{"id":6176,"date":"2012-09-12T05:38:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T12:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=6176"},"modified":"2013-07-10T17:56:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T00:56:25","slug":"why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why E.L. James&#8217; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6033\" style=\"margin: 10px;\" title=\"E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey\" alt=\"E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg\" width=\"194\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><strong>Our guest post today is Liz Adams, author of fairy tale erotica. We are honored to have her share part 2 of her 2-part blog post on why she thinks <em>Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em> is so popular. And though she will be talking about being an erotica author, much of her insight and advice can be applied to all authors of fiction. Please help me welcome Liz Adams!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->***<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WARNING: This post mentions rape scenes in fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you, Beth! <a title=\"Why 50 Shades of Grey is Popular - Part 1\" href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/07\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-too-can-be-a-bestselling-author\/\" target=\"_blank\">In my last post,<\/a> I let you in on a secret of mine. I revealed how I thought the reason E.L. James\u2019 <em>Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em> became so popular was because of the tie on the cover. Women all around the world were reading what they thought would be a light romance and instead practically fainted from the shock of reading about bondage, dominance, and sadism. The subject matter itself wasn\u2019t controversial, people read BDSM all the time. It was the experience of women who never before read nor expected to read BDSM getting smacked by the subject matter. The cover didn\u2019t have a picture of a naked woman bound and gagged. The married women over thirty had no idea what they were getting into. And that shock created the controversy to make women all around the world spread news of the book via word-of-giggle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Another Example of Marketing to the Wrong Crowd<a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo_novel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-6179\" style=\"margin: 10px;\" title=\"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo\" alt=\"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo_novel-200x300.jpg\" width=\"120\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo_novel-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo_novel-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo_novel.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 120px) 100vw, 120px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Where else have we seen that? I&#8217;d say <em>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.<\/em> What was the cover? Black letters on a yellow background. What reading experience did that promise? Knowing it was in the thriller category and knowing that in English it was called <em>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo<\/em>, (in the original Swedish it was called <em>Men Who Hate Women<\/em>), all we\u2019d expect is a young woman with a tattoo being caught up in a life or death situation. Nothing prepared us for the rape scene. But I&#8217;ll tell you right now that rape in fiction is a completely different thing from rape in reality. The fact of the matter is that many of us have rape fantasies. We would never want to be raped in reality, but the fantasies are there, nevertheless. The difference is that rape in our fantasies are sex crimes, commonly of dubious consent (in erotica, referred to as &#8220;dub-con&#8221;). Rape in reality are crimes of violence, not sex. Two completely different things.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The point is that women who have rape fantasies can read erotic fiction with non-consensual sex (called &#8220;non-con&#8221; erotica). A great example is A.N. Roquelaure&#8217;s (aka Anne Rice) <em>The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty<\/em>. Women who buy that book know what to expect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But when women read the rape scene in <em>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo<\/em>, they weren&#8217;t expecting it. Reading the scene can stir up emotions anywhere from extreme disgust to surprising, reluctant arousal. And if a gal experiences that&#8211;surprising, reluctant arousal&#8211;from reading a rape scene, can you imagine how life-changing that can be? Just when she thinks she knows herself, she discovers something about herself that&#8217;s supposed to be wrong and perverted. If she&#8217;s lucky, she can accept her new fantasies as being common and normal. If that happens, she&#8217;ll likely share the book with friends for them to perhaps have the same sexual awakening as she did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The rape scene stirred up a lot of controversial feelings. Is it any wonder that the author used that scene in all three of his books?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Granted, one could argue that since the scene was violent, and since thrillers often have violence, the book wasn&#8217;t marketed to the wrong crowd. True, but I still say readers were shocked by the rape and weren&#8217;t expecting it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">What Can We Learn as Authors?