Case study

Fifty Shades of Grey

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Fifty Shades of Grey

CPI Demonstrates Volume Capacity in Record-Breaking "Fifty Shades of Gray"

CPI UK demonstrated its capacity to print on special volumes as sales of the B-format paperback book Fifty Shades of Gray (Arrow, Random House) was the fastest-selling adult paperback, surpassing one million issues.

CPI has taken the challenge and delivered impeccable service right from the start

Astronomical numbers

CPI has reprinted the trilogy 16 times

Published figures from Nielsen Bookscan show that book sales of Fifty Shades of Gray are at a remarkable 1,162,647 units in the UK. Just last week, just under 400,000 volumes of the novel debut of E.L sold. James - almost twice as many as in the previous week - and thus holds the book the eleventh week its top position in the bestseller lists. The trilogy has been in the top three for eight weeks. All three volumes of the Shades of Gray trilogy broke the sales record last week within adult paperback novels, with 205,130 volumes sold. The series had set this record only in the week before. Last week, about twice as many volumes were sold from the Shades of Gray trilogy as from the rest of the BookScan Top 50 (856,522 units sold at 392,288).

We use all resources at CPI to make this possible

CPI has reprinted the trilogy 16 times and will soon print over 1 million new copies to meet this unexpected demand.

CPI Marketing Manager Dino Bishop says, "We combined our extensive capacity across the entire CPI Group and used our arsenal of Timson web presses to print the state-of-the-art covers - finished with SuperMatt lamination, foiling, UV varnish and embossing - could have been a challenge in production within the tight timeframe, but all processes are efficiently coordinated by CPI White Quill, aligned to our binding schedule."

Helen Smith, Head of Production Control at Random House, said: "The publication was a tremendous effort on the part of the team, where everyone involved had to work very hard and get involved, and we were fortunate enough to work with printers and a papermaker that took the challenge and delivered impeccable service right from the start."

Last week Philip Stone, charts editor of The Bookseller, said: "The Shades of Gray series sales were absolutely phenomenal and broke almost all records, perhaps even more impressively that Fifty Shades of Gray was sold as many as in just two months Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, the paperback bestseller of all time, in over six months ... Fifty Shades of Gray may be the fastest-selling adult novel ever."