Dear Jane and Gwen have almost a meeting of the minds about covers and oddly enough (not) I agree and disagree. As far as the BSA cover and title go my issue isn’t spanking or the nekkid but the image it gives the genre.
I admit it. I know it shouldn’t matter but romance is more than T&A, it is more than nice pec’s, it is more than a fetish and a hella lot more than just sex. I would say the same for erotic romance because if it is just sex more than likely it is just bad and again not what I want the genre judged on. Am I crying out oh why won’t they invite us to the dance? Poor, poor romance genre why is the world against us… no I am not. But using our heads and showing our talent instead of our asses might at least give us a leg to stand on.
I love romance. LLLLlllloooovvveeee it… I love historical romance, adore a good paranormal and think erotic romance is underrated. Romantic Suspense can be done well and a contemporary romance can be believable. I also strongly think just having fun is a’ok. And too often see a great ebook get passed over. Romance is grand. I do not think I could be anymore pro romance of all shapes and sizes. I recommend books I do not like, if I think the person asking would.
To me it is all about the reader, all about enjoying whatever experience you are wanting to take away from the book – NO. ONE. – should ever feel the need to ‘defend‘ their right to like anything. Nor should they have to feel shame for asking for a book because the books title or be worried about what the sells clerk might say when they go to buy it. For each person who thinks a heroine is TSTL there is another person who thinks she is gutsy… opinion is grand.
Romance can be meaningful, emotional, fun, deep, fluffy, intelligent, hot, flirty, educational, sassy, amazing, kinky, suspenseful, silly and it can make you cry while you laugh as it takes you out of this world. Sadly it will never get the respect it deserves nor will all of the writers here now, the ones who have come and gone or the ones that will be here tomorrow get the same respect as many ‘mainstream’ writers. At the same time many ‘respected’ mainstream writers will never make as much money or sell as many books as quite a few romance authors.
The thing that keeps running through my mind is Chris Rock’s bit about how it is getting hard to defend rap music (another thing I love).
I am so not saying we should feel the need to defend romance but I ask…
Or are we already beyond that point? Is it just whatever it is? Is there no line left to cross? If there is a line should we cross it just because we can? What is left? Tight Anal Dreams, More than a Ho, Beware a Scot’s Penis, Klondick Doctor, And Then He Fucked Her… I could go on, there are a hell of a lot of book in stacks around me.
What is your take on the whole thing? Does it just seem like a trade size Harlequin Presents that we should shake our heads over and pay 10 bucks more for?
Anyone picked up the book now just because of all the talk? I do have to say if nothing else, I bet there are a few of you who have pre-ordered now when you prolly won’t have even noticed it before.
And that teddy pig and girls are what readers blogs are made of…
I know that I am interested in reading it, lol, just to see what it is all about now but I would love to see more art covers like Maria Snyder and less of the man titty. Unfortunately, I stand by my claim that man titty = romance.
Sybil darlin… you know one or two of them will show up as a title later down the road. Betcha money.
I have no issues with things being erotic. I don’t. I mean, I write erotic romance. But….erotic romance shouldn’t be about rule breaking. It should be about a hot, sexy romance. The hot and sexy should play into the story, not be the story. If rules get broken in the process, that’s one thing. But I personally don’t set out to see just how many rules I can break in one sitting. I want to tell a story, plain and simple.
I can’t say one way or the other what the thought process behind the title for BSA was. I don’t know. I don’t know the authors and I don’t know anything about the book. But when I look at it, my thinking is that somebody wanted to push the limits. That works for some people. But I don’t read to see how many rules can be broken just the same as I don’t write to see how many rules can be broken.
Did any of that rambling make sense….
And to answer this… “Do we need to make it so easy to disrespect it?â€
No. I don’t think we should make it so easy. I love writing romance. I’m not ashamed of it at all. And it would be nice to talk to people who don’t read romance that understand the genre isn’t about the sex.
It’s hard to live down the old maxim “Sex Sells”. It’s romance people! If it were something else it would be called porn and not ROMANCE. I’m sure the publishers of BSA wanted to get people’s attention, but aren’t they just asking for it? If they want respect for their writers and such they shouldn’t be giving a book that title and asking for it to be ridiculed?
Well you know I have no issues with the sex. Not with any of it. I don’t even mind erotica (AS LONG AS IT ISN’T MARKED ROMACE).
No issues with spanking either, well other than none for me thanks. Don’t know. I will prolly read it cuz the bookfairy will send it. And it could be a kickass awesome book, just one I think MORE people would have bought with a better cover and title. And as a reader I feel better about it knowing it was the authors choice.
If it sells well, score, look for bigger spanking asses II and biggest spanking asses III: this time it’s personal, in a store near you soon. And if it tanks, the authors had a choice and took a chance and it didn’t work. That sucks but is better than having a killer story get a sale killer title and cover and having no choice about it.
It will be interesting to see. Of course Wolf Tales is on it’s what? Fifth book in the series? Don’t understand that either, so who knows.
At the same time, I bet it sold a few copies over the last few days so cool.
