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Top Reasons Sex Piques Our Interest. Or Does It?
It all depends on the product. Let’s discuss!
“Sex sells.”
We’ve all heard this adage repeated throughout our history. We’ve been socialized, particularly here in the West, that skin and titillation are required to sell stuff.
Does sex sell in all categories? Most people would likely say yes, however, there are specific ways advertisers use sex to sell, and it’s not always how you think.
Are nudity and sex inherently bad? Not in my book (literally!).
Selling And Marketing Books
Depending on your genre, sexy cover art is a must. Remember those cheesy romance novel covers in the 1980s with Fabio (one incidence where sexualizing men actually works)? Not much has changed today.
That stuff sells.
This isn’t a huge surprise. Authors and publishers selling and marketing books in particular categories such as erotica and contemporary romance know that a sexy cover will likely bring in scores of readers (that’s the hope anyway). What about other genres?
I can tell you my own experience with regard to publishing. When I worked with my graphic designer at a hybrid publisher for my second Broken book, Broken Places, we used a Shutterstock photo paid…