The third Fifty Shades novel and its trilogy boxed set took two of Amazon.com's top three places among books first published in 2012, with Gillian Flynn's dark and complex thriller Gone Girl wedged in second place.
E.L. James wasn't the only writer to profit from 2012's erotic fiction fad, with Sylvia Day also prominent on Amazon's list; Jennifer Probst's The Marriage Bargain also made the most of a rich, eligible bachelor as its romantic lead.

That's not to say established mainstream writers were cast by the wayside: three lawyers-turned-authors in John Grisham, David Baldacci and William Landay also featured in the combined Kindle and print top ten, as did a controversial insider account of the raid on Bin Laden's compound.

Amazon.com's top 10 best-selling books first published in 2012:

1. Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E. L. James
2. Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn
3. Fifty Shades Trilogy Boxed Set by E. L. James
4. Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day
5. No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen
6. The Marriage Bargain (Marriage to a Billionaire) by Jennifer Probst
7. Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day
8. The Racketeer by John Grisham
9. Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay
10. The Innocent by David Baldacci