somehow, this bullshit fanfic about BDSM is killin it in sells and broke Harry's record. HUH?! Twilight couldn't touch Harry Potter. Now a fanfic based off the former is doing even better?! How the hell is that logical? HOW?

I know I sound over dramatic, but damn. Never have I questioned why I'm fighting so hard to be traditionally published til today. Everything just seems based on luck now. I'm not saying I'm a much better writer than E. L James. I think my writing is shit, and I'm always striving to improve, but wow!

Of the 12 years I've been writing, this makes me question why I can't stop being a writer and why I still wish to tell stories to the world. My whole life is writing. I have absolutely nothing else. Why am I alive and breathing if no agent or publisher will give me a chance, yet a fanfic about fuckin sex is ruling the writing world right now? Of course, it's also getting a movie. Feels like I have no purpose or business in writing novels.

Yes, I know. Boo-hoo. Go cry somewhere else.

And no, I am not happy for the author. Doesn't matter if I was. If she saw this comment, she'd probably laugh and call me a loser as she runs to the bank. Why shouldn't she? I'm nothing more than an unpublished wannabe writer. I'd drink, but I'm almost out of vodka, anyway.

I don't think the fact that it's fanfic, or the fact that it's about sex, are really marks against it. There are some really good fanfic writers, and there's really good erotic fiction.

But I'm not terribly impressed that this particular story, which from what I've read of it isn't that exceptionally written, has been heralded as a great new thing. This author is far from the first person to go from writing fanfic to original fiction, and far from the person person to write about BDSM. There are better examples of both.

I'm also not crazy about the practice of writing it as a fanfic and then changing very little except the names. That doesn't make it a new story, and it doesn't do much to convince people it's an original story.

Eddyz Aquila said:

As a case of parental guidance, I was forbidden from reading James Clavell' Shogun before I was 16 because of the explicit scenes and the brutality.

Click to expand...

Heh. I read Shogun when I was twelve. Because my parents wouldn't let me stay up late to watch the miniseries.

2011's dreamer said:

I know I sound over dramatic, but damn.

Click to expand...

Yeah, kind of. I understand feeling a sense of injustice at it all, but... her success doesn't actually harm anyone else. No one's book is not going to be published because of 50SoG. No one is going to not read your book because they read 50SoG instead.

There are a lot of crappy writers out there, some of them making tons of money. I think seeing this as some sort of death knell for Art and Literature is... well, yeah, overly dramatic.

I understand some writers' frustration with FSOG.

On the other hand, Stephenie Meyer doesn't have a problem with FSOG. Some people have complained about FSOG being plagiaristic. I tend to feel that if Meyer is cool with it, then the plagiarism argument is no longer an issue. After all, the original author should have the final say on this.

Quote from Meyer:

"I haven't read it. I mean, that's really not my genre, not my thing," she said with a laugh. "I've heard about it; I haven't really gotten into it that much. Good on her — she's doing well. That's great!"

Click to expand...

Full article and clip of her interview video here:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1685954/fifty-shades-of-grey-stephenie-meyer.jhtml

2011's dreamer said:

(Warning! Super rant approaching!)

This makes me very, very angry. Don't care if I sound selfish, bitter, or jealous.

Click to expand...

I sympathize, though I also wasn't impressed with the HP series and wondered why it was such a big to-do. I don't feel bad for me, as a writer, for I'm willing to let market forces decide if what I have to say fictionally is worth anything or not. (so far, the answer to that is "you ain't worth much, kiddo.")

But I feel very bad for authors of these terrific gems of novels I keep finding that have maybe 102 ratings on Goodreads and probably didn't earn out their advances so that I'm unlikely to see a second (and better) novel from an author who clearly studied their craft and has something insightful to say. I feel bad that the publishers didn't do a fraction as much to push those books as has been done on this series. I feel bad that the Pulitzer committee failed to nominate terrific books of the last year--it's as if they didn't bother looking and then announced all American writing was crap in 2011. I feel bad that so many readers have such poor taste and wonder, as a former educator, how we failed in teaching people what really crappy writing looks like--if it's impossible to teach what great writing is, as some of that is subjective/a matter of taste/genre preference, surely it's possible to teach people what awful writing is.

I don't feel like ranting. I feel sad about the phenomenon, as if I've run across an image of a dead kitten. I know kittens die, but I don't want to stare at pix. Being on this board, I had my attention drawn to this particular dead kitten a lot.

(nodding to lorna). I wish I could think of something to add to that, but I can't.

I completely understand that feeling of injustice.

I also realise that the huge success of this book will provide funds for its publishers to publish more books in the future. Which is a good thing, right?