My 2008 DIKs
(from debut - June 2005 *)
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* Co-authored Oct column
 What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...to also feature behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party); topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior; and my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything). Please do not violate my trust. I restricted certain AAR-related and personal entries for a reason...to keep them as private as possible. Now that my blog is read-only, to access restricted entries you must already have a password; if you do, hold onto it so that you can continue to read restricted entries. This blog is not part of All About Romance. I ask that you keep comments or questions regarding restricted blog content off of AAR. |
Aphrodisia Double-Speak
Sybil commented on my blog from over the weekend about Kate Douglas' Wolf Tales, and I went to the source...in this case, HelenKay Dimon, who wrote about the whole "is it Erotic Romance or Simply Erotica?" some time ago:
In the never-ending Aphrodisia v. Brava debate, the editors say: Aphrodisia is about sex and Brava is about romance. Hillary Sares (the main Aphrodisia editor) says the term “erotic romance” with the imprint is a misnomer. The books are not really romance and don’t have to be. Use of the title is for marketing - Kensington wants the books in the romance section and wants to reach romance readers. That’s it. And, the only legal on the sex is that it be legal.
But later Sares backtracked from her earlier statements in a letter to Nice Mommy...Evil Editor:
In fact, Aphrodisias are romances more than often than not, although they are intensely erotic as well. But–and this is the big difference–they don’t have to follow the rules (such as they are) of traditional romances: a HEA ending, for one, is not required. However, when we were first developing the line, booksellers were as new to the genre as we were, and no one was certain where such books would or should be shelved. (Books generally are positioned in the store according to the category on the spine: mystery, sci-fi, horror, etc). Therefore, we and other publishers had to tag them in a way that didn’t make major booksellers too skittish and erotic romance was the tag of choice. We didn’t want the books stuck in a back room, so to speak–and we had no way of anticipating the avalanche of positive media attention nationwide–TV, print and online–for erotica and erotic romance that coincided with our launch in January 2006. To put it mildly, the unexpected coverage changed the way erotic romance was marketed, from publishers to bookstore shelves.
True enough: some Aphrodisias are more frankly erotic and sexually diverse than others. But most are romantic as well, and some are very romantic. And I can supply review quotes for a number of titles to prove it.
Information posted online is seen by a lot of writers, published and unpublished, and it should be as accurate as possible. Thanks.
Hilary Sares
Editor
I think Kensington is trying to have it both ways; an HEA is a generally accepted genre convetion for Romance. So to say that an Aphrodisia title is a Romance but that it doesn't require an HEA doesn't make logical sense. My conclusion is that Aphrodisia releases are mislabeled, and readers looking for Erotic Romance should be careful at the bookstore...I know I will.
TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
I have copies of the RWA workshops on cd. I keep meaning to listen to the
Kensington workshop and finding out if Ms. Sares was misquoted and if it
was as inaccurate as she rather stingingly implies.
Angela -