How Fifty Shades of Grey Unexpectedly Boosted My Debut Novel
Back in July of 2012, I signed a contract for two books to be published with Hachette (Grand Central/Forever), and had no idea what to expect. Debut novels typically don’t do much in ways of sales for one simple reason:
No one knows who you are yet!
There are the unicorns that blast out of the gate and go on to have films produced seemingly instantly, which is, of course, what we all believe we want. Then there are the rest of us: Those who are in for the journey, and the bumps and boosts that happen gradually over time.
My debut novel experienced a bit of both.
When Tempting the Billionaire released in January 2013 (yes, you read that right—it had an accelerated publishing release, which was definitely my speed!), it didn’t do much in way of sales. I had no idea what to expect, and actually didn’t even know the numbers for months to come. Then in March of 2013, I spoke to my editor who had really good news. Tempting the Billionaire had not faded into obscurity, but was getting quite a bit of attention and sales were going up!
She thought that the rise in popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey might have something to do with it, and after seeing my much tamer romance on shelves at Barnes & Noble with a sign above it reading “What to Read After 50 Shades of Grey” I had to admit, she was right.
The publishing house must have had an inkling that my book could hit and hit hard, becuase when I submitted the book it had the working title of Her New Boss. My editor had quickly suggested we change Shane from millionaire to billionaire and alter the title.
It was a great choice.
Tempting the Billionaire has had quite the ride, including a new surge of sales in recent years thanks to being adapted into Chapters Interactive for gameplay (an app for Android and Apple alike). I can say with certainty that I never imagined when I was writing Shane and Crickitt’s story that I would be playing an animated game about them!
I actually met E.L. James (author of Fifty) at a writer’s conference. She was kind, and said something I’ll never forget. “I like when people come up and tell me they like the books, but not so much when they tell me they don’t.”
It struck me then how her massive and sudden success also brought with it unexpected and uninvited criticism, not only online, but to her face. I know this is a fear of a lot of writers. Some won’t publish for fear of criticism, and others stop publishing in the hopes to stop it. (I’ll write another blog on that soon, so stay tuned.)
Whether you are penning your debut novel now, or it was out a decade ago, just know this: success is unpredictable, and your journey will not and should not look like anyone else’s.
I’d love to hear where you are now, or if you have any specific advice you’d like to hear about in future blogs. I’m here to support your journey!
xo, Jessica 🍋
