As I was a writer of BDSM erotica at the time, I had that same conversation with many of my fellow authors. We declared it was poorly written, unimaginative, and worst of all, perpetuated many of the worst stereotypes that we were dedicated to breaking (primarily the inability to differentiate between safe and consensual voluntary power exchange and involuntary subjugation or outright abuse). What it did have, however, was a major publishing house that published "literary" works instead of category romance, which somehow made it more acceptable to read. There was a similar controversy (for a similar reason) when a PhD historian wrote a novel about her chosen historical era, whose central plot was a love story. It was hailed as something groundbreaking, new, and completely different from anything ever done before... totally ignoring the vast numbers of historical romances that had already been written about that period.