Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

huh, and here I thought we might be leaning back towards the flower covered books…guess not.

I wonder if I’ll sell more copies of my book being on the same shelf with Jenna.

;-)

Jenna Jameson is a brilliant businesswoman, there are worse things that could be shelved there! But I wonder if that book is a romance? From Amazon, it looks to be erotica.

What was I supposed to be looking at?  Because a double dose of hard, bunching abs?  Totally wiped all thought from my mind. 

*is mindless zombie*

As far as I could see all those titles (except for the Macomber on the very right) are erotica/erotic romance.

And let me put in a plug for Handyman, great stuff and way more than sweating bodies, too.

spam word: pattern16, well yes, there was a pattern, nice abs, if not 16, then at least 6… :)

I always thought critiquing books required reading skills?

Little did I know Cosmo = Hustler.

Note to self: No Queequeg mantitty on Moby Dick cover Church Ladies get upset.

Susan Johnson? Really “Johnson?”

You know, if I want a Bethany Press type of book, I shop in a Christian bookstore.  If I want goog old fashioned romance stuff I head to Chapters or the used book store.  I’m yet to meet a child or a male in those aisles.

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Barnes & Noble doesn’t differentiate between Erotica and Romance.  I wish they did, although the lines are getting sooooo blurred these days that it may not matter.  Borders has an erotica section, but I’ve noticed lately that it’s gotten rather anemic, with most of the new erotica—Ellora’s Cave, Aphrodisia, etc.—being shelved in Romance.  They’re even shelving Blake Lace over in Romance, whereas that used to have a strong presence in the Erotica section.

At Barnes & Noble, all the Erotica and Romance is shelved together, unless it is definitely Gay/Lesbian Erotica—which is shelved in Gay/Lesbian—or Zane, which is shelved in Fiction.

I honestly can’t figure out if it’s one book I’m supposed to be looking at or if all of the covers/titles are equally gag worthy.

And this is in no way a criticism of the authors.  I’ve been plenty unhappy with some of my titles/covers, myself.

I think the point is that Jenna Jameson is a porn star, and now she has a book out. So where’s the defense that romance is nothing but porn? The boundaries are blurred ever more.

Well, when I took the picture there were two things that were throwing me.  One, the Debbie Macomber book at the end of that row and two, the Jenna Jameson book in the middle.

As a New Release section in Romance it’s supposed to be representative of the genre.  Now mind you—I’m no prude.  I had my ten year old daughter with me and she asked, “Mom, why are there so many naked people on the covers?”

I replied, “It’s what’s selling.”  *shrug*

have you all seen the price of those books? 13.99 - 15.99!
egads!

all for the pleasure of reading words like “pussy and cock” instead of “sheath and man sword” LOL

all for the pleasure of reading words like “pussy and cock” instead of “sheath and man sword” LOL

Actually, I like the first pair of words a lot more than the second. *g* They seem more… honest to me, somehow. Jay McInerney said once that he thought sex scenes in books should be “unadorned,” and I agree. I hate euphemistic language used to describe such an elemental experience.

Probably explains why I’m fine with paying more money for certain books. *g*

HAHAHAHA. My spamguard word is length68. Only one digit off!

all for the pleasure of reading words like “pussy and cock” instead of “sheath and man sword” LOL

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I am not so fond of the naked people covers… gimme a person, place,or thing cover…and naked people can be put on the 2nd cover (I don’t remember what they’re called).

Lack24…yes, I find the naked couple covers lacking.

Not sure where my snorking comment went… but it was supposed to go beneath rebyj’s quote…that was hillarious. Root beer almost came out of my nose.

LOL!
chicklet I prefer the less flowery terms as well.
Kismet, rootbeer is good for the sinuses!

