19 April 2012 Last updated at 05:55 ET

Erotic book Fifty Shades Of Grey becomes UK bestseller

E L James: "I am completely stunned by the reaction to these books"

Erotic novel Fifty Shades Of Grey, by British novelist E L James, has become a number one bestseller in the UK, claims trade magazine The Bookseller.

More than 14,000 copies of the novel have been sold from bookstores around the country, putting it top of this week's mass market fiction chart.

The book is fourth in the official top 50 chart this week across all genres.

Earlier this year the novel topped the prestigious New York Times bestseller list on e-book downloads alone.

Steamy romance

The success of the book in the US prompted Cornerstone publishers to buy the UK rights to the novel and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, which are released next week.

The trilogy of stories tells the tale of a steamy romance between "successful young entrepreneur", Christian Grey and "unworldly, innocent" literature student, Anastasia Steele.

The book has broken the weekly sales record for an erotic novel surpassing Anais Nin's Delta of Venus, which sold 510 copies in one week in 2004, according to Nielsen BookScan.