Saturday’s column here on RTB was titled I Like Sex Books and I Cannot Lie… and the author, Angie W. talked about the increasing level of heat in erotic romance.
…fear that authors and publishers are pushing the envelope a little too far. Less plot, more sex. And not only more sex, but more graphic sex, less “vanilla 
Have erotic romance authors/publishers grown so quickly and flooded their consumers with such intensity in sexual escapades that readers have become desensitized and need more graphic sex to catch their attention, to make the books stand out?
Not to toss the blame completely in the publishers’ court, but a lot of this has to do with marketing, IMHO.
I can only share my experience as an erotic romance author. I write exclusively erotic romance, which is obvious by the four publishers I write for. One of my editors asked me to tone down my story. I was told to remove one sex scene, and change genitalia descriptions to be more medical–c*ck to penis, c*nt to vagina–as part of an image overhaul. Another of my editors asked me to add more sex and use cruder wording. I made the requested changes, which altered the sex/story ratio in both tales. It was the erotica publisher who asked me to tone it down, and one of my erotic romance publishers who asked me to heat it up.
The definitions of erotic romance, erotica, and porn are a hot button issue. Everyone has their own unique view, but basically (IMHO) erotic romance ends in HEA with sex scenes showing the relationship growth. Erotica does not have to end in HEA (although it can, it’s not forbidden) and the sex scenes show character development instead of relationship development. Porn is written for sexual titillation and doesn’t have character or relationship development.
Why is this important to know?
Different editors have different views on what they’re selling. As publishers quickly establish “erotica†imprints to ride the sales wave, they tweak the image in an attempt to reach the widest possible audience. In the end, this may mislead readers. One imprint that started out touting itself as an “erotica†imprint, changed its books to say “erotic romanceâ€, but the stories remain the same as submitted. This left the erotica authors scrambling. They don’t write “erotic romance†and readers picking up a book with this label may be disturbed to find they’re not getting the romance they thought they were. They’re getting erotica.
One of my titles has a very tame excerpt, but the book is heavily sexed. Another book by the same publisher has a very hot excerpt, but the book itself has far less sex than mine. Publisher marketing has a great deal to do with the reader ending up with a product that is different than what was expected.
…are we simply seeing a natural progression in the growth of the market as readers and booksellers become more accepting of the erotic romance trend?
I’m not sure what the trend is. I’m not sure the publishers know either. They’re making adjustments to sell more books and this takes a bit of experimentation. The erotic romance sub-genre is having growing pains. In the end, I don’t think hardcore sex in erotic romance is going to become the norm. I think as readers, authors, and publishers learn the difference between erotic romance, erotica, and porn the books will become more clearly labeled and readers will find less surprises and get more of whatever it is they’re looking for.
No related posts.
Sylvia
that’s a different way of looking at it~ although i see some changes that I don’t think have much to do with marketing.
But I hope on the whole you’re right. I’ve gone as hard core as I’m going to get and I don’t plan on changing my writing style to become hard core.
I do think that there’s a shake down of labeling going on, as both readers and publishers figure out what their comfort level is with sex.
For me, the story is all about the romance. If you were to close the door on my lovescenes, the love story would still hold together and in the end my characters do find their HEA.
We all know that sex has been around and isn’t going anywhere
but figuring out the difference between erotica, erotic romance, and soft porn is important so the readers don’t feel misled.
I don’t think my books could work without the sex. So much of my character development happens during the sex scenes that I think the loss of them would ruin the story.
Well, with the salacious language we use, it’s easy to forget that sex is a communication tool. People have always used it to communicate feelings, and they’re very vulnerable while having sex – to their own emotions as well as the other person’s.
Erotic romance explores this type of vulnerability and communication in a way that’s never been done before – or at least not so loudly. We’ve done porn (to death it seems), we’ve done erotica, and we’ve done sweet. Now we’re actually settling into the middle, and imho, more realistic arena of relationships and how sex compounds and complicates them.
Just my take. I know alot of people don’t see sex as a required component of love, but many do. That’s where we come in *gg*
I agree, Sylvia, that a lot of the character developement happens during sex, but my meaning was that it could be behind closed doors and their love story would still hold together. The on the screen sex does enhance their characters, but the plot doesn’t hinge on it.
“In the end, I don’t think hardcore sex in erotic romance is going to become the norm.”
I think it is. Sex was always a huge selling point for romance. We can laugh all we want at the “porn for housewives” image of the genre, but the truth is, there is a big part of the audience who buy romance exactly for that reason: to enjoy an emotional, romanticized, but still basically sexual fantasy. A typically female version of a sexual fantasy. Now as the society becomes more accepting towards sex in general, the romance in general is going to become more and more frank.
I think you’re right about the growing pains. With so many different definitions for erotic romance floating out there, no wonder readers and writers are confused.
Like Shiloh, I’ve reached the level of heat I’ll write in. No amount of manipulation is going to change that. If people stop buying my work due to that choice, then they stop buying my work. There’s not much I can do about it.
I do worry about publishers wanting to push the limits by trying to force writers into areas they don’t want to go in. I believe in the end there will be balance, but it isn’t going to happen for a while.
I worry about the books marked “erotic romance” that are actually erotica. I think this type of mislabeling will really hurt the genre. A new reader will pick it up and think erotic romance has no relationship development, not realizing that particular story isn’t supposed to have any, and existing fans of erotic romance will think the genre is deteriorating, when it’s actually not.
anon, personally one of the reasons I read romance… romance is the ONLY genre outside of most kids books that you know is going to have a happy ending.
I read just about everything, but if I’m wanting a happy ending along with my escape from reality, I pick up a romance. There will be bumps and bruises, but at least I don’t have to worry about the main characters… namely the hero and heroine dying or not ending up as you expected, or turning into a thug, or climbing board a ship and leaving the beloved behind never to be seen again
I think they read it more for escapism~ we all have too much reality in our lives and romance is something many woman may relate to better than sci fi or suspense or legal.
I’ve even been known to gloss over the sex scenes in the book I’m reading, just because i want to know what HAPPENS~when the story is that good, I want know how it turns out more than I want to read the sex scenes.
The sex isn’t the story for me… it can be very nice icing, but it’s not the whole story. Or at least that’s not why I read them.
by the way sylvia…
i just saw the title of this blog…. 
lol… now THAT will catch the eye