I’ve read a few of the newer erotica books, and maybe its just that I’m old but there are only so many ways to describe a love scene and the erotica doesnt seem any more graphic than regular fiction except in erotica, there are love scenes in which the hero’s aim is off. :0

Aim is off

Awesome…

flowery terms are done with, but the naked covers are WAY overdone these days.
We Get It, it’s erotic romance…now let’s move on.

my daughter recently put all my romance books in my bedroom and said she really didn’t want her friends to see the naked people. She’s 10. I couldn’t stop laughing.

I think the bedroom is a good place for all the naked picture covers… when there are kids around. It’s great when kids assert their own boundaries around these things. I know a woman who keeps her sex toys strewn about the apartment, even in her son’s space, even though he hated hated hated it - he was four or five at the time! Obviously that’s different - it’s just part of why I like it when kids get to be like “no, this will no longer go out in the part of the house my friends and I are in.”

Well, I had to laugh at my daughter’s interpretation of one of the covers—not on that shelf, but another, they had another title face out—and my daughter, budding artist that she is, took a look at the cover and said, hand to God, “Mom, why is there a gargoyle sitting on that woman on the cover?”

I looked again and nearly lost my mind laughing.  That cover photo was so soft focus, the guy actually did look slightly gargoylish.

I’m really not sure how to respond.  It is ironic how romance writers try to defend the genre as it not being porn, and yet we are shelved (and have book covers which reflect) erotica and pornography.  Of course, not many authors have control over their bookcover or the marketing, but should we stop the fight and just enjoy the ride?  For me, the jury is still out.

I want RESPECT for my work and yet I want sales too!

I think my favorite part of the row is that Jenna Jameson’s book is almost the most conservative cover…

I think Barnes & Noble is confused about book shelving in general. I browsed yesterday and nothing was where I would have looked for it: Vampire romances (Charlene Harris and laurell hamilton and the like) were in with the sci-fi/fan section and Richelle Mead’s Succubus Blues was filed in regular fiction. B&N didn’t have the first two books in Meljean Brook’s Demon series (which I had gone in to buy) but did have a huge stack of jenna jameson’s book. It almost made me want to get a job there so I could rearrange everything to my liking!

As an Aphrodisia author, I’m thrilled to see so many of our books on the shelf!

Noelle Mack was the first Aphrodisia author to get a RT top pick and 4.5 stars. Her books are great! Jodi and Lacy’s books are fantastic too.

I didn’t realize that Jenna Jameson was a porn star. (Apparently I live in a cave.) Her cover doesn’t give it away.

Personally, I think it’s great that we can get our romance fixes in flavors ranging from Debbie Macomber’s, A Good Yarn to Kimberly Kay’s, Big Spankable Asses! I think it’s one of the reasons romance rocks! I’m glad that the covers can appropriately reflect the heat content too.

That cover photo was so soft focus, the guy actually did look slightly gargoylish.

Do I spy the next popular subgenre of romance? *g*

I am for the equal rights of himbos everywhere.

I want more naked virile sweaty gorjesus men on my book covers please!

I feel men should have given the same opportunity to be treated like the sex objects we deserve to be.

MORE!

Do I spy the next popular subgenre of romance? *g*

At this point, not much would surprise me.  *g*

I am for the equal rights of himbos everywhere.

I want more naked virile sweaty gorjesus men on my book covers please!

*SNORT*  But TP, don’t you think that a full row of them sort of deadens the impact?

*thinks about who she’s talking to*

Never mind.  Carry on.

Why would it matter?  If you sell a story hooray.  Who cares what the label is?  If you’re going to be picky don’t write a story that someone may flick a bic or empty a twinkie too.  For all there are romantic ideals in the stories most contain some form of sexual contact which tends to get us humans all riled up.

So don’t fash yourselves over the fact that a porn star bought into the business.  She’s a nasty dried up va-jay-jay so she’s gotta try her hand at something new.  Will she compare to someone who has been actually doing the CRAFT of writing for a long time and really really puts their all into a story?  Probably not.  But most likely she’s also ghost written.

