Spice Over Substance
The style of written romance novels is ever-changing, evolving with time and the interests of the readers, but during this current age dominated by social media usage, “BookTok” and other algorithm-driven communities have reshaped the genre at high speed. What had once focused on slow-burn tension, deep emotional development, and narrative payoff is being rapidly replaced by character dynamics easy to market—“enemies to lovers,” “grumpy x sunshine,” and “forced proximity,” among others. Classic storytelling of organic emotional arcs have transformed into easy-to-consume content, focusing on spice level and cliché tropes rather than heartfelt storylines.
Erotica and explicit sex scenes have been written into literature for millenia, reaching as far back as ancient Greece. However, the early 2020s saw an upsurge of BookTok and a reconfiguration of the publishing industry, particularly for the romance genre. Algorithms recommended popular favorites and allowed them to go viral, turning once niche titles and authors into overnight bestsellers and introducing a new generation of readers to romance. For instance, “romantasy” readers propelled series like Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing into widespread popularity, holding readers in a chokehold as they eagerly anticipated each installment. In response, authors have grabbed onto sought-after tropes and pushed them out in droves, so much so that readers can easily identify and predict them. Online creators now recommend books based primarily on spice level. Contemporary romance novels are driven less by emotional intimacy and more by the excess, as highly explicit content has become a key factor in readers’ purchasing decisions.
The more books are pushed out to the market advertising smut from the beginning, the more overconsumption of this cheap genre becomes idealized. Sex scenes are starting to feel like forced additions to the plotline—an easy cash-grab and marketing technique, often diminishing the narrative and reducing the impact of the story. The rise of mainstream erotica has made sex scenes extremely noticeable, prompting readers to isolate them and perceive a deliberate attempt to drive sales on the author’s behalf. Because of this growing community of spice-level readers, many romance novels are expected to include sex scenes as a standard feature rather than an occasional exception. In reality, and often forgotten, is the fact that romance and love can exist without sex.
While the Booktok community helped boost book sales from major distributors, there are concerns about the actual intention behind the mass publishing of salacious content. Beneath the idea that reading has been repopularized by social media lies a growing unease that this surge of explicit content is less organic than one may believe. Algorithms play a huge role in determining what is displayed to users, and many have admitted to witnessing the popularity growth of smut novels specifically.
As of today, certain hashtags that are related to both smut and romance novels: The “smut” tag has amassed a total of 3.5 billion views, while other tags like “SmutRecs” have accumulated around 140 million views. Given this substantial number of views and the widespread popularity of smut online, it seems almost easy to forget that these novels contain an alternative form of pornography—simply rewritten in a form that has become socially acceptable.
At the end of the day, the inclusion of sex scenes in romance novels is not inherently necessary, especially when they fail to directly contribute to the development of the plot. In fact, many romance novels in the last five years have received proper recognition and adoration without relying on written erotica. Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard (2022) landed top spots on the New York Times Bestseller list and the USA Today Bestseller list as a lighthearted, cheesy rom-com. Leaving readers stupidly smiling and kicking their feet, Center was able to capture the emotional intimacy of the two protagonists without including erotica into the plot. Ultimately, the success of this novel calls into question the assumption that sexual content is a prerequisite for commercial visibility in modern romance.
Finding overexaggerated erotica in contemporary novels these days is unavoidable. The inclusion of smut is ingenious when those scenes are used to benefit the development of the story, rather than as a meretricious marketing tactic that diminishes the overall narrative. Social media only amplifies this trend, extending its reach and reinforcing its demand. Romance novels are supposed to alter our perception of the world, to make us laugh, ache, cry, and teach us valuable lessons. Yet when smut takes precedence, the integrity of that connection is diluted, making it difficult for readers to distinguish unfeigned, wholehearted connections between the characters.
Written by Avery Schnautz, Photography: Manny Bernal, Design: Dylan Dougherty, Social Media: Isabella Nolasco, Styling: Paola Estrada