"Fifty Shades" started out as self-published book

[Lily]

"The way E L James published her best selling "Fifty Shades" trilogy was not exactly typical. Her story started as self-published Twilight fan fiction, was then distributed by The Writers' Coffee Shop and after huge demand, the rights were purchased by Random House and re-released."

www.examiner.com/article/fifty-shades-trilogy-released-limited-edition-hardback