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I realize not all of us enjoy writing BDSM or rape scenes. So how can we apply this to our own writing? Ask yourself which market would be surprised, shocked even, to enjoy your book. Then design the cover and marketing with them in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><br \/>\n<a title=\"Goldie's Locks and the Three Men\" href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GoldilocksCover400kb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Http:\/\/bit.ly\/EroticGoldilocks\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8996\" style=\"margin: 10px;\" alt=\"Goldie's Locks and the Three Men\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GoldilocksCover400kb-184x300.jpg\" width=\"129\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GoldilocksCover400kb-184x300.jpg 184w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GoldilocksCover400kb-630x1024.jpg 630w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GoldilocksCover400kb.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 129px) 100vw, 129px\" \/><\/a>For example, I&#8217;ve written an erotic version of Goldilocks. The story has a robbery and a fight scene, so there&#8217;s quite a lot of action. If I target the action readers by categorizing it as action instead of erotica, I&#8217;ll no doubt get a strong response. Many people will hate it for being an erotic action story instead of a straight action story, and many people will be surprised at how they enjoyed reading an erotic piece of fiction and tell all their friends to read it. If I instead market it to the erotica readers, they may read it, like it, and move on to the next erotica book without letting anyone know about my book. By marketing it to the action readers, they&#8217;ll at least likely talk about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(<strong>Update:<\/strong> As of July 2013, my erotic Goldilocks story\u00a0<em>Goldie&#8217;s Locks and the Three Men<\/em> has been a bestseller in, of all categories, Mystery Anthologies. It&#8217;s right up there kissing Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Dashell Hammitt, and Ellery Queen!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Okay, so erotica is an easy example. How about a mystery? How can we use this method for a mystery? If there&#8217;s a sex scene or two, you could make an erotic cover, market it to the readers of erotica, and get a strong response. Many will hate that there wasn&#8217;t enough sex in the story, and many will be surprised that they enjoyed reading a mystery and will tell all their friends who read erotica to read your mystery. Then all the other mystery writers will wonder why your mystery is getting all the attention and theirs isn&#8217;t. Heh, heh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you&#8217;re putting out your first book, I wouldn&#8217;t risk marketing to the wrong crowd as a strategy to become a bestselling author. Even though that&#8217;s what may have happened with E.L. James&#8217; <em>Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em>, it&#8217;s still a risk and it&#8217;s probably best to follow Beth Barany&#8217;s advice. Make the cover be a promise of the reader&#8217;s experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, if you put out a lot of fiction and novellas, you might want to try this method of marketing to a different crowd and see if it works for you. Remember, it&#8217;s not the only way to make your book be controversial. You can add controversy to the storyline without having to market to the wrong crowd. The lesson is this. Get your reader to gasp, and you got her!<\/span><\/p>\n<div>***<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Avatar.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6041\" style=\"margin: 10px;\" title=\"Liz Adams, author of adult fairy tale erotica\" alt=\"Liz Adams, author of adult fairy tale erotica\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Avatar.jpg\" width=\"131\" height=\"129\" \/><\/a>Liz Adams, author of the erotic fairy tale\u00a0<a title=\"Alice's Sexual Discovery in a Wonderful Land on Amazon\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/AlicesSexualDiscovery\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Alice\u2019s Sexual Discovery in a Wonderful Land<\/em><\/a>, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Her short story <a title=\"Amy Red Riding's Hood on Amazon\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/EroticRedRidingHood\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Amy Red Riding&#8217;s Hood<\/em><\/a> was voted by Goodreads&#8217; Kinky World group to be <strong>Book of the Month<\/strong> for October 2012. Liz studied music and creative writing at UCLA and worked as a freelance model before making her writing her career. In her spare time she cuddles with her husband on the couch to watch her favorite shows. Her books are\u00a0available at <a title=\"Liz Adams on Amazon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Liz-Adams\/e\/B007VXOXHU\/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1347036035&amp;sr=1-2-ent\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my last post, I revealed how I thought the reason E.L. James\u2019 50 Shades of Grey became so popular was because of the tie on the cover. Women all around the world were reading what they thought would be a light romance and instead practically fainted from the shock of reading about bondage, dominance, and sadism. Where else have we seen that? I&#8217;d say The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1581,183,34,279],"tags":[2531,1612,1610,1621,1492],"class_list":["post-6176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-career","category-author-entrepreneur-2","category-book-marketing","category-book-promotion","category-business-of-writing","tag-book-marketing","tag-cover-design","tag-e-l-james","tag-fifty-shades-of-grey","tag-liz-adams"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why E.L. James&#039; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why E.L. James&#039; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my last post, I revealed how I thought the reason E.L. James\u2019 50 Shades of Grey became so popular was because of the tie on the cover. Women all around the world were reading what they thought would be a light romance and instead practically fainted from the shock of reading about bondage, dominance, and sadism. Where else have we seen that? I&#039;d say The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writer&#039;s Fun Zone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beth Barany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bethbarany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BethBarany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beth Barany\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beth Barany\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9716e70facf67ac5be22883cfdbc684b\"},\"headline\":\"Why E.L. James&#8217; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2)\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1211,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/images-2.