E.L. James to release new 'Fifty Shades' book

Kelly Lawler | USA TODAY

Get ready Fifty Shades fans, because a whole lot more Christian Grey is coming your way.

Author E.L. James announced on Instagram Monday that she is releasing a new book in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, which will tell the story from Christian's point of view (the original trilogy is told from Anastasia's perspective).

Fans won't have to wait too long for Grey (Vintage Books) -- it's hitting bookshelves on June 18 of this year.

"Christian is a complex character," James said in a news release. "And readers have always been fascinated by his desires and motivations, and his troubled past. Also, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, there are two sides to every story. It's been a great pleasure to return to my happy place — writing, being with Christian and Ana in their universe, and working with the fantastic team at Vintage."

Grey is dedicated to "those readers who asked…and asked… and asked… and asked for this," James says. It continues a trend in publishing of authors writing companion novels to franchises from the perspective of a different character than the original. Stephenie Meyer re-wrote the Twilight series from Edward's point of view in Midnight Sun, and Veronica Roth re-told the Divergent books in a series of short stories Tobias' perspective in Four: A Divergent Collection.

Why such short notice for such a huge summer book?

"E.L. James wanted the book to be a surprise for her readers. And boy oh boy was it," says her publisher's spokesman, Paul Bogaards. "Within minutes her readers responded with thousands of likes and shares across her social platforms." (Fans quickly responded with more than 100,000 likes on Facebook.)

He said the company has been working on distribution of the print book for several weeks and will have more than "a million copies in bookstores and other retail outlets across the country on day one."

Grey will be huge, predicts Carol Fitzgerald, president of the Book Report Network: "The Fifty Shades phenomenon exists in its own stratosphere of publishing.

"For EL's loyal readers, it's the side of the story they crave," she says. "There are tens of millions of readers waiting for a new way to get wrapped up in this story. They are bound to flock to it."

The existing Fifty Shades trilogy — Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed — has sold more than 125 million copies worldwide. The original holds the record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list -- 20 weeks. The movie adaptation of the novel has made more than $500 million worldwide, and the adaptations of the second two books are due in theaters on Feb. 10, 2017 and Feb. 9, 2018, respectively.