Why 50 Shades of Gray is a Bestseller

I can just imagine the backlash I'll get for writing this post.  I ran this past a few friends of mine, and I got a little taste of what to expect: They told me not to write this.

But you can never tell a writer to keep quiet :)

50 Shades of Gray, for those of you who don't know, is a erotic adult novel by E. L. James that revolves around wealthy Christian Gray's... exploits with young Anastasia Steele. (For the rest of the summary, go here.) Basically, Gray forces Steele into a bunch of sexual experiments which she finds scary at first, but exhilirating. She loves being submissive.

I can't say it better than Cupcake's (hehe) review on Amazon.

"Is 50 Shades Darker good? Hell to the no, it is not good. But is it entertaining? Yes. Is it hot? Yes. Is it worth reading? Yes..... Do not, however, mistake an enjoyable read for something well written, because this is NOT well written. It's like literary crack. You know it's bad for you, and you feel dirty and low for enjoying it, but you can't stop."

Cupcake, a Top 1000 reviewer on Amazon (who seems incredibly knowledgable about the craft of writing) gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. Why?


And here is where it gets exciting. This book has TONS of faults, mainly: its writing is not the best. Also, people get upset about its origins as a Twilight fan fiction.

Why is this a bestseller, if it is riddled with bad writing and content most people shy away from? Because, it is content most people shy away from. You don't have to admit it (and most of you probably won't) but everyone had their... dreams. James wrote a book that exposed this dream as rawly as possible; she wrote what everyone else shies away from; what they dare not write. She wrote a book as opposite from today's moral standards as possible.

I respect E.L. James. There, I said it (and I'm a guy). I bet all of you are going to attack me now. I respect her not for her writing, but for her raw material and the courage it must have taken to publish this in today's market. I hope in my writing, I can evoke emotions (maybe not the same emotions as in James' books) that are as raw as hers. Mine won't be erotic, but hers was. So what? She didn't do any editing (maybe she went a bit too far in this ;) ) of the 'inappropriate' content of her book. She wrote the book how she felt it. And that paid off.

I ask you, did you, before this book, ever freely discuss some of the fantasies you had with a large number of people? This book opened that gate for so many women (and men) worldwide. JK Rowling said that there is a dark side to humanity, and it is much better to bring it into the light and discuss it rather than ignoring that it ever exists. (If you don't read any other part of this post, read that line.)

I hate censorship. I hate it with a passion, and most people are under the false impression that censorship must be tangible. No. It can take form as the invisible social restrictions on our thought. E.L. James exposed the desires of people worldwide, and she shattered some of those restrictions. She wrote something that everyone else would be afraid to write. And she wrote it rawly: No toning it down. This is why she is a bestseller.

I agree, she could have use a GOOD number of years in writing lessons and she could have used a good editor. But she did wrote most of us would never dream to write (admit it). E.L. James wrote something that we all think about, but we get scared to talk about. She opened up gates of thinking worldwide (read JK Rowling's quote again on why this is important). That is something all writers strive (and mostly fail) to achieve. That is why she is a bestseller.

What do you think? (I'm almost too scared to ask that.)

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