Just One More Minute of Media Notoriety for "Fifty Shades of Grey"

In Demand at Cromaine this past few weeks and probably the next few, too,  is the top of the New York Times bestseller list, "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E. L. James.

Why? This may be a symbol of the big changes in publishing that are  happening, and have been underway for some time. Originally an e-book, "Fifty Shades" came out, found a big following in the e-world, then was picked up by a major publisher for print on demand status. Rather than investing in a huge mass paperback or heavily promoted hardcover production, the publisher Vintage Press, a division of Random House, only printed the print version on demand. The book flew off shelves of independent stores. Random House then knew it had to invest in the "speculative" printing of a paperback. E-book publishing is revolutionizing how readers find reading material. E-book publisher goes big is both a great business and writer's story, and it's a symbol of transition in the  beleaguered print publishing industry.

Simultaneously, the book got some heavy promotion in the media, appearing on NPR and others. Remember what "Oprah" did for reading? Whatever you think about the content of "Fifty Shades" this book gets talked about, and talked about means sales.

And, what continues to give "Fifty Shades of Grey" air space in the media is that it has been optioned as a movie. This along with getting its own mediaspeak label of "mommy porn" plus parodies on Ellen DeGeneres' show and Saturday Night Live, assure its continued time in the limelight.

What is surprising is that while the first of the trilogy (which has been the most discussed) had nearly 60 requests here at Cromaine across its formats, the sequels each only had a couple requests. Since the first requesters have made it through the first book in the trilogy, requests for the sequels have gone up significantly. I think that says something about the reader's involvement with the character and the desire to see the story through to the end. 

Other hot books right now include Mary Higgins Clark's "The Lost Years," Lisa Scottoline's "Come Home," and Nora Roberts' "The Witness." If you've placed a request for one of these at Cromaine, please always check the Books in Demand shelf--no holds can be placed on these and it might just be your lucky day when you come in to find it sitting there.