…equal bad writing by nature?
Hmmm…
Diatribe from an Erotic Romance Author: Must Erotica Really Suck So Much? (part 1)
OUCH! And Mea Culpa (part 2)
In other news, two author’s loops I’m on have been flooding me with digests over their fury at things those of us in the blogsphere debated weeks ago. 
(The horse is dead.)
Cracks me up after hearing the new guidelines to existing ‘erotica’ publishers to learn that another major publisher Harper Collins Avon is building up steam for an erotica/erotic romance off shoot. NAL has erotic romance anthologies hitting the stands. Berkley has been there, doing it. St. Martin’s, Kensington, Harlequin–all getting jiggy with it.
Prepare for the flood. The giant tsunami of erotic romance is about to glut (def: to flood (the market) with goods so that supply exceeds demand) the bookstores.
And then the tide will ebb. Sweet romances will make a resurgence. So will westerns and historicals. Dust those manuscripts off. Your turn is coming up quick. 
(In the meantime, I’ll be here, happily writing my Bravas.)
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Hear hear! I expect a good story. That’s all! Whether it’s two people or four, sex on page one or no sex at all, I just want good writing. I know it’s not too much to expect and I’m going to keep looking for it in e-publishing specifically. I may need my eyeballs boiled in carbolic acid occasionally to cleanse them from the dreck that gets through, but I’ll be out there, searching diligently and praying daily, “Please don’t suck!” (er, sucking does have its place, esp in erotica…. but you know what I mean!)
Me, three! i agree, very well said! I really have a hard time with the books that are just sex sex sex for the sake of sex. There’s got to be a relationship and the sex should be a part of the exploration of the couple’s relationship, how they learn more about each other, how they bond together. I still believe that it must be a good, well plotted story that would still be an excellent romance without the sex. But at the same time, it should be a stronger story because of the sexual relationship between the h/h/ Jeez, don’t know if I’m making any sense today!:???:
Evangeline, well said.
The only doubts I have about this new “trend” is the possibility of desperate writers upping the sexual acts of their stories in order to get published–which, to my chagrin, is why a lot of erotic romance leaves me yawning.
It’s a mistake to believe that the emphasis of an erotic romance is on how hot the sex can be. And because of that assumption, too many erotic romance novels have the hero and heroine panting and crawling all over each other before me, the reader, has gotten a chance to take a breath and see what they are about. And why is this, I think? Because to most people, an erotic romance is just a regular romance with more sex.
I love Emma Holly’s erotic romance–heavy on the erotica, but ending in the romance. Too many romance novel hang ups abound in the erotic romance genre that make them into pure clunkers. I’d read a story about a frigid virgin and a male slut–but not if they have this romanceland baggage that makes their pasts and histories into something PC enough for romance readers. If readers want erotic romance because it is supposed to be a bit more grittier, dirtier and honest than the regular two-three love scene romance, then why are so many authors writing them without the grit?
Ah, Evangeline. Beautifully said and so spot on.