co-mingling YA and adult (erotic romance) reviews

[Dee Fisher]

so I have been working on being more regular about my blogging and I realized that i read a wide variety of stuff and I want to make sure that my blog contains a little bit of everything - my concern is that by co-mingling YA and more adult type book reviews (erotic romance, BDSM titles etc) - what if a teen is exposed to the review?  

now I know that i have no control over what said teen buys etc, but its a concern to me - what are others thoughts?

[Alison M.]

I'd say make sure you do your best to make it known that a book you're taking about is for adults. Maybe put something in the title of a post ("After Hours Review: XYZ" or something similar)?

Try to utilize to "read more"/break within your review. That way someone doesn't accidentally stumble across something they don't want to see/read.

Just be aware that it might lose you some readers. I know I won't subscribe to blogs that review "adult" books even if I like some of their other reviews.

Hope that helps you out!

[Dee Fisher]

i don't have a lot of subscribers so i'm not worried about that and I typically limit my posts to 1 review only, or combine same series together (easier to review a series as a whole, than in parts sometimes)

thanks!

[Grace]

I agree with Allison--coming up with a clear system of marking which books are more adult should be sufficient, either by posting it in the title of the review or marking it very clearly as soon as the review starts.  I don't think you'll have too much of a problem if you keep them distinct, and besides... teens already know about a lot more than most adults give them credit for.  They've probably seen worse than what they'd glance at if they looked at the wrong review.

_________________________

Books Without Any Pictures

[Kelli Wheelwright]

So basically, you read YA but also want to read Fifty Shades... No problem. My blog covers all family levels from childrens books to adult. Just keep your reviews written in a family friendly way and it doesn't matter what kind of books you read. You can also make sure that you have a way for your readers to quickly get to the type of book they want by havng side bar menus.

 

Stop by my blog for some suggestions if you like! http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

Particularly you can check out my 50 Shades posts to see how we kept it PG in writing style and take on the books.

 

Best of luck!

Kelli

 

[Renee Rose]

Hmm.. I agree this could be problematic.  What if you had separate "pages" on your blog?  One is for 18 and over only?

[Dee Fisher]

you can't really do separate pages on wordpress - all main posts go onto your homepage...

[Joss Arden]

You probably can (or get a similar effect) if you have a self-hosted wordpress installation...

[Dee Fisher]

Thanks everyone for the comments - I have i'm going to update my About Me section on my blog to make it clear that anything that I read is fair game - from YA to adult books - although 50 shades won't be in there since I'm refusing to read it (long story)...

[Adria Reyes]

I have the same concern. What I always try to do in my reviews is NOT put spoilers for books no matter what genre. I also am now going back to place a note that states what audience the book is intended for. My blog does come with a warning that some content may be meant for older audiences but in terms of pictures on my blog, that's not a concern.

[Stormi Johnson]

I just started letting my new reviewers on my blog do erotica, I basically told them to please make sure it says for 18+ and to not be explicit with the details. My blog does YA and adult, but I had never did erotica before until now. I haven't had any complaints or anyone stop following me because of it. I do think something like After Hour Reviews or something like that sounds like a great way to post them and let people know that they are erotica.

[Christine Amsden]

Good question! I sometimes review YA and sometimes review adult romance/erotic material. I haven't let myself get too bothered by it for two reasons. First, I consider my book review blog to be for adults. If I sometimes review a YA book, then it's with the adult crossover appeal in mind. Second, while a book may be sexually explicit, my reviews are not. I don't have any content on my blog that is inappropriate for a teenager. (Maybe PG 13 sometimes.)

Then again, there is a threshold I won't cross. I do enjoy some romance with a fair amount of eroticism, but BDSM is too much for me. Didn't even realize it until a few months ago when I joined Net Galley and one of my first requests was such a book. I declined to review it, with apologies, because it was too much for me, and because reviewing it would have required discussing topics I would prefer not to bring up on my blog. The kind that even some adults would have trouble reading about.

[Dee Fisher]

Christine - out of curiosity - what was that NetGalley book - I know a few people who read a lot of BDSM and might be interested, if they haven't read it already