Warner Bros. Wins Bidding War for 'Beautiful Disaster' (Exclusive)

Warner Bros. has come out on top on the bidding war for Beautiful Disaster, a Fifty Shades of Grey-like tome aimed at the YA set from Oklahoma author Jamie McGuire.

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Warners and CBS Films both vying for the rights to the book, which, like Fifty Shades, began life as a self-published online novel, became a hit and got picked up by a publishing house.

Disaster centers on college good-girl Abby Abernathy, who doesn’t drink or swear. Her romantic foil is Travis Maddox, “lean, cut and covered in tattoos,” according to the book description. He makes a bet with Abernathy: If Abernathy wins, he must abstain from sex for a month; if she loses, she must live with him for a month.

One reason for the popularity of the title among studio execs is it’s seen as a safer and less risky adaptation to tackle than Fifty Shades, which is packed with kinky sex and could face potential obstacles at the box office.

Disaster has a strong following of its own. McGuire sold more than 200,000 copies, self-publishing first as an ebook and later as a trade paperback in October through Amazon's Createspace.

The novel topped Amazon's self-published sales chart and even made an appearance on The New York Times best-seller list. Atria Books, a division of Simon & Shuster, signed McGuire and has a paperback version coming Aug. 14.

McGuire is repped by Rebecca Watson of Valerie Hoskins Associates.