The book cover idea of sexy is so not anymore.  I’m desensitized to it.  I don’t go “Ooo sexy abs!” anymore.  At all.  I just sort of shuffle on by and hope I can find something romantic with a cover that doesn’t scream “FUCK ME! FUCK ME!  FUCK ME WHILE I’M TIGHT!”

Alas, my choices are so limited these days. (*snerk* values45 I wish the industry had some!)

That cover photo was so soft focus, the guy actually did look slightly gargoylish.

Do I spy the next popular subgenre of romance? *g*

I’ve read Vickie Taylor’s “flesh and stone” and “carved in stone”
both about gargoyles LOL

So that’s what Jenna Jameson has been doing since she retired from porn. Hope she also started eating real food.
Never cared for her, didn’t like her autobiography, and won’t be reading her ‘erotica’.
However, if you want a good bio of a porn star, Ron Jeremy’s autobiography was really good.

It almost made me want to get a job there so I could rearrange everything to my liking!

Ciaralira, you really don’t want to do that. I worked at a B&N for 2 and a half years—you wouldn’t get a chance to rearrange anything: all the title placements and categories are drawn up by the “Home” (read: Corporate) Office and are set in stone. Even if something is egregiously mis-categorized, it would take a miracle to get it re-categorized (like the autobiography of an upscale restaurant hostess that was shelved in ‘Gardening’ because it had the word “plant” in the subtitle).

Aack, covers will be the demise of this industry.  Forget flowers, maybe plain brown wrappers…please.

In our house, my hubby puts them away so the kids won’t see the covers…whatever.

I was distracted by the two bookcovers next to hers, when BAM! This anorexic thing scared me—had to look back at the hard arbs so I could get that image of her out of my mind.

Teddy, you just tell those church ladies that Queequeg’s tatts are a map of the Holy Land.  Then they’ll have an excuse to ogle the mantitty!

What disturbs me more than anything is Lizzie’s description of B&N.  Heyzeus!  I hear shit like that about corporate America’s moronic and rigid pronouncements, and I’m amazed we’re not in a full-blown economic depression!  (It never ceases to amaze me that the people whose heads are farthest up their asses are the ones most firmly convinced they’re looking into the face of God.)

Oy…I remember this.  *sigh*  I went there the other day & saw that myself.  All I could think was “Huh?”  I know the mostly nekkid mens is important for covers, but honestly…there’s gotta be something better out there.

Even if something is egregiously mis-categorized, it would take a miracle to get it re-categorized (like the autobiography of an upscale restaurant hostess that was shelved in ‘Gardening’ because it had the word “plant” in the subtitle).

Here I was trying to give them some credit, thinking that perhaps it was a marketing ploy: that BN was thinking they might tempt romance readers to try erotic romance if they shelved them together… apparently I was giving them too much credit.

Back in the day, I also worked for B&N, and yep….

I forget which series it was, something Arthurian, and book 1 was in fiction, 2 was in history and 3 was in somewhere else. I pointed it out to the manager, wondering how 1) someone who wanted to buy the whole series, would be able to find the books 2) how a fictional book about King Arthur could be put in non-fiction history. He had no answer to that.

My thoughts: they have some random data entry people, who have no clue what they are doing and who know jack shit about books, maintaining the data bases, so all sorts of shit gets fucked up for shelving.

Well, even when the books are entered into the system correctly, whether they’re shelved correctly or not is up to the individual doing the shelving.  If it’s someone with a brain, then odds are you’re okay.  If it’s some mindless drone who’s shoving books onto a shelf because that’s what they were told to do without bothering to check them against the electronic documentation, then you have a fight on your hands.  I happened to be at B&N (yep, the same one I took the picture at) with my daughter a couple of weeks after It’s Not About the Accent was released and we were standing in the kids’ section while she picked up a book she wanted.  I was browsing the shelves and there, in the Middle Grades section, was Accent cheerfully shelved face out. 

