Charlie Hunnam aka Christian Grey

May 22, 2012,
By JULIE BOSMAN

In case there was any doubt about the blockbuster success of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy by E L James, the numbers are in: more than 10 million copies of the books have been sold in the United States in six weeks, the publisher said on Tuesday, putting the books among some of the best-selling series in modern publishing.

“The sales velocity for ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is unprecedented, with reader demand still growing,” Anthony Chirico, the president of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, said in a statement. “As we head into the heart of the...

ubscribers will receive a slightly steamier cover featuring our exclusive story on Fifty Shades of Grey, the massively successful erotic novel that has everyone talking, if perhaps only in hushed tones.)

Copies of Fifty Shades of Grey have been flying off shelves and into the hands of millions of women — and possibly tens of men. EW has the first Stateside interview with press-shy author E L James (that’s a nom de plume, by the way), as well as the full story behind how the sexy novel went from unpolished Twilight-inspired fan fiction to a full-on phenomenon.

From her perspective, creating...