Welcome to April and Kendal’s very first Smackdown Tuesday. Quick recap for new RI readers: Every Tuesday we will discuss a hot topic. Sometimes we will agree, most times we won’t!

Today’s topic/questions: Porn/Erotica/Sex increasing Ebook Sales. Is this a bad thing?

Okay, my opinion: Yes, it’s increasing ebook sales. Yup. Duh. So what? Do I take offence to what I consider the truth? Nope, not at all. Okay, so I’m not feeling the ‘porn’ word, but let’s call a spade a spade, that’s how some people’s perception of the erotica romance genre. I write it, and thanks to the market, I’ve sold an erotica story, and hope to sell many more over my career. It is a fact that erotica sales are the leader in ebook sales. Now, why is that? I’ll let April weigh in on that:

April: Kendal, I do have to agree sex sells on the Internet. Accessibility, privacy, and a freedom to explore new things are a huge part of that. You don’t have to buy something wicked hot at a store and go up to the counter to pay for it, feeling like everyone is staring at you. There’s also a feeling of – what you do on the ‘Net, stays on the net. You can be a different person, explore things that in real life you would never do.

So yes, sex in all its shapes sells better online (at least that’s my opinion). Some of that does transfer into sales for erotica and caliente style books. I have to disagree with the term “porn” though. To me porn is just about sex. No strings, no emotions. Just a physical release.

Erotica and the hotter romance books to me are not porn even if they do portray sex. In fact, I would say they’re completely different genres and hit completely different markets. Porn… is all about the physical act. The emotional entanglements and humane-ness of the experience is stripped from it. Men in particular find this titillating (if you’ll excuse my word choice :> ) while most porn leaves us women with our jaws dropped.

I think the more difficult question is “Is sex killing the good old fashion romance?” There’s a lot of debate on this. Many are decrying the loss of romance’s innocence. Sweet novels just don’t sell like they used to. Many people think it’s too much about the sex…

Kendal: I think you have hit on a sensitive topic, April. When I first got into writing romance it was exclusively sweet, but the more ebooks I read the more hotter my stories seemed to progress. I now sell all my erotica under Kendal Corbitt and my sweeter stuff under Kendal Ashby. When I complete a sweet story my options for epublishing is limited, and though I haven’t experienced it yet, I hear it’s also one of the slowest moving ebook sales. I think there is a market for both, but at this moment erotica romance is stronger in esales and sweet romance is stronger in print sales. Like you mentioned, there is a privacy element to ebooks, but also a convenience and a cost savings. I can go to my local big box bookstore and find 50 erotica titles or 300 contemporary romance section. I can pay $16.95 plus for an erotica print book, or $3.99 for an ebook. Actually that reminds me of another smackdown topic I’d like to bring forth: Print vs E-publishing. Another Tuesday perhaps.

So back to your original question: Is sex killing the good old fashion romance?

Well, by no means am I an expert, but maybe ‘good old fashion romance’ has taken on a new face. Seems to me, like YA and Inspirational romance is hotter now a days then ever before. So could the traditional romances, just be finding a new audience?

We’d love to hear what your opinion. Please post your thoughts!