Comments on: Fifty Shades of Sex

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:08:21 +0000

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!

By: Theresia Fortino

Theresia Fortino — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:32:25 +0000

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.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:10:50 +0000

Thanks for dropping by, Sarah.

By: Sarah Raplee

Sarah Raplee — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:03:02 +0000

I think it could be any one or a combination of the reasons listed above. Interesting post, Susan.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:51:39 +0000

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.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:48:27 +0000

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!

By: Bronwen Evans

Bronwen Evans — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:39:21 +0000

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.

By: bungluna

bungluna — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:01:26 +0000

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.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:26:57 +0000

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.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:24:29 +0000

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.