Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 82

24/7 corset wearing and why Victorian underwear is better than ours

These are some of the things I discussed in my Salon interview with Sarah A. Chrisman, author of Victorian Secrets: What a Corset Taught Me about the Past, the Present, and Myself .

BOGO erotica book sale from Small Buiness Saturday through Cyber Monday

Last December, on the advice of my accountant, I started RKB Enterprises, Inc., aka, me and the various activities that comprise my livelihood--editing books, writing articles, blogging and erotic writing workshops, and whatever else I come up with next. I was surprised and excited that this career I've cobbled together post-law school and post-full-time job warranted such a move. Since then, it's been all over the place, with book sale highs and lows, and since I'm me, heart on my sleeve girl, I have alternately marveled that I am a small business owner and wondered if it's time to chuck it all in and get a "real job." For now, I'm sticking with this job, a glorious, around-the-clock one that allows me to work from all over the country and the world in my travels, that allows me to meet and buy work from international authors, that introduces me to other small business owners such as those at The Tool Shed, Self Serve, Bookwoman, Bedpost Confessions and Nomia, one in which every day is different. I will feel blessed and honored every day I get to keep doing this, however long it lasts, and I thank you all for supporting my work.

So on this Small Business Saturday, if you want to support a small business owner as well as feminist queer-run independent publisher Cleis Press and get a great deal, consider giving yourself and/or someone else the gift of erotica--since it's a 2 for 1 deal, you could buy a book for yourself and give one to someone else. Yes, ebooks are giftable. I will autograph print books to anyone you like (if I have the book in stock, it'll be mailed Friday; if not, it'll be mailed as soon as my copies arrive). The deal is: buy any of the following Cleis Press books of mine from any store today, Saturday, November 30th, through 11:59 p.m. Monday, December 2nd, and I will send you another one free. Details below. Book options: Anything for You: Erotica for Kinky Couples; Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica; Best Bondage Erotica 2011; Best Bondage Erotica 2012; Best Bondage Erotica 2013; Best Sex Writing 2008; Best Sex Writing 2009; Best Sex Writing 2010; Best Sex Writing 2012; Best Sex Writing 2013; Between the Cheeks; The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories; Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; Cheeky Spanking Stories; Crossdressing; Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories; Fast Girls; Going Down: Oral Sex Stories; Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex; He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission; Hide and Seek: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; Instruments of Pleasure: Sex Toy Erotica; Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples; The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories; Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women; Only You: Erotic Romance for Women; Orgasmic; Passion; Peep Show; Please, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission; Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission; Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission; She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission; Smooth; Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica; Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories; Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission; Tasting Her: Oral Sex Stories; Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories; Twice the Pleasure: Bisexual Women's Erotica; Women in Lust; Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission; Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission.

Send me your e-receipt or snapshot of your print receipt dated November 30, December 1 or December 2, 2013 plus mailing address and inscription (U.S. only) or email address and Kindle or Nook or iBooks or Google Play preference by 11:59 p.m. EST Monday night, December 2nd, to orgasmantho at gmail.com with "BOGO" in the subject line, and I'll send you your choice of the above books - if you buy print, I'll send you print (U.S. only) or ebook, if you buy an ebook, I'll send you an ebook. THANK YOU for supporting me and RKB Enterprises, Inc.!

Black Friday sexy ebook sale: $1.99 and 99 cent erotica

Happy Black Friday! Stay tuned for my Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday BOGO Sale on The Big Book of Orgasms , but for today, I wanted to let you know that 6 of my Cleis Press ebooks are majorly on sale for $1.99, with my mini ebook Instruments of Pleasure: Sex Toy Erotica only 99 cents. I have no idea how long this will last but I'm seeing the sales now, so you're getting some bargain erotica on Black Friday, which can make a great gift for yourself or others.




Fast Girls: Erotica for Women


Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories


Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Women


Only You: Erotic Romance for Women


Instruments of Pleasure; Sex Toy Erotica


Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today's Sexual Culture

Want to win a $20 Amazon gift card? Help The Big Book of Orgasms reach 100 reviews and you just might!

