Not so very long ago, erotica was made to be hidden. “Pillow books” were named after the hiding place ladies of the Japanese nobility used for their explicit diaries. Lusty fictional romps like Fanny Hill and The Autobiography of a Flea were passed around in pirated editions, while artistic feats such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Lolita were subjected to censorship.

No longer. Titles available as close as your nearest bookstore include explicit scripts for sexual role play, lusty fictional romps with lust-inducing cover art and uncensored art books for every orientation under the sun. The change in availability is more recent than you might realize, says Eric Himmel, editorial director of Harry N. Abrams. “Even just 20 years ago, we couldn’t publish books like Man to Man [a fall title], because editors and others at commercial houses weren’t comfortable discussing them. The new generation of publishing professionals, in my experience, is much more at ease talking about sex and erotica in meetings.” Whether or not Himmel has spotted a trend, this year’s erotica offerings show that publishers have ceased to conflate “erotica” with “romantica.” The latter is a term copyrighted by the successful online enterprise Ellora’s Cave (and now used by Pocket Books when it publishes that imprint’s anthologies), referring to fictional erotic romances written specifically for a female audience. This year there were as many photo books and how-to books as there were fiction titles. Publishers are, if not delivering what readers demand, at least trying to figure out what readers want.

But does what readers want verge on the pornographic? And, if so, does that matter? “Sometimes my colleagues ask me how I can edit 'this stuff,’ ” says Audrey LaFehr, editorial director at Kensington Books. “They act appalled by the explicit nature of these stories. My response is always the same: have you seen how explicit thrillers and nonfiction titles about, say, serial murderers, are? Have you read the level of graphic and violent detail they go into? How is editing that different from, or better than, what I do?”

Publishers have long debated the line between erotica and pornography (although G.P. Putnam’s landmark 1966 Supreme Court victory allowing the publisher to release Fanny Hill helped, at least with prose).

Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema from the Victorian Age to the VCR by Dave Thompson from ECW Books (Sept.) shows how conflicted Western society has been for so long about sexual imagery. Jennifer Hale, editor of ECW, says that as she and Thompson edited the photo section, she gained insight into the fact that while the films themselves were often marginalized and censored, the participants were not: “In Kristi Bentley’s foreword, she points out how the women in the older skin flicks had quite a bit of power and were able to suggest things to their directors.”

In this new media world—where, as Himmel puts it, “The Internet has totally changed the game for erotic images; they used to be difficult to get, and now they’re ubiquitous”—marginalization is not the concern; standards are. For example, if you apply Aristotle’s six standards (plot, character, dialogue, spectacle, music, theme) to a bad, soppy novel, you’ll find a boring plot, wooden characters, unbelievable dialogue, poor editing, little lyricism and a shallow theme.

Apply those same standards to an excellent novel, and the difference is immediately apparent. There is no doubt that many “erotic” novels are poor pieces of writing, yet still not pornographic. The difference between erotica and pornography is not necessarily in literary quality but in the presence or absence of a desire to do something more than simply stimulate the libido with clichéd moves.

Publishers take different approaches to making sexual content fresh. One of those is to give it the most luxurious packaging possible. At Taschen Books, “Our erotica books are based on whatever turns Benedikt [Taschen, the publisher] on!” says Jason Mitchell, U.S. publicity director. “It might not be art when he first sees it, but it is art by the time he’s done with it.” This year, the Taschen vision includes the $400 limited edition (1,300 copies, each signed by porn star del Rio) slipcased (in leopard-skin print fabric) Vanessa del Rio, subtitled Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior. It also includes R. Crumb’s Sexual Obsessions, surely the most graphic of graphic novels—or, at $500, among the most expensive.

Meanwhile, the folks at Harlequin’s Spice imprint are at the opposite end of the delivery spectrum with their planned August debut of Spice Briefs, a Web site offering erotic short stories. “This is further evidence that online reads are more popular than ever,” says Susan Pezzack Swinwood, editor at Mira and Spice Books. “For a lot of women it’s anonymous—a quick, easy way to get a fun, erotic fix—and you don’t have to devote yourself to a full-length book.” You also don’t have to devote your pocketbook, since these stories will sell for about $2.99 each.

Of course, there’s a big gap between $500 and $2.99—and most publishers of erotica fall somewhere comfortably between. For example, Laura Cifelli at New American Library has six trade paperbacks priced at $14. “In terms of being ahead of the curve and genre breaking, our writers are not afraid to try new things, and we have encouraged them to do more than sex-up a contemporary romance,” says Cifelli. NAL divides its erotica into Eclipse Erotica (romantic stories) and Heat: “That one’s more about eroticism,” she says. “The way we’re publishing represents the way readers come to erotica, I think. Some are diehard romance readers who have certain expectations for their content, and we want to satisfy them.” Thus, Eclipse titles generally include a committed “happy ending.”

“But the other readers,” Cifelli continues, “are those people who come to erotica with fewer expectations. They don’t mind having their erotica without romance; they don’t worry about the two things being in the same package.” For them, Heat offers a January 2008 title, Forbidden Shores by Jane Lockwood—an adventurous, romantic, historical Regency set on a steamy Caribbean island and involving two men and a governess.

