In 2006 Kensington Books launched a new imprint, Aphrodisia, to bring “together traditional erotica and a touch of romance” as Laurie Parkin says.
Laura Parkin is Vice President and Publisher of Kensington Publishing who announced on 10-25-05 the debut of Aphrodisia.
Aphrodisia started in January 2006 with four titles (Three by Noelle Mack, Wolf Tales by Kate Douglas, Gotta Have It by Renée Alexis, and The Hard Stuff by Karin Tabke, Bonnie Edwards, and Sunny) and will continue on a bimonthly basis.
Sasha, you are one of the Aphrodisia’s authors. Can you tell us how you became one? When did you hear first about Kensington’s new imprint and that they’re looking for authors and stories?
Well, I can’t say I found Aphrodisia. My agent did it for me. I had a story idea that was offered on from another house, but I’d heard rumors of some NY houses getting into the erotica market, so I approached Roberta Brown about representing me, and seeing if I could get my foot in that door. She took me on and hooked me up with John Scongnamiglio at Kensington.
I’m very lucky that John likes my voice and my style, and I’ve signed up for several projects with the new line. I’m working on building myself a solid niche there, and hope to make it last a long long time.
What can readers expect from Aphrodisia books? What genres will be offered?
They can expect stories that have as much heart as they do heat! I know there will be Paranormal, Futuristic, Historical and Contemporaries for sure.
Laura Parkin says that timing is a key advantage as well, she adds, saying of the major publishers, “we will be the first in stores with a full-fledged list of erotic romance.”
Do you expect more launches of erotic romance imprints with major publisher like Random House, Berkley or St. Martin’s Press in the near future?
I think a few houses are going to dip their toes in yes. But some already have. I think Berkley’s Sensation line could be considered Erotic Romance, and they’ve launched Berkley HEAT this year as well, which is their Erotica line. (More mainstream and not necessarily Romance) I’ve heard rumors of Avon getting in on the market too, but I think it’s on a book by book basis, ad not launching a line, like Berkley and Kensington have,
On the other hand, Ms. Parkin seems to forget British publisher Virgin Books with their successful erotic imprint Black Lace with Emma Holly, Kimberly Dean and a lot of other known authors in their rows. You’ve written stories for Black Lace, too. Do you think an erotic imprint like Aphrodisia is something totally new or different from Black Lace books?
I think it’s completely new for New York.
It also has certain aspects that differ from Black Lace. The Aphrodisia line will have anthologies with novellas, Single Author ones as well as multiple author ones, which is something Black Lace has never done. Black lace has short story anthologies, which is something I don’t see Aphrodisia doing (Just my opinion…who knows what the future holds)
As for story content… they are similar, but not the same. Both are explicit, and don’t shy away from the fact that female readers want more variety. Both have hot and steamy sex scenes included in good stories by talented writers. However, Black Lace is an Erotica imprint that openly claims it’s sexual fantasies written for women, by women, not an Erotic Romance line. And the genres are different. (Despite the fact that some stories can certainly fit into both genres.)
I think there’s plenty of room for both out there, and hope readers will sample both because if you do like one, chances are you’ll like the other. I know I do.
When I view the list of author names releasing books with Aphrodisia, I see a lot of familiar names there like Kate Douglas, Vivi Anna, Alyssa Brooks, Morgan Hawke and Jodi Lynn Copeland for example and yours, of course *smile*. I recognize as well that a lot of the titles sound familiar. Are all Aphrodisia books re-releases of prior published eBooks?
NO! Definitely not all. And there are quite a few authors that are not epublished as well. Like Sunny, and Lucinda Betts, Bonnie Edwards, Noel Mack, Renee Alexis, Lacey Danes. There’s more I’m sure, those are just off the top of my head.
What about your own stories?
My own Aphrodisia stories are not re-releases at all. They are written specifically for Aphrodisia.
Have these prior published eBooks been (partly) re-written b/c will there be new story elements or additional scenes? What I’d like to know is if it’s for someone who has read all Wolf Tales by Kate Douglas from Changeling Press for example still interesting to purchase the Aphrodisia release?
