What’s up with all the buzz around the book, Fifty Shades of Grey? Every time I turn around, I see another article on how popular this erotic novel is—and the articles make it sound as if this book is a brand new kind of fiction that’s catching female readers by storm.
First, I’ll confess I haven’t read it. The theme of male dominance and female submission is not one that personally appeals to me. I’m not putting it down, just saying that there are fifty shades of sex and that particular one doesn’t turn my crank.
But it’s obviously turning the cranks of thousands and thousands of women. That in itself doesn’t surprise me, but what surprises me is that so few of these women seem to be aware that erotica and erotic romance, including books with the dominance-submission theme (and forty-nine other shades of sex), have been written in the hundreds (more likely thousands) over the last 6-10 years.
E-publishers like Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, and LooseId were leaders in bringing these books to the public, but other publishers and lines—like Kensington’s Brava—were also testing the waters with spicier books. Then Kensington launched Aphrodisia in 2006 (I know the date well, because my Champagne Rules came out in the second launch month) and other mainstream traditional publishers like Penguin, St. Martin’s, and Harlequin came on board as well with erotic romances and erotica.
And not only have there been specific imprints and lines branded as “erotic,” but the general trend in contemporary, historical, and paranormal romance (leaving aside the “sweet” and “inspirational” lines) has been toward the steamy side.
Yes, women like reading sexy books. Most of us in the industry are very aware of that. I can’t even imagine how many sexy books, how many erotic romances, and how many erotic novels with dominance-submission themes have been published in the last half dozen years.
So, what’s up with Fifty Shades of Grey? Why is that book the one that’s suddenly grabbed the mainstream public’s attention, and that of the media? Why is that the book that women on the subway, clicking away on their e-readers, are most likely to be reading?
Did the author come up with a brand new idea? Obviously not. Is her writing head and shoulders above that of the other authors who write erotica? I haven’t heard anyone say so. So what magic has she discovered? And how do the rest of us get ourselves some of that? LOL.
I read this series just because I had to find out what the big deal was. I don’t usually read erotica, erotic romance or BDSM books. And in my opinion these books were pretty vanilla. I have some romantic suspense books that are more explicit & have more BDSM action in them than these books do. There’s more talk & explaining BDSM than action. Also there is not a D/s relationship. A contract is never signed. I’ve read a ton of reviews & descriptions of this series & there’s one by a best selling contemp romance author that I think says it best. It’s a romance about Christian, who, because of a heartbreaking childhood, has only ever been in BDSM relationships. And Ana, a virgin, who hasn’t been in any kind of relationship. Ana falls in love with Christian while they are trying to negotiate the BDSM contract & wants to try to be what he needs. (After one certain scene she realizes she can’t be what he needs). While at the same time Christian is falling for Ana & realizes he wants a more normal relationship. Yes, they both like the “kinky” sex & there are a couple of scenes in the “playroom” but not as a D/s relationship like Christian had in the past. It’s about them learning how to have a relationship that will work for both of them. As far as the writing goes there was a lot of repetition & the series probably could’ve been 1/2 as long if they took out the number of times Ana talks about how hot Christian is & the number of times she talks about his floppy, unruly hair.
And while I liked the series I don’t understand why it’s getting all this attention. It was good but I’ve read much better. And the sex was hot but no more than some of the non-erotic books I’ve read. I think that making the series into a movie is not a good idea. At least not for the big screen. A mini-series on HBO or some other movie channel would be more suitable in my opinion.
Tonya, thanks so much for commenting. It’s great to hear from someone who has actually read the series. And LOL re the floppy, unruly hair – makes me think of Hugh Grant. I like what you say about both characters learning to have a relationship that works for both of them – and that this relationship is different than what they’ve experienced before. For me, that’s often the essence of a romance novel. But then, Fifty Shades isn’t being billed as erotic romance, but as pure erotica. Maybe they figured putting a “romance” label on it would make it less acceptable to the mainstream audience? Wouldn’t it be weird if “erotica” was more socially acceptable than “romance”?
