Comments on: Erotic Romance, Not Just Erotica and Romance

By: sheilam

sheilam — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:53:32 +0000

I totally agree Kathleen Woodiwiss started the genre. If you go back and read Flame and the Flower now you wonder what all the fuss was about back then. There is so little sex a 12 year old could read it, but at the time we were all sweating and waiting for Brandon to finally make his move. Those were much simpler days.

By: Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:32:45 +0000

According to her website, some of Bertrice Small’s older books are being republished this year, too! And she’s still writing, it looks like. Her website is fun; http://www.bertricesmall.net/coming_attractions.shtml

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:31:51 +0000

Cecilia: To a young 14 year old girl who was just starting to read romance, Small opened a whole new world for me. Her early books are so addicting.

By: Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:12:18 +0000

@Lisa — hopefully people will hang in there! I figure if the book is clearly labeled book one of a series, I don’t feel I’m duping the reader somehow on what’s in it.

@katiebabs — ooh, really? I admit I haven’t read any Bertrice Small yet, but after learning so much about what she’s done over the past forty years writing romances I’m really intrigued! She seems like such a smart lady!

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:38:23 +0000

I think it is great how far erotic romance has come. There are so many authors writing for this genre. I guess me first erotic romance I ever read was by Beatrice Small.

By: Lisa Lane

Lisa Lane — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:27:07 +0000

“Now Iâ€™m a bit worried because my next book, Magic University, is definitely supposed to be a paranormal romance, but because itâ€™s a four book series, the first book doesnâ€™t wrap up with HEAâ€¦ will people really this and be OK with it, or will I have romance readers throwing it across the room? *ducks*”

That is the biggest issue with BLOOD AND COFFEE, the first book in my vampire series, THE DARKNESS AND THE NIGHT. The story has a “happy for now” ending, but I know it still ticked off a lot of readers. The ending to the second in the series is a little happier, but also bittersweet … and I have to wonder how many actual romance readers will make it to the final, VERY happy ending that comes at the conclusion of the third book.

By: Rachel Kenley

Rachel Kenley — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:43:03 +0000

Thanks for this blog post, Cecilia. I appreciate all your distinctions, clarifications and information. I especially like the quote:

More sex scenes do not necessarily make a â€œhotterâ€ book, the way more salt and pepper doesnâ€™t automatically make a meal taste better. What is most arousing is when the sex is convincing, when it makes sense with the characters and when it follows a logical progression through their emotional lives.

A very important point.

I’ll be sending people here!

-Rachel

By: Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:21:05 +0000

Thanks all for commenting! EM has a great point here: “I think that one of the bigger issues is still how books are labeled and marketed, with some blurring of the lines between erotica and ER. Publishers need to find a better way to classify the works so that readers get just what they are looking for”

I think right now a lot of the “mainstream” publishers are looking at romance and saying, oooh, look, the sales of romance are up, even in the recession, therefore, let’s slap the romance label on more things! So you’re getting a lot of urban fantasy labeled as romance, for example, as well as erotica, but the publishers are sort of failing to recognize what it is that a lot of readers want out of a romance.

Lori Devoti has a great column on this right now at Romancing the Blog about the difference between paranormal romance and Urban Fantasy: http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2009/05/27/are-we-speaking-the-same-language/

And there was just a big piece in Publishers Weekly on the same subject: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6660125.html

Now I’m a bit worried because my next book, Magic University, is definitely supposed to be a paranormal romance, but because it’s a four book series, the first book doesn’t wrap up with HEA… will people really this and be OK with it, or will I have romance readers throwing it across the room? *ducks*

By: Lisa Lane

Lisa Lane — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:38:19 +0000

Fantastic article, Celia! As an erotica and erotic romance writer, I really appreciate what you have done, here. It is important that people understand there is not just one literary tradition in “romance,” and that its roots and evolution are just as important as current mainstream ideals and expectations. Kudos!

By: Keta Diablo

Keta Diablo — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:25:25 +0000

“But what distinguishes erotic romance from â€œeroticaâ€(a broad term in itself)?”

Great article, Cecilia. Love the “flexibility” you point out.

Keta