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Salacious content driving the adoption of ebooks?

By Peter Smith  19 comments

March 06, 2009, 1:33 PM — This week's ebook news continues with the announcement that Barnes & Noble has purchased ebook seller Fictionwise for $15.7 million in cash, plus undisclosed earn-out payments if the company meets certain objectives over the next two years.

Fictionwise, founded in 2000 by Steve and Scott Pendergrast, operates the eReader.com site as well as Fictionwise.com. Barnes & Noble says the founders will continue to operate the sites as a separate business unit within Barnes & Noble.

eReader.com sells books only for the eReader Pro software which is available for a wide range of mobile platforms (the notable exception being the Blackberry), as well Windows and OS X computers.

Fictionwise.com, on the other hand, covers a broad range of digital book formats, including audiobooks.

One of the challenges of selling ebooks (pre-Kindle) has been the plethora of formats available. Grabbing a random example off of Fictionwise.com, here's what we find under "available formats":

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [828 KB], eReader (PDB) [289 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [284 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [252 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [279 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [280 KB], hiebook (KML) [659 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [329 KB], iSilo (PDB) [235 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [294 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [356 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [412 KB]

This strikes me as both a strength and a weakness of ebook sellers. If you've got any kind of device with a screen you can probably find an ebook reader that supports one of these formats. But as a new user hitting the site, the choices can seem overwhelming. Presumably this is the reason for the more focused eReader.com site: Step 1, download our reader software for your device. Step 2, Start buying books from us.

This is also why Amazon probably has the best shot of taking ebooks mainstream.

Barnes & Noble abandoned ebooks once, so why are they coming back to them now? Because the format is starting to take off. Why is that? What's popular on Fictionwise? Well, once again it seems like porn is blazing a path to a new media format. Of the top 10 bestsellers under the "Multiformat" category, nine are tagged "erotica" amd the last is "dark fantasy".

Hey, I'm not judging anyone (one of my dearest friends is an erotic romance author) and yes, I've used the most salacious Top 10 list on the site in my example, but this data backs up my anecdotal observations. People who read erotic romance and 'bodice rippers' love ebooks because of the privacy they offer, both during purchase and when reading.

One of my favorite geek thespians, Felicia Day, apparently agrees with me. Here're a few recent tweets from her:

My Dad got me a Kindle 2.0! Thx Dad! Buying all the trashy novels I'm too embarrassed to buy because of the cover art. Oiled up Chests FTW!

BTW third trashy paranormal romance book read on my Kindle. Just told someone I am reading Dickens, LOL!!! I love this!

Let's take that last one with a grain of salt, shall we? But I do honestly believe that the success of the ebook is being fueled by the romance and erotic romance market. My aforementioned author friend, Samantha Lucas, sells almost all of her novels in ebook format for publishers like Cobblestone Press and Siren Publishing (google Ms. Lucas or the publishers if interested; links not really appropriate for ITWorld!) and tells me the market is growing in leaps and bounds.

It'd be fascinating to learn what percentage of Kindle book sales fall into this category, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much of the more explicit Fictionwise content makes it onto the Barnes & Noble site.

I've danced around this point but let me just say it: most of these erotic romance books are purchased by women (presumably) while most of the visual pornagraphy that drove the success of the VHS and arguably video on the web was consumed by men (again, presumably).

Separate but equal, indeed.

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Peter Smith writes about personal technology for ITworld.