Relationship-centered erotica is very important at Berkley, where executive editor Cindy Hwang notes that although the imprint has only been publishing its Heat line since 2005, “In that short period of time, we’ve really seen the erotic romance take off. This isn’t to say these books aren’t as sexy as other erotica—just that there’s an emphasis on the character development and emotional connection between the characters.” Hwang cites Emma Holly’s September Fairyville as a great example of a book that combines intense emotional connections with “envelope-pushing sexuality.”

Kensington’s LaFehr says that paranormal erotic stories are “really, really popular; it’s another world, and the rules of otherworldly societies are completely different—you don’t have to worry about safe sex!” One of her favorite titles for this fall is Nicholas: The Lords of Satyr, the first in a trilogy by Elizabeth Amber. “What I am actually most excited about is that Amber combines historical and paranormal elements, setting a book in 18th-century Tuscany starring satyr lords with wild, wild rituals.”

Another genre that seems to work well at Kensington is “bdsm,” which includes bondage and dominance (like Vonna Harper’s December title Night Fire). LaFehr says, “This seems to appeal to readers who may have so much responsibility in their daily lives that they appreciate slipping into a fantasy erotic romance that’s all about giving up control.”

LaFehr emphasizes that the erotic imprint Aphrodisia is “still pretty new,” having begun publishing in January 2007 and starting with two books per month. “We are just trying anything that comes across our desks that we like,” she says. “It’s been gangbusters, and now that we’re going to start releasing four books a month in January 2008, we’re no longer worried that we’re not going to find enough talent out there.”

Other publishers echo that relief—there’s plenty of good writing to be found—having feared, perhaps, that they would wind up receiving only the tiredest examples of the Aristotelian standards. Says Swinwood of Harlequin: “We’ve got a great mix of submissions from our existing author base and submissions from new authors for Spice Briefs. We’ve got over 300 submissions so far, and we’re really delighted with the quality. Erotica authors seem to be so prolific.”

“Right now we have a really good distribution of the authors,” says editorial director Micki Nuding of Pocket Books. “It’s interesting to watch, because with most types of books, you have a boom period where publishers are just publishing everything that comes their way, and then sales condense because bad stuff starts coming out. But here, the first batch of material we saw was very, very good—and these are even better. It’s booming.”

Nuding adds, “People are really creative and finding new settings to put these in. There are amazingly creative paranormal ideas, for example, and the fact that they’re done well is amazing, too—because it’s not just about being creative; you have to keep any world you choose to write about consistent and believable.”

Pocket Books is itself being consistent. This summer and fall the imprint will publish three Ellora’s Cave anthologies: His Fantasies, Her Dreams; Insatiable; and Getting What She Wants. “But wait, there’s more!” says Nuding. After seeing the success of these novella anthologies, Pocket bought 39 more novellas, for a total of 13 more anthologies, to begin release in January 2008.

Women of all ages and stages buy erotica, especially the fictional kind. “They all go online to buy books,” says Nuding; affirming Eric Himmel’s views of the Internet, the audience is all ages. “What seems to really appeal across the board is the erotic content,” Nuding adds. “As long as we deliver that, it doesn’t matter if it’s in single-title, anthology or e-novel format.”

Perhaps that’s why more and more publishers are seeing the potential of books that fall outside of the “romantica” format as erotica. At Dutton, three titles that bear little or no resemblance to erotic romance are Eric Jerome Dickey’s steamy sequel to Sleeping with Strangers, titled (what else?) Waking with Enemies; Natasha Mostert’s erotically charged thriller Season of the Witch; and from Gotham, Pauline Kiernan’s Filthy Shakespeare, “from Falstaff’s deathbed wanking to Hamlet’s plea for Ophelia to relieve his erection.” Why, there’s something for everyone!

Abrams has two photography books (Man to Man and The Romantic Male Nude) out this fall, as well as the more conventional The Tao of Seduction, which is a medieval Chinese text that includes period illustrations and aphrodisiacal recipes. While the photography books are positioned to appeal to the trend-setting gay demographic, “Making books about sex is very liberating for publishers,” says Abrams’s Himmel. “That’s something that has not been explored to death at all.”

Liberating can mean artistic, as well: Trafalgar Square’s new The Four Dreams of Miss X, a collection of stills and more from four advertising shorts directed by Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) for the British luxury lingerie firm Agent Provocateur—and starring a very provocative Kate Moss. (Fear not, film fans: there’s an enclosed DVD.)

Liberating can also mean pure fun: editor Sara Carder at Penguin/Tarcher describes Lube Jobs: A Woman’s Guide to Great Maintenance Sex as “many things... it’s a relationship book, a self-help book... it’s hard to classify.” Lube Jobs has a cheeky, retro cover. “The authors have written erotica and they’re very good at it,” says Carder. “They want readers to learn how to use erotica themselves and to use their imaginations, too. It’s a fun, playful, loving book that is very honest about how men and women differ sexually.”

Liberating can mean reversing conventions like that one. One of the ways men and women differ sexually is that men are more easily turned on by the visual, women by the emotional—hence the call of “romantica.” But some publishers are turning that long-cherished belief on its head: for example, Sterling’s new Ravenous line includes photo books like Sex Drive: Fantasies in Flesh and Steel and Three: The Art of the Ménage à Trois, both packed with lush, aesthetically pleasing color images that challenge the assumption that women don’t like to watch.

Like Lube Jobs, some titles in this line are difficult to classify. Three is both a photo-essay and a how-to guide, while Sex Drives is pure pinup material. The message? Erotica’s getting harder to pin down—but easier to find and enjoy.