I’m very picky about who I read in erotic romance. While I love erotic romance, for me, the romance has to be every bit as much of the story as the eroticism, and I don’t find that all that easily. Too many stories have as much sex as story (or more) and that doesn’t work for me. Characterization gets lost, the plot is thin, etc.

Just putting a couple of people together and having them have sex every chapter, through in some thin plot where they get mad, then make up in order to have more sex, and then all of a sudden tack an I LOVE YOU on the end doesn’t make a book an erotic romance, but it’s too often what I see.

Totally droppin’ the ditto on Shiloh here (I know. I am so hip, with my slang; 23 skiddoo!).

Every sex scene in an erotic romance should show the relationship growing and changing. Every. Single. One. And not just the relationship growing and changing, but how it grows and changes, and why. The sex scenes should be integral to the romance, not outside of it, and certainly not interchangeable. (That’s not just a matter of different positions or whatever, either. You should be able to read a scene from the beginning, and a scene from the middle, and a scene from the end, and know just from those scenes what the relationship between the two people is at the point in the book where they take place.)

The way they touch each other should change. The way they look at each other should change. What they say. What they do. The language the writer uses. Are they more or less tender? More or less daring? How have they changed? Writing good erotic romance is the ultimate test of Show, don’t Tell; if you can’t convey through the sex scenes how these people feel and what they think, and are just shoving cookie-cutter sex in and sticking a contrived happy ending on because you think that’s all it takes to make an erotic novel an erotic romance, or because you think “erotic romance” is easy to write…well, you’re wrong. (Note: I assume the rules for sex scenes are similar in straight erotica, but in the ones I’ve read the focus seems to be more on the heroine experiencing new things and opening herself up to erotic possibilities; she’s not necessarily really growing or changing as a person so much as she is growing and changing as a sexual being; it doesn’t always make her a stronger, better person. But it could be the ones I’ve read simply aren’t as good as they should be, so don’t quote me on that.)

If nothing in the relationship grows or changes during a particular scene, don’t write the scene; even in some of my hottest books I had the occasional “They fell on the bed…”-type line and then the next scene started. Nobody ever complained. :)

To put it a lot more smoothly, the sex in an erotic romance should contribute to and expand the relationship of the characters (while arousing the reader, yes). It’s not just there for sex’s sake.

Juno has never called its line “paranormal romance”. Yes, we did one anthology in 2006 (our second release) titled “Year’s Best Paranormal Romance” that included a lengthy introduction explaining the use of the term “paranormal romance” in the title. That book, however, was categorized as “fantasy” as are all Juno titles.

The anthology series was re-titled “Year’s Best Romantic Fantasy” for the second volume in spring 2007 — partially to avoid references like this one.

IMO, the mere presence of the word ‘erotic’ in the book’s marketing materials, or on the book’s cover, should be enough of a tip-off to the reader that the contents of the book are sexually graphic. If such content offends you, don’t buy the book.

This is just my opinion here, but it seems to me the issue is more of books being labeled erotic romance, when they are more straight erotica with romantic sub-elements or just nothing but a bunch of sex scenes endlessly strung together with no thought of plot.

I’m very picky about who I read in erotic romance. While I love erotic romance, for me, the romance has to be every bit as much of the story as the eroticism, and I don’t find that all that easily. Too many stories have as much sex as story (or more) and that doesn’t work for me. Characterization gets lost, the plot is thin, etc.

Just putting a couple of people together and having them have sex every chapter, through in some thin plot where they get mad, then make up in order to have more sex, and then all of a sudden tack an I LOVE YOU on the end doesn’t make a book an erotic romance, but it’s too often what I see.

Then there’s the flip side of labeling a book as erotic romance when it’s actually just a hot and sexy story. The typical mainstream romance can be very hot and sexy, but that doesn’t make it erotic.

It’s more about defining and understanding the genre so it’s correctly marketed and not so much about whether or not an erotic romance is offensive.

edited

It isn’t about need, it’s about misrepresentation in order to scoop up sales, in order to scoop up those sales from another market. In order to exploit the success and the readership of that market.

It’s not about level of sexuality, it’s about whether a book is accurately labeled.

It’s very easy to say don’t buy that line or publisher again, but it doesn’t get to the core issue. Misrepresenting a book in order to sell it to readers who are looking for something else.

We’ve all heard the saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Shame on me.” To me, this is a ‘vote with your checkbook’ issue. If readers feel that certain lines falsely and consistently misrepresent the contents of their books, don’t buy another of that line’s books. If the product doesn’t meet your needs, don’t buy it.

Complain to the publisher. Make your opinion of their product known, in no uncertain terms. If publishers don’t respond to expressions of concern on this issue – if you as a reader feel that the publisher deceptively labels their books to maximize sales – don’t give that business your money. Hit ‘em in the wallet, where it hurts, and transfer your dollars to those lines who label or categorize their books in ways which meet your needs as a reader.

But please recognize that not all readers have that same need. Thanks.

As to your value judgment comment, I don’t appreciate it, but I’ll leave it at that. You based your assessment on a post that you did not understand.

If such content offends you, don’t buy the book.

That decision is denied to me if the book is labeled wrong. Sure, I could page through every romance I buy to confirm the content is what I want but that defeats the purpose of the label.

IMO, the mere presence of the word ‘erotic’ in the book’s marketing materials, or on the book’s cover, should be enough of a tip-off to the reader that the contents of the book are sexually graphic.

The key word is not “erotic.” The key word is “romance.” The Romance genre is about successful romantic relationships. I’d love it if publishers marketed porn and erotica openly, frankly, and blatantly. The problem is that they don’t. They want to sneak it [and other things :( ] in under the Romance genre umbrella as a marketing strategy.

Why shouldn’t such material be openly, frankly – and yes, “blatantly” marketed? IMO, the mere presence of the word ‘erotic’ in the book’s marketing materials, or on the book’s cover, should be enough of a tip-off to the reader that the contents of the book are sexually graphic. If such content offends you, don’t buy the book.

There’s nothing wrong with blatantly marketing erotica as erotica. What’s wrong is to market it as as (erotic) romance when it doesn’t have a relationship at its central core and a HEA/HFN, which was the whole point of the discussion.

I don’t want to read erotica I want to read erotic romance. I’m not offended by erotica I just don’t want to read it, and not buying it is hard when it’s mislabeled.

One person’s porn is another person’s mild kink.

IMO this is because we stubbornly try to define ER by the *amount* and *type* of sexual content, not by the *purpose* it serves in the story. IMO determining ER should be about *structure* and *function*. First, structure: are all the elements of a Romance present? Is there a central love story, does the story focus on the emotional journey of the lovers to a happy ending (HEA or HFN)? Then, function: does the sexual content help move the love story forward? Does it help articulate the character development? If the answers to all those structural and functional questions is “yes,” then IMO it’s ER. If not, then it’s something else, which must be determined by a separate itemization.