{"id":59129,"date":"2021-09-03T04:43:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T08:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=59129"},"modified":"2021-09-05T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T21:11:08","slug":"fifty-shades-of-grey-10-years-later-self-publishing-wasnt-novel-then-but-now-its-easier-to-reach-a-niche-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/fifty-shades-of-grey-10-years-later-self-publishing-wasnt-novel-then-but-now-its-easier-to-reach-a-niche-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fifty Shades of Grey,\u2019 10 years later: Self-publishing wasn\u2019t novel then, but now it\u2019s easier to reach a niche audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nIt has been 10 years since E.L. James decided to self-publish her first novel,\u00a0Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em>. The plot of the story centres on a\u00a0college student who enters a relationship with a wealthy businessman involving BDSM practices \u2014 bondage, dominance\/submission, sadism\/masochism \u2014 <\/a>\u00a0and becomes his submissive.<\/p>\n

The story was first developed as a fan-fiction project in 2009 based on the\u00a0Twilight<\/em>\u00a0series, originally titled\u00a0Master of the Universe<\/a><\/em>. However, after being reprimanded for the mature content by the administrators of a fan fiction website, James decided to\u00a0self-publish the book in 2011 with the help of an online publisher, The Writers\u2019 Coffee Shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James\u2019s book and<\/a>\u00a0its sequels \u2014\u00a0Fifty Shades Darker<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Fifty Shades Freed<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 became a global sensation. The trilogy sold more than 65 million copies after James signed a contract\u00a0with a traditional publisher, Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Substantial cultural commentary and numerous studies addressed how the \u201cinfamous\u201d novel influenced both readers and the publishing industry.<\/p>\n

Some people critiqued the book for\u00a0linking sex and violence without delving into the level of communication required to make BSDM safe and truly consentual<\/a>. Others discussed how it harmed women\u2019s already fragile role\u00a0in a patriarchal world, or commended it for starting dialogue around BDSM \u2014 and enticing more authors<\/a>\u00a0to experiment with niche topics and self-publishing.<\/p>\n

Role of gatekeepers has shifted<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This is an interesting time in publishing and other areas of the cultural industries, because the roles of gatekeepers are changing. Today,\u00a0it is much easier to appeal to a niche audience than it was 10 years ago<\/a>. Self-publishing is here to stay.<\/p>\n

Some people\u00a0commend self-publishing<\/a>\u00a0as a great way to ensure that audiences can access a diversity of genres and voices that have traditionally been marginalized by mainstream publishers. Others\u00a0condemn it because of the lack of gatekeepers<\/a>\u00a0to assess the content being produced. A few consider it\u00a0a get-rich-quick-scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, these assumptions are based on a limited knowledge of contemporary self-publishing practices.<\/p>\n

Self-publishing isn\u2019t new<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The phenomenon of self-publishing is often linked to online book production methods, which allow authors to produce an ebook with a few strokes of the keyboard, making their work available to a global audience. However, there is a much richer history of self-publishing that goes further back than its digital counterpart.<\/p>\n

A number of prominent authors started off by privately printing their work. For instance,\u00a0Jane Austen privately published Sense and Sensibility<\/em> in 1811<\/a>, and\u00a0Mark Twain self-published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn<\/em> in 1885<\/a>. Although self-publishing might appear as the new buzzword, it is not a novel phenomenon in the publishing industry.<\/p>\n

Even though self-publishing was a practice some authors adopted in the 18th and 19th centuries,\u00a0the distribution methods and number of copies were often limited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amazon & self-publishing<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the past 10 years, the phenomenon of self-publishing grew massively with the help of Amazon, Wattpad and other online publishing tools.<\/p>\n

The real game changer to self-publishing was Amazon when it introduced Kindle Direct Publishing in 2007. It became possible for authors to share their work worldwide through a convenient global distributor.<\/p>\n

Amazon can be linked to the\u00a0popularization of electronic books (ebooks) through its promotion of the Kindle \u2014 also introduced in 2007 \u2014 which prices literary works as low as 99 cents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2012, a year after its publication,\u00a0Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em>\u00a0was the\u00a0best- and fastest-selling series ever on Kindle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Self-publishing on the rise<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It is difficult to trace the actual number of self-published books because platforms like Amazon assign their own classification, making the ISBN unnecessary. However, Bowker, a company that assesses and reports bibliographical information (such as ISBN data), provides reports showing that self-publishing has been on the rise.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the company registered\u00a0148,424 printed self-published books with an additional 87,201 ebooks<\/a>. Only six years later, in 2017, the registered number of self-published books was more than a million. The numbers kept rising the following year, with over\u00a01.5 million self-published books registered in Bowker\u2019s system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the past 10 plus years, self-publishing has kept growing as an industry potentially due to ebook adoption and online publishing companies, which indicates that it certainly has the possibility to have a permanent place in the publishing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Wattpad: virtual library of the future?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 2006, Kevin Kelly, former editor of\u00a0Wired<\/em>\u00a0magazine, proposed\u00a0the idea of \u201cliquid books\u201d all housed in a universal library, which anyone could access freely<\/a>. A year after Kelly\u2019s proposal, a platform emerged that made the idea of a universal library a viable possibility.<\/p>\n

Wattpad was originally a start-up\u00a0founded in Canada by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen in 2007<\/a>. Originally a website, the company launched a mobile app in 2008, which is now easily accessed from any hand-held device.<\/p>\n

At first, the founders of the site uploaded books in the public domain<\/a>\u00a0to attract users. Once enough people became aware of Wattpad, writers started to upload their own stories to share with an online audience. Now Wattpad has a range of categories of books and stories for all types of readers, ranging from traditional romance and mystery to spiritual genres and the paranormal. A virtual library of user-generated content, both mainstream and niche, emerged that supported the self-publishing boom.
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#TheKissingBooth3<\/a> ???? marks the end of an era that all started on Wattpad. Make sure to catch @Reekles<\/a> final instalment in the trilogy on @netflix<\/a> starring @JoeyKing<\/a> & #JacobElordi<\/a> \u2192 https:\/\/t.co\/fdqRqpA3Cq<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/fdqRqpA3Cq<\/a><\/p>\n

— Wattpad Brand Partnerships (@WattpadBusiness) August 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n