When E L James posted the original version of Fifty Shades of Grey online as fanfiction, under a different title, chapter by chapter, we were there! We were subscribed to the story and received an email stating there was a new update. As readers who were hooked on the story, (don’t tell our bosses) when that update alert came through, we stopped what we were doing in most cases to read the new chapter and to find out what our dear Fifty Shades would do next.

Publishing a story via this medium allowed a certain amount of freedom for the author and a completely different reading experience than we were used to with reading books! I fondly remember the chapter with the game of pool. The chapter was set up at that point that the bet was made, but we didn’t know who would win. At the end of the…