Fifty Shades Of Grey Publishers Enjoy Staggering Profits

Random House in the black thanks to success of EL James novel

Fifty Shades of Grey movie
Fifty Shades of Grey movie
(Image credit: PA)

Random House in the black thanks to success of EL James novel

The phenomenal success of Fifty Shades of Grey has meant the erotic novel's publisher has managed to stay in the black.

Publishing company Random House yesterday said profits had risen by 76 per cent to £275m last year, with sales up 22 per cent to £1.78bn, thanks to EL James's raunchy trilogy being such a major hit.

The company is part of German-owned media conglomerate Bertelsmann, who also own the TV division RTL who make the X Factor. Their profits dropped by five per cent to £932m.

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EL James has sold 70 million print, audio, and e-book editions of Fifty Shades, meaning it is Random House's bestselling series of all time. The book even outsold The Highway Code last summer.

However, the publisher is not completely immune to the pressures caused by the rise of e-books, and will merge with Penguin in order to cut costs.

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