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"book marketing\",\"cover design\",\"E.L. James\",\"fifty shades of grey\",\"liz adams\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Author Career\",\"Author Entrepreneur\",\"book marketing\",\"Book Promotion\",\"business of writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/images-2.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/images-2.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/images-2.jpeg\",\"width\":194,\"height\":259,\"caption\":\"E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/12\\\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why E.L. James&#8217; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Writer's Fun Zone\",\"description\":\"where we go to the edge to play and become better writers\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beth Barany Productions\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-WFZ_BANNER_DRAFT_NEW_mock_1C_w_edits.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-WFZ_BANNER_DRAFT_NEW_mock_1C_w_edits.jpeg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":246,\"caption\":\"Beth Barany Productions\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bethbarany\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/BethBarany\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/bethbarany\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/BethBarany\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/bethbarany\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9716e70facf67ac5be22883cfdbc684b\",\"name\":\"Beth Barany\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beth Barany\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bethbarany.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bethbarany\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writersfunzone.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/beth-barany\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone","og_description":"In my last post, I revealed how I thought the reason E.L. James\u2019 50 Shades of Grey became so popular was because of the tie on the cover. Women all around the world were reading what they thought would be a light romance and instead practically fainted from the shock of reading about bondage, dominance, and sadism. Where else have we seen that? I'd say The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.","og_url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/","og_site_name":"Writer&#039;s Fun Zone","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany\/","article_published_time":"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":194,"height":259,"url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beth Barany","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bethbarany","twitter_site":"@BethBarany","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beth Barany","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Beth Barany","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9716e70facf67ac5be22883cfdbc684b"},"headline":"Why E.L. James&#8217; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2)","datePublished":"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/"},"wordCount":1211,"commentCount":5,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg","keywords":["book marketing","cover design","E.L. James","fifty shades of grey","liz adams"],"articleSection":["Author Career","Author Entrepreneur","book marketing","Book Promotion","business of writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/","url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/","name":"Why E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2) &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg","datePublished":"2012-09-12T12:38:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-11T00:56:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/images-2.jpeg","width":194,"height":259,"caption":"E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/why-e-l-james-50-shades-of-grey-is-popular-and-how-you-can-be-a-bestselling-author-pt-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why E.L. James&#8217; 50 Shades of Grey is Popular and How You, Too, Can Be a Bestselling Author (Pt. 2 of 2)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/","name":"Writer's Fun Zone","description":"where we go to the edge to play and become better writers","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Beth Barany Productions","url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cropped-cropped-WFZ_BANNER_DRAFT_NEW_mock_1C_w_edits.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cropped-cropped-WFZ_BANNER_DRAFT_NEW_mock_1C_w_edits.jpeg","width":1024,"height":246,"caption":"Beth Barany Productions"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany\/","https:\/\/x.com\/BethBarany","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/BethBarany","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bethbarany\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9716e70facf67ac5be22883cfdbc684b","name":"Beth Barany","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fb0bef9fd3da8d545d88eab8bead7ebb0c95120246ccc8674f6112cd945a6b8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Beth Barany"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bethbarany.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bethbarany"],"url":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/author\/beth-barany\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}