Erotic E-Publishing Market Demographics
Someone on a non-erotic writer's board asked me what the male/female breakdown was for erotic e-publishers. I had to confess my total ignorance, a fact that didn't exactly shock her. But unwilling, for once, to wallow in sloth and ignorance, I decided to go in search of sage wisdom concerning that issue and have, quite naturally, come to the ERW. So does anyone know about the demographics of the erotic e-publishing industry? Is there any info on items such as sex, age, education, etc. Are the numbers fairly consistent or does it vary from publisher-to-publisher and/or between genres? And if you don't know, feel free to guess or speculate. After all, this is the ERW. Bayou Bill 8)

Are you looking for author or publisher information?

Are you talking about erotica publishers or romance publishers? That's going to make a big difference. Erotica has traditionally been marketed to both male and female readers. Romance has traditionally been marketed only to female readers (though plenty of men have guiltily sneaked Harlequin into their bedrooms). I was discussing the topic of erotic publishing with someone who closely follows news at the Erotic Authors Association, and her impression was the same as mine - that the romance presses have virtually taken over the erotic writing industry. So, unless you're including skin magazines (which don't have an e-publishing presence), my guess is that reader demographics would be heavily weighted toward females, simply because they're the market being primarily targetted at present.

Dusk, My question was focused on the erotica/erotic romance e-publishing industry. I specifically had in mind publishers such as Phaze, Ellora's Cave, and Freya's Bower. Having once been one the three guys at an RWA convention, I appreciate how women dominate the romance market both as readers and writers. However, when it comes to erotica/erotic romance, I've no more than a WAG (wild ass guess) about the demographics of their readers. Bayou Bill 8)

Erotic romance definitely skews female. In most places it operates as a sub-genre of romance more than a subgenre of erotica.

"My question was focused on the erotica/erotic romance e-publishing industry. I specifically had in mind publishers such as Phaze, Ellora's Cave, and Freya's Bower. " Why do I have the feeling I'm on a romance forum? :) Erotic romance and erotica are two different genres, with different reader demographics, though an increasing number of erotica presses are being started by people in the romance industry and are aimed specifically at women. Phaze, Ellora's Cave, and Freya's Bower are all presses that sprang up within the genre romance community. There also exist erotica publishers that *aren't* romance-based. The fact that I can't think of any off the top of my head is a sign of how the romance presses have taken over :), but here's an example of a non-romance erotica e-zine aimed at both male and female readers. And here's a fiction and erotica e-zine aimed at male readers, though it has plenty of female readers too. If you compare their blurbs and art to the blurbs and art at Freya's Bower, you'll immediately see the difference.

I think Logical Lust is more evenly split, all erotica. Also a lot of the subscription sites like Desdmona

That Velvet Mafia has some interesting stuff on it. I've been following links back to author sites. I guess I like reading about "queer" people. :-)

Velvet Mafia's stuff is often a bit high-brow and depressing for me (it makes me long for HEA), but stylistically, it's terrific. I go read it whenever my own style needs toughening up. Its companion GLBT magazine is Suspect Thoughts.

I'm still trying to get my head around all these definitions! I have to admit to not knowing there was a difference between erotica and erotic romance. Well, I know now that I actually pause to think about it. I'm guessing erotica has less to do with plot?

I have a tough time with the difference between plain erotic and erotic romance as well, Maui, but erotic doesn't necessarily have anything to do with romance or love.

"I have to admit to not knowing there was a difference between erotica and erotic romance." Oh, heavens, you want to start a definition war, ask somebody to define genres. :) As kmfrontain says, erotica doesn't necessarily have to do with love. The easiest way to think about it (says the person who grew up with New Math) is as two intersecting circles. The two circles are labelled Romance and Erotica. The place where they intersect is Erotic Romance. Romance is about romantic love; it may or may not have sex in it. Erotica is about sex; it may or may not have romance in it. Erotic romance has both. Just to complicate things, there's also erotica that has romance, and romance that has erotic scenes. Neither of these are usually labelled erotic romance, in the same way that a gay person who had one or two straight sexual encounters but otherwise orients his life around homosexuality wouldn't necessarily label himself bisexual. What makes erotic romance different is that the romance scenes and erotic scenes are equally important to the plot. It's a halfway house between romance and erotica, in the same way that being bisexual is a halfway house between gay and straight. Anyone else want to take a stab at definitions? Since I haven't actually *read* any novels that label themselves as erotic romances . . . (And yes, I owe you e-mail. Again. *Blush*.)

I think it is what it says on the box. There is no need for there to be less plot, or more rubbish writing, or anything bad in any genre. Negative defintions are generally made by outsiders, not writers or readers of the genre (for obvious reasons). Erotica is sex writing, romance is a love story with a happy ending, and erotic romance is both. There are some nuances but most relate to people denigrating 'the other' rather than seriously defining the rough dividing line between one thing and another IMHO.

"There are some nuances but most relate to people denigrating 'the other'" I'd hate to say "most." I've seen a lot of thoughtful, intelligent discussion on genre definitions. Definitions are odious, as Shakespeare would say, but unfortunately, they're sometimes necessary. For example, if I only linked to erotica in my e-zine (which I don't, but let's suppose I did), then I'd have to figure out what erotica was for my purposes. Or if I decided to let erotic romance in but not the romance, I'd have to define erotic romance for my purposes. Likewise, since you run an erotic romance site, you have to figure out where to draw the line for your own purposes, or else you'd end up posting lots of entries about sweet romances and jerk-off porn.