Erotic romance or just Romance?

I'm writing a novel where about 22% of the scenes are about sex and the sex definitely drives the story. I also have the usual elements of romance including life changing decisions, misunderstandings between the MC's, relationships ripped apart and brought back together for the HEA.

I write fairly graphic sex, as it is pertinent to the story lines overall. I also aim to titillate the reader as well as advance the plot. I belong to a romance/erotic reading group on Goodreads and there is not really any consensus on what the defining line is between erotica and romance. I've read stories marketed as Erotica that have no sex for the MC (voyeuristic or mental fantasies for the MC) and have read romance stories that are nothing but one big romp in the hay.

Since sex drives my plot to such a large degree, I'm leaning to erotic romance as where I should be placing this particular story. Do erotic romance readers need more sex than story in their romances? Is there too much sex at nearly 1/4th of the scenes to be part of the romance genre?

I wish there was a formula to figure out where this story should fit so that readers can more easily find exactly the kind of story they are looking for.

articshark said:

We have been discussing this somewhat over in Erotica. Here's my take on it.

In Erotica, sex is the story. And it could be masturbation, voyeurism, etc. Not just copulation. In erotic romance, sex DRIVES the story. Say discovery of latent homosexuality where the story is about the sexual discovery, or latent dom/sub tendencies where the story is about the sexual journey, and other things like that. In romance, sex can or cannot be part of the story. I have seen sex be graphic to behind closed doors to no consummation at all.

Does that make sense or help?

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This is really helpful! I was originally going for pure erotica when I started this story, but the characters seemed to have so much more going on, so I got busy writing.

I started thinking of it as erotic romance, but my Goodreads group has me questioning where this book would fall in the romance spectrum.

I have no story if there is no sex.

Thank you so much! I've been writing for a while, but long form fiction is a new one for me.