19 comments

    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Saraideas's Blog
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    Anonymous 2 years ago
    The line "Back in the 80's and 90's, there was really no such thing as erotic porn" should read erotic romance, not erotic porn. That's a freudian slip :-)
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    Anonymous 2 years ago
    • I have to agree that to me the author of the story was not disparaging of the subgenre of erotic romance.
    • The major difference between erotic romance and porn is that erotic romance has an EMOTIONAL element behind it, it's not just sex.
    • Back in the 80's and 90's, there was really no such thing as erotic porn because Americans have a PURITAN ethic and didn't want their kids or anyone else seeing it in the bookstores or any other physical place.
    • The internet opened up a vast new world for erotic romance since it couldn't just be SHUT DOWN by these same puritannical Americans. There's a large group of free-thinking Americans out there that LIKE erotic romance but they're the SILENT MAJORITY, overruled or stifled by religion and again, puritannical beliefs of moralism. Look how Walmart strips out the bad words from rap records and how erotic romance books and porn magazines are out of sight and only found in a few hard to find physical stores.
    • Now with the internet, high quality cutting-edge romance stories that us SILENT MAJORITY have been looking for and waiting for are out there. I myself will visit the various e-publisher erotic romance websites to buy my e-book stories if I can't find it at large open format places like fictionwise.
    • It isn't all about just readers looking to be anonymous with their erotic romances, but I'll include that as one of the motivations since I cited the puritannical motive. Yes, people like to read about sex and romance. That's a fact of life. However, the main reason for the explosion of readers is because again, the world of erotic romance has opened up on the internet, free of society's strictures. I like the fact there are more romance authors and more romance stories and more romance readers. It just means there's more variety, and more high quality romances.
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    Anonymous 2 years ago
    of erotic and mainstream contemporary romance novels, I've had this argument more times than I care to count. I personally have no problem with the terms used in this article, the only time I get upset is when my work is called porn. Because there is a very real difference between porn, and a sexually explicit romance novel. Even Wickipedia backs me up on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novelI know the author of this article very well, he has always been a huge supporter of me, my writing, and the genre. He would never disparage the romance novel, or genre, so please don't mis-read his intentions here.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    ebooks are different - they are only books turned into ebooks that they already sell in paperback. They have very few Ebook Only books.Don't forget, just because people call romance TRASHY, doesn't mean it is! Yes, romance is the leading market for ebooks, but it's also the leading market for print too, with more than 60% of books sold belonging to the romance genre. So make sure you aren't comparing apples to apples and getting oranges! If I tell you most people at ford are selling fords, and in another town, another ford dealer is selling fords, what is the big deal? Just because it's romance doesn't mean it's bad. The best quality fiction writing I've ever seen is in the romance genre, or was written by a man and SHOULD be in the romance genre, but isn't because a man wrote it.Almost every single fiction book out there has some kind of romance or romantic elements in their books. Even the ones written by men! Just because women prefer the ones written by women shouldn't be a huge surprise.Oh, and last quarter, I understand that romance sales were UP for most of the quality print publishers, while all the war and "shoot em up, bang bang" books(You know, what men read)sales were down.And how many of you trashing romance have ever read one? I challenge you to read, for example, JR Ward, Lara Adrian, and many others who write hard core, edgy romance with plenty of dark action (oops, could that classify as dark fantasy? you betcha). Go for it. Then tell me you don't think romance is as good as what you "Men" read, or what women read who think they are too "high and mighty" to read romance.I do believe when I was a kid there was a favorite phrase. Don't knock it until you try it.Bodice rippers left in the 80's, and romance of today is not what your mamma read, so back off!
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    pasmith
    pasmith 2 years ago in reply to Anonymous
    Please note that I didn't refer to these works as "trashy" nor did anyone in the comments; the only time that phrase came up was a quote from someone else; someone who is apparently an enthusiast of the genre.And for the record, I have read a few novels in the erotic romance genre via my friendship with Ms. Lucas. So I have tried it, but I haven't knocked it. :)Thanks for your thoughts!
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Yes and no--I do find the term "bodice ripper" to be condescending and inaccurate. That so called subgenre of romantic fiction could be found in the 1970s (prior to the women's lib movement) but has since gone extinct,unless youwant to count some BDSM erotica in that category.(But many erotica writers would argue strongly that their stories empower women--not make them into rape fantasies for males.)But the idea of "salciousness" selling books in the easiest, quickest formats possibly helping ebook sales? Yes, it does. It always has--and now with the easeand speed of the downloadable ebook, women AND men can read pretty much what they like, whenever and wherever they like. For instance, my SF erotic-romance titles have sold well in e-formats. (My vampire book sells okay in print butcontinues to sell in ebook form as well.) But my more PG rated contemporary fiction has not done so well in e-formats... Probably because readers can still find plenty of PG rated books in their local libraries and bookstores.With the economy the way it is, these big guys see their slice of the pie shrinking, so they're jumping on the bandwagon and pretending they were never against ebooks in the first place. (Gotta love the hypocrisy.)Save a tree--buy an "e" book. ;)Cynthiannahttp://www.cynthianna.comhttp://www.celinechatillon.comhttp://www.cindyappel.com
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    pasmith
    pasmith 2 years ago in reply to Anonymous
