Erotic Fiction Is One Of The Reasons We Have lost 75% of Our Readers.... Says Author Jill Barnett
I found this author interview at the Book Bitches blog. The author is a lady called Jill Barnett.
One of the questions that she was asked was this:
This was her rather interesting answer:
It had better go backwards soon. Back to good books and good stories, and books set somewhere other than Regency England.
Is it me, or does she seem to be blaming the loss of romance readers, on the introduction of erotica/erotic romance?
It can’t possibly be because of the constant regurgitation of the same old, same old cookie cutter stories, being churned out by both big name, and midlist authors? Nope, let’s just blame erotic books. That’s the ticket.
I wonder how many erotic romance books she’s actually read? More to the point I wonder if she's lumping erotica in with erotic romance? That comment about little room for voice in erotic stories, struck me as being a little patronising and myopic. I think Emma Holly has an amazing voice, and she writes erotic fiction. Methinks she’s just insulted a whole lotta authors out there, and she doesn’t even know it.
Oh well, it's not like she's a lone voice here, we know there are lots of authors who feel the same way as she does.
I bet she’s Elizabeth Bevarly’s bestest friend. *g*
One of the questions that she was asked was this:
Where do you see it going now that romance novels are delving into more erotic grounds or into the ‘chic lit genre’?
This was her rather interesting answer:
It had better go backwards soon. Back to good books and good stories, and books set somewhere other than Regency England.
These two facets that you’ve mentioned, chic lit and erotica, now attached wrongly to romance, and the dull uninspired limits placed on the historical romance genre by publishing houses, is the reason we have lost 75% of our readers.
Romance has always sold strongly before, so a new genre, attaching itself to romance, only helps the new genre.
Even for top sellers now inside the genre, the print runs are 70% less than they used to be. Readers buy an authors voice, her way of storytelling, not a type of book. There is little room for voice inside erotica, and erotica gets old fast.
Is it me, or does she seem to be blaming the loss of romance readers, on the introduction of erotica/erotic romance?
It can’t possibly be because of the constant regurgitation of the same old, same old cookie cutter stories, being churned out by both big name, and midlist authors? Nope, let’s just blame erotic books. That’s the ticket.
I wonder how many erotic romance books she’s actually read? More to the point I wonder if she's lumping erotica in with erotic romance? That comment about little room for voice in erotic stories, struck me as being a little patronising and myopic. I think Emma Holly has an amazing voice, and she writes erotic fiction. Methinks she’s just insulted a whole lotta authors out there, and she doesn’t even know it.
Oh well, it's not like she's a lone voice here, we know there are lots of authors who feel the same way as she does.
I bet she’s Elizabeth Bevarly’s bestest friend. *g*
posted by Karen Scott at
11:01 pm
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