Fifty Shades of Grey, the saucy book and soon-to-premiere blockbuster film, has sparked a big increase in demand for erotic writers from publishing companies.

Elance-oDesk, a website helping to connect the buyers and sellers of services, said between 2013 and 2014 it experienced a 56% increase in enquiries for wordsmiths specialising in naughty fiction.

During the same time period UK businesses spent an extra 32% on contributions of erotic stories.

Hayley Conick, UK country manager for Elance-oDesk, said: "We’ve always seen high demand for UK freelance writers on our platforms with businesses across the globe hiring British writers to produce their content and copy.

“Like E L James who wrote her publishing sensation on her daily commute, now tens of thousands of budding authors are writing in their spare time and offering their creative skills online.

“We see the growth in this particular niche as part of a wider trend with businesses increasingly tapping into online freelancers to discover passionate and talented freelance writers.”

Forbes magazine has listed EL James, author of the Fifty Shades novels, as the world’s highest earning author.

In 2013 she reportedly increased her wealth by $95 million (£61.7 million).