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The Growing Genre of Er*otica
By Roxanne Rhoads
Women and men are discovering a new breed of 21st century romance
novels that are sexier and more erotic. This new genre is erotica.
It has evolved from the romance novels your mom read, but these
are not mom’s sappy love stories. The sex scenes are hotter and
steamier and much more graphic. It’s a whole new genre of writing
mainly for the woman who isn’t afraid of her sexuality. In the
past several years erotica has found a home with many mainstream
book publishers, in anthologies and on many web sites.
Women’s views towards sexuality and what they expect are different
than they were 20 or even 10 years ago. Sex is everywhere in
entertainment and books are just following the lead of movies and
television. Women want more stories about what’s going on behind
bedroom doors and between the sheets, they’re sick of stories that
just gloss over the good stuff. Women love being able to read
about sexually provocative women and strong heroines that are open
about their sexual wants and needs. It appeals to women who want
to know that what they feel is normal, that the things they
fantasize about are shared by other women. Like romance novels,
most erotica is mainly written by women for women, with strong
female characters and heroines that readers can relate to.
Everyday new erotica publishers and erotica web sites are opening
up. Erotica is a hot place to get published right now. Traditional
writing and publications often skip the sex but if you are bold
enough to write without glossing over the sex scenes, if you aren’t
afraid to get down and dirty erotica writing may be for you.
Erotica can have any type of story line; mystery, suspense, gothic,
historical, sci-fi, thriller, paranormal or literary fiction. Any
genre can become an erotic story as long as it has a well
developed story line and some good sex scenes. You can find
stories that cater to every interest including a wide range of
sexual fantasies and scenarios, historical settings, paranormal
erotica featuring ghosts or vampires, fetish specialties, romantica,
and things a little more hardcore like stories featuring bondage,
or multiple partner scenarios. Characters can also come in all
sizes, shapes, colors and ages.
Some critics try to say erotica is nothing more than written
pornography and while the line between porn and erotica can
sometimes be very thin, the writers and readers of erotica know
that it is much more than just porn. There are many different types
of erotica and many levels, from the types of stories you would
read in Penthouse which are more about the sex to the stories that
are regular everyday fiction with benefits…well developed and
detailed sex scenes thrown in.
Check out a publisher’s submission guidelines and read some
samples of their stuff before submitting. You would be surprised
at what the term erotica means to different people. Some
publishers consider the stuff in Penthouse and Playgirl to be
erotica while other publishers like things a little more hardcore
than traditional romance but softer and glossier than Forum.
Everyone is different.
Erotica, which spun out of the romance industry, is growing in
popularity and mainstream publishers have noticed the surprising
numbers of sales and decided to get involved. According to the
Romance Writers of America the romance genre brings in $1.2
billion dollars a year. Erotica readers are mainly romance
readers. Erotica is now the newest hot thing in the publishing
industry. Traditional romance publishers have upped the ante and
have added hot and spicy erotica lines. Berkley’s erotica line
is Heat, Kensington’s is Aphrodisia, Harlequin has its Spice
imprint, and HarperCollins’s Avon line has Avon Red.
Now that mainstream publishers are putting out erotica, mainstream
bookstores are selling their books and the books of smaller
publishers that were previously only being sold online or in small
privately owned bookstores. Even the big bookstore chains Borders
and Barnes and Noble now distribute erotica books.
There are also many websites that cater to erotica and some are:
CleansSheets.com, SensualVenus.com, JustusRoux.com, Tit-Elation.com,
and OystersandChocolate.com. Some of the more popular erotica and
romantica (erotic romance) e-book and print on demand publishers
or erotica are: EllorasCave.com, RedSagePub.com,
MidnightShowcase.com, LadyAibell.com, TasselsandTales.com,
Phaze.com, and SilksVault.com.
To find out more about writing erotica, check out guidelines,
submission details and market listings, or meet other erotica
authors visit:
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Call_For_Submissions.htm
http://www.eroticauthorsassociation.com/index.htm
http://community.livejournal.com/erotic_authors/
http://naughtywords.blogspot.com/
Bio:
Roxanne Rhoads is a freelance writer, erotica author, poet, and
editor. She writes everything from articles to web content. Her
writing has appeared in Playgirl Magazine, and on many web sites
including Tit-elation.com, JustusRoux.com, OystersandChocolate.com,
TheEroticWoman.com, FortheGirls.com, SensualVenus.com, Associated
Content.com/roxanne and BareBackMag.com. She is a regular
columnist at the e-zine Sex-Kitten.net. Currently her paranormal
erotic fiction story - Renata and the Vampire Hunter can be
purchased at LadyAibell.com and her erotic fairy tale Princess
Breastia's Quest for Desire can be found at TasselsandTales.com
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