I went, grabbed the section lead and explained I was the author and that the book was incorrectly shelved.  (It had been shelved correctly a couple weeks before when it was released.)  That it was a teen book, it was meant for older readers and I really didn’t want irate parents emailing me because their kids were reading inappropriate material.  The lead looked at me as if I was a bug, and very smugly explained that if it was shelved there, it was because that’s where it was supposed to be.  I picked up the book, handed it to him, and very politely asked, “Prove it.”

He huffed out this huge, put-upon sigh, took the book, walked over to the nearest computer and checked.  Without a word, he went back to the shelf where the rest of the copies were, took them and moved them to the Teen shelf.

my daughter recently put all my romance books in my bedroom and said she really didn’t want her friends to see the naked people. She’s 10. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Heeee! *giggle fit* Love it! Good for her!

He huffed out this huge, put-upon sigh, took the book, walked over to the nearest computer and checked.  Without a word, he went back to the shelf where the rest of the copies were, took them and moved them to the Teen shelf.

*giggle fit gives way to full-out coughing, wheezing laugh-fest* You go!

*delurking to chime in as another BN employee*

all the title placements and categories are drawn up by the “Home” (read: Corporate) Office and are set in stone. Even if something is egregiously mis-categorized, it would take a miracle to get it re-categorized

sad but true.  and if the staff shelving the books notices that a book is misfiled in the system, we can choose the put it in the correct place so that customers will find it; but then if a customer asks for help at customer service, we won’t be able to locate it.  one example would be with James Patterson’s Maximum Ride books: leading up to the recent release of the latest volume, the classification of the mass market pbs was changed from teen to regular fiction.  yes, this may draw in his adult fans.  but it confuses the customers, it confuses the booksellers, and the kids can’t find the books!

Vampire romances (Charlene Harris and laurell hamilton and the like) were in with the sci-fi/fan section and Richelle Mead’s Succubus Blues was filed in regular fiction.

yep.  some of the things I see filed in regular fiction, like the Zane books, make me roll my eyes.  meanwhile, the lazy booksellers who sort the books by cover guestimate instead of scanning them are up the creek with some of the books marketed in mystery, romance, and sff.  I find J.R. Ward and other romantic suspense books shelved in mystery all the time. 

and then, we have the religious fiction books that are trying out the Harlequin look.  fun times!

Vampire romances (Charlene Harris and laurell hamilton and the like) were in with the sci-fi/fan section and Richelle Mead’s Succubus Blues was filed in regular fiction.

See to me, the Charlaine Harris and LKH books aren’t romances, but urban fantasy (even though CH has a romantic element).  When I go looking for those books, I head for fantasy/scifi first and find them quickly enough.  Borders had them in horror. Don’t know where they shelve them now since it’s been a while since I’ve been in one.

I remember way back in te day when I supported by book habit by working for the man, they gave me a literature test before I was hired.  I guess they’re not doing that anymore—few adult booklovers can afford to work at high school wages, at least on nights and weekends when most shoppers are in.

I work for a bookstore and I can honestly say that for those “new release” shelves, you have to have a certain number of copies of new books to put there.  And those are all new releases that probably came to their store with enough copies to be displayed.  You can’t blame the bookstore workers or the authors for what the covers looks like.  As all or most people know…..it’s the publishers that pick them.  And I know for a fact, since I do most of the receiving and display filling at my store, that those are the newest trade paperback romance novels to come to stores.

(and I have certainly seen much more graphic covers than what is on those covers :p )

The book cover idea of sexy is so not anymore.  I’m desensitized to it.  I don’t go “Ooo sexy abs!” anymore.  At all.  I just sort of shuffle on by and hope I can find something romantic with a cover that doesn’t scream “FUCK ME! FUCK ME!  FUCK ME WHILE I’M TIGHT!”

I just spit out my drink all over my monitor. That’s got to be the quote of the day! LOL!!