Something has been bubbling and brewing in my demented mind for a while now, and I've decided to blog about it. It's the confusion that abounds regarding Erotic Romance. People hear "erotic", think "erotica" and are convinced that both mean one thing -- pornography. That's just not the case and I really wish someone could explain that to Apple, which is quite possibly the most confused of any major retailer.
And that's a little strange - the Apple thing. It's a company that used to have the image of being "the smart person's tech choice" and even "the creative person's tech choice." The company's confusion and double-speak have destroyed both images. These days the smart person's tech choice, and the creative person's tech choice is Amazon.
What do the first two paragraphs have to do with each other? My "Olivia Outlaw" erotic romances were rejected by Apple via Smashwords. Since Apple is the major reason to publish through Smashwords, and since Smashwords meat grinder is a complication in and of itself, I unpublished my Olivia Outlaw work from Smashwords after Apple's rejection of "Captured."
Why did Apple reject "Captured?" Because it "doesn't publish that kind of story." What? Say that again? Apparently, Apple has no idea what it publishes. "Fifty Shades of Grey" was most certainly available at Apple. Sylvia Day's work is sprawled all over Apple. But - Apple doesn't publish erotic romance. And yes, Apple said that.
The underlying problem is that like many people, the supposedly smart staff at Apple hears "erotic", thinks "erotica" and imagines "pornographic." Their policies are as garbled as that thought process and to make it worse, they are inconsistently enforced. And they appear to be not enforced at all for major publishers. Only indie authors' must go through the indignity of having their erotic work screened by Apple's confused, hypocritical porn police.
Pornography is out there solely to satisfy sexual urges, fetishes and tastes. It's not my thing, but it takes all kinds of things to make the world go around, so if it's your thing - go for it. Some erotica is fairly pornographic and other erotica is not at all pornographic. Erotica is the story of the main character's journey, generally a sexual one, through a particular experience. It may or may not have a "HEA" or "happily ever after" ending. The focus of erotica is generally what that journey means, and how it feels to the main character. Yet, some erotica, like my Olivia Outlaw books, do focus on romance and meet the definitions of both genres.
I would primarily call my Olivia Outlaw work "erotic romance." That genre meets the traditional definition of romance by focusing on the love story between the main characters and by always having a HEA ending. The reason erotic romance and erotica have so much in common is that much of the story is told by the sexual experiences between the characters. In erotica, that experience will generally focus on one main character while in erotic romance, it will focus on the couple. Erotic romance includes explicit descriptions and graphic language in the same way as erotica, but erotic romance focuses more on the characters' emotions and emotional development. Erotic Romance focuses on the emotional repercussions of sexual experience rather than on a thrust by thrust description of who did what to whom, how often and in how many positions.
However, at the crossroads of erotic romance and erotica, there is a deep love story, the main characters' sexual experience is the action that moves the story along, the emotional aspects of the physical acts is deeply explored, the book describes the sex in graphic - thrust by thrust- detail, and there IS A HEA. Like I said, this is where my Olivia Outlaw books fall - into this crossroads.
Basically, people, I'm just too strange to be consistent even in my inconsistencies. But - HOLLA - that's true of many, many creative folks. It's likely true of Erika Leonard (E.L. James) and Sylvia Day's work as well. I haven't yet read Syliva's stuff - though I need to because I hear it's first rate - but I have read Fifty Shades. And it is an old fashioned romance combined with an erotic romance combined with erotica - yes, like my work. But Fifty Shades was pushed by a big publisher and sold many gazillions of copies, making a boatload of money for the author, the publisher and every publishing venue where it was sold.
Now, I'm not against money. Heck, I'm very pro-money. I just wish money was more pro-me. So, I'm not criticizing Erika or Sylvia for writing work that sells and brings home the bacon. Life is better with bacon. I'm criticizing venues like Apple that define what they carry by who is offering it for sale and how much money it makes. Apple's position is not "pro-smart" and it is surely not "pro-creative." Apple's biggest competitor, Amazon, makes its forum widely available, and leaves the choice of whether to buy or not to the customers. Yes, Amazon has procedures in place to protect young buyers, but let's face it - by and large this is the internet generation where they, or their schoolmates, have access to information that shocks me. (Mr. Duck sometimes answers my questions with - trust me, you don't want to know about that and you don't want to see that.)
The whole situation with Apple raking in the Sylvia Day money and the E.L. James money and rejecting my Olivia Outlaw work tells me that the folks at the Justice Department have been wise to push the e-book anti-trust action against Apple. It appears that Apple has one set of rules for the big publishers, and another set for indie authors - and that is NOT Okay. It's not smart, it's not good business and it's not anything the creative community should support.
You should read Ring and Ali's story, told in "The Sultan's Toy" series. And you'll want to read Max and Drake's story, which relates to Ring and Ali's tale. But you can't read them at Apple and if you're smart, you won't read anything else there either. Put down your iPads, pick up a Kindle Fire and support the store that supports your right to choose.
And if you haven't tried erotic romance or erotica yet, then you really should. If you're a romance fan, you might investigate to be sure that any erotica you're reading is crossroads work, but the two genres work beautifully together. The combination creates stories rich in erotic tension and emotional turmoil leading to sex, love and a happy ending - all of which the reader gets to experience along with the characters.
The crossroads of erotic romance and erotica is a good spot for smart readers to explore -- as long as they don't do it on an "i" anything!