October 2nd, 2012
Welcome to the Fifty Days of Fifty Shades launch day! (If you missed yesterday’s blog post, you can still read all about the giveaway here.)
The first section of the book—and consequently the first set of quotes from Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey that we’ll be sharing with you—are all about the series as erotic fiction. We’ll update this post on October 9 with quotes from the nine essays from the erotic fiction section. You can also catch the quotes daily on our Tumblr and Fifty Writers Facebook page.
Now for the exciting giveaway information:
Until midnight CST on October 9, you can enter right here to win one of nine copies of Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, the first of the fifty copies we’re giving away between now and November 20!
To enter, just tell us which Fifty Shades book is your favorite in the comments below (saying you can’t choose a favorite is also an acceptable entry!). U.S. and Canadian entries only, please.
Good luck!
***
Erotic Fiction Quotes
“It is the secret behind all of our writing. And our reading. Arousal starts in the mind. And grows in the mind. The brain is the most erogenous zone in a woman’s body. That is our secret. And it is what we share.” —M.J. Rose, “Between the Covers”
“Putting aside the mumbles and grumbles from the legions of hard-working, and unarguably more talented, erotica writers out there…Fifty Shades will, no doubt, be remembered as when everything changed. Okay, it may not be as big as the wheel, the internal combustion engine, antibiotics, or the personal computer, but it’s still a total and complete game changer.” —M.Christian, “The Game Changer”
“An editor finds the book, changes it, publishes it. The ordinary wife and mother has, without trying, become an author, garnered an audience, fame, millions of dollars, and the adoration of legions. Some women burn the book. Other women read it and burn.” —Tiffany Reisz, “This Is the Story”
“The traditional publishing industry has had to acknowledge that there is a strong market for erotic fiction written, edited, and purchased by women. These aren’t the bodice rippers of old. These aren’t the books you hide in your bedside table or inside a copy of Ulysses. Romance is a multibillion-dollar business and erotic content is a huge part of that market.” —Louise Fury, “Fifty Shades of Change”
“[T]he covers being used on erotic trades are now uniformly subtle, with flowers, scarves, feathers, pearls, belts, and stilettos, but the latest brown paper bag is an immediately recognizable one, which means it’s not really there at all. We know something sexy is gong to be found between those innocent-looking covers and we don’t care who sees us with them.” —Sylvia Day, “The Brown Paper Bag”
“It doesn’t matter what labels are being given to Fifty Shades of Grey and other books in the erotica and erotic romance genres. What matters is the amount of public¬ity and increased sales and readership that have come from the media uproar. Personally, if I were selling millions of copies of my books, the media could label it anything they wanted, and I wouldn’t care. I would simply laugh all the way to the bank, and I know many writers that feel exactly the same way.” —Lucy Felthouse, “Labels, Schmabels, I’ll take the Publicity!”
“I think thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey more of my acquaintances have respect for and an interest in what I write. There is less judgment all around. Not that they pause any less when they talk about it with me or others, but that is their sexual issue, not mine. They realize that the genre doesn’t deserve to be stereotyped or automatically discounted. There is more to it than they thought, and it has become something they are willing to enjoy now that they’ve opened themselves up to the possibility.” —Rachel Kenley, “Porn Writer on the PTA”
“Because there’s sex on every page (actually, there isn’t. There’s sex on a vast majority of the pages)…the books have been billed as erotica. But whether romance authors, editors, and publishers wish to admit it or not, it isn’t the amount of explicit sex that makes a book romance or erotica, it’s the plotline and the happily-ever-after contrivance.” —D.L. King, “Is Fifty Shades Erotica? Ask an Erotica Writer”
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at 11:12 am
I’d say the 1st was the best. I can’t wait to read 50 Writers on 50 Shades. All those wonderful opinions. Fab.
at 5:01 pm
Difficult to say which was my favorite
at 5:55 pm
Fifty Shades Freed
at 8:56 pm
Book three! Everything ended on a delicious high note.
at 5:19 am
I love the entire series but have to say my favorite was book #1 – it was enticing that I could not wait to finish it and move onto the next one!
at 5:51 pm
The first–but it wasn’t all that great.
at 5:54 pm
Fifty shades freed
at 6:02 pm
I liked the first one the best — Fifty Shades of Grey.
at 6:34 pm
I am torn between book 1&2. Combine them into one book and that would be my favorite
at 9:52 pm
Book Three…because then it was over! :)
at 10:07 am
Hate that I missed out on this one, we would have loved to have 10 Nights involved.
at 12:33 pm
I definitely liked all 3 books but found Book 1 of the trilogy the best.
at 2:22 pm
The original – Fifty Shades of Grey is the best of the three.
at 9:34 pm
Definitely Fifty Shades Darker. Loved every minute of it!
at 9:44 pm
I loved all the books, but I find myself re-reading 50 Shades Freed <3
at 10:45 pm
I love all of the books so I can’t say I ha e a favorite
at 7:47 am
Favorite was book 2!!! I really want to win fifty writers on fifty shades
at 8:26 am
I read them as 1 compilation on the Kindle… so it was like I read one long book, I can’t choose!
