Romance is a bestselling genre. In fact, it is the bestselling genre, year after year. Even without researching, you probably intuitively know this to be true because romances are consistently highlighted on Amazon and other retailers.
This is why it baffles me that Romancelandia—as Twitter so affectionately calls the world of romance writing—has not banded together and created a crowd-sourced heat index.
Don’t get me wrong. There are rating systems for heat that exist. You have probably seen the pepper emojis if you are a voracious romance reader. Some rating systems use cute names like “nuclear.” Some try to tie subgenre names to particular sex acts—or lack thereof, or lack of visibility thereof—and make up in-between subgenres. (What lies between sweet and steamy? Or is sweet somewhere between wholesome and steamy, and there’s nothing between?)
These rating systems are also largely subject to interpretation based on a reader’s tastes. What is unthinkably kinky to one reader is a fun Saturday night to another. If your main characters kiss too passionately, you may find a Goodreads review that has a few more stars knocked off than you’d like.
So, what is the solution?
Well, what is Megan’s solution to everything? A website! We need a shiny new website, people! What follows are my suggested features of this website.
Feature #1: Clear Definitions and Terminology
We’re starting off with the controversial one! Personally, I say the more concrete the definitions, the better. The problem right now is that most current definitions are open to interpretation. This makes it more likely that you’ll run into reviewers or authors running group promos that disagree with your categorizations of your books.
And another little snag: easy-to-think-of phrases like “sweet” and “wholesome” and “steamy” are already either categories on Amazon or have a certain definition cemented in people’s heads. So new terminology is where it’s at. The pepper emoji has already seen widespread use, but what about a system based on the colored circles or squares also found in emoji menus? Or both? They are unlikely to come up in other book-related contexts. Or maybe a more varied emoji system: a door emoji for completely closed-door, a window for some on-page action, an empty bed for open-door, and a bed with a person in it for erotica? You could also use flowers, moon phases, the various fire and water related emojis—the possibilities are endless! We just need somebody to pick one and encourage us all to stick to it!
Feature #2: Commonly Read Examples
Note the s at the end of examples. It’s not enough to just scatter a few book titles from big-name cisgender white women and call it a day. There should be a dozen example books on day one at least, and they should be diverse.
Furthermore, these examples should be book titles—not author names. We should let authors continue to feel free to write whatever their heart desires without feeling boxed in by whatever categories they’re currently known for.
Feature #3: Crowd-sourced Lists (or Google Sheets)
Now this? This is the pièce de résistance. I think such a rating system will really thrive—and lend itself credibility—if readers and authors can submit books as examples for the various ratings. Organizing this sounds deceptively easy at first: a Google Sheets document made available to the public, for anyone to edit. Or maybe you could have a submission form on the website that people can use to recommend additions to running lists on a wiki-like subsite (perhaps made using Google Sites?).
But it doesn’t take a logistical savant to realize that this could get out of control fast. A freely-editable Google Sheet will inevitably get unbelievably large, therefore hard to manage. A submission form is an invitation to an overstuffed inbox.
The answer, in my opinion, would be some utilization of the same system millions of forums, Facebook groups, and Discord servers have had in place since their inception: moderators. Likely volunteers, at least at first. Give a few people access to the email address where the submission form or requests are sent, or allow just a few people editing privileges on that Google Sheet.
But with a small team of people who believe in the project, you could soon have a database of romances and their levels of spice, which would be a boon to readers looking for a particular flavor of book as well as writers who are looking to learn from people who’ve achieved what they hope to accomplish. Doesn’t that sound cool?
