Michelle's corner
Michelle Knight. Writer, photographer, programmer, truck driver and general, all round nut case. Life is a journey and that's what this blog will probably end up being. Let's see where we go, eh? ;-)
Erotic End on the Erstwhile Precinct?
OK, so the title isn't perhaps quite as I'd like it, (I'd have loved another E in there) but my head is in a fog and I'm not thinking straight.
I've just come off the phone from another discussion with a UK national bookseller and things have changed.
Just at a time when society thinks it may be opening up and becoming more comfortable with itself, some of the doors are closing in on us, for more than one reason.
As the bookshelves of our booksellers are narrowing, it seems that erotica is what is being edged out. There have long been financial pressures from things like e-readers but other blips have played out in recent years.
2013 was, for example, an absolute storm for WHSmith who were firstly caught putting DRM in books without authors consent...
...then stripped erotica after the controversy of the graphic ebook...
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/384748/whsmith-pulls-site-after-graphic-ebook-controversy
...and then finally closed their doors to self-published authors, handing one of the most potent forces of new blood over to Amazon...
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/whsmith-boycotts-self-published-authors
I was just on the phone to a buyer at the head office of another national chain (not WHSmith!) who opined that people who want to read erotica will prefer an anonymous e-reader. I didn't tell him that I know plenty of people for whom holding an erotic novel on the train is one of their ways of saying, "I'm my own person, I'll read what I want to and stuff you!"
The big question facing my good self is this ... if the national taste is for more erotica at a time when the big shops are pushing it away, then this will hasten the closure of stores as more people are forced to find material on-line and by mail order for those members of the reading army who still want print.
Just as I was riding high in the belief that I might get a leg up for my own book, by a community focus from one book seller, it appears that this, too, has evaporated in to the air.
It seems that those who visit their book shops to find their next read, are going to increasingly find themselves with fewer shops, offering a smaller and more mainstream, un-flavoured choice. I honestly can't see this going anywhere else. Indie, small press and innovative reads look to be off the menu.
There are those who are blaming 50 Shades for this and the backlash that it has triggered; the 50ShadesIsAbuse movement has also been running for a few years now and has done much to shame retailers and other bodies in to altering their vectors. Some such organisations state that they are not anti-ereotica or anti-BDSM, however anti-pornography campaigners have been found to be behind others.
This has now polarised us even more against sex, but has done nothing for violence. One boy was banned from his schools world book day event for dressing up as Mr Grey while some teachers were reportedly dressed up as mass murderers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-31760713
Just as there are different variants of murder, there are also different variants of erotica. There are also some damn fine self published authors out there and also quality erotica which DOES push the literary boundaries.
In my personal opinion, our book sellers are missing out on the chance to make a difference; to celebrate and showcase new talent and bring people in to book stores. By banning an entire genre and restricting themselves to mainstream, how long will it be before all our book purchases will be done by post?
