E L James's Fifty Shades Trilogy Tops Ten Million Mark in U.S.

E L James's Fifty Shades Trilogy Tops Ten Million Mark in U.S.

Photo of the authorSeries Remains a Publishing Sensation in All Formats

NEW YORK, 22-May-12 – In six weeks, over the course of sixty printings, and with the help of a distribution network that now includes almost 15,000 physical retail outlets in the U.S., E L James’s Fifty Shades trilogy – Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed, all published by Vintage Books in trade paperback and eBook, and also by Random House Audio – has become one of the bestselling series of all time.

50 Shades Grey jkt“We have sold over ten million books in the Fifty Shades trilogy,” said Anthony Chirico, President, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. The sales figure includes trade paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. “This is an astonishing number. The sales velocity for Fifty Shades of Grey is unprecedented, with reader demand still growing. BookScan data indicates that the trilogy has captured twenty-five percent of the adult fiction market in recent weeks. As we head into the heart of the summer reading season, sales are likely to continue exceeding even our most optimistic forecasts.”

50 Shades Darker jktVintage Books acquired English language publication and audio rights to the Fifty Shades trilogy in February. The Vintage eBook editions were published in March; the Vintage trade paperback edition of Fifty Shades of Grey was published on April 3; and the Vintage trade paperback editions of Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed were published on April 17. In the weeks following the Vintage publications, rights to the novels have been sold in 37 countries.

“We have had to reprint the books on a weekly basis since publication,” said Mr. Chirico, “with some daily reprints topping nine hundred thousand copies.” Vintage now has over nine million, five hundred thousand copies of the books in print.

50 Shades Freed jktU.S. sales for the trilogy have been bolstered by an exceptionally wide distribution network, which now includes bookstores, online retailers, price clubs, supermarkets, big box stores, airports, newsstands, and specialty retailers. “The real heroes throughout our publication have been those on the operations team,” said Mr. Chirico, “the printers and inventory managers who have been able to feed the supply chain with speed and precision on an almost daily basis.” Sales for the paperback editions of Fifty Shades have been outpacing the eBook editions over the past several weeks, though sales for the eBooks remain “incredibly strong as well,” said Mr. Chirico. The books have occupied the top three spots on national paperback and eBook fiction bestseller-lists since their publication by Vintage in April.

Vintage Books is an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is a division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG, the international media company.

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Contact:
Paul Bogaards, Executive Director of Publicity, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | 212-572-2177 |
pbogaards@randomhouse.com