Fans react feverishly to The Summer I Turned Pretty star’s m...

It took less than 24 hours for the actor Chris Briney to reveal his next creative project after the finale of The Summer That I Turned Pretty, and it was soon clear that fans of the heart-throb would not be disappointed.

“If he didn’t take good care of your heart, I bet he didn’t take good care of your body either, did he?” the actor purred in an Instagram reel, looking into a camera, after hoisting himself into a pickup truck. With the scene switching to Briney wearing oversized pink headphones and talking into a microphone, he adds: “You deserve to be loved … And thoroughly ruined.”

Fans’ reaction to Briney’s unveiling as the narrator of an audio series on the erotica platform Quinn was feverish. Comments veered from: “I deserve to be WHAT?” and: “My God Jesus help me,” to the more esoteric: “I’M GOING TO BITE DRYWALL,” which, according to industry insiders, is “horny dialect” for: oh, go on then.

But as well as being a major coup for a content platform that only launched its app in 2021, Briney’s move confirms erotica’s shift into the mainstream and highlights a seemingly insatiable appetite for romance and “spicy” fiction.

Last year there were record book sales for the “romance and sagas” genre, while England’s first romance-only bookshop opened in Notting Hill, west London, in June. In the audio space, Quinn’s revenues have doubled since February and its subscriber base has grown by 168% in 12 months, says its 27-year-old CEO, Caroline Spiegel, who founded the company while she was still at Stanford in 2019. A “cultural shift” is happening, she argues – and it’s being driven by women.

“Our content is made for them – with them in mind, with them as the top priority and target customer,” she says. “Adult entertainment hasn’t historically prioritised women’s preferences, mostly because it’s been made by men, for men.”

But audio erotica doesn’t just tell the stories women want to hear, it plays with narrative format to place them at the centre of their own fantasies, says romance writer and content creator Holly June Smith, who wrote the Briney-narrated Hidden Harbor. Instead of traditional dialogue, the narrator speaks directly to the listener in an “immersive storytelling” experience.

“Maybe the story is you’ve had a rough day at work, you’ve come home to your husband and he’s going to take care of you and tell you how amazing you are and then fuck you,” she says. “The focus is on you. You can just shut your eyes and imagine it happening. Some of my favourite listener feedback is when people say they’ve answered the narrator out loud with their headphones on in the supermarket.”

The genre is still in its infancy, but content creators on Quinn – who earn money based on plays and overall performance, and tips from fans – are already attracting loyal fanbases. A recent “hangout” hosted by creators John York and AJ was attended by about 100 erotica lovers. “It is such a welcoming and warm community,” says York. “People offer feedback and really helpful criticism. It really is unlike anywhere, unlike any sort of online space I’ve ever seen.

While content is aimed at women, who make up 83% of Quinn subscribers, about three-quarters of creators are men, among them Ryan Mairs, whose route into the genre was unconventional.

A little over two years ago, the 29-year-old from Kent was working in recruitment, building a following on TikTok making comedy sketches and talking about mental health. Then, some keen-eared followers noticed his voice, and started making very specific requests. “It was all very: ‘Say this, say that’ – there were quite some very forward comments indeed,” he says. “It was, and it still is, quite an experience.”

Deciding to give it a go, Mairs answered one request, and posted a video which was him simply saying “good girl”. Pandemonium ensued, with the video racking up a million views and sending Mair’s notifications wild. “It was a bit like: ‘Oh shit,’ but it was kind of fun,” he laughs. “It showed me that, wow, there is scope for this as a career, there’s a need in the community.”

While there is little question that audio erotica is “spicy”, it is very different to traditional pornography, argues Spiegel. “Porn has become shorthand for graphic tube site content and exploitative practices, unrealistic portrayals of people and sex, lack of inclusivity, fetishisation, and the normalisation of sexual violence,” she says. “Audio erotica is acting, it’s built on consent, and it leaves space for your imagination.”

Consent is big in the genre, and not just because platforms like Quinn have mandated its inclusion in all stories. Actually, listeners find consent sexy, says Smith. “In Hidden Harbor, Chris’s character, River, says: ‘Can I kiss you?’,” she says. “And people were going wild because they were like: ‘Oh, my God, that’s the hottest thing ever.’”