Why E.L. James should be an inspiration to self-published writers

50 shades of Grey, the book written E.L. James, has been in the news in recent weeks after selling more than one million copies. The book has broken records and has become the fastest book to sell a million – breaking a record previously set by J.K. Rowling.

The fact that this is a self-published ought to be an inspiration for any would-be writer with aspirations of establishing their own writing/publishing career. When you publish a book, you’ve have no idea how many copies it may sell, whether it will catch on, or whether it will sell at all but stories like this show it is possible.

E.L. James is said to have sold 10 million copies in total of the Shades of Grey series and it is reported that merchandising deals and movie deals have been signed. Despite the fact the book has sold in its millions, some people have been critical of it and some reviews say that it isn’t very well written. Others have said that they thought it was demeaning to women but none of this will dent sales, and I expect that E.L. James can handle a bit of criticism given the amount of sales the book has made.

It also goes to show that your book doesn’t have to be the best written book in the world. There are plenty of books out there that get bad reviews or that people say aren’t that well written but they go on to sell regardless. It just shows that a book does not need to be perfect in order to sell so don’t worry about your book being perfect, just publish it and see.

E.L. James can never have imaged the success the series has achieved. No one knows what will happen once they publish and there is only one way to find out and that is to complete your book and start promoting it.