PORTLAND, Ore. — Sylvia Day has learned a valuable lesson from predecessor EL James: “mommy porn” sells — like wildfire.
Day, a former Russian linguist for the U.S. Army, just signed a whopping eight-figure deal for two books with St. Martin’s Press. Only last year, the Oregon native sealed a two book deal with Harlequin and another with HarperCollins.
Marketed on TV and about town, Day scribes mostly erotic tales, ranging from soft BDSM to the historical and paranormal variety. According to Jeff Baker of the Oregonian, “No matter the era or the genre, characters in Day's novels are always biting their lower lips and trembling with renewed fury.”
This author chanced upon an ad for “Entwined With You” from Day’s “Crossfire” series deep in the bowels of the L.A. metro. No one seemed to be raising any eyebrows at the ad featuring the enlarged, relatively innocent bookcover (monogrammed leather luggage tags accompanied by the textual clincher, “The dark and exquisite power of possession…”), evincing that erotic fiction has become one with the mainstream, bringing BDSM and fetish on its heel.
And the numbers prove it: Day’s series, which also includes “Bared to You” and “Addicted to You” have sold 13 million copies in English since June of 2012.
