I have a good girlfriend who told me once that she and her boyfriend enjoyed reading passages from my historical erotic novella to each other as a prelude to lovemaking. She said reading to each other like that really got them in the mood for some good time fun. I was flattered – and happy to be of service! – but it also got me thinking about readers of erotic romance and the differences between the girls and the guys.
My assumption, and I dare say it’s likely a proven fact, is that the majority of erotic romance readers are women. The stories are written (largely) by women with the target readers being women. It works because women know what turns them on and write the steamy scenes knowing it will turn their readers on, too. There are variances, of course. Some women love the soft roses and candles kind of lovemaking while others squeal with delight when their guy has his way with them up against the wall. The talented writers out there still know their readers and know how to please them. But is erotic romance interchangeable? Do men read it? And would women enjoy reading erotic romance targeted for guys? I had a male friend once read a steamy section of one of my manuscripts. While he certainly seemed to enjoy reading it, his verdict at the end was that it was clearly written for a woman. Well, yeah. But I would argue mightily that plenty of female writers out there could whip out a story that would leave their male readers panting throughout.
Ellora’s Cave has a section on its site called EC For Men. Each of the covers shows a scantily clad female (men are visual, after all), and – unless the writers are actually men using female names – appear to be written by women. My question is, are men reading them or are women? I for one am going to download a few of them (for research purposes, naturally), and in a future post will give you my verdict. I can already say that I’m intrigued by the concept and I’d love it if a male reader out there would share his viewpoint as well.
Perhaps the conclusion is that we all just like reading hot stuff no matter who the intended audience, which is A-OK by me.
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