I have a book buddy who insisted I read Fifty Shades, so I did. Like some readers, I was not shocked by the sex scenes or the nature of Christian and Ana’s relationship. I have read many truly erotic stories that go far deeper into BDSM than this book. However, I thought about my friend and possibly many readers like her. This was probably their first taste of BDSM erotica. For a typical mainstream “romance” only reader, this was a peek into a whole other world of sensual reading. All things considered, for me this series was more romance than erotic which would make it a good introductory read for an “Erotica Virgin”. I’ve come to see Fifty Shades like Twilight and The Hunger Games. You get a group of us bored housewives talking about something new, and BOOM there’s a new “drug” in town.
That’s an interesting analysis, Valarie. And it sure points out the difference between people who are savvy about the industry, be they authors or readers, and the casual readers who are only marginally aware of what’s going on – and rely on friends, newspaper articles, or TV shows to tell them what to read.
I haven’t read the book but I have read this blog and the comments. Seems to me what put that one book above others could be the promotion. Many times it’s not the story that pushes a book past others, but the person pushing it. Just a thought!
Very true, Mimi. Maybe this is just rumor/legend, but I heard about an author who invested something like $1 million in marketing for one of his first books – and boom! Suddenly, he was a bestseller, and every book since has been a bestseller. I can’t even imagine what his advances are. Maybe $1 million each? Anyhow, you can bet he earned that initial investment back many times over. But it’s still a gamble – even if any of us writers were lucky enough to have that much spare cash.
There’s absolutely nothing that will guarantee a book will do well.
I have a theory. Every so often, something catches the mainstream imagination and gets elevated above the norm. I’m thinking “Deep Throat”, which was a horrendous porn film but which got mainstreamed. What about “Bridges of Madison Country”, a badly written novel if ever there was one. And now “50 Shades”.
I think that some stories resonate with the moment and catch the eye of people who usually don’t frequent that milliu. The media jumps in and makes a fuss, more people get roped into it and pretty soon this one work is the center of the media universe.
It doesn’t have to be good; it just has to capture the public’s imagination.
The one thing that really upsets me about all this is that when media sages are recommending other books to read for those who liked this one, they go to the ‘classics’, which have nothing to do with erotic romance, instead of pointing the general public to the rich and wonderfull world of romance novels.
bungluna, I think you’re probably right. It sure would be nice if the authors of today’s erotic romance got some of the carryover from all this. I hope they’re finding some way to take advantage of the “hot” trend!
First and foremost I love ROMANCE. The sex is secondary to a fabulous love story. Without the love story the sex doesn’t excite me.
However, having said that, I love great sex scenes in romance books and I don’t tend to read them if they don’t have that explosive reaction to their passions released in a sex scene. To me it makes the romance feel more real.
Bronwen, I agree about the sex being secondary to the emotion – but if a couple is in love, you’d sure think chemistry would usually be part of it. And passion! I like deep point of view – really being in the characters heads and hearts – and so I always hate it when an author skips over the sex/love scene. I feel cheated. It’s that “door slamming in my face” feeling of being shut out of one of the most important scenes this couple experiences. It’s almost as if the author says to the reader, “And then they had sex and it was really pretty irrelevant to their thoughts and feelings, and to the development of their relationship.” Yuck. That must be pretty awful sex! Sex should be highly relevant to each character’s emotions and to their relationship, so I want to be in on it.
I think it could be any one or a combination of the reasons listed above. Interesting post, Susan.
Thanks for dropping by, Sarah.
I know it doesn’t sound like it, but there’s a real love story there. Ana brings out feelings in Christian that he has never felt with anybody else.
This is not your typical boy meets girl let’s date and fall in love romance. Christian wants to dominate Anastasia and he wants her submissive. He comes up with a contract that he wants her to sign. She’s torn between her love for him and her fear of him.
Thanks for the insights, Theresia. I can buy that it’s a romance, but it’s sure not my kind of romance. Fear isn’t something I find romantic or sexy at all. But, obviously, it’s working for a huge number of readers!