For years, people have been lamenting the fact that no one reads books anymore. Tell that to the 1.1 million people who have read or are currently absorbed in Grey, EL James' sequel to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy — the novel is already breaking records despite having been released less than one week ago.
Grey, told in the perspective of Christian Grey, was released on June 18 following what James calls a huge demand from her readers, who wanted to get inside of and explore Grey's head. According to American publisher Vintage, her latest book has sold 1.1 million copies to date across paperback, ebook and audiobook editions.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg: United Kingdom publisher Arrow is expected to release its sales figure on Tuesday and a spokesperson for the publisher is already saying it could be "record-breaking" and surpass Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, which sold 551,000 copies during its first week when it was released back in October 2009.
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This probably isn't big news for James, who is already used to selling a gazillion books. To date, Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed have reportedly sold more than 125 million copies worldwide. My guess is that number will only increase each time another Fifty Shades film is released.
James, meanwhile, appears to be hard at work on another book — the details of which have yet to be released. Given the unbelievable popularity of all-things Grey and Anastasia Steele, it seems all she has to do is mention their names in a book and it will break records. Perhaps her next novel should be told from the perspective of Eloise Mumford?
Are you surprised at the number of copies of Grey that have been sold in the first week of its release?
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