EL James’ ’50 Shades Of Grey’ Breaks Kindle Records With 1m Sales

It’s become the publishing phenomenon of the year, and ’50 Shades Of Grey’ just keeps on breaking records at a rate that astonishes, it is now the first book to sell more than 1m copies on Amazon’s Kindle device and service.

Some have suggested that a contributory factor to the books’ success is the fact that electronic devices such as kindles allow readers to be discrete about what they are reading, meaning that those who might not have bought a risque book like James’ now need not worry about embarrassing looks from friends or family.

According to The Telegraph, the director of EU Kindle Gordon Willoughby said:  “E L James’ books have become both the fastest-selling and the bestselling series ever on Kindle.”

The book started out as a piece of fan-fiction directed at the Twilight series of books, another set of books that took off and became popular beyond early expectations.

After a bidding war between several film studios, Universal and Focus Features captured the film rights to the trilogy of books, including later efforts ’50 Shades Darker’ and ’50 shades Freed’. speculation is rife as to who’ll play title character Christian Grey, and heroine Anastasia Steele.

The erotic novels have now become the fastest selling paperback in history, beating J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, a literature milestone that many thought would never be matched.

PHOTOS: Who should play Anastasia Steele in the ’50 Shades’ film?

Kristen Stewart’s Twilight role stands her in good stead.