Q: 'Fifty Shades of Grey' landed on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list and quickly went to No. She just flipped the switch and she (inspired) so many people and so many of my author friends met through the 'Twilight' fan fiction world. I'll have a go at this, and then I started writing what would eventually become 'Fifty Shades.' I thought it was masterfully told. I sat down and I'd always wanted to write, and it was like, let's give this a go! I started writing a story and I wrote another story, and then I discovered fan fiction and I (thought), this is marvelous. I just was completely consumed by the story. Just ignored my children and had a vacation. It was like a holiday. I had two reasonably small kids as well. James: I had seen the movie and I really enjoyed the movie, and I remember that Christmas I said to my husband, I really want the books because I hadn't read the books. I sat down and read all of the books in five days. Q: What was it about 'Twilight' that made you want to write fan fiction? 2 book of all time on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. 1 book of the decade in the U.S., it is also the No. Not only did 'Grey' sell more than 15 million copies, making it the No. It later returned to the top spot two more times. 1 and remained there for 20 consecutive weeks, with follow-ups 'Fifty Shades Darker' and 'Fifty Shades Freed' rounding out the top 3. In a matter of months, it topped the list at No. The novel first popped up on USA TODAY's radar in February 2012, when it debuted on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list at No. 'It was just ridiculous, you know, the speed at which everything happened and the escalation of everything. 'My goal was to sell 5,000 books and to maybe see the book one day be on bookshelves,' says James.

Looking back over the decade since its publication, the novel, which started out as fan fiction, morphed into a juggernaut, impacting both publishing and pop culture at large. It would be a bit of an understatement to say E L James' 'Fifty Shades of Grey' had an effect on the publishing world.

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