Depends on whether she used her connections. Did she know media people who wrangled her a personal invitation to talk to a book editor and shop her fanfic around, or did she get picked out of the slush pile or contacted independently with no particular connection to happening to be a former TV exec? (I don't know much of anything about how 'Master of the Universe' became the published '50 Shades of Gray'.)

But more likely is that a television executive simply has their finger on the pulse of the type of garbage that the average person enjoys (and is willing to pay for either with dollars or their attention to advertisements).