Fifty Shades continues to break records

London - EL James’ Fifty Shades trilogy continues to fly off the bookshelves, as the racy books sold almost a million paperback copies in only a week.

Her first book ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ has had its highest sales yet, shifting 482,785 copies to set a new UK record for the biggest weekly tally for a paperback.

Global sales of the books by the west London-based writer have now shot past 20 million, just 12 weeks after it first hit the UK’s bookshelves, Sky News reported.

Figures from Nielsen Bookscan, which compiles sales data for the publishing industry, show the books sold 978,197 copies in a week as demand continues to grow.

Publishers have now had to order 17 reprints in Britain since it came out in just a quarter of a year, with printers having to work around the clock to cope with interest in the tales of “mummy porn.”

James’ debut novel, ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey,’ saw its sales rise by 21 percent compared to the previous week but its sequels also clocked up huge numbers.

Second book ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ shifted 264,984 copies and the final instalment, ‘Fifty Shades Freed,’ rang up sales of 229,171.

Mother-of-two James - whose real name is Erika Leonard - originally published her erotic tales as ebooks, and her publishers say these continue to sell well digitally, estimating they are largely matching print sales.

Publishing trade magazine The Bookseller reported that the first book has now sold 1,645,422 copies in just 12 weeks.

Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code - the biggest selling UK paperback of all time - took 46 weeks to reach that figure.

The magazine’s website points out that 4.7 million pounds was spent on James’ books in a week and accounted for 40 pence in every pound spent on a novel.

James’ books have occupied the top three places in the best-seller lists for 10 consecutive weeks.

‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ has already become the first book to sell more than one million copies on the Kindle.