Fifty Shades of Grey Niche

mark me down for a gag-ball...and do you have a LIST? ;-)

Talking about internet marketing here, or something else?!

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Get your visitors be TIED to you like submissive obedient SLAVES who love to get their walled WHIPPED empty by you!

Sounds like a niche that's gagging to be done to me. I'd like to try to get to the bottom of it. Whip up a website before it all gets tied up by the dominant IM'ers.

Trouble is I'm busy with other stuff at the moment. My hands are tied.

Figured I'd take the plunge.

Lots of good replies here. The only thing I'd add is that although I'd agree with everyone else who said that the hype surrounding "Fifty Shades of Grey" is destined to die down, I would point out that the market itself is still going to be there.

IMO, there's a psychological need that Fifty Shades and its predecessor Twilight meet within their audiences. I could be wrong, but I would assert that these readers want to keep thinking of themselves as respectable while enjoying horny stories like everybody else.

I say that because these stories present female protags who are essentially exploring their sexuality while being at the mercy of incredibly powerful men in Edward and Christian respectively. Despite (or maybe because of) the raw power of their partners, Ana and Bella weren't really equals and I don't think they had full agency in their romantic relationships. Especially when you get down to the erotic portions.

I apologize if I'm mixing up my examples (I read a lot of fiction), but what I'm getting at here is the scenes that had Edward watching Bella while she slept at night or Christian Grey getting mad when Ana tried to use a safeword.

On one level there's the seductive storyline where you have these ordinary young women being normal and doing normal things and yet still being irresistible to these impossibly experienced, worldly men. Edward, for instance, is a man who has allegedly lived a long time, seen a lot of world events, and met so many women throughout the ages. Yet ordinary, clumsy, teenage Bella is the one who captures his attention so completely.

Then there's the thrill of literally flirting with danger due to the drastic power imbalances in these relationships. Edward can kill Bella in an instant. I'm sure I don't need to explain what a billionaire with a dark side could get away with in today's capitalist-driven society. These naive women are vulnerable and they wouldn't stand a chance if either of these men were to turn on them.

Then we have Edward and Christian losing control to the point where Bella (wedding night scene with the broken bed) and Ana (BDSM albeit with a problematic dom from what I understand) may not necessarily have been able to put a stop to things if they'd wanted to. In other words, they have no choice but to "surrender to the pleasure".

IMO this is the allure for the housewife and hockey moms crowd. They get a sense of "safety" in a fantasy that undermines the female protag's choice while still allowing her to enjoy the intimate parts of her relationship because they are often picturing themselves in Bella or Ana's place. This type of storytelling allows these readers to maintain the self-perception of being wholesome, upstanding types (these female protags are not responsible for the man's response to them and they're not *too* assertive in initiating the sexual encounters they end up having iirc) while still giving them a respectable means of enjoying sex-driven novels.

Fifty Shades obviously made the concept more explicit, but I digress.

Anyway, this post has gotten way too long, but I think that this main point here about the readers wanting stories that blur the lines of consent without taking things into a socially unacceptable rape scenario, is what a future attempt to snag the Fifty Shades crowd will need to feature. This market isn't like other erotica readers who are maybe more matter-of-fact about wanting a sexy story to read. These readers want the sexy times but IMO they also don't want to take open responsibility for perhaps enjoying a book about "less than respectable" sex if you catch my drift.

If a good writer wanted to try their hand at this, I do think that this is probably an under-served reader's market. Although if OP wants to get in on Fifty Shades specifically, I imagine that would be hard to do at this point.

How would I invest in Hentai?

In its openning weekend it took 81.7 million USD, I think its fair to say it was a success.

Totally agreed!
Even starting out around 2011 when the book came out.