02 - Tracking the king of romance audiobooks with Anna Merlan

Joe Arden had a pretty good thing going. As the voice of dozens of romance novel hunks, he commanded the adoration of listeners and high prices from authors looking to put his voice to their fantasies. Fans called him “the king of fuck.”

Then a sexting scandal turned that audience against him. It’s a story that involves BookTok, smut, and a man who built a following while never showing his face. Anna Merlan is here this week to go down the Joe Arden rabbit hole with us. She wrote about Arden’s fall for Business Insider. 

• This is how tape works
• Election pilled
• Doing business as your persona
• Star Wars as romance novel
• We explain Bad Dragon to Anna
• Some recommendations for German language prestige TV

Joe Arden, the king of smut, built a career seducing women with his voice. Then, a sexting scandal turned BookTok against him

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The Seattle Kraken embraced thirsty ‘BookTok’ hockey romance videos. It backfired.

Recommendation that Emily forgot to shout-out during the podcast: Two romance novels written by former VICE editor Chloe Angyal.

Theme music by Janus Rose

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