Comments on: “50 Shades” knock-offs climb Amazon’s Kindle charts

By: Elaine Leonard Balliet

Elaine Leonard Balliet — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:10:39 +0000

Eddie, I am a professional author, too, like Michele and Melanie, and just wrote a parody (actually four short parodies) of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey that I published yesterday. I love it! It does more than parody the original; it pokes good, clean fun at the theme of control and the brainless-ness of the female character. I think you’ll like it… P.S.- Amazon, when they did the Kindle conversion, typed one word in the heading of one of my chapters twice (floor); I asked them to fix this, and they assured me that when readers buy it that it will be the updated version. It’s a great little story (four almost flash-fiction type stories), and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

Elaine.

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-Grey-Hush-hush-ebook/dp/B00981742Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347415228&sr=1-1&keywords=fifty+shades+of+grey%2C+strange+days

By: Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:29:10 +0000

I agree with Melanie, a good parody should be more than just a series of bad puns/jokes about the original’s plot. With ’50 Shades’ it should make fun of the theme of ‘control’ [and maybe the brainless-ness of the main female character too]

Like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fifty-Shades-of-you-know-ebook/dp/B0094VD29C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346991834&sr=1-1

By: Michele Brenton

Michele Brenton — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:24:48 +0000

Woah! Sorry for that HUGE advert – didn’t realise it would show like that. I thought it was going to be a little unobtrusive link. It is a bit hit-you-in-the-eye there isn’t it? Apologies.

By: Michele Brenton

Michele Brenton — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:22:19 +0000

“Yes, you can produce things like this quite quickly and with little cost, and that means that there will be people producing “knock offs”, but that doesn’t mean that parodies are less valid. A good one can be incredibly funny and also offer an interesting and valuable commentary on a pop culture phenomenon.” Melanie Jones
I agree Melanie, plus it can introduce general readership to a genre they usually ignore.
My own rhyming parody – Fifty Shades of Blue – the trilogy has been consistently in the top ten/twenty UK poetry bestsellers list since it came out on 1st July. It has been the most purchased UK poetry Kindle ebook three times and is still going strong. Yay for poetry I say :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fifty-Shades-Blue-trilogy-ebook/dp/B008GUMKVI/

There is also a YouTube version of the first of the poems contained within my parody trilogy:

By: Melanie Jones

Melanie Jones — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:23:30 +0000

I wrote a parody of the first Fifty Shades of Grey book (available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008QNE5S6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008QNE5S6&linkCode=as2&tag=modernistdepot-20 – it is not one of the ones you mention in this piece), and I didn’t do it just to try and cash in. I’m a professional writer and I wanted to properly satirize the phenomenon and to do something more creative with my criticisms of the book than just slam it in a review or a blog post. My book is intended as a work of comedy, and also a literary criticism of the original.

Yes, you can produce things like this quite quickly and with little cost, and that means that there will be people producing “knock offs”, but that doesn’t mean that parodies are less valid. A good one can be incredibly funny and also offer an interesting and valuable commentary on a pop culture phenomenon.

If you simply want to slam people for expanding on other people’s ideas, consider that EL James started off by “knocking off” Twilight. Almost everything these days is inspired by something else.

By: sinithwar

sinithwar — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:35:55 +0000

If you think that any writer would not defend any novel because their “professional” then you obviously have never met a real writer that doesn’t have the stick up their ass pulled out.

By: FSOrubbish

FSOrubbish — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:15:44 +0000

There is no way a professional writer would defend this book. most of you lot have not actually read it. It is a terrible book – FACT. Perfect if like me you have a wobbly table… just the right thickness; like most of its fans.

By: Jefferson

Jefferson — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:53:22 +0000

Greatest book with sequels: Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings.” On the other hand, the best parody ever: Harvard Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings.”

By: identifythegirl

identifythegirl — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:50:16 +0000

Its a common disgusting problem. One works hard, the other takes advantage.

By: sinithwar

sinithwar — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:45:24 +0000

I hate people who don’t give authors what they deserve, we toil over countless hours to produce a thing of magnificence and someone out there with no creativity doesn’t want us to have all the credit