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Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James made £33m in 2013

The erotic trilogy has sold over 100m copies worldwide

Antonia Molloy
Monday 23 June 2014 13:58 BST
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EL James' soft-porn saga has broken sales records
EL James' soft-porn saga has broken sales records

Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James earned a whopping £33.4m from her erotic trilogy last year.

The creator of S&M aficionado Christian Grey saw her earnings treble as the number of copies sold around the globe passed the 100 million mark.

According to the Sun on Sunday, accounts filed at Companies House show that James’ business, Fifty Shades Limited, made £43.9 million in the year to September 2013 – with pre-tax profits of £33.4 million. Profits after tax were £25.5 million.

The 51-year-old paid herself a salary of just £7,800 but took a dividend of £3.24 million.

And profits could be set to rise even further with the forthcoming release of a film adaptation due for release on Valentine’s Day 2015. The movie, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, stars Jamie Dornan as Grey and Dakota Johnson as his lover Anastasia Steele.

James, whose real name is Erika Leonard, was last year named the top-earning writer for 2012, in a list compiled by Forbes.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling did not make the top ten – but with a personal fortune of £570 million she still far outstrips James in the cash stakes.

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