I'd like to weigh in on the fanfiction side of this discussion.

The main problem when publishing fanfiction is the copyright infringement aspect. Yes, if you change enough of the story so that it's not recognisable as being set in another universe (fiction-wise) then it becomes a new story, and thus not copyright infringement. While I haven't read all of the stories that started out as fanfic, it's safe to assume that the copyright holders either don't know about the new story, or know and aren't bothered (or are bothered, but the lawsuit didn't hold).

Fifty Shades skirts this aspect to an alarming degree. As was pointed out in a link by someone else in this thread, a while ago, Fifty Shades is 89% similar to the original fanfiction story - I believe, if Stephanie Meyer so chose, she would have a case for copyright infringement.

As an aside, copyright infringement is a fairly new thing - being only two hundred or so years old. It simply didn't exist before that. That's why a lot of the older stories are repetitions of other stories (principally the Arthurian Tales by Chretien de Troyes. Even Shakespeare engaged in fanfiction).

It's kink light at best. There's too much angst. I tried to get through the second book a few times and failed.

ManDom is not my thing so I won't be reading it, but I'm confused by its popularity. Romance novels, even kinky ones, are old as hell. Why is everyone treating it like it's some spicy new invention?

I didn't pay for it, but I'm halfway through the second book and I like it enough! lol

*sigh* I'm well aware King hates Twilight. It's evidently not well written. I used him as an example of well known writers who are strongly influenced by others. As in "The Dark Tower Series is closely influenced by Lord of the Rings." King has said as much himself. (And I honestly don't care what he "might think" about my comments. Really. As with the woman who wrote Twilight, neither you nor I have any idea what he thinks, and I honestly don't care what he would think about my comparisons. Why would I?)

Aside from the fact that I've probably invested a lot more in this than I really care to (and haven't read the book either) somebody wrote a computer program to determine the percentage that this book was similar to an other?

My wife is reading this as we speak and all she can say is that it is "interesting"

50 Shades of Butt

50 Shades Appalled

I want to offer this:
link
It's the first in a chapter-by-chapter recap of the novel. They start off pretty funny, but become less so as some of the straight-up abusive aspects of the relationship become obvious.
Here's my main issue - which I found myself shouting at my cats as I read this blog (and no, I haven't read the books and will not do so) - WORST DOM EVER!
Seriously, if you're into BDSM (or might be) this is not a sexy hot depiction of it. If you're not, and like the idea of a woman "fixing" a guy who is, well, why read about some dude who is seriously (apart from all the trappings of being a Domly Super-Dom) just plain abusive? Stick to non-BDSM erotica for fuck's sake!
I know I'm getting a bit agitated here, but the actual, real-life, awesome Doms I know? Would NEVER pull that shit. It's insulting to them to suggest that's a normal part of what they are.
And the ones who would act the way Christian does in the books? I've met them, too, and they are predators. Stay away.
Also, there are plenty of good erotica writers out there who are not getting this kind of attention, some of whom have already been mentioned in this thread. Give them your money.
Women getting their kink on? AWESOME! Women thinking some dude violating their boundaries and coercing them into things they don't want is "romantic"? NOT AWESOME!
Yeah, I know, it's silly that I'm ranting about some bit of fiction, but this is my world, and I am none too pleased that it is being presented to the mainstream like this. I am also none too pleased that women who may be experimenting for the first time might be taking this as an accurate and desirable depiction and not educating themselves and equipping themselves with the basic knowledge to find a good teacher.
BDSM is not abuse - abuse is abuse, and it is never romantic and should not be tolerated.

Mori, that is a very good post. Thank you .

It's a shock book made for women who are into vanilla sex. I read it and liked it, even though I wasn't expecting to.

I have been wanting to read this! I need to get it for my Kindle. I was just worried it would be kind of silly.

I caved and bought the book about a month ago at Target. I started reading it right away even though I was reading another book (The Night Circus, AMAZING BOOK BTW).

I was very excited and hoped to find that some good erotica made it to the mainstream. I suppose that should have been a red flag for me right off the bat.

I want to say that I barely made it through a fourth of the book before I just gave up. I do.not.give.up on books. I will stick through them unless they are just absolutely appalling. Not only did I find Ana to be the epitome of a Mary Sue, but the writing style was bland, boring, and much like things I wrote for my high school creative writing class; lacking detail, insight, and lacking the ability to create a good scene and sense of the story.

I gave the copy to my girlfriend's mother and she said she enjoyed the book, but I just cannot. Maybe one day in the future when all the hubbub is over I will try it again, but I will say that I was greatly disappointed with what I read and even more disappointed that she "fixes" him. Isn't that the biggest cardinal rule we all know about relationships of any kind? You don't try to fix them, you either accept them how they are or you move along.

As for the fan fiction part of it, I am disappointed that there are so many fan fiction writers out there who write absolutely AMAZING stories that end up differing so much from the original who could get published and it's simple writing like this that gets published. Then again, I will admit that maybe that's just my jealousy kicking in. Maybe I'm just mad that people who write worse than I do can get published and I can't even get published in a local magazine. -shrugs-