JERR blogs too!

This is another post that goes under the FAQs tag.

The issue of the graphic language content in an erotic romance has been discussed many times online. Some authors don't like to use blunt graphic language and consider that an erotic romance does not need the use of such language to be "erotic". As a matter of fact, some authors call bluntly graphic language "vulgar" and avoid it like the plague. I am not going to argue that point. I have read some romances that I definitely found arousing which didn't use any blunt language or limited it to the use of the word c*ck (which as many as you know, has been in use for centuries) a couple of times. On the same vein I've read some books classified as "erotic romance" jammed packed with bluntly graphic sex scenes which did absolutely nothing for me on the arousal department. This is all very subjective... which is why I am not going to be presenting any sort of argument in favor of it or against it.

When JERR was born the original founders had to establish some sort of uniform rules that would help the reviewers do their work. They deemed that language was an important part of what an erotic romance should be and that using mainstream accepted language did not cut it. In other words, the language chosen had to be bold and blunt, otherwise there would be no difference between a standard romance and an erotic romance. As you all know, romance nowadays tends to be very sensual in many instances, even when most romance out there is classified under other categories like historical or paranormal. This made sense five years ago and it makes even more sense now, as spicier romance is more prevalent.

For us, the blunt graphic language content requirement has worked, along with the length requirement and establishing our own "definition" of what erotic romance is. Although it is not a perfect solution, it has provided uniformity, and anyone submitting a book to us for review knows what to expect.


Mireya

This is another post that belongs in the FAQ category.

Since JERR was first published it has exclusively reviewed erotic romance. The original founders "baptized" the newsletter Just EROTIC ROMANCE Reviews for a reason. Initially the only requirements were that all books had to be erotic romance, with extremely and bluntly graphic scenes. A couple of years ago we added the minimum length requirement (11,000 words) due to the extremely high number of super short short stories that barely had enough room for a quickie scene.

Now, what do we mean by erotic romance. At JERR we only consider erotic romance a story in which the romantic plot takes center stage, irrespective of how many main characters are involved, their gender, race, species, or whatever. Additionally, the story has to end on a positive note if not an outright HEA (happily ever after) in the classic sense.

JERR DOES NOT review any other category of romance NOR any other type of erotic fiction (i.e. erotica, erotic chick lit, etc.)

Our guidelines are specific and more importantly, are well defined and interpreted, so that our reviewers are able to do their job properly. We acknowledge that what may feel romantic to one reader may not necessarily feel romantic to another, hence, our reviewers are instructed to inform us when they read something for review that does not seem to match our guidelines, before they write their review. Fran, our head editor, and myself, take a closer look, and decide if the book should just be "shelved" for not meeting our guidelines, or if it should be made available to someone else. We do try to be as fair as possible, and not discard books without further evaluation when we get such reports.

On a final note, the guidelines are non negotiable.


Mireya

I figured that since we now have a blog, we might as well use it to post some FAQs. This is the first one.

Every once in a while I get one of these: "I received notice (or I was told) that JERR reviewed my book... but I can't find the review! "

The first thing that everyone should keep in mind is that JERR is a reviews NEWSLETTER not a reviews website. This means that we operate somewhat differently from a reviews site. Though we do have a website, truth is that we simply use it as a repository. The reviews, under normal circumstances, are uploaded 4-5 weeks (roughly a month to a month and a half) after the original publication date of the review.

To anyone wanting to link asap to a review that is not yet available in the website, we recommend that you link to the Yahoo group that we use to mail the newsletter. However, do not try to read the newsletter from the forums. Yahoo has a word limit on posts, and all messages get a [truncated] note where the message is automatically cut off. If you need to check a full copy of the newsletter, simply log on to the Yahoo group, and on the left hand side you'll see a menu. Choose Files from that menu. There you will find full copies of all our newsletters, organized by date. It's not as easy as actually just linking to the website, but it provides a solution for those that really want to link to their review asap.

Last but not least, if after you checked in the newsletter's group Files you still can't find your review, drop me a note at mireya @ justeroticromancereviews.com (no spaces). I'll look into it.

Just so everyone is aware, last year we did have issues with the uploading of reviews to the website. We are currently working on the updates, and hopefully everything will be in place by the first week of February 2008.



Mireya