<P> This reworked and extended version of Master of the Universe was split into three parts . The first, titled Fifty Shades of Grey, was released as an e-book and a print on demand paperback in May 2011 by The Writers' Coffee Shop, a virtual publisher based in Australia . The second volume, Fifty Shades Darker, was released in September 2011; and the third, Fifty Shades Freed, followed in January 2012 . The Writers' Coffee Shop had a restricted marketing budget and relied largely on book blogs for early publicity, but sales of the novel were boosted by word - of - mouth recommendation . The book's erotic nature and perceived demographic of its fan base as being composed largely of married women over thirty led to the book being dubbed "Mommy Porn" by some news agencies . The book has also reportedly been popular among teenage girls and college women . By the release of the final volume in January 2012, news networks in the United States had begun to report on the Fifty Shades trilogy as an example of viral marketing and of the rise in popularity of female erotica, attributing its success to the discreet nature of e-reading devices . Due to the heightened interest in the series, the license to the Fifty Shades trilogy was picked up by Vintage Books for re-release in a new and revised edition in April 2012 . The attention that the series has garnered has also helped to spark a renewed interest in erotic literature . Many other erotic works quickly became best - sellers following Fifty Shade's success, while other popular works, such as Anne Rice's The Sleeping Beauty trilogy, have been reissued (this time without pseudonyms) to meet the higher demand . </P> <P> On 1 August 2012, Amazon UK announced that it had sold more copies of Fifty Shades of Grey than it had the entire Harry Potter series combined, making E.L. James its best - selling author, replacing J.K. Rowling, though worldwide the Harry Potter series sold more than 450 million copies compared with Fifty Shades of Grey's sales of 60 million copies . </P> <P> Fifty Shades of Grey has topped best - seller lists around the world, including those of the United Kingdom and the United States . The series had sold over 125 million copies worldwide by June 2015 and has been translated into 52 languages, and set a record in the United Kingdom as the fastest - selling paperback of all time . </P> <P> It has received mixed to negative reviews, with most critics noting poor literary qualities of the work . Salman Rushdie said about the book: "I've never read anything so badly written that got published . It made Twilight look like War and Peace ." Maureen Dowd described the book in The New York Times as being written "like a Bronte devoid of talent," and said it was "dull and poorly written ." Jesse Kornbluth of The Huffington Post said: "As a reading experience, Fifty Shades...is a sad joke, puny of plot". </P>

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