Anti-climax? Few Eason early birds for new Fifty Shades book

Fans of erotic fiction are opting to buy online it seems, following an underwhelming turnout at the release of the new book Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian.

The new title has received the biggest pre-order of any book by far in the history of Eason, and the O'Connell Street branch opened half an hour early on Thursday morning in anticipation of an influx of Fifty Shades of fans following the high online sales.

The book store was left disappointed however, as only one young woman bought EL James’s latest outing an hour after the store opened, before making a swift exit.

The only ones gathering around the volumes early this morning were Eason staff as they stacked up dozens of copies of the fourth novel in the Twilight fan fiction series.

Expectations lowered

Eason said it expected sales to pick up throughout the day, lowering earlier expectations it would sell out by the afternoon.

Grey covers the events in the first book of the series, written from the perspective of dominant male protagonist, Christian Grey.

“I think people can’t wait to hear his voice because it’s a whole different world compared to the first book, it’s a brilliant idea,” Eason book buyer Dave O’Callaghan said.

The release on Thursday coincided with the birthday of Christian Grey, and with the DVD of the film set to be released this weekend, Eason is expecting Grey to be the biggest selling book of the summer - and the year.

“It’s a double whammy,” Mr O’Callaghan said. “This book was only announced two weeks ago so it’s caught people by surprise, and they’re excited.”

125 million copies

The Fifty Shades series has sold 125 million copies worldwide in 52 languages so far, and the first film in the series has racked up about $570 million (€499.6 million) in global box-office sales this year.

“Erotica had been a declining category before Fifty Shades came along, but it really got a shot in the arm,” Eason manager Stephen Boylan said.

“The original trilogy really was a phenomenon in every sense of the word, and we’re expecting the hype and the excitement to bounce right back.”