In April Random House New Zealand will be publishing E L James’s Number 1 New York Times bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. The announcement regarding the acquisition of UK and Commonwealth rights by Century and Arrow in the UK was made yesterday by Susan Sandon, Managing Director of Cornerstone Publishing and Selina Walker, publisher of Century and Arrow Books. The deal was struck with Valerie Hoskins of VHA Ltd in London for a six-figure sum.
The three titles in the series – Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed – is currently available in ebook and the first book in the trilogy will be available in printed edition on 5 April 2012.
Selina Walker, Publisher of Century and Arrow said, “These truly are the books everyone is talking about – pretty much around the world. They are romantic, liberating, and utterly page-turning, and have sparked more roundthe-table conversation than any books I can remember. We are delighted to be publishing the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy in Arrow, and to be welcoming EL James to our publishing list.”
First published in May 2011 by The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House in Australia, Fifty Shades of Grey follows the relationship of 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey and college student Anastasia Steele. Subsequent novels in the series, Fifty Shades Darker (September 2011) and Fifty Shades Freed (January 2012) explore the couple’s deepening relationship. The trilogy has already sold more than 250,000 copies in ebook and paperback editions.
E L James is a former TV executive, wife, and mother of two based in West London. Since early childhood she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.
