I posed five options (i) No Sex, (ii) Foreplay Only, (iii) Non-Explicit Sex, (iv) Explicit Sex, (v) As Hot As You Can Get, and then placed them on here (my humble blog) and on Goodreads.
Here are the results.
Table A
Table B
What are we seeing here? Readers want some sort of sex in genre books. Building the tension between the protagonists must have a satisfactory conclusion otherwise readers feel cheated. And, it seems the Non-Explicit Sex readers are tied with the Hot As You Can Get lot.
It's an interesting conundrum, and one authors have to face when deciding whether or not to include a sex scene in their books. Or how hot to make it.
Mind you, this refers to New Adult/Adult books NOT Young Adult or erotica. That's another subject entirely.
Personally, I prefer an explicit scene which enhances the story and reflects the growing relationship between the main characters. In other words, were I to remove that scene the plot would be adversely affected.
So, authors, which option will you choose for your next book?
Feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear your opinions.
