Don’t get me wrong, I still love erotic romance. But I confess I’m getting kind of tired of it. Very few authors can sustain my interest when the primary subject matter is sex. There are some who do a great job, but those writers are also fabulous at dialogue, pacing, explicating scenes, creating a vivid picture, you get my drift.
I also think a younger audience will be more receptive to the work itself. They have fewer worries; they can get into a book in ways adults with jobs and bills and sick kids can’t.
I’m no fool here. I know with their shorter attention spans and mean girl/boy hormone fueled attitudes my new target audience may actually be meaner when it comes to their likes and dislikes, but they are also more forgiving, I think.
For example, read reviews for adult romance and then read them for YA titles. The latter is more forgiving right? Less focused on nitpicky mistakes, right? There’s more interest in the characters, the characters actions, what they hope to read next. There’s more interest in the book itself.
I am not saying that quality isn’t important, or that mistakes shouldn’t be pointed out. How else would they get fixed? Quality is critically important. But in adult “reviews,” you can practically see oh, this person had a bad day at work, hasn’t had sex in years or is just a bitter hag who likes to complain and crap all over other people due to mistreatment. Or, maybe the person is kvetching because they didn’t make the cheerleading squad in high school and is still pissed about it; you happened to write about a cheerleader so you get one star.
It’s like hello? Counseling anyone?
Any who, I’m looking forward to seeing what my new audience thinks about this new offering of mine. I hope to have it up by Thanksgiving.
Sherrod Story - Here lies your book boyfriend...naked. 
I believe it’s important for an author to stretch, so I appauld your effort to move into YA. I do hope, however, that you won’t abandon adult romanitc fiction altogether. I personally am weary of reading IR “romantica” which is just one sex scene strung together. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Sandra Kitt but she was the first Black author who was able to get a mainstream publishing house to print her seminal work “The Color of Love”. Great book, great writing, and set a standard. The Willing Slave and The Hick & the Hippie made me a fan. Hope to read more of your work.
Thank you, Kimberley! I won’t abandon the adult stuff all together. I have some more stuff in the works! But I agree that whole one long sex scene thing does get old. I think it’s part of what has changed my reading palette. I’ve heard of Sandra Kitt, but I confess I didn’t know she was black. I’m going to get The Color of Love. Thanks for the recommendation. BTW, did you read Fiona Love? You might like that one if you liked my others…