It's Not All About 'That Book'

People ask me all the time, is erotica just a fad?  Well, I don't know, is sex a fad?

Let's look at this last half-year of craziness in the right perspective. It wasn't one book that suddenly got popular. It was the Internet and social networking catching on to ebooks and erotica. The entire genre has had a huge surge; yes, that one book was an absolute blockbuster, but it wasn't alone.

We're looking at a perfect storm of opportunity for erotica. Ebooks; digital reading devices; social networking; and the ease and anonymity of purchasing has led to erotica and romance and YA and teen all becoming big buzz areas, because people like talking about them on social networking, and they like reading them. Yes particularly women for all of these topics. Women read, and women right, and women talk about what they like. Yes, in ways men just don't. Otherwise, thrillers and shoot-em-ups and military fiction and legal mysteries would be the new big thing.

The other thing that has helped is the way we want content now. Used to be an author was dead stuck on one book a year. That was as much attention a publisher could muster up to get one author's book into the fronts of stores. Build excitement, build anticipation, build that pyramid of paper near the front door, and it was a recipe for success. But you know what's changed everything for storytellers? Netflix. Yes, Netflix. Now when a consumer gets interested in a new series, the entire thing is available on Netflix, and we consume content voraciously. People will watch an entire season of Orange Is the New Black in one week. Or six seasons of Lost if you caught on late. Book content creators (authors) now face voracious readers (consumers of content) who want the next installment right away. Yes, Mr. Patterson and his twelve books a year stirred this pot first.

So what does that all bring us to? Authors who need to churn it out. Readers who want something new constantly. Devices making it easy to buy and easy to deliver without chopping down a forest. So what does that mean for authors? Shorter fiction. Yes. Novellas.

Novellas are bigger than they've ever been. Ever. And they are biggest of all in erotica. People want cheap; people want new delivered all the time. And yes, attention spans are a lot shorter now than ever. But it's not about attention span -- it's about what we're used to.  A movie in two hours; a television show in an hour. We want the story told and wrapped up in a shorter amount of time. Then we want to get to the next episode or next story or next movie. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just a change in the anticipated story arc. Beginning, middle, climax, end in less than 100 pages.

If you want my advice, and I'm wrapping up here abruptly, because the kayak is waiting for me to take it out on the lake, start writing novellas! Let me know how it goes.

Bob
SMHIOF@gmail.com
Bob is the senior editor and a co-founder of Insatiable Press
But this is his personal blog, and all statements and comments, opinions and thoughts are all his own.

Resistance Is Futile...

Yes, I have made an entire writing group think about erotica.  D.C. and her band of scribblers ( (www.coffeetalkwriters.com) have taken to task writing in this genre from their other various interests, and I think they're enjoying it.

Now, I can take to task a few of the comments they make.  Like the comment about there being a lack of love in erotica, that it's all about the sex.  I actually don't agree 100%, but you know, I'm not going to edit anyone's opinion or commentary.  But overall, I love the approaches they are taking, the viewpoints they express, and overall, I think this exercise of approaching erotica writing is probably going to make them all better writers in the long run, even if they leave E and go on (or back to) other genres.

You can follow their progress and read their personal reactions to writing erotica at D.C.'s website...

http://www.authordcstone.com/1/post/2013/04/a-journey-to-erotica.html

Not Enough Is a Bad Thing

I was reading a manuscript of an erotica book that someone was pitching to me. I was about thirty pages into the manuscript when I suddenly realized, there's no erotica in my erotica. I was mildly interested in the characters to that point. Yes, ONLY mildly. So I decided this particular book wasn't for me.

But it led me to think about writing, storytelling, and most importantly, genre expectations. If that book had not been pitched to me as erotica, would I have kept reading? Now I was only mildly interested, as I have said, so this example is not perfect, but how do we temper what we EXPECT from a novel with the actual experience of reading it? There are definitely many wonderful novels written that don't fall into any genre, actually some of the very best. We lump them in together and call them 'fiction.' Even though all novels are fiction. When there is no other genre label to plaster across their spine ("ebooks have no spine"), we call it fiction or literary fiction. That's fine.  But I'm talking about a novel that HAS been labeled with a genre.  Mystery. Romance. Science Fiction. Fantasy. Erotica. Thriller. Espionage.

Genre writing suffers from low self-esteem. I've always loved mystery authors who do not want their novels defined as mystery. I know of a few national bestsellers who hate being labeled as 'romance' or 'mystery.' But I won't name names. But let's talk about the question: is there anything worse than a mystery novel in which no one dies; a romance novel in which the main character doesn't fall in love; and to me, most importantly: an erotica novel with no sex in it!

Yes, from my original example, if I were far more than just mildly interested in the characters, I would have kept reading. And maybe I would have even considered publishing it. But I would not put it on my list where customers come expecting erotica. That might be a great novel to be published by someone (even the author themselves, these days!) but not by Insatiable Press.

When you have a list of book, a source for buying books, or an imprint into which you promise to publish a particular type of book, then suddenly a great book is not a great book -- unless it fits there. Yes, genre labels are limiting. To the writer and publisher. Yes, we've pigeon-holed books into them, and their rules are measuring sticks against which we judge novels. I know writers always want to snub their noses at them and complain about them and feel greater and bigger and better than them. Rather than snub your nose, I'd recommend a different approach: shrug your shoulders and roll your eyes and say, 'Oh well.'

Because the real secret is this: genre labels are for the consumer not the writer. Consumers like to be roped in and corralled. Or to put it another way: consumers like some form of promise of what they're getting before they buy (or by into) something. If I buy a mystery novel, I know that I'm buying a book in which someone is going to die or be kidnapped or held hostage, and I the reader am going to follow the story through the eyes of the character who figures out the murder or saves the day. Maybe there will be a subplot of romance, that never hurts. But by the end of the novel, the mystery will be solved, and I will have been along for the ride of figuring it out. If you don't want to write mystery, don't write mystery. I can rewrite this paragraph for every genre.

So back to erotica. Plot, characters, setting, yes, these are all still very important. But the number one expectation of the genre is the description of sexual situations. So don't skimp on me. No, an erotica novel should not be a neverending slog from one sexcapade to the next; there has to be plot and characters to care about. But when you put that amazingly hot torso shot of a ridiculously gorgeous man on the front cover, your readers is expecting to find out what's behind those low-rise jeans.