不惑之年：埃麗卡?萊昂納德

出生日期：1963年3月7日

????去年夏天，情色小說《五十度灰》（Fifty Shades）的成功令人無法錯過。這個三部曲講述了大學生安娜斯塔西婭?斯蒂爾和百萬富豪企業(yè)家克里斯蒂安?格雷之間的愛情，充斥著奴役、支配和虐戀等元素?！冻霭嬷芸罚≒ublishers Weekly）報道稱，出版商Vintage得到了2億多美元的銷售收入，紙質書和電子書在美國的銷量達到4,000多萬冊，全球銷量高達7,000萬冊。環(huán)球電影公司（Universal）和焦點影業(yè)（Focus Features）向作者埃麗卡?萊昂納德支付了500萬美元以獲得電影版權。萊昂納德用E. L.詹姆斯的筆名撰寫了該系列小說。

????“著手去做那些事情的時候，根本沒有預料到能取得這樣的成功，”萊昂納德對《好萊塢報道》（Hollywood Reporter）說?！拔易鞒隽朔浅Ｇ逍训臎Q定：‘我在那里？我現(xiàn)在在干什么？接下來是什么？這真是令人驚嘆?！硎芩８惺芩?。不管周圍發(fā)生什么，接受它，享受此時此刻。我就是這么做的。”

????萊昂納德是已婚母親，膝下有兩個已經進入青少年時期的兒子。她受到吸血鬼愛情小說和電影《暮光之城》（Twilight）的啟發(fā)，開始以同人小說的形式寫作，吸引了一群讀者，他們提供反饋意見并把這本書推薦給朋友。她最終重寫這部小說以實現(xiàn)獨立，消除了《暮光之城》里的角色和背景，并在2010年底把書搬到了自己的網站上。2011年，澳大利亞的獨立出版商作家咖啡店（The Writer's Coffee Shop）以電子書和按需印刷形式出版了這個三部曲。該系列小說大受歡迎，引起了制片公司的興趣。

40-something: Erika Leonard

Born: March 7, 1963

????Last summer, it was impossible to avoid the success of the Fifty Shades erotic romance novels, a trilogy about the relationship between college student Anastasia Steele and millionaire business-owner Christian Grey, featuring elements of bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism. Publisher Vintage reaped more than $200 million in sales, according to Publishers Weekly, selling more than 40 million copies in the U.S. and 70 million copies worldwide of paperback and e-book versions. Universal and Focus Features reportedly paid $5 million for film rights to author Erika Leonard, who writes under the pen name E. L. James.

????"When you set out to do those things, you don't anticipate this type of success at all," Leonard toldThe Hollywood Reporter. "I make very conscious decisions to say, 'Where am I? What am I doing now? What now? This is amazing.' Just enjoy it. Feel it. What's happening around you, just take it all in and enjoy this moment, and I do that."

????Leonard, a married mother of two teenage sons, began the novels as fan fiction inspired by theTwilight vampire romance books and movies, drawing a following of readers who gave feedback on her writing and recommended it to friends. She eventually recast the books to stand alone, eliminating the Twilight characters and setting, and moving them to her own website in late 2010. In 2011, an independent publisher in Australia, The Writer's Coffee Shop, published the trilogy in e-book and print-on-demand versions, where the popularity of the series led to interest from film studios.