Romance novels have dominated the fiction market for many years. A great deal of the genre’s appeal is due to its mutability. Trends surface and swell in the romance fiction industry with some regularity, ensuring a wide variety of storylines and settings.

Graphic sex in romance is the latest “hot” trend. Readers want to see through an open bedroom door to gain a broader picture of how the hero and heroine interact with each other. The term “erotic romance” describes a graphic level that is very distinct, but due to a tendency by readers and writers to interchange “erotic romance” with “erotica” and detractors’ usage of the words “porn” and “soft porn” it has become a confusing morass. The definition of these terms is often debated, but here is a basic breakdown:

Porn: stories written for the express purpose of causing sexual titillation. Plot, character development, and romance are not primary to these stories. They are designed to sexually arouse the reader and nothing else.
Erotica: stories written about the sexual journey of the characters and how this impacts them as individuals. Emotion and character growth are important facets of a true erotic story. However, erotica is not designed to show the development of a romantic relationship, although it’s not prohibited if the author chooses to explore romance. Happily Ever Afters are not an intrinsic part of erotica, though they can be included. If they are included, they aren’t the focus. The focus remains on the individual characters’ journeys, not the progression of the romance.
Erotic Romance: stories written about the development of a romantic relationship through sexual interaction. The sex is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development, and it couldn’t be removed without damaging the storyline. Happily Ever After is a requirement to be an erotic romance.
Sexy Romance: stories written about the development of a romantic relationship that just happen to have more explicit sex. The sex is not an inherent part of the story, character growth, or relationship development, and could easily be removed or “toned down” without damaging the storyline. Happily Ever After is a requirement as this is basically a standard romance with hotter sex.

I hope you can see how distinct these stories are and how the “label” applied to them isn’t interchangeable. It’s my hope that the erotic romance genre will continue to grow and thrive. As it does, perhaps the distinctions between genres will become clearer and more readers will get exactly what they’re looking for in a “hot” romance.