The news must have sent shockwaves echoing round the halls of Hogwarts – in fewer than five months, EL James's Fifty Shades erotic trilogy has overtaken sales of JK Rowling's entire Harry Potter series on Amazon.co.uk.
Such is the fervour which has whipped up around the series that Ms James has become the most popular author in the online retailer’s 14-year UK history, selling more than four million print and ebook copies since the release of the series in March.
The trilogy – which includes Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels Fifty Shades Freed and Fifty Shades Darker – holds the top three places in Amazon.co.uk's bestseller list, and the book rights have been sold in 37 countries with paperback sales in the UK also breaking records.
Analysts said that the trilogy’s huge success at the online retailer was in large part due to the appeal of genres such as erotica and romance in ebook formats as consumers can more easily disguise their reading habits. – (Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2012)