For women only... what eBooks?

[Robertb]

Allowing that a new eBook Store is coming, I am looking at the category of: "Romance/Erotica".

I am trying, honestly, to judge what eBooks women really read.

I know "romance" is a huge category. What I am not sure about is "erotica".

I am hoping that women will be honest here. How far do your tastes go?

If you do not want to post, that is fine. Send me a PM.

The idea here is to get the content that women want. Sure, women read a lot of eBooks that are anyything but romance... but just how erotic do female interests go?

Your comments are going to help determine what this new eBook Store has in it.

I surely can use the help!

[SimonSays]

Are you just looking to see if women want erotic stories or do you want input about other types of reads we are interested in?

I myself like to pick up stories where the character is a stay at home mom (What Do You Do All Day, Slummy Mummy, Mommy Tracked for examples)

Or books about the trials and tribulations of the friendships between women with some humor, drama or even mystery thrown in.

I am really not into that romance stuff- sure some fiction with humor and romance, but I avoid the romance section of libraries and book stores at all costs. The covers look so similar and story lines do not grab my attention at all.

Now, I have never read hard core erotica, not that I have nothing against it. Just I haven't ever picked up a book with that type of writing.

oh.. nvm. I do remember having read a book called Letters to Penthouse. Boy, that was rather interesting. Some of it totally shocked me that some people would do the things in their letters (mainly wonder if it was for shock value just to get printed into Penthouse magazine) and other stories..well, lets just say they give you ideas to spruce things up in a marriage if you know what I mean

[AJ Starr]

Try the category: Romantic/Adventure

My favorite is Jayne Ann Krentz, aka Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Castle

[Laura81]

I don't read that stuff at all. Though my reason is probably different from most women's.

[Davimee]

I like books with some romance, but not necessarily romance as the core of the book. Like historical fiction, with some romance thrown in. Erotica does not interest me. To be honest, I usually stay away from romance, just because I am uncomfortable with how far it sometimes goes. I prefer Christian authors, because it's more likely to be clean.

Thanks for asking, and good luck with your store!

[GA Russell]

Robert, I realize that porn is a large market, but I would think that money could be made by having the reputation that you don't offer porn.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Robert, I realize that porn is a large market, but I would think that money could be made by having the reputation that you don't offer porn.

OK, I'll be the first to say it, Erotica is not porn.

BOb

[Kevin2960]

If we start a MEN only thread ....... Is that sexist ???

Regards

Kevin

[Terisa de morgan]

If you're thinking about erotica for women, I think that some publishers like Elloras's Cave, Changeling Press or Extaxy Books can give you a good hint. And no, erotica is not porn, and if you don't like it, don't buy it, but leave people alone.
About romance... for me Romantic/Suspense (Mariah Stewart), Romantic Paranormal (Nalini Singh, Shelly Laureston, Cynthia Eden).

[weeziepepper]

Hi RobertB.

I read lots of romance and (I guess what some would consider) erotica. I just make sure my parents don't know b/c it can be a little embarrassing! They would probably pass out if they read some of these books that I buy!

Not sure exactly what info you need but here are some ideas.

Will you be able to offer ebooks by publisher? If so here are a few good romance and/or erotica publishers - Harlequin, Samhain, Ellora's Cave.

Harlequin (eharlequin.com) would definitely be good to have - covers a wide range of books (from "tame" romance to spicy stories) b/c they have so many different series (Harlequin Presents, Silhouette Desire, Blaze, etc).

Both Samhain (samhainpublishing.com) and Ellora's Cave (jasminejade.com) deal with more "erotic" books than Harlequin. Both have really great authors and their websites give a breakdown by category (like paranormal, erotica, historical, etc).

Paranormal and shapeshifter romance books are really popular right now. Also historical and romantic suspense.

One good site to check out is allromanceebooks.com - they have their ebooks separated into categories like paranormal, shapeshifter, erotica. That may give you some ideas on what is popular right now. Fictionwise.com also categorizes by romance and erotica.

I'm really not sure what most people consider "erotica". Some books that I think of as romance others may think of as erotica. To me it's a pretty gray area.

Does this help you at all? Did any of this make sense? I can also give you more info (like authors, series, subjects) if you need that.

Have you thought about posing this question on any other MobileRead forum like Reading Recommendations? You may get even more suggestions and comments from those who don't look at the Astak forum.


P.S. Just wanted to mention that I love my maroon Pocket Pro. I've had it for about 3 months and I'm so happy I bought it!!

Weezie

[silverraven]

I'm not big into the erotica stuff either. I prefer humor/mystery/romance type books. Think Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Or, mystery/romance like The Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels and Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series. Out of the 5 women that I know that I talk books with none of them read erotica. Silhouette Desire would be the most they ever go. Harlequin Presents are always popular with my older lady friends too. Romance, but not a step by step instruction manual!
S

[pilotbob]

I'm not a woman... but a lot that I know like Cozy Mysteries. I personally like them also.

So many books, so little time.

BOb

[MaggieScratch]

I am personally not so much into romance or women's fiction or even erotica, though I know many, many women do enjoy it very much. I mostly read books originally published in the 18th and 19th centuries these days, to be honest. I also like good historical fiction; not so much historical romance, which is a separate genre. I guess you would call it commercial fiction.

Most of my issues with buying ebooks (I buy very few; there are so many good public domain freebies around) is not finding a book I want to read in ePub format. So many are only available in PDF or not available for ADE at all. I prefer ePub to PDF with ADE.

[Writernan]

Personally, I'm not into any of the topics that women generally read. Instead, I love suspense, mystery, a little sci-fi (a la Dean Koontz).

[KarenH]

I think for the majority of women that read erotic romance the most important factor is the emotion. Hot storylines with plenty of explicit sex scenes are fine, but not if it's at the expense of the love story and happy ending. IOW, a whole bunch of explicit sex scenes strung together without a decent plot doesn't hold much interest, but wrap them up in a well-written story that has an actual plot and shows a loving relationship between the main characters, and you'll have something that will be pretty popular. Some women prefer their romances with little or no explicit sex, and some like a lot more of it, but pretty much all romance readers want to see the development of the relationship and the happy ending.