FULL STEAM AHEAD: IN PRAISE OF THE SAUCY NOVEL

Written by: Christie Adams

Erotica author Christie Adams on why the romance novel will not be looked down upon by you, or anyone else

Sex sells. You might think this is a modern-day marketing ploy but it’s not.

Love, sex, romance and relationships have always informed and influenced the human psyche while artists, sculptors and poets have always known and expressed it, the rest of the population were socially conditioned to keep things a little more under wraps, but it had to come out somehow.

Storytelling has always kept us fascinated whether around the campfire after a hard day’s hunt to firing up your Kindle on the commute home. For the ancient Greeks, desire, love and beauty alongside violent, non-consensual sex formed a fundamental part of their myths from Anteros, the god of selfless, unconditional love to Eros, the god of physical love and sexual desire, through Shakespeare, the pets of the Renaissance to contemporary authors.

Twentieth-century feminism demanded the acceptance of women in literature and while women have been published in every literary genre, the area in which they have excelled, utterly dominated and left men in the dust, is romance.

Princess Diana’s step-grandmother Barbara Cartland was a pioneer, writing over seven hundred books and selling an estimated two billion copies. Jackie Collins clocked up over 500 million in sales by peeling back the layers of Hollywood for a ravenous global audience, while fanfic queen, E. L James brought sex toys mainstream.

Just as women no longer had to skulk behind male names or suggestive pseudonyms, they also no longer had to hide behind metaphors.

The biggest category of fiction, romance, generates an estimated $1.44 billion in annual sales revenue, but it can be argued this does not paint a full picture. The year- on-year rise in demand for romance has been bolstered over the decades by trends such as chick lit, fanfic, Wattpad and #booktok, all of which have boosted the readership of independent authors whose self-published online sales are not included in publishing industry reports.

The rise of the e-reader, audiobooks, subscription apps and social media, especially TikTok, has also widened the scope, helping to deliver steamy fiction and hashtagged smut beyond the traditional female readership to those who might want to enjoy anonymously.

While escapism has always been the literary world’s bread and butter, global conflicts, political unrest and climate change delivered across multiple platforms on a relentless 24-hour cycle have upped the ante as far as the need for stress relief goes. It’s no coincidence that dystopian and romance books are both enjoying a surge in popularity.

Romantic fiction, rooted in the feel-good factor and a happy ending allows us an escape from the everyday and a belief in the power of hope. If our beloved characters can find love, satisfaction and a happy ending, then maybe we can too.

When choosing a steamy novel, it’s important to remember that your choice of fiction does not reflect your real-world desires. This ill-informed, censorious view has often invited judgment, even abuse, despite the fact most of us can tell the difference between make-believe and real life. Fantasy and reality.

The princess locked up in a castle awaiting a suitor’s kiss, the pretty college student stumbling into the kinky billionaire’s office – detractors may snidely point out that there’s no realism at play here, to which there is only one answer: That. Is. The. Point.

Erotica and romance offer a safe way to explore curiosity, with trigger or content warnings added to certain content so the reader, forewarned, can curl up and enjoy.

Steamy romance and more-sex-less-story erotica is purely about reader pleasure. Seek out stories that swell your heart, authors that make you smile and tropes that turn you on. Whatever your kink, gender, preference or curiosity, you’ll find a steamy romance author to serve your need.

Billionaire fetish? From hearts, flowers and a Pretty Woman vibe to violent mafia kidnap dub-con (dubious consent) suspense. You choose.

Traditional boy meets girl, LGBTQIA+, shape-shifter fantasy, elves, fairies, wizards, centaurs, reverse harems, mafia dons, dino- porn (yes, really), no matter what you can conjure up in your head, guaranteed a writer will have got there first.

Next time you’re you’re scrolling through Amazon or Audible, peruse the romance books by genre and immerse yourself in some page-turning steamy fun.

It’s not clean or dirty, it’s just fiction and it’s okay to like it.