Heads up: if The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories reaches 100 reviews on Amazon by the end of Sunday, December 1st, I'll be giving away 5 $20 Amazon gift cards. As befitting a book of micro fiction, your review can be short--1 sentence, 2 sentences, 5 sentences--as long as it doesn't have any curse or dirty words, per Amazon. If you're a blogger, it can be a way to get some new readers by posting your URL with the review, as DeDe Deylnn did. Thank you so much to all 92 of you who've posted so far! I won't see official sales figures until April, but I'm pretty sure your support has helped me toward my goal of making this my bestselling book. You don't have to buy it from Amazon, you can get it at your library (I'd love to see more libraries carry erotica!) or borrow it from a friend or read it at a bookstore. Your reviews are helping and I'm so thankful my little DIY book promotion experiment seems to be working. I was at a place where I wasn't sure I could afford to keep editing erotica any more earlier this year, and this book has revived my belief that this thing I love to do is worth it.

Buy The Big Book of Orgasms from:

Amazon

Kindle ebook edition

Bn.com

Nook ebook edition

Powell’s

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your nearest local independent bookstore)

iBooks

Google Play

Cleis Press

Interview about erotica in The Portland Phoenix and Tuesday's writing workshop in Portland, Maine

Thank you to The Portland Phoenix for interviewing me about modern erotica and my tips on erotica writing. I'm looking forward to my erotica workshop at Nomia in Portland, Maine on Tuesday night, December 3rd. If you'd like to register, I'm being told tickets are going to sell out shortly, so call Nomia at 207.773.4774 to sign up. Details are below. Here's a snippet from the interview, in response to what makes an erotica story successful:

A good story grabs you from the first sentence and makes you need to keep reading. Don’t skimp on the sex, but you don’t necessarily have to give an exact play-by-play rundown of every touch or look or moan; tell us what will convey the sexual highlights and what makes the encounter so explosive. Bonus points if it also manages to put a new twist on sexuality or an underrepresented or misunderstood fetish or sexual practice. It can have humor or darkness — I’ve published stories about breakups, funerals, and cancer, to name a few — and could be about anything from politics to sports to sex clubs. If there’s one thing I hope people take away from my erotic writing workshop, it’s that anything can be eroticized!

December 3, 7:30-9 pm
Erotica 101 writing workshop

Nomia, 24 Exchange Street, Suite 215, Portland, Maine

Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Women in Lust, Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You'll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. She'll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market (including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites). Whether you're writing to that special someone, penning longtime fantasies, or want to earn cash for your dirty words, this workshop is for you. Please bring paper or writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided. Seating is limited and we expect this workshop to fill up FAST!

Please call the shop at 207.773.4774 to reserve your spot! $20 per person.

The Bedhead Redhead's Superhero Sex Shop Tour

I love that blogger The Redhead Bedhead, whose tagline is "On a mission to save the world from mediocre sex," has visited so many wonderful sex toy stores as part of her Superhero Sex Shop Tour, including Good Vibrations, where we held the recent reading for The Big Book of Orgasms, Self Serve in Albuquerque, where I just did an erotica writing workshop, and Nomia in Portland, Maine, where I'm doing one on Tuesday, December 3rd, from 7:30-9, which, hint hint, is about to sell out, so call the store at 207.773.4774 to register. Check out all her posts and recommendations.

"Move over Fifty Shades of Grey" says Refinery29 about Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission

Not only did Refinery29 run my no pants essay this week, but they were also kind enough to recommend 3 of my books, Serving Him, The Big Book of Orgasms and anal sex ebook Between the Cheeks in their "Porn for Women: A Tasteful Guide to Sexy Time. Thank you! Below is more info on Serving Him, which features my amateur professional sub story "Subbing."



Purchase Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission now from:



Amazon

Kindle edition (ebook)

Barnes & Noble

Nook (ebook)

Powells

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (search for your local indie bookstore)

Audible audiobook edition

iTunes

Google Play

Cleis Press

Serving Him Table of Contents

Introduction: Lucky Naughty Girls
What You Deserve Lori Selke (read excerpt)
Coffee Break Kristina Wright (read excerpt)
Chattel Errica Liekos (read excerpt)
Under Direction Teresa Noelle Roberts (read excerpt)
The Letter Tiffany Reisz (read excerpts: part 1 and part 2)
Run, Baby, Run Vida Bailey (read excerpt)
Tackling Jessica Maxine Marsh (read excerpt)
Safe, Sane & Consensual Ariel Graham (read excerpt)
The Golden Ruler Giselle Renarde (read excerpt)
I Always Do Kiki DeLovely (read excerpt)
Pinky Kissa Starling (read excerpt)
The Breaking Point Cole Riley (read excerpt)
Shining in the Dark Bex vanKoot (read excerpt)
Room #3 Emily Bingham (read excerpt)
Duo J. Sinclaire (read excerpt)
Breath Mollena Williams (read excerpt)
Silver Fish in the Crystal Pool Gina Marie (read excerpt)
The Secret of Time Travel Jacqueline Applebee (read excerpt)
Bared Gray Miller (read excerpt)
In His Control Jade Melisande (read excerpt)
Paper Doll joy (read excerpt)
Subbing Rachel Kramer Bussel (read excerpt)

