I recently got interviewed for a book trade magazine on the subject of the business of selling "erotica," and it aroused my... suspicions.
I knew that past couple years, all the major romance imprints have taken an X-rated turn, and their combined marketing muscle was creating a mini-boom in advertising and seemingly "spontaneous" media stories about erotica for women.
There's lots of talk about how the TV show "Sex in the City" created women's erotica from whole cloth (hand me the barf bag)— and plenty of discussion about the differences, or perhaps the collapse of difference, between romance and chick lit.
For this story in Publisher's Weekly, I did an interview with Bethanne Patrick, the book review editor for AOL. I enjoyed her questions, and suspected that little or none of it would get published— trade stories must be relentlessly upbeat! I asked Bethanne if I could publish our full conversation here:
The "Forbidden" PW Erotic Romance interview
Bethanne Patrick: Why is romance as a genre already cracked, if not downright broken into pieces?
It may be cracked, but it's still in business. If Romance publishers didn't change with the times and their community, they wouldn't exist as a genre anymore.
You may say, for example, that the Western is pure— but it's dead as a contemporary book genre. Horror nearly went belly up; science fiction would have curled into a historical corner if it wasn't for the Internet crowd that created a resurrection.
The Romance people realize that most of their audience are not purists— they're women who read a variety of general fiction and nonfiction. You have to keep on top of their interests, as well as their daughter's and granddaughter's interests, if you're going to keep the farm going.
BP: Why do you think so many mainstream publishers are now rushing to release lines of erotic fiction? Is it simply because they realized it actually makes money, or is there more to it than that?
It not only makes money, it's one of the ONLY things that's moving at all.
Do you know how many times I've walked into a book-signing and the manager greets me with: "Thank god you're here!—the only thing we're selling nowadays are sex and business books."
My heart sinks. It may sound good for "sex authors" at first glance, but it's more like an "end times" mantra. It's the last thing the bookseller says before they close their doors.
We are in a bookshop crisis of mind-boggling proportions. I have a list of every bookstore that I have appeared at or done a special promotion for since 1984.
Do you know how many of those stores have closed since I started my list?
NINETY PERCENT.
Book biz observers understand this, but they don't always draw the line between our business imploding and the slender survival thread of erotica.
The other reason publishers joined the Sexpot Bandwagon is because the legal restraints that once existed are gone. All the public and politician censorship pressure is focused on movies, and the Web.
Books are considered so elite, so inconsequential, such a dilettante item, that no one cares what salacious content you publish.
When I started in this business, I would encounter printers and binders, who would not take my print order because of the content. They were afraid of being shut down under the RICO laws, on obscenity charges. —And this was for books WITH NO PICTURES. Feminist erotica, of all things. A mere twenty years ago. That situation is nonexistent today
However, if you are asking, "is there is some new respect or aesthetic depth to the business of erotica acquisition?" unfortunately, the answer is no.
Erotica is treated like a cheap stable item— she'll make you money, but who cares about her caliber.
It's not high-status, except when a prestigious author is involved, which changes everything. (Although even some of them are being floored by the lack of reading interest).
But for the majority, there are low expectations from the publisher, and a lot of condescension towards the audience: feed them poor scraps, and they'll keep coming back for more.
Now I'm speaking in generalities... but if you looked at the mountain of erotic lit published this year, I think you'd find my assessment to be the rule, not the exception.
I try to feature every "exception" I find in this blog! I invite all sharp needles to huddle in this haystack.
BP: What about the artist side?
On the author and editor level, it's more complex and there's a lot at stake.
There's been a sea change in contemporary lit standards for exploring the human condition. If you have a character of any depth who does not show a sexual thought in their head, you will be taken to task by your peers.
It's not that you work has to be explicit, or that it has to fit any particular style. But you can't act like human beings aren't sexual, anymore than you could deny that they have an appetite.
Even a celibate character has made a sexual decision- there's no escape. The unconscious is undeniably erotic, and we expect to see its workings in a modern day story.
This new attitude is obvious in academic writing programs. Everyone remembers professors who once warned that if you wrote about sex, you would destroy your legitimate writing career. Now that would be considered an anachronism.
Today, you'd BETTER be prepared to write about the human condition, sex and all, if you want to be taken seriously.
BK: What are the challenges to erotica in its new incarnation as flavor of the year for publishers?
Poor quality will kill the golden goose- to a certain extent, it already has. Publishers have rushed forward with so much inferior material and editing, that the audience has become repulsed at a certain point. I hear their complaints all the time.
Yes, you CAN take advantage of people's erotic interest, you CAN exploit that, but there is a limit, and we're seeing it.
BK: How does a publisher or author build a reputation that they, in fact, are the "real deal"? It takes a lot more than a sexy cover these days.
When I first started publishing erotic lit, it was so rare, that we got by with minuscule marketing. Our novelty was our calling card.
That's not good enough anymore. You need to work it from every angle, as you would with any book, and hope you find a sweet spot before you get thrown into the pit.
If I was a publisher creating an erotic imprint or line today, I would canvas the track records of editors out there who have shown success and reliable forecasting in finding new talent- the best talent- and the chops to package it appropriately.
I would create a marketing plan from Day One. There's no more percentage in dumping an erotic book out of the truck to see if any one is titillated on the street. People have titillation-ennui, and rightly so.
I would niche-research the Internet and start conversations or plan advertising anywhere I could. I would evaluate the cover art very, very closely. I would ask the authors/editors for tremendous involvement, especially on the web.
And I would look for multi-media and merchandising possibilities from the very start.
I would not give a shit about a physical book tour unless it involved living in a van and working it like a honky tonk angel for a good six months on the road. I'd rather spend my time writing the screenplay, or producing an interactive web site. But then maybe I spent too much time with a broken down Chevy in Sioux Falls.
BP: What are the challenges in writing good erotica?
I wrote a whole book to answer that question! How to Write a Dirty Story.
If you can write erotic scenes well, with authenticity and original feeling- if you can capture the emotion and strike that universal chord- well, you can write anything. The written word is your oyster.
Much erotica we see is burdened with cliché, which leads to fatalities.
When teach my erotic writing classes, I put my students through Cliché Detox. It's a battle, and not everyone is willing to admit their helpless dependence.
Why are clichés so tempting?
Because erotic writing has been stymied, repressed, and hidden- it hasn't been cultivated like other parts of English literature, and it got stunted. Only a few outlaws pushed the envelope, and we owe them our everlasting gratitude.
Also, every cliché about sex (and death) eventually becomes a truism. So you do get to take your big guns out... your timing just has to be perfect.
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