In our latest episode of the Libro.fm Podcast, we chat with Mel Saavedra, the owner of Steamy Lit Bookstore and the driving force behind Steamy Lit Con. Mel discusses her deep passion for romance literature, the genre’s growing popularity, and the importance of representation in romance novels. Mel also delves into her subscription service, the Steam Box, and her new podcast, Romance Unleashed.
Libro.fm: You frequently see romance books on bestseller lists and romance specific bookstores popping up like yours. What do you think is driving this surge in popularity?
Mel: A few things. I think one, there’s definitely social media and I think TikTok in particular for bringing a lot of more eyes, so to say, to romance. The romance community has been there for a long time. I don’t want to say dormant in its own way, but it was of like, “We’ve created our community and this is where we remain because it is safe.” Where TikTok blew that up a little bit with how the algorithm and TikTok works and how it’s started putting a lot of romance into a lot of people’s hands.
It also has to do with as generations evolve that we are starting to see more and more generations wanting to break away from certain stereotypes or certain social dynamics that have been dynamic taught upon us, if that’s the right way to say that, that have just been put on us.
And romance is a really great way to defy the patriarchy, in that it’s not only written by women, but historically it’s always been written by women. Now we’re obviously seeing a lot more representation of who’s writing it and who they’re writing it for. But for a long time, it was a genre that was written by women that was successful in its right of women. Anything in the patriarchy, when women do it right, there’s got to be something wrong with it. It’s got to be a guilty pleasure. It can’t be outright just the greatest genre. There has to be an issue with it.
Libro.fm: What do you think about that community and romance in general keeps those people so engaged and passionate for this genre?
Mel: The endings and no pun intended, but literally happily ever after. I think that specifically with romance and talking from an immigrant Latina point of view, a lot of our stories are often focused on our trauma or our pain or immigration story or the things we have overcome, which are obviously all very important and things that we need to still read about. But little did we read about our happiness. A lot of us being able to see our stories and our identities, the serving happiness, family, friendship, love, and all of these very universal feelings that we experience every day is what keeps people coming back to it. A romance book, similar to a thriller, you know what you’re going to get. You know what you’re in it for and you know that love and happiness and happily ever after is always something that is part of the formula. I think that that brings a lot of comfort.
Libro.fm: You have launched a subdivision of Steamy Lit called Swoony Lit. Could you share with us more about it?
Mel: We’re trying to figure out how to better appeal to those young adult readers, because YA is epic right now. The books, the identities, the representation that’s coming out through YA is unmatched. Even now, I know a lot of adults don’t like to read YA. I would say that there’s something so soothing and safe in reading a YA where the things that you experience as a teen or coming of age are put on page that really heals you and your inner child. For me, it was a lot of that. It was reading Latine characters falling in love when we were young. All of these things that I didn’t get to read when I was younger, and I really wanted to bring attention to that because the YA genre and its authors are really doing something special.
Libro.fm: Why did you decide to start the subscription service, the Steam Box?
Mel: Steamy Lit actually got started with the Steam Box. That was my first baby, and it was during the pandemic. […] Romance books really became something that I read every day and brought me a lot of happiness. But in that, I also wanted to explore the pleasure of it all, and I wanted to see how we could combine pleasure and reading romance in kind of in the same box. We have different tiers: you could order a book-only subscription, a book with all the self-care items, or a book with the self-care items and any of the sex toys.
For me, it was important because there’s so much stigmatization when it comes to women owning their pleasure. Society puts a lot of focus on men and their pleasure and how that’s totally all right. But when it comes to women owning that, there’s a lot of labels that come with it. I mean, especially me growing up in a Latin household, sex was definitely not something we talked about. We talked about how we’re there for our man to get married, to have kids, to hold the household, but it was never about our pleasure. So being able to explore the two, I thought was really important to me and for the community as a whole.
Listen to the full episode:
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About our guest
Mel Saavedra, founder of Steamy Lit, is a proud Latina, Navy Veteran, and dog mom. A passionate reader of steamy romance, her love for the genre deepened in 2020. Noticing the lack of representation for authors of color in romance, she created Steamy Lit to empower discussions around sexuality and self-love, and to provide a platform for underrepresented
authors.
Audiobooks we discussed
I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki
By Baek Sehee • Narrated by Jully Lee
Before I Let Go
By Kennedy Ryan • Narrated by Wesleigh Siobhan & Jakobi Diem
The Lost Bookshop
By Evie Woods & Nick Biadon • Narrated by Avena Mansergh-Wallace & Olivia Mace