book recs, author services, general badassery
  • Blog
    • Free Romance Reads
    • Our Thoughts
    • 1-Click Wonders
    • Author on Authors
    • Chattin' with Authors
    • So You're New To...
  • Book Recs
  • Reviews
    • 5-Star Reads
    • Contemporary Romance
    • Historical Romance
    • New Adult Romance
    • Paranormal Romance
    • Romantic Comedy
    • Romantic Erotica
    • Romantic Suspense
    • Teen Young Adult
    • Hall of Shame
  • About
    • Contact
    • Review Policy
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Advertising on Romance Rehab
  • For Authors
    • Romance novel blurb help
    • Referral Program
    • Romance Remedy
    • Romance Author Services
    • Online Writer's Resources
    • Proofreading Test >
      • Proofreading Test Answers
  • Blog
    • Free Romance Reads
    • Our Thoughts
    • 1-Click Wonders
    • Author on Authors
    • Chattin' with Authors
    • So You're New To...
  • Book Recs
  • Reviews
    • 5-Star Reads
    • Contemporary Romance
    • Historical Romance
    • New Adult Romance
    • Paranormal Romance
    • Romantic Comedy
    • Romantic Erotica
    • Romantic Suspense
    • Teen Young Adult
    • Hall of Shame
  • About
    • Contact
    • Review Policy
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Advertising on Romance Rehab
  • For Authors
    • Romance novel blurb help
    • Referral Program
    • Romance Remedy
    • Romance Author Services
    • Online Writer's Resources
    • Proofreading Test >
      • Proofreading Test Answers
Picture

Blurred lines: The difference between porn, erotica, romance, and erotic romance

1/15/2018

1 Comment

 
Blurred lines: The difference between porn, erotica, romance, and erotic romance
Back in the old days (sometime after dinosaurs roamed the earth, but before Amazon had a stranglehold on the book selling market—back when I was a teenager, in other words), the difference between porn, erotica, romance and romantic erotica was vividly clear. Erotica was relegated to a tiny back corner of the local indie bookstore, while porn inhabited a small little back corner of the Books and Company (my medium-sized town’s only mainstream bookstore). Meanwhile, romance took up half of both stores.

​But today, the lines between porn, erotica, romance, and romantic erotica are so blurred that it’s nearly impossible to separate the categories on Amazon. Folks looking for good old-fashioned romance have to sort through page after page of misclassified porn and erotica to find it, and folks looking for porn and erotica have to filter out all the romance to find what they want. It’s frustrating and confusing, and readers everywhere are asking, what’s the difference? What constitutes porn, erotica, romance, and romantic erotica? We’re glad you asked. Here’s our take on it.

via GIPHY

Porn
Porn in writing is just what you think it is: writing meant to cause sexual arousal. That’s it. It’s spank-bank material. Now, some people will argue that any book with detailed, graphic sex scenes is porn. But making that kind of sweeping generalization is way over simplifying matters. In my reading experience, I’ve found that in romance, erotica, and romantic erotica, the sex scenes have a purpose based on the plot and characters. Meanwhile, any plot or storyline you might find in porn exists only for the purpose of giving characters a reason to have sex.

via GIPHY

Erotica  
This one isn’t as clear cut. And don’t bother checking Merriam Webster for a definition. I kid you not, the definition there includes the word erotic. But for the purposes of today’s discussion, erotica is writing that includes explicit, titilating sex scenes, but may or may not include romance. Happy endings aren’t guaranteed, and neither is OTP (One True Pairing). In today’s erotica, you’ll find lots of menage action that may or may not ever culminate in monogamy. Sex is also often the main conflict in the story. In other words, the way you can determine if a story is erotica is if it would be severely impacted (or decimated) if you were to remove all the sex scenes.

via GIPHY

Romance
Heat levels in romance novels vary widely. Some romance novels have no sex. In some romance novels, readers are told that the characters had sex, but all the action happens offscreen. (Or, off the page, as the case may be) Other romances are super steamy and include explicit sex scenes. But it’s not the sex that sets a romance novel apart from an erotic novel—it’s  the focus of the story. In a romance, the story revolves around two people falling in love, and eventually having some sort of HEA or HFN in a committed, monogamous relationship. If you were to remove all the sex scenes from a romance novel, the story should stand alone nicely. If you’re reading a story that doesn’t focus on two people falling in love, chances are you’re not reading a romance novel.

via GIPHY

Erotic Romance
As the name would suggest, romantic erotica is the bastard love child of romance and erotica. Romances with high steam factor (i.e.: many explicit sex scenes) can fall into this category. But the overall focus of an erotic romance is still the story of how the main characters fall in love.

What’s it all mean?
In our humble opinion, there are a bunch of posers on Amazon who claim their story is an erotic romance, when in actuality, it’s erotica, or even porn. Now, don’t get us wrong, we don’t think there’s anything wrong with porn, romance, erotica, or erotic romance. We’re firm believers in the “read whatever you want to read” policy. But what we DO object to is an erotica novel (or porn) that an author has slapped a HEA on just so that he/she can market it as a romance or erotic romance, which opens up a larger reading audience for them. As readers, all we can do is pay careful attention to cover art, marketing categories on Amazon, and book blurbs in the hopes that we can determine whether or not what we’re 1-clicking is actually what we want to read. But for all the authors out there, I would urge you to figure out what category your book belongs in, and market it appropriately. Whatever you write, write it and market if proudly. Don’t try to mask it as something it’s not.

What about y’all? Anything you’d like to add? Let’s discuss.

1 Comment
for android link
10/25/2018 02:21:41 pm

I’m impressed, I must say. Really rarely do I encounter a blog that? both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the issue is something that not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Romance Rehab newsletter sign up

    FOLLOW US 
    Reedsy Top Book Reviewer 2019

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

Picture

BLOG
FREE Romance books
​Book Recommendations

Our Thoughts
1-Click Wonders
5-Star Reads
Authors on Authors
Chattin' with Authors
So You're New To...
What Not to Read
REVIEWS
​
Contemporary Romance
Historical Romance
New Adult Romance
Paranormal Romance
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Erotica
Romantic Suspense
Teen/Young Adult
ABOUT
Contact
Review Policy
Guest Post Guidelines
Advertising on
​Romance Rehab

​
FOR AUTHORS
Online Writer's Resources
Proofreading Test
ROMANCE AUTHOR SERVICES 
Romance novel blurb help
Romance Remedy program

Referral program

Romance author services
  • Book cover critique
  • Animated book covers and social media graphics
  • Beta reading
FREE Romance Rehab newsletter: ​Subscribe here
KnockinBooks LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
​© 2020 KnockinBooks LLC