Fifty Shades (novel series) Fifty Shades (novel series) Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by E. L. James. Initially a trilogy consisting of "Fifty Shades of Grey" (2011), "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" (2012), the series traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business man, Christian Grey. Grey introduces Ana to the world of BDSM. James has spoken of her shock at the success of the book, "The explosion of interest has taken me completely by surprise" she said. James has described the "Fifty Shades" trilogy as "my midlife crisis, writ large. All my
Fifty Shades (novel series) fantasies in there, and that's it." She did not start to write until January 2009, as she revealed while still active on FanFiction.Net: "I started writing in January 2009 after I finished the Twilight saga, and I haven't stopped since. I discovered Fan Fiction in August 2009. Since then I have written my two fics and plan on doing at least one more. After that... who knows?" In August 2013, sales of the trilogy saw James top the "Forbes" list of the highest-earning authors with earnings of $95m which included $5m for the film rights to "Fifty Shades of Grey".