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A Heat index on books
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L.A.
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Mar 22, 2011 09:14AM
Since my book, A Necessary Heir was released last year, I've gained some reviews, which have been quite good and have made me very happy. Nevertheless, I realize that some readers aren't aware there are sex scenes in my historical romances, which got me thinking...should I put some kind of heat index on the back of my books? Love to hear your thoughts?
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Most heat indexes aren't on the book back. They are either on the publisher site or on your site (or both). It's helpful to some readers...not to all.Brenna
Why not> Some food is called very hot so why not a book.
Heat ratings only apply to the romance genres, and are mostly used by the publisher. I would find it hard to believe anyone would be shocked or offended that it's not spelled out for them that a historical romance actually has sex scenes. Well... duh.I'm personally tired of this dumbing things down. Allow readers to be pleasantly surprised. Why ruin it because of a few ignorant people who don't realize that *of course* a historical romance published these days would have sex scenes.
Now, having said that, let's be honest here. Sex sells, that's just the truth. If you feel showing the heat rating might boost your sales (and it better have a damn high rating), then it's a consideration. But, it doesn't belong on the back cover of a book, which would just degrade the book. It would be a part of an advertisement (blog, facebook ad, etc) or a description (you'll love this book because it's hot! type of thing).
Good luck :)
Thanks for your comments. I agree, Lily, although my books have sex, they have 2-3 scenes and some implied scenes, but they are no more graphic than the historical romances I read by Sabrina Jeffries, Alexandra Hawkins, Victoria Alexander and so many others. My books are not considered erotica by any means, and I never thought of a Heat index until this point came up.
I guess when I pick up a historical romance I expect some sex, it is a love story, so I was surprised readers would be...well, surprised. Reading is very subjective, so what's right for some may be too much detail for another.
As of this point, I don't plan on advertising the sex in my books, since to me, this isn't what the books about. It's important the right audience is targeted for my books, I'm just not sure how to go about doing that yet. :)
That's good to hear, that you know the right target for the book. If it's not overly erotic, I wouldn't bother with a heat index,personally. If a handful of readers are surprised, it might be just them, as in, they aren't that well read about historical romances. I'm surprised anyone is surprised *lol*
To me, erotica has a thin plot that merely ties together the sex scenes, which are the whole reason for the book. I call them "porn for women", or for readers, as opposed to movies made by and for men.I write erotic romance, which means the story is first of all a romance, one man, one woman, they gradually fall in love. Sex will happen...sometimes early, sometimes later. Some books only a couple of scenes, some books more. But sex is a part of falling in love. I write for adults. No apologies here.
If the reader is offended then perhaps the reader should seek out "sweet" and "inspirational" or "sensual" romances. They are out there. But most romances these days do not end, as they used to do, with a big kiss on the way into the chapel to get married. I don't see a need for a rating...just more discerning readers.
I'd have to disagree on erotica. It's all a matter of focus. Well-written erotica has as much plot and character as well-written erom or well-written...whatever genre. When you get into threads holding sex scenes together, you're talking about stroke fiction...porn. Technically speaking, you can have well-written or poorly-written of any given genre.Brenna
I'd never considered my first book to be overly erotic until I had a succession of negative reviews stating it was porn. The sex starts early, so I have to guess that the readers didn't carry on - because there is a love story in there as well. I ended up adding a disclaimer on Amazon and the "Porn" reviews have stopped. I don't think anyone should have to do this, but it felt safer for me personally because there were obviously some people who didn't realize that a book with the tagline: "Sex, Love and betrayal: It all begins with An Unexpected Obsession" might have a fair bit of heat in it;).
The funniest thing is that my 90-year-old grandmother saw the reviews, snorted and said, "If that's what they think, they shouldn't be reading anything published after 1950." Gotta love Grams!
Heidi, I think I'm jealous of your Gram! I want one too! Nothing beats older women for having perspective and a blunt way of stating the obvious!
Hi Fiona, she is great! And she definitely has an opinion:)
You gotta love Gma's, they often state it like it is at there age. And yes, you'd think your title hinted at sex being in your novel, LOL. Reading is subjective, there's no pleasing everyone. Thanks so much for sharing, ladies.