at 8:33 am
Fifty shades free.
at 10:36 am
2nd book is my favorite because that’s when you really start to see all of Christians insecurities and vulnerabilities. Love it!!
at 3:57 pm
Third book to see the happy ending of course…
at 7:42 pm
Book #1 for me…You never forget your first!
at 3:23 am
Fifty Shades Darker
at 4:44 am
I would have to say my favorite is the 2nd book 50 Shades darker.
at 5:16 am
I think that the last one is the best as you get to see how christian developes as a husband and a father. He changes a lot of things in his life for ana.
at 7:39 am
Laura Antoniou’s parody; 50 shades of crap.
Now wouldn’t you think with an international webpage you could open it up to an international audience?
at 8:40 am
I LOVED all of them, but I would have to say Fifty Shades of Grey was my favorite. I was wary about reading them in the first place, but the ending of book 1 (and really the book as a whole) made me want to read the next one, and I’m glad it kept me going because I ended up absolutely falling in love with them.
at 10:46 am
Fifty Shades Darker is my favorite of the trilogy. E L James does a wonderful job of showing Christian’s change from dominant to lover and Ana’s learning to deal with Christian’s moods. It is a great love story.
at 1:28 pm
Al three were better than I thought. Favorite was the fist one.
at 1:25 am
Fifty Shades of Grey Book 1 is my favorite!
at 3:03 pm
I despise the whole series with a passion.
The only moment of sanity in the three books is the last chapter of Book 1.
at 3:52 pm
My sentiments exactly.
Very Interested to see what other authors have to say about it.
at 3:09 pm
None of them are my favorite! I’m excited to win this book because my friend and author Jennifer Armintrout wrote an essay for it. Her recaps are, so far, the best thing to come out of this phenomenon.
at 3:57 pm
Tie between the second and third books. Some of the chapters in them…..I just die laughing.
at 4:03 pm
I’ll say the first one, but I’m more interested in reading other authors’ takes on the phenomenon.
at 4:14 pm
No favourite for me. But I’d love to read 50 Writers on 50 Shades because Jennifer Armintrout has an essay in it, and Jennifer Armintrout is AMAZING.
at 11:05 pm
This.
Her recaps have been the best thing I’ve seen come from this atrocity.
at 4:28 pm
Fifty Shades of Grey because it was the book that started the whole phenomenon.
at 4:46 pm
…none of the above? Honestly they all feel like part of the same book.
at 5:09 pm
The first one….because at that point I still believed there were 2 books where Christian could stop being a creepy stalker. Shame it didn’t turn out that way.
at 6:26 pm
I really can’t pick a favorite since I thought the who,e series was horrible.
at 6:59 pm
lol, I can’t choose a favorite! I believe they are all equal in literary merit.
at 10:15 pm
The First!!!
at 11:14 pm
I read them for work more than anything else (I work at a sex toy shop), but… number 2? Most conflict, was most intriguing to me.
at 12:42 am
Fifty Shades Freed because because it was the last.
at 4:45 am
The first one, I suppose….
at 8:28 am
The first of the series, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” was my favorite because of how well E.L. James fleshed out Christian Grey’s character.
at 12:11 pm
Hahaha. Which was my favorite…. It would have to be the first.. Or second… Or third? Damn it. Ok fine. I think I have to go with the second one. But I did enjoy reading all of them
at 12:47 pm
Honestly they are all my favorite and have completely changed my life And my marriage. I have a four year old and a two year old with NO TIME AT ALL. Now I make time for my husband and myself to be together!
Happy Reading!!!!
at 12:54 pm
They were terrible… Does that count?
at 1:53 pm
the original (1st).
at 2:42 pm
I’d say the second book is my favorite.
at 3:47 pm
Book two!
at 4:17 pm
Fifty shades free
at 5:36 pm
I would have to say that the first book is my favorite. That is when we are introduced to fifty and ana and her first days of training are steamy hot.
at 6:50 pm
Fifty Shades Darker!
at 8:35 pm
I cant choose!
at 10:51 pm
The second one, Fifty Shades Darker, because it is so hilarious to pick apart.
at 11:48 pm
My favorite book of the 50 shades of Grey trilogy was the first book! It was the introduction of the chacters I fell in love with, their love story was so unexpected, unconditioal,and hott! I couldnt have asked for a more perfect escape from reality these books provided from me, with a story line I never thought I would be intetested let alone love so much!!
at 12:19 am
I’m not sure I can choose a favorite.
at 12:33 pm
My favorite is the last book – Freed. I like the scene in the hospital when Ana is out cold all the way through to the end. Would love to read 50 Writers on 50 Shades.
at 6:15 pm
The 2nd book is the most entertainingly bad…
at 4:57 pm
I liked the 1st one best. It was the introduction to the BDSM lifestyle and steamy sex.
at 8:33 am
Gotta love a well written critique on a poorly written book.