The hype with Fifty Shades of Grey is almost akin to being a new discovery; as if this type of novel didn't exist until one was penned (or typed) by the hand of E.L. James. There is a plethora of romantic erotica for sale every day of the week, written with class, style and professionalism by some top-quality authors. I write erotica myself, though mine tends to focus on shorter peices with more direct titillation. I'm not including myself with the above-mentioned wealth of romance/erotica authors out there.
I do, however, plan to write an erotic romance with a hint of mystery. Being a male author, how that will turn out remains to be seen. Maybe women only want to read romance written by a female author from a female perspective? Time will tell, but I'm about to start working on it now. However, I don't for one second expect the kind of success E.L. James is having with her trilogy. That kind of success and hype only happens very rarely to a select few.
But good luck to E.L. James. I don't begrudge any author success. I just don't really understand all the hype surrounding this particular trilogy when there is already a wealth of this material on the market.
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While I don't understand the hype for THIS particular book, I *am* grateful for it. It's opened up the erotic romance market to mainstream readers in a hell of a hurry -- something none of us had been able to do before now.
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Tracy
That's a really good point, Tracy, and i totally agree with that. I was thinking the exact same thing just this morning.
DeleteI knew nothing of the hype when I read these books. However, I read the first one because I thought the title was interesting. Now just in case you are wondering why I had no idea about the hype, I have a pretty busy life...my work weeks are generally 60 to 70 hours and I occasionally volunteer on my downtime. Then there's maintaining relationships and family. This leaves very little time for keeping up with popular culture. My recently purchased kindle is my one diversion from this madness. After a particularly hard week of snarling with project managers, dealing with demanding clients, mentoring junior scientists, I needed a major diversion. Other than reading the Story of O in the mid-1990s, this was my first foray into erotica. I chose this book because the book jacket was interesting (I really dislike the scantily clad female on the covers of most erotica..too cliche), the title caught my eye, and the plot description on amazon.
ReplyDeleteI kept reading the books because of the romance, the interaction between the characters, the dialogue between the characters and yes the kinky fuckery. There is a level of intimacy between the characters that is not always evident in the erotica I have read since Shades. Most important the word "pussy" was not used. I am not particularly offended by it's use but it's just not that imaginative.
What I've found lacking in the erotica that I've read since then is that there's a lot of the sex but very little on the interaction between the characters. I'm a chick I like the interaction and intimacy between the characters.