After 16 weeks at #1, ‘The Hunger Games’ gets unseated on bestseller list – by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

By Andrew Sims (@Sims) at 5:30 pm, April 26, 2012

For the first time in sixteen weeks, USA Today’s Bestseller list no longer has The Hunger Games at #1.

It dropped to number five, and the top spot was taken by Fifty Shades of Grey – the Twilight fanfic which was rewritten and turned into a series of its own.

Catching Fire still sits at #2, but Grey sequel Fifty Shades Darker now sits at #3 followed by Mockingjay at #4. Fifty Shades Freed is at #6.

What do you think of the huge popularity surrounding the Fifty Shades series? See all of the latest news stories about it right here.

View the latest articles in: Fifty Shades of Grey

http://www.facebook.com/people/Maria-Wang/542480760 Maria Wang

wow. We are all embarrassed by getting caught reading erotic literature and one ends up #1 on the best seller’s list. I’m surprised by how many people read erotica.
ElisabetaLugosi_RP

It’s annoying… It upsets me when Fan Fiction is pawned off as an original story. And please, no one come here and start to argue that there are no original stories, it’s been said and argued. It is because this person wrote it as a Fan Fiction, using characters, relationships and tropes from an established popular franchise and then flipped some stuff around and changed the names and called it her own. I have nothing against Fan Fiction mind you, but the fact that it was published as an “original” story just blows my mind. And yes, I’m also aware that Shakespeare did the same thing with Romeo & Juliet, King Lear and Hamlet; but that is besides the point. It is just frustrating when you hear someone on television talking about how lewd and innovative the subject matter of it is when Fan Fiction in general is lewd and fetishized… so that is NOTHING new. I don’t know, this entire story is annoying, but that is just my opinion… or my rant… :/
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Maria-Wang/542480760 Maria Wang
  
  I feel the same way. But I’m bias. I only feel annoyed because I don’t like Twilight. I’m not sure how i would feel if this was based on Harry Potter fanfic, for example. I might feel completely fine with it. Or I might feel that that JK Rowling is cheated somehow. Because, like you said, the author wrote a fanfiction story based on copyrighted material and then just changed the names and relevant details to make a ‘original’ novel?
  - ElisabetaLugosi_RP
    
    Agreed… It’s also upseting how much press this is getting too… I mean #1… come on.
- Gruverbabies
  
  There are VERY few similarities between The FS trilogy and Twilight saga, I suggest you read the books before you dismiss them. I know “mature” stories aren’t for everyone (me included) but I personally think she wrote a fabulous story
  - Laura
    
    That’s not the point. The point is this story was marketed as fanfiction, free and fun fanfiction, and then once the writer saw how popular it was, decided to make money off of it. That’s very underhanded.
    
    If she completely reworked the story before publishing, then fair enough. But she didn’t rework it at all. She only changed the names and physical descriptions. People should just save their money and find a pdf of Master of the Universe online. It’s free, the exact same story, and not split into 3 parts.
    - Liderc
      
      Everyone does something for free until they can make money off of it. Especially in creative writing.
      - Laura
        
        Again, not the point.
        
        She could have just written a new story and advertised that to her Twilight fanbase. She still would have gotten sales and it would not have been nearly as sleazy.
      - Laura
        
        Point: She abused the system of fanfiction to make herself popular and rich. It amazes how people can give her a pass because “everyone does something for free until they can make money off of it”.
      - Liderc
        
        What are the “rules of fanfiction”, did you write them?
        
        The point that you can’t seem to see is that the author owned the material, as they wrote it aka they can decide to sell it when it becomes popular.
        
        That’s like saying JK Rowling abused the system of book writing because she made more than one Harry Potter after it became popular, so she could make money.
      - Laura
        
        Lol, no. Rowling wrote an original story with no obvious attachments to anyone else’s franchise. E.L. James made a Twilight fanfic to gain followers who probably would not have noticed or read it if it weren’t Twilight fanfiction. When you write a fanfiction, it’s not your own in the same way an original story is; it’s forever attached to the story you wrote it about. If she wrote a new story to publish, I wouldn’t care. The fact is, she’s knowingly selling fanfiction. I don’t have to write rules to know that’s not right.
annie

today is a sad day for literature
Peeta Mellark

Oh well, its not like it takes away from the story which is ultimately the most important part. I mean, it had to happen at some point
HungaGurl

well I guess it had to happen someday :(…and also….i HATE the new hypable…sorry had to vent…it makes me not want to use this site anymore :(
- http://www.facebook.com/Liliana.Sa Liliana Sa
  
  good,its not only me not liking the new hypable {i’ve actually have been using it less now :( }
  - apwbdumbs
    
    the older format was so much for fun and easy! now it’s like a news paper. People keep changing stuff but no one ever wants the change!
    - daisyduck
      
      Agreed- I found it much easier to read before. Now, I keep missing things and I get confused as to what was posted fisrt, what’s new etc. It’s messy and far too busy. Bring back the old style please!
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VCJSDSEDKYOBEKWGIXCDB2QPYA Henry
  
  yes its like facebook time-line!! too much!! why fix what isn’t broken!!
- sarahd15
  
  Can’t stand this new hypable…so sick of websites changing their format when there is NOTHING wrong with it!
- Kelly Barker
  
