With the rise of "erotic romance," the romance genre has come a long way since I first discovered it in my early teens, when most of the piles of love stories I brought home from the library ended with a kiss, and only a kiss (plus a proposal of marriage). Some things about romance fiction haven't changed, of course: It still claims the largest share of U.S. consumer book sales, still is an almost completely female pleasure (91% of readers are women), and still appeals to an audience that has graduated young adult but is still far from senior (mean age 49 for print and 42 for e-books). But the popularity of erotic romance (exemplified by the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon) definitely has added new heat, in terms of sales and content, to an old formula. One reason for the growth of the erotic subgenre is doubtless the advent of the e-book, which allows women to download and read a sexy story privately, without the embarrassment of publicly purchasing and carrying the telltale cover. (I used to wish paperbacks would do away with half-naked Fabio back in the day.) And because of the success of erotica, I've noticed that other romance subgenres, including contemporary, historical, paranormal and even Regency romances, are being spiced up with steamy sex scenes. (The inspirational romances remain chaste, of course.) Adding "romance" to mystery or sci-fi probably requires penning a few sex scenes in today's market, too. For an amusing PBS/POV infographic on the evolution of the romance novel, see http://www.pbs.org/pov/guiltypleasures/infographic-evolution-of-romance-novels-fifty-shades-of-grey-ebook.php#.U7M6pJRdWSo
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