From what I’ve heard from the authors, they are being fleshed out and enhanced. I know that Vivi Anna’s HELL KAT has been hugely fleshed out and is almost double the story the eBook was. And she’s doing a brand new sequel for it right now.
However, Kate’s telling her readers that have read the eBook of Wolf Tales that they don’t need the first WOLF TALES print unless they really want it, but that her novella in Sexy Beast is completely new, and so is WT 2.
If readers are in doubt, email the authors, I know they would be happy to talk to them.
Aphrodisia Novels have 80,000 – 100,000 words, novellas within anthologies 20,000 – 25,000 words.
I know The Devil Inside is 25,000 – 45,000 words novella and Gypsy Heart was a 45,000 – 80,000 words full lenght novel. But have you ever written before a super plus novel (80,000 +)?
With a deadline? I think this sounds – at least for me – not like an easy task more than a challenge *smile*.
I’ve done one. It’ll be released late in 2006 by Berkley’s new HEAT line. Was it easy? Not for me. But I do plan to do more. I have to admit, without the deadline, I’d probably never finish it. I enjoy writing novellas and short stories, and the occasional longer super plus novel. One of the best things for me is that Kensington is open to Single Author Anthologies, and I have one with them. (I’m writing it right now.) My 3-in-1 anthology is called LUSH, and it’s three novellas centering around an art gallery that specializes in erotic art. SO it’ll be three stories, loosely connected, packages together, but the pressure of writing a huge novel isn’t there. It’s ideal for me.
Kensington has not only a new imprint since this year, but also starts to offer eBooks. Aphrodisia titles (Trade Paperback) will be priced at $12.95 and $13.95 and eBook prices, sold through kensingtonbooks.com and the upcoming aphrodisiabooks.com, are priced from $6.99 to $8.99.
These are really affordable eBook prices in comparison to other publishers also selling their print books as eBooks.
Unfortunately, only readers from the States and Canada can purchase Aphrodisia eBooks as secured PDF at the moment. So the important question for eBook readers of erotic romance all over the world, when can we purchase these titles, too?
Also, will Aphrodisia titles be soon available in more eBook formats and will they also be offered through fictionwise in the future?
According to Steve Zacharius, president and CEO of Kensington Publishing, “We will also be making all of our titles available in all of the popular ebook formats probably starting with March pubs. They will also become available at all popular ebook sites at that time.”
So, I’d say yes, they’ll be available to you soon. 🙂
Can you already tell us more about aphrodisiabooks.com? When will it go online? Will it be “only” an eBook store or more?
I have no idea. I don’t anticapate it being soon as I know there is a lot of work in launching a new line… and it’s one step at a time. For now, the books can be found on the Kensington website, and you can find out more about the authors on our shared Blog. http://theaphrodisiaauthors.blogspot.com/
E-publisher like Ellora’s Cave make their way into the print publishing market and print publisher like Kensington make their way into the e-publishing market. Do you like this development? Should all publishers, if possible, offer their books in both formats? Do you think publishers can reach (and please) more readers this way?
Yes, I like it. I think more variety and more opportunity for everyone to have access to the stories is great! It reaches more readers, and hopefully, will bring more in.
“We’ve been intrigued by the response of readers to erotica. These sexier stories first appeared on the internet and from electronic publishers, and are now being sold by retailers, including the major national accounts,” says Parkin.
Do you think that authors who don’t stop in front of the bed room door with their stories will be more accepted now in the publicity as the erotica/erotic romance genre in general, because they’re not “only” published online?
That’s an iffy one. It’s hard to say because a lot of magazines, or online communities don’t have an “over 18” area, and that is a concern. However, I don’t think this will affect sales too much. I think the readers are out there, and they know that things are happening.
I – and I think I’m not alone here – wish you and all other Aphrodisa authors lots of success and I’m looking forward to reading some great stories (Amazon Germany, do you hear me? Get your lazy butt in gear! And Kensington, too. I want be able to purchase Aphrodisia eBooks, too.). Thanks for your time and introducing us to Kensington’s new imprint.
Thank You! I’m always eager to talk about new projects and I hope this helped clear up some questions. If anyone wants to see more about my own upcoming stories,(for Kensington and other publishers) I’d love for them to drop by my website and surf around. Be sure to say hi on the Blog.