  Oh my gosh, I hate this layout too! So confusing :(
HungaGurl

um ok I just realized its Twilight FanFic. kill me now.
- sia
  
  Shut up.
  - Twilight Is Ending
    
    Nice try, T-fan.
  - Ida
    
    Eloquent.:P
KillTheSparklyVampire

Just like Bellas facial expressions. 50 Shades of Poker Face.
Starsinwnderlnd

The big deal over how 50 is a Twilight fan fiction has been overblown. If you read the book and have read Twilight you will find small similarities, miniscule at best. It is a fun romp and if you aren’t stick up, so hard on over how it’s Twilight related and want a good dirty time with a book read 50 Shades of Grey. Ya it isn’t Shakespeare but it’s an erotic book for f*&ks sake what do you people expect.
- Laura
  
  ^Completely missed the point of why people are upset.
- Used and abused
  
  The arguements against 50 Shades because of its fanfiction orgins are not based on similarities between Twilight and 50 shades. If you’ve ever done any exploration of the ff world, you would know that most fanfiction, such as the Master of the Universe AU fic, has very little in common with the base material. Sometimes there is almost nothing in common. The problem with 50 Shades lies in its abuse of the fanfiction system. A lot of peer reviewing, beta-ing, general support and advertising from and within the community (and the twilight community is HUGE) goes into creating a successful fiction. The author of 50 Shades used this community to craft a pretty popular and reasonably well written (for fanfiction) story, and as soon as the chance to make some $$ came along, she jumped on it. This would be understandable, if she hadn’t completely shunned all the people that were responsible for making her story success. You can’t separate the fanfiction from the community that is majorly responsible for its success, and also make a profit off their work. It’s just disgusting.
  
  Sorry if this rant doesn’t make much sense, but this is an issue I’m very passionate and angry about grrrr
- sia
  
  The author was still inspired by the Twilight series and loves it a lot the first book really has some similarities to Bella and Edward.
http://twitter.com/JennaDickes Jenna Dickes

What? How has that author not been sued by Stephanie Meyers yet?? And since when is fanfiction smut included in the bestseller list? I don’t understand any of this D:
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VCJSDSEDKYOBEKWGIXCDB2QPYA Henry
  
  i agree that book is nasty, i saw i little kid reading it too :( sad sad sad
Jane V.

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore…
Mad

One of the many reasons to be disgusted with society!
- Vantage
  
  It’s actually been dubbed as ”Mommy Porn”. O.O
  
  Oh, humanity.
Vantage

R.I.P. Society & Literature
- Ekta
  
  I couldn’t agree more…
http://twitter.com/_psully Pat Sullivan

3 out of the top 5? I’d still chalk that up as a win!
daisyduck

I don’t care that this was fan fic, really. I don’t care that it was originally inspired by Twilight. I don’t care that it has erotic scenes or that it includes BDSM.

I do care that the writing is APPALLING. Embarrassingly appalling. I downloaded the sample to my Kindle to see what the fuss was all about and I was cringing within seconds. It’s awful. If I was Stephenie Myer, I would be suing purely so that the author wasn’t allowed to associate her drivel with my work in any way, shape or form. I’d want to make it so that no-one was allowed to mention my work in the same breath! And let’s face it Stephenie Myer is no great shakes in the writing department herself, but she looks like the world’s most talented author compared to this.

If people really want books to get their pulses racing or even if they are interested in the whole BDSM angle, they are far better examples out there, ones written by people who can actually write. Something of a necessity if you are supposed to be an author, I find.

It makes me sad that so many people are reading it :(
Mason

I despise the hunger games and I don’t even know what this twilight fan fiction shit is but it’s probably even worse
- Kelly Barker
  
  Why do you hate The Hunger Games?
  - Mason
    
    I just believe for a book of its standards it’s way to hyped up, I tried reading a few chapters and I guess I didn’t appeal to me like it did so many others. I thought the story was alright but the writing wasn’t that great in my opinion . I’ve also seen people compare it to classic storys such as tolkiens the lord of the rings, Harry potter which isn’t that classic I will admit but is better and a couple of other things I can’t think of but those kind of things aggravates me. All in all I think it was mediocre at best which most people don’t agree with but where would we be without a diffrence of opinion.
    - Kelly Barker
      
      Well, you are entitled to your opinion.
    - applepie
      
      You are definitely entitled to your opinion, but I really do recommend reading past the first couple of chapters. The beginning is pretty slow, so I can understand why you think all those things. But it really is a good series. But I do agree it’s WAY too hyped up and that can get very annoying at times.
    - potts
      
      You’re just an elitist. If you think only ‘classics’ are good by default and that a book has to be long and dry to be sophisticated. A simply written book with a good message and meaningful characters is worthy of praise just as much as a long book with hidden meaning and volumes of backstory. I never criticize a book I haven’t read in entirity, so I can say that Twilight is dumb and the Lord of the Rings is an excessive and over the top self-indulgence. Harry Potter and the Hunger Games are inviting books that are enjoyable to a large audience, which although it makes them more generic in plot means that it affects more people and has a bigger impact, which is a good thing to have sometimes.
Mockingjay

Okay, I just bought this book on my Kindle and finished reading it. Here’s my thoughts:

This is the most repulsive, vile, disturbing book I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading. The writing makes Stephenie Meyer look like Shakespeare. I have lost all faith in humanity and may God have mercy on the author’s soul.

This is my opinion, and you don’t have to agree with it. I just think hurting people for pleasure is sick. I’m not saying people who participate in BDSM are bad people, just that I don’t particularly like their methods. But my advice is, don’t waste your money.
Jenny

This is a sad day for then hunger games BOOKS ARE OFFICIALLY DEAD TO ME UNTIL THE HUNGER GAMES IS BACK AT #1

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After 16 weeks at #1, ‘The Hunger Games’ gets unseated on bestseller list – by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

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