EL JAMES may once again be stealing the thunder with her bestselling follow-up to Fifty Shades Of Grey - but a school teacher from Lancashire is hot on her heels.

Sophie Jackson, 33, from Chorley, has had a publishing dream come true with A Pound Of Flesh, a New York-based prison romance, which has already attracted an impressive 4.5 million online reads, and is the first in a trilogy that sold at auction for a six-figure advance.

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There’s no red room or instruments of torture involved in Jackson’s tale of an ex-inmate and teacher’s courtship, but there are some steamy sex scenes. However, she says she’s not following in the footsteps of Fifty Shades.

“Fifty Shades is very much built around the idea of this BDSM relationship, which doesn’t feature at all in A Pound Of Flesh. The sex scenes in A Pound Of Flesh are part of this relationship that’s built up, but they are not integral to it.”

The sex scenes were tricky to write, she adds.

“Writing sex scenes is more difficult than you think. There’s a fine line between writing too much and becoming tacky and clichéd, and not writing enough so people just gloss over it and don’t get involved in what the characters are doing. The sex scenes take the longest for me to write,” she explains.

“But I think if you write something that’s going to get your engine revved, it’s going to work for everyone.”

Her story, inspired by the characters of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, began online on fanfiction.net, as ‘Isabella Swan’ starts a new job as a tutor in a Brooklyn prison who falls for mysterious troublemaker inmate ‘Edward Cullen’, who has a past connection with her. The characters have been renamed for the novel version to avoid rights problems.

Writing fan fiction was just a hobby when Jackson posted the prologue, but the response was instant: “It was just word of mouth - unbelievable.”

Responding to each chapter as it was posted, the readers had some influence in how the book turned out.

“You’d have instant feedback about the characters and, as a writer, that’s great. The story took certain turns and twists because of the readers.”

The story was snapped up in the UK by leading publisher Headline Eternal and sold at auction to US giant Simon & Schuster for a six-figure advance. The series has also been sold to a further nine publishers worldwide.

“I had to pick myself up off the floor,” Jackson recalls, laughing. “I was astounded. It happened so quickly in the grand scheme of things.”

She was commissioned to write three full novels and three e-novellas. She’s almost finished her second book, An Ounce Of Hope, which will be out in January, and the last book in the trilogy will be published next June.

Some of her pupils also quizzed her about it and tried to find the steamy text online.

“It had to come off [fanfiction.net] quite sharpish, because it’s not for anyone under 18, really. Some of them read it before it was taken off, but they knew they shouldn’t have been doing it. All my colleagues know about it and it’s been great because they’ve been so supportive. They’re aware that there’s content in it that might be a little bit racy, but they are excited about it. It’s an excuse for them to read something like that.”

The income from the advance has allowed her to buy her first house and to contemplate giving up teaching to become a full-time writer, as trying to do both is proving difficult.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and deep breaths but it’s about prioritising. First and foremost, I’m a teacher - I’ve been doing the job for 10 years and I have to give 100 per cent. It’s my free time which is devoted to the writing.”

Career moves may be afoot, but at the same time, Jackson, who is single, is making major lifestyle changes. She has given up smoking and lost six stones in weight on the Cambridge diet, dropping from a size 24 to a size 14 in a year.

So was there a catalyst which prompted this life change?

“It wasn’t one moment. Looking back, it was a collection of moments. I was sitting in the kitchen on New Year’s Eve of 2013 and I just remember thinking. I’d struggled to get a nice outfit for a friend’s birthday in the run-up to Christmas.

“It was just that feeling of, ‘I’m 32 and what’s going to happen? Am I going to be another size bigger, another stone heavier next year?’ It was like a switch turned on.

“I’ve been dieting for over a year, which wasn’t conducive to going out and socialising. Then the book happened, so I’ve not had time for anything else.”

It takes some willpower to make major lifestyle and career changes, but then she is from a family of strong women.

Born in Scotland, her father left before she was born, so Jackson was raised by her mother. They moved to Lytham St Annes to be closer to family, where Jackson’s mother also held down a variety of jobs to make ends meet.

She’s fairly abrupt about her father, who she says she’s never met, nor is she curious to find out more about him.

“You don’t miss what you don’t have. He hasn’t tried to make contact. He’s missed out on a lot more than I have. I have a mum who is both parents and my best friend. We are a family of strong women.”

She’s going to the US this summer for a holiday but also to meet her US publishers. Meanwhile, a film agent in Los Angeles has made approaches about making the book into a movie - but she’s not holding her breath.

As for the future, Jackson says if the writing really takes off, she may give up teaching.

She’s cautious about her name being bandied about by pundits who predict she’s going to be as successful as EL James. She read Fifty Shades as fan fiction but hasn’t read the book, she confesses.

“It’s not my cup of tea but I can see why people got involved with it. It was so new and different. Nobody ever read anything quite as explicit, and it pushed the boundaries for a lot of people.”

She is in no doubt that the success of the Fifty Shades author has opened the gates to a new generation of independent online writers.

“EL James was the person who opened the door for the rest of us fan fiction writers to be noticed, which is great. Without the success of Fifty Shades, fan fiction and self publishers probably wouldn’t get the recognition that they get now.

  • A Pound Of Flesh (Headline Eternal) £8.99.