50 Tons de um best-seller: a trajetória de 50 Tons de Cinza como um fenômeno editorial

Abstract

This final paper intends to investigate the editorial phenomenon that was the book series “50 Shades of Gray”, since its year of publication in 2012. In the past they were fanfictions about Twilight, and they were written by British author E.L James. By investigating this case study, anchored in the theories of the authors Thompson (2013) and Bourdieu (1992), I seek to understand how super best sellers behave within the publishing market and its impacts, both in the industry, but also culturally. Through a collection of data gathered on the PublishNews’s bestseller list for seven years, from 2012 to 2019, I trace its trajectory here in Brazil, noting its variations in sales numbers over the years, as well as study the possible reasons for its huge success with the public, highly questioned by critics who consider the trilogy to be of terrible quality, with the help from the works of Sodré (1988) and Illouz (2013).