“Fifty Shades of Grey” drives record profits for Random House

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:51:00 +0000

E.L. James' "Twilight" fan-fiction trilogy, "Fifty Shades of Grey," has perhaps singlehandedly boosted record profits for its publisher, Random House. In 2012, the book dubbed as "mommy porn" sold 70 million copies in ebook, print and audio format, driving operating profits to increase 75 percent from the previous year at 325 million euros ($418 million).

The breakdown in sales, from the Guardian:

"About 50 percent of revenues from the trilogy were from ebooks, compared to Random House's global average of about 20 percent from digital sales. 'Fifty Shades' accounted for almost 1 in 10 of the 750 million books Random House sold globally in print or online across the year."

The unprecedented success of the book, which James originally self-published in 2011 before a Random House subdivision reissued the series, has reassured an industry that is still adapting to the digital age:

“Fifty Shades of Grey” coming in hardcover

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:07:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- "Fifty Shades of Grey" will soon be slipped under a new set of covers.

E L James' erotic trilogy is being issued in hardcover, the Knopf Doubleday Group announced Thursday. The novels were released last spring as paperbacks and e-books and have since sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. The new editions of "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" each will have a list price of $26.95 and will be available Jan. 29.

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“Fifty Shades of Grey” drives record profits for Random House

“Fifty Shades of Grey” coming in hardcover