Biggest Spanking Asses III: This Time it’s Personal. . .I might just buy that one. . . 😉
My biggest fear is that I’ll be standing up in front of room full of librarians talking about how great the genre is, how empowering it is for women, how it’s really not trash – when someone in the back row stands up and yells “Oh yeah Ms. Smarty Pants?!” and holds up a copy of BSA. Just saying.
I agree with you word for word. I understand that man-titty is a marketing ploy and that it (sadly) works. I get that, but I still think it’s a crutch to a certain extent. But as long as that crutch adds up to many, many dollar signs, I just need to get over my aversion to ridiculous clinch covers that don’t actually reflect what many of these stories are about. Oh well.
This whole thing sort of reminds me of Harlequin’s annual “romance report” where they discuss such scintillating topics as who’s your idea of a dream date – George Clooney or Matthew McConaughey? and what’s your idea of a romantic evening for two? Gag, gag, puke, puke. It does nothing to reflect the intelligent women who write and read the genre.
Women read romance for a variety of reasons. The emotional connection we feel towards the story, the uplifting happy endings, the fun, escapist factor etc. But ask 100 romance readers why they read romance and I seriously doubt the first thing out of their mouth would be, “Because the man-titty covers make me so HAWT!!!!”
I’m one who feels that lovers of the genre should stop wasting their breath demanding respect. By it’s very nature, all genre fiction receives some measure of scorn – and while I think it’s possible to change some minds – there are many a$$holes who are still going to talk out of their butts just because they’re too stubborn, stupid, and ignorant to even listen to the argument.
But yeah, the collective “we” should really stop making it so easy for them to point fingers at us and laugh. It just makes it that much harder.
Frankly, I love man titty. Love it love it love it.
What I hate is not the photo on the BSA cover – it’s quite pretty and the model does have a wonderful butt. What I hate is the title – that has got to be the DUMBEST book title on the face of the planet. I wouldn’t have any trouble being seen in public reading a book with that photo on it, but there is no way in HELL I’m going to get caught with a book called “Big Spankable Asses.” Nuh uh. NOT happnin’.
I just don’t GET why they’d name a book something like that. It sounds like a porno mag. What’s next, Big Bouncy Jugs?
I don’t think the genre needs to go all repressive and prissy or anything, but we could certainly do a better job of not being damn ridiculous. 🙂
omg….Beware a Scot’s Penis…omg… (laughing too hard to say anything sane)
Big Bouncy Jugs?
I’m so glad I wasn’t drinking anything just now…it would be all over the PC
From Big Spankable Asses to Big, Bouncing Jugs (good one!), is it that far a step to Vixen Vi-jay-jays?
I’m not one to whine about the lack of respect, at least not often. But damn, choices like this one make it tough to go out there in the media field and tell reporters Romance novels are about emotion, relationship, love, and not just about sex.
*spews coffee*
Ah, dammit! ROFL! Jugs and Vi-jay-jays. And I needed a title for the next book, too!
DEMON JUGS
DEMON VI-JAY-JAY
Okay, now that I’ve cleaned up — I think the reason it doesn’t bother me too much on a ‘genre respect’ level is that it’s very open about what it is … I don’t think it’s saying it’s about emotion, relationships, and not just the sex. To me, that’s what it’s advertising: a kink, and sex (and probably in a humorous format.) Maybe the rest will be a nice surprise, but I’d rather get that kind of surprise than buy a book called, BIG HAPPY HEARTS and get nothing but BIG SPANKABLE ASSES inside. I’m not sure that man-titty covers are any different — I think that Jane’s right that they are a code … but no one looking at one is going to think a man-titty book is any different than BIG SPANKABLE ASSES, either, just focusing the fetish on the hero instead of the women.
So I’m torn on this one. Because it IS hard to look at it and say, “You know, there might be a great story inside” and if my husband ever saw it? Whoa-geez … I’ve had a hard enough time convincing him I’m not just writing about demon wieners, so I can guess what his (and anyone else who hasn’t read in the genre’s) reaction would be: just a confirmation of what he thinks everyone but me is writing.
On the other hand, flowers or a horse running through a field or a picture of a whip and handcuffs would be boring. (Okay, maybe not the whip … but if most covers were flowers, then the whip would still be generating this same discussion: don’t they know it’s not all about porn?)
Yay! and this is my tenth incoherent comment of the day. Off to work writing a book.
Meljean – Demon Ass. Gotta be Demon Ass.
I’ll tell you what, folks. Romance would get a whole hell of a lot more male readers if we didn’t put man or woman titty on the covers. JR’s vampire novels get male readership because the clinch on the cover is very subtle to almost not be there (plus the Brothers listen to rap, drink good booze, and cuss like sailors).
Powerfully Perky Pussies
Ponderously Erect Penises
Big Lickable Lips
some other ideas…
DEMON ASS — it just screams “hot and horny”
I’m ashamed of myself now.
Someone appears to be procrastinating. . .
Wait until you see the bookmarks….
Don’t tempt me. You know I’d make those bookmarks up in a second.
Bookmarks?