Fifty Shades of Grey Insanity at My Manchester Waterstones Book Signing
At the Trafford Centre yesterday, I told our team that we were there not to break sales records, but to have fun - as my philosophy this year is not to not expect too much, and to be happy with the way things are. I'm lucky because I have a passion for being a writer and a speaker. With the pressure off, we still sold 120 copies of Hard Time. We also met some great people as you can see in the pics - can you spot the mechanical cockroach in one of them?
Earlier in the day, we were actually beating sales of Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, but it didn't last long. Never have I seen mass hysteria for a book in Waterstones. It reminded me of videos of female fan frenzy towards The Beatles in the sixties. Waterstones was inundated with women zigzagging around, eyes darting in search of the book, homing in and forming clusters around the stand, sparking up conversations:
"Here it is!" a woman screamed, pointing at piles of Fifty Shades.
"Every single book store in Manchester has sold out except for Waterstone's!" a woman yelled, triumphantly snatching a copy.
"Everyone's got it. I've got to have it!"
Every other person I looked at was clutching a copy. Capitalising on the madness, Mum approached men dragged in by women, thrust Hard Time in their faces, and said, "Here's one for men, and it's a better read."
Hoping to glean insight on book promotion, we asked women why they were buying Fifty Shades. Answers included:
"I don't even know what it's about, but I've just got to have it."
"This is the one everyone's talking about!"
"My friend's pressuring me into reading it."
"But what's the attraction?" Mum asked.
"It's girly porn," a woman replied.
We watched in awe as an assistant trailed back and forth with stacks of books replenishing the shelves. He said his branch was selling hundreds of copies a day, and this was happening all over the country at approximately 2000 Waterstones. He added, "The writing is absolute crap, but we're not complaining because of the record sales."
Fifty Shades is number 1 on Amazon UK and USA, and the runners up are other books from the trilogy.
Click here for the previous signing blog.
Shaun Attwood
At the Trafford Centre yesterday, I told our team that we were there not to break sales records, but to have fun - as my philosophy this year is not to not expect too much, and to be happy with the way things are. I'm lucky because I have a passion for being a writer and a speaker. With the pressure off, we still sold 120 copies of Hard Time. We also met some great people as you can see in the pics - can you spot the mechanical cockroach in one of them?
Earlier in the day, we were actually beating sales of Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, but it didn't last long. Never have I seen mass hysteria for a book in Waterstones. It reminded me of videos of female fan frenzy towards The Beatles in the sixties. Waterstones was inundated with women zigzagging around, eyes darting in search of the book, homing in and forming clusters around the stand, sparking up conversations:
"Here it is!" a woman screamed, pointing at piles of Fifty Shades.
"Every single book store in Manchester has sold out except for Waterstone's!" a woman yelled, triumphantly snatching a copy.
"Everyone's got it. I've got to have it!"
Every other person I looked at was clutching a copy. Capitalising on the madness, Mum approached men dragged in by women, thrust Hard Time in their faces, and said, "Here's one for men, and it's a better read."
Hoping to glean insight on book promotion, we asked women why they were buying Fifty Shades. Answers included:
"I don't even know what it's about, but I've just got to have it."
"This is the one everyone's talking about!"
"My friend's pressuring me into reading it."
"But what's the attraction?" Mum asked.
"It's girly porn," a woman replied.
We watched in awe as an assistant trailed back and forth with stacks of books replenishing the shelves. He said his branch was selling hundreds of copies a day, and this was happening all over the country at approximately 2000 Waterstones. He added, "The writing is absolute crap, but we're not complaining because of the record sales."
Fifty Shades is number 1 on Amazon UK and USA, and the runners up are other books from the trilogy.
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| The team: Emily, Lydia and Iain |
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| Cockroach hand-stamp |
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| This woman is an old school raver from clubs I partied at such as The State in Liverpool, and The Konspiracy in Manchester |
Shaun Attwood
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