What is the connection between the bestselling erotic trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey and car manuals? Well, the books of the latter by publisher Haynes, which are often cited by car mechanics as being their bible, are blaming the success of the Fifty Shades series on the decline of their books.
While it’s impossible to place the books from Haynes and the Fifty Shades books even in the same genre, the publishing company says that retailers are shunning their books while the Fifty Shades of Grey books continue to sell by the bucket load.
“There is little doubt that… retail purchasing budgets were tight and that much of those available budgets went towards the phenomenally successful Fifty Shades series,” said Haynes, “Our books, in the most part, appeal to automobile and motorcycle enthusiasts. They are probably oriented to a male audience and I am not sure that Fifty Shades is the kind of thing they would enjoy, but that phenomenon is impacting general publishing budget.”
The company’s chief executive, Eric Oakley continued to talk about why the Fifty Shades books have been damaging their bottom line.
“Many bookshops have spent so much money on these titles that their resources for buying other books has been stretched to the limit.”
But it’s not only Haynes who are blaming the success of E.L. James’s trilogy on the falling sales of their books, but also Quercus who published the bestselling trilogy by Steig Larsson, The Millennium Series, with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being the most famous of the books. Ever since the epic success of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, it looks like the Swedish crime novels have experienced a significant dent in their revenues.
Fifty Shades of Grey may have begun life as a piece of Twilight fan fiction, but the trilogy by E.L. James soon became more than a publishing phenomenon, with the impact it’s had on society, but it’s also the fastest-selling book of all time. Perhaps Haynes should come up with a Fifty Shades of Grey inspired car mechanic book? With all the crazy Fifty Shades inspired ideas out there, it’s a possibility.
