Romance Readers and Writers

The romance genre has been a round for a long time, and it seems as long as it has been around, there have been people that delight in tearing down its readers and writers.  Most fans of romance novels tend to ignore the critics and enjoy the books, but many still long for mainstream acceptance. Covers have changed, heroines have morphed from 19 year old nannies to career women with their businesses  All of these developments have been wonderful, but according to some romance fans, all of the hard work legitimizing the romantic genre is being undone by the rise of the erotic romance.

For the uninitiated,  erotic romance is a traditional romance that takes readers into bed with the couple.  Where once lovers were given privacy after the bedroom door closed, erotic romance writers go into explicit detail about who does what to whom.  Erotica has always existed, but in the last several year small epublishers have been posting sales numbers large enough to get NY publishing’s attention. You would think that anyone that is interested in the genre and its writers would welcome anything that raised the profile of the genre, but there are some that believe that erotica is further stereotyping romance novels and their fans.  What do you think?  Is the rise of erotica a good or a bad thing?  Do you read erotic romances, and if so, do you buy ebooks?

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