    I apologize for using the term "bodice ripper" if that term is considered condescending. What I was attempting to refer to were the books that are basically all about sexual encounters but aren't completely explicit, but maybe that whole genre is gone by now?In any event, no offense was intended.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    For me, it wasn't a matter of being embarrassed about book covers, but a simple lack of availability, that converted me to an ebook reader. I didn't necessarily WANT to read ebooks -- that was just the only format available to me in a wide variety of erotic romance titles. I, too, live in a rural area 100 miles from the nearest bookstore of any size, and even when I get to a B&N, the selection of erotic romance is extremely limited, especially compared to what's available online. I could (and do) order from Amazon, but that takes several days, and when I'm in the mood to read (especially that genre), I'm in the mood to read NOW.These days, I also download mainstream titles, for several reasons. I'm a voracious reader and ebooks take up far less space in my home; ebooks don't have to go "out of print" and when I stumble across a new author I enjoy, I can get her backlist titles just as easily as her new releases; I can back them up and have a spare copy in case something happens to the original; I can hit delete to get rid of bad ones rather than lugging them to a secondhand store, burning them, or tossing them in a landfill; and finally, I can read ebooks without glasses, even those with smaller fonts, because the screen is bright.Erotic romance dominates the ebook market because they were the first to give readers what they want when they want it. Although mainstream publishers are now following suit, I think erotic romance will always retain a higher share of that market because the playing field is finally leveled and ER publishers are no longer constrained by the personal tastes of book chain buyers.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    As a reader of romances, all across the subgenres, I enjoy both formats print and ebooks. One thing I think everyone failed to notice is the availability of ebook. I live in rural Maine where we get tons of snow, and the closest book store is like an hour and a half away. I don't always have time to run out and pick up the newest release, but I can take a few minutes and download a few.And I know for a fact that the Public Library in Worcester Massachusetts has a lending program for ebooks. My nephew is an avid reader and my sister has gotten alot of books for him that way. From Spiderman to the mysteries he loves so much.So if romance ebooks are bringing this technology to the forfront then I think that's great. And I for one don't equate erotica with porn. The sex in these books is written within the story line, it's not just sex for sex sake.
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    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Erotic "romance" novels are a small sub-genre of a much-bigger romance category that outsells every other genre of fiction whether in ebook or print. "Paranormal romance" can be erotic or simply a romantic novel with supernatural elements. Again, it's a big category. And by the way, "Dark Fantasy" isn't a romance genre, it's edgy contemporary paranormal, think "The Matrix" and "Underworld."Millions of readers buy romance novels of all kinds in print; I don't think many of them are turning to ebooks because they're embarrassed to be seen reading romances. The fact is that the erotic category largely began as ebooks and remains primarily an ebook animal, but is also highly successful in print. Only people who don't understand the enormous and extremely popular category of romance fiction (and yet who are all too happy to make insulting generalizations) come up with simplistic conclusions about why certain novels sell well in ebook. The majority of women's romance novels AREN'T remotely equivalent to men's porn. There's a huge difference between a story that includes a few pages of sex and a sex story that includes very little else.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago in reply to Anonymous
    Those of us who aren't swayed by the moralizing female will most assuredly rationalize that the emotional linkage quietly connecting erotic romance for females and pornography for males superbly serves the same exact saucy purpose.You are generalizing when you state that you don't 'think' many readers turn to erotic ebooks because they are actually quite embarrassed to be seen reading salacious material.There is absolutely every reason to believe that ebooks may well have jump-started the 'career' of erotic literature due to the hesitance of publishers to enter this field until recently. Why? Because of moral generalizations that have been a part of feminine literature for decades WHICH has, in fact, given rise to the secret reader.This is all changing now much to the horror and angst of the moral absolutist.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    The pornography industry was one (and some argue the only) pioneer/implementor of much of the technology of internet commerce. No surprise they come to dominate ebook --- the market is still young. Give it a decade and look then when others will have catched up.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Or gee, it could just be that romance/erotica novels in *any* format by far outsell any other genre, comprising over one third of all fiction sales, and they have for years. But then, that wouldn't make a great tag line would it?
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago in reply to Anonymous
    Your comment is close but still misleading. While it is true that romance novels are over 50% of published books every year, the porn subgenre is less than 1% of the romance books, which makes it even less of the overall market.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago in reply to Anonymous
    You've refuted nothing. The headline is entirely accurate in its present state.Erotic romance is considered a subgenre and this specific market is experiencing a significant level of growth at the present.Linking this growth to ebook expansion is perfectly reasonable since many prefer the discretion an ebook offers when accessing salacious material.This causes trepidation to percolate deep within you? Perhaps just refusing to repress your desire for the salacious would be a step in the optimal direction of releasing your inner bird from prison.
    Flag comment  |  Permalink Reply
    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Hello,This is not particularly surprising to me at all. About 15 years ago, I worked at Tribal Voice, one of the first chat and instant messaging companies, and we thought we were building tools that would allow friends and family to communicate over long distances, that would allow employees to collaborate more effectively and so forth. A large enough percentage of our users were using the technology for racy chat that we ended up opening an adults-only directory server for them to keep them off the main system.
    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky
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    Anonymous 2 years ago
    Fictionwise has almost finished work on their Blackberry client; it's in beta now and I hear that they'll be making it available soon.The reason for the separate eReader site, by the way, is that eReader was formerly a separate company (originally known as Peanut Press, then Palm Digital Media) until Fictionwise bought it so that they would have an e-book format of their own that nobody could abruptly decide to stop licensing to them.
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