There is a new success story in the Indie Publishing world: Fifty Shades trilogy by E. L. James. As first reported in the New York Times on Saturday the trilogy has been sold to Random House's Vintage Books. The Sydney Morning Herald continues the report, stating it was sold for more than $1 million. The series is erotica and will not be reviewed on this blog, but I did work with E. L. James while I was the marketing director of The Writer's Coffee Shop. I also knew of the story, reading the first installment, when it was part of the online writing community.
I mention this success story because it is exciting when an indie author makes it big and I congratulate E. L. James and the staff at The Writer's Coffee Shop. I also mention it because of the role book bloggers played in the success of this series.
"Conversation about the book online has fed many of the sales," comments Patricia Bostelman, vice president for marketing at Barnes & Noble, in the New York Times article March 10.
Bloggers were instrumental in getting the word out about Fifty Shades of Grey (tweet this) past the online writing community. The impact bloggers have on a book's success is another facet of the changes in the publishing industry (tweet this). While now being reported to have sold more than 250,000 copies, a February 4 press release states 80,000 copies had been sold. At that point the only national mention was a January 9 article in Publisher's Weekly. The 80,000 copies of Fifty Shades trilogy were sold due to the online world of bloggers, tweeters, and facebook users talking about it (tweet this).
Book bloggers take pride in your work and know you play an important role in whether a book is a success or not.
No pressure!
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Great post Donna. I still don't think a lot of authors or publishers understand how valuable we can be...even the smaller blogs have an impact and make a difference.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. Shows how much of an impact is possible when you have a good product and people to help spread the word.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I actually reviewed all three on my blog, sort of tip-toeing through it as I do not review erotica on my site either - although I guess I did. I loved the books. I stay away from it now. It is not what my blog is about. It is unbelievable how much impact our blog reviewing is having on the success of books. I do a Thursday Truth or Dare from the book Question of the Day. They actually found my blog and posted on their face book page. Donna
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