Tuesday, May 4, 2010

An Open Letter to Some Review Sites

Dear Reviewers,

In the past week I've seen comments on blogs, Twitter, and Facebook about the "state" of erotic romances.  Most of the comments revolve around the "fact" that 1. all erotic romances read the same, and 2. there's nothing new "out there".

But I've also noticed that the majority of your reviews are from NY published authors/houses.  What few reviews you do for the smaller epubs basically revolve around the Big Three - namely Samhain, LooseID, and Ellora's Cave.

Is there a reason why the other epubs don't get reviewed (rarely, if ever)?  Have you tried any of their books?  I can assure you there are plenty of erotic romances that don't "read the same."  Ditto for the fact that there is plenty of fresh ideas waiting to be discovered. 

Kudos to the smaller epubs who are willing to contract an author for writing out-of-the-box erotic romances.  That's where most of the fresh, new ideas are coming from. Not from the NY pubs who, once they see a well-received genre or format, end up flooding the market with exact (and sometimes poor) replicas, until sales begin to drop off, and they start wondering why they're losing money - not to mention readers.

Yes, there are review sites that give epubs equal opportunites to have their releases read and graded.  To them, I say thank you.  But to see blatant comments like "they're all the same" is not giving credit to those authors and publishers who dare to venture outside of the mold. 

In short, please don't lump those of us who are not with NY or the Big Three into one big overall category.  Our books are just as good.  Just try us.  If NY houses are giving you pause, what's the worst you could encounter with a smaller epress?

Thank you.

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