The Writer’s Coffee Shop published James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” as an e-book and a print-on-demand full-length novel. In May 2011, the pair struck gold when The Writer’s Coffee Shop obtained the rights to work by a former writer of “Twilight” fan fiction, Erika Leonard, writing under the pseudonym E.L.

Although The Writer’s Coffee Shop initially subsisted on ad revenue, by the end of 2010 Pedroza and Hayward realized that publishing itself could generate income and decided to operate the site as a publishing house. By January 2010, The Writer’s Coffee Shop was born, with Hayward working with authors on moving their work onto the site, Pedroza helping the writers with uploading and blogging, and another North Texan-Jennifer McGuire of Waxahachie-assisting with the site’s graphics. The two became friends and decided to start a website of their own where writers could upload their own stories, blog, and discuss their work. It all began innocently enough in 2009, when Arlington resident Jennifer Pedroza and Amanda Hayward of Australia met online through a fan fiction website. James that spawned the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey”-the original “Fifty Shades,” plus “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.” But instead of an erotic clash of wills between mysterious billionaire Christian Grey and young Anastasia Steele over the boundaries of their BDSM relationship, this drama pitted a former Mansfield elementary school teacher against an Australian national in a dispute that would help redefine what constitutes a partnership under Texas law. At issue were royalties from the series of books by E.L. W ithin months of the eagerly anticipated release of the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey,” drama of an entirely different sort was unfolding in a North Texas courtroom.

Original fifty shades of grey contract