Fifty Shades of Grey becomes fastest-selling paperback of all time

The book, which follows the relationship between sexually inexperienced American college student Anastasia Steele and older businessman and bondage enthusiast Christian Grey, sold over 100,000 copies in the UK in the last week alone. That’s a record the Twilight series — which Fifty Shades is inspired by — never reached.

But when even the book’s author E.L James (real name Erika Mitchell) admits she’s "not a great writer", why is Fifty Shades of Grey so popular?

The British mother-of-two originally wrote an erotic Twilight fan-fiction story called Master of the Universe (the name was changed to Fifty Shades of Grey later on) and posted it online. While Mitchell insists writing it was simply a way for her to escape into her own fantasies, the novel proved so popular it was picked up by a small independent Australian digital publisher, The Writer's Coffee Shop, and released as an e-book. It's since gone on to be released in hard copy by some of the world's biggest publishing houses and has sold around 10 million copies worldwide.

But when the book has been torn apart by critics – it's hard to deny the writing is repetitive and reads a bit like a first draft – where does the appeal lie? Is it just a matter of ‘sex sells’?

Melbourne Psychologist and author Meredith Fuller says the book resonates with readers for the same reason Mitchell wrote it in the first place.

"Women particularly are sexually sophisticated creatures, so if their sex life isn’t satisfying their longing and yearning, it’s necessary to get it in this way," Fuller explains.

"Men and women are working hard and juggling jobs and families, we barely have time for a kiss on the cheek on the way out of the door let alone having sex," Fuller says.

Fuller believes Fifty Shades of Grey’s popularity at this particular point in time could be related to the increasing presence of technology in our lives.

"As we use technology more and more it also means there’s a lack of touch, so we're longing to have a physical connection with ourselves and our bodies."

But the 'sexual satisfaction' one can gain from reading Fifty Shades of Grey is up for debate. Emma, a 26-year-old Sydney woman polled by CLEO, thought the book's sex scenes left something to be desired.

"I wanted to be so much more turned on than I was," she laughed. "It’s being touted as ‘mummy porn’, but it read like a 16-year-old wrote it. I think if the writer had focused on the quality rather than the quantity of the sex scenes, it would have been better. It’s like, 'Really? You're having sex again?'"

Emma added she's concerned the relationship between the main characters Anastasia and Christian is not a positive influence for women.

"Christian is meant to be based on Edward Cullen in the Twilight books, but at least Edward cares for Bella. Christian is manipulative and controlling with Ana, she is naïve and he is only using her. It’s a bit unsettling."

For those who haven't read Fifty Shades, here are a couple of lines from the book to give you a taste of its tone:

"I had no idea giving pleasure could be such a turn-on, watching him writhe subtly with carnal longing. My inner goddess is the doing the merengue with some salsa moves."

And...

"You've really got a taste for this, haven't you Miss Steele? You're becoming insatiable," he murmurs. "I've only got a taste for you," I whisper.

The fact that Fifty Shades is being discussed so openly in the public arena has been a cause for surprise for some. Look around on any mode of public transport lately and you’re likely to see someone holding a copy on their lap. Why aren’t we shy about people knowing we're devouring graphic sex scenes while stuck in traffic on the morning commute?

"Why should we be embarrassed?" Fuller asks.  "It’s much more healthy [to be open about it] than putting a brown paper bag over the cover of [D.H Lawrence's] Lady Chatterly's Lover like women used to years ago.

"We are fully rounded human beings and being sexual is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about it - I think it’s great that there is a wide acceptance of that."

Anecdotally, the book has been credited with, er, encouraging women to have more sex with their partners. That can only be a good thing, right?

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