My weeks of reading hornily: steamy book sales have doubled – and I soon found out why

From fairy porn to romantasy via the Omegaverse, publishing is sexier than ever. The reason? A big shift in gen Z and millennial attitudes to respectability and shame ...I spent a fortnight reading nothing but smut and I don’t need to give you a reason. But since there is one, here it is: business is booming in the publishing world of love and sex. Aficionados draw fine distinctions – between romance and erotica; “steamy” and “smutty”; fantasy and saga fiction – and endlessly subdivide the genres, but the takeaway is that the stigma around what used to be called “books that women like” has gone. And, as the UK literary agent Alice Lutyens puts it: “The steamier the sex, the better the book does.”I started two books simultaneously, which just happened to span the gamut, from the almost completely chaste The Stars Too Fondly, by Emily Hamilton, to the most pornographic thing I’ve ever read (and I’ve read De Sade): Heat Clinic, by Alexis B Osborne. So, I could give you a take on the difference between romance and erotica, but I would rather throw it to an expert. Leah Koch started the independent romantic bookshop Ripped Bodice in Los Angeles with her sister, Bea, in 2016 (they recently opened a second shop in New York). She says readers tend to assume erotica is sexier. “The technical definition is that, in erotica, character development happens from sexual situations. We stock both.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-08-06 04:00:33 UTC ]

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Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest

In a rare move for the publishing world, Land Rover has sponsored "An Ice Cream War" novelist William Boyd's new short fiction and turned it in into a gorgeous interactive campaign. The post Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent Q&A: Claudia Wittman, Germany

Claudia Wittman, literary agent and founder of the Wittman Agency in Germany, talks about how her rights business manages the massive changes in the book publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent Q&A: Madeleine Milburn, UK

Madeleine Millburn, a literary agent from London, offers her view on which international markets offer the most opportunities and how digital publishing has impacted the rights business. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Laube: Agent + Publisher

In his long history in Christian publishing, Steve Laube has played many roles--bookseller, editor, literary agent. Now he adds publisher to that resume, joining what seems to be an emerging trend among agents. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent Q&A: Taryn Fagerness

Taryn Fagerness, a literary agent in Washington, talks about her recent success with author Matthew Dicks and how she's optimistic about the digital future of publishing. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On the Verge of Digital's Watershed Moment

By Robert M. Sacks There is an odd form of delusion in the publishing world, characterized by a resistance to reason in the face of actual facts. This inability to recognize modern business trends is easy for most... Continue reading at Publishing Executive

[ Publishing Executive | 2014-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent to Re-Publish Author's 2004 Novel

Literary agent Marly Rusoff is re-releasing, through her publishing imprint Maiden Lane Press, a debut novel by Jonathan Odell. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers jailed overnight in campaign for prisoners' right to read

Six publishers have volunteered for a night in the cells, fundraising for campaign against limits on prisoners' entitlement to booksThere's more than one sort of porridge, as any lag would tell you. Profile Books publisher Andrew Franklin opted for the lumpier kind when he volunteered to spend... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent Q&A: Sedef Ilgiç, Kalem Agency in Turkey

Sedef Ilgiç, a literary agent at the Kalem Agency in Turkey, on selling Turkish books to publishers abroad and representing international authors in Turkey. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Obituary: Bill Adler, 84

Former literary agent and book packager Bill Adler died on February 28. He was 84. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Your Brain On Audio Books: Distracted, Forgetful, And Bored

Of all the ways to enjoy a book, minds wander most when we're listening to someone else read it.With so much focus in the publishing world on ebooks, you might have missed the recent explosion in the popularity of audio books. They've become a billion-dollar industry with huge annual sales... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shoptalk: Five Publishing Predictions for 2014

Much like last year, in 2014 the publishing world will continue to navigate change as the digital world absorbs print editions and dilutes subscription fees. In this ever-changing cyber landscape, one thing is for certain: publishers must identify ne ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Helen Mackenzie Smith joins Bell Lomax Moreton

The Bell Lomax Moreton Agency has appointed Helen Mackenzie Smith as a literary agent to find new... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can the NYT Shift Native Ad Labeling Debate?

The New York Times is still the gold standard of publishers. Its embrace of native advertising is an important step in legitimizing this modernized version of the advertorial. Importantly, the Times is also looking to impose far more rigid standards that are currently used throughout the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lindsay Lohan reportedly at work on a book about her life

Lindsay Lohan now has a literary agent, according to TMZ. And where a literary agent with celebrity clients goes, book deals tend to follow.Lindsay Lohan now has a literary agent, according to TMZ. And where a literary agent with celebrity clients goes, book deals tend to follow. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 2013 Association Publishing Survey

Like the rest of the publishing world, associations went through a traumatic period in 2009. Five years later, the industry is trending upward in the midst of a recovery. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2013-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laetitia Rutherford joins Watson, Little

Laetitia Rutherford has joined Watson, Little as a literary agent. Rutherford will bring her... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribd, HarperCollins deal casts long digital shadow

Whether publishers want it or not, the Netflix model is coming to the book business.The San Francisco startup Scribd, best known as a site for posting PDFs of documents, announced Tuesday it is launching a multi-platform digital book subscription service that will provide access to a wide range... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A&B buys Flanders novel

Allison & Busby has secured a first novel about the publishing world from Judith Flanders,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Did They Let Her on the Zimmerman Jury?

Less than two days after a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin, juror B37, one of the six members of the anonymous panel, signed with a literary agent to shop her book about the trial. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2013-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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