Lucky Naughty Girls

“I’m so lucky to have such a naughty girl like you in my lap,” Jake tells Deirdre in “What You Deserve” by Lori Selke, the opening story in the book you’re about to read. In many ways, that sentence, its promise and passion, its claim and command, is what this book of kinky erotica is all about. There are a lot of naughty girls, a lot of laps and a lot of men who understand that, in fact, they are lucky—whether they ever voice it or not—to have a hot, eager, filthy-minded woman eagerly awaiting the chance to serve them.

The other half of the equation, one that is vital to any BDSM story, but especially those told with an eye toward female submission, is that the naughty girls themselves know how lucky they are—and if they don’t at the start of the story, they do by the end. They know they are lucky to have discovered a seed of submission somewhere within them and someone to complement and nurture that growing seed. They are lucky because they own their darkest, dirtiest desires, even the ones they struggle with, the ones that turn them on despite being taboo or unnerving in some way.

Actually, they are more than lucky; finding a master, a top, a boyfriend, a husband, a lover or simply a man who gets an essential truth about their submissive nature doesn’t just happen. Well, sometimes it does, but I believe it takes a certain kind of prowess to activate and draw forth those kinds of dominants, the kind you can trust with your body and soul, your pussy and your power. What I’m trying to say is that the women here don’t just wander down an alley and find a man to pin them against the wall; even when they encounter a sexy stranger, they are making a choice to obey him, to follow their own lust as much as another’s command.

In “Room #3,” when author Emily Bingham shuts the door on her characters, she invites us into a tale where we don’t know who is touching the narrator, nor does she; we only know how much she likes it. When the narrator offers up her body, she enters into the unknown, a thrill in and of itself. “The moment I knocked on this door, I consented to become his plaything. From here on out I have no say in what will happen. No words are to leave my mouth in this space; I am at his mercy. I can only hope I’ve made a wise choice.” In all the stories you will read here, a woman makes a similar choice, and we get to luxuriate in the ways that actively making that choice, owning up to our most dastardly, wanton, wicked fantasies can be a ticket to a ride we never want to get off.

I’m sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco as I quote from Kristina Wright’s “Coffee Break,” wondering what I would do if a hot barista said to me, “Go to the bathroom now. Leave the door unlocked. Get undressed. Kneel on the floor facing the door.” Actually, it’s not the barista who delivers that message in her story, but it made me picture what I would do if I were handed a steaming cup of joe and such a command.

The stories in Serving Him are about everything from scenes in dungeons to the ways playing with power can extend beyond what we do when we are “playing.” In “Safe, Sane and Consensual,” by Ariel Graham, she takes that hallmark of BDSM safety and reflects on the ways we “safeword” when dealing with polite society. “May I ask what the spanking is for?” Aaron asks Annie, and his answer just may surprise you.

There are plenty of surprises in store in this book, and whether you’re a novice or a seasoned BDSM player, I hope you’ll enjoy the exchanges to be found here—of dirty talk, power, roles, toys, games. These characters test each other, pushing boundaries from both sides of the top/bottom equation. Often it’s the women who push their men to push them, to stop being polite and start holding them down, making them open wide, forcing them to relinquish a kind of power they are eager to let go off.

Many of the stories here are as intense as the acts described; I see them as tender, but they are likely to take your breath away, make you tremble or quiver, make you just a little bit afraid. That edge of awe and fear, of want and need, of excitement and surrender, is just where I hope these stories keep you. You don’t have to be a naughty girl (or boy), in real life or in your dreams, to enjoy the twenty-two hot stories in this book, but I have a feeling they will bring out your inner naughtiness, whatever form that takes. I feel lucky to get to share them with you.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Off the charts! By which I mean The Big Book of Orgasms is racing UP the charts!

I was thrilled to find that The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories is racing up Amazon's short story anthology bestseller list and also the Kindle edition of that list. Sexy micro fiction for the win! These lists change rapidly so the numbers have shifted, but it's pretty amazing to see my book of erotica amidst Pearl Buck and Sherman Alexie. Not that I should be surprised, since I read widely and I'm sure many people do too!



And for the Kindle short story anthology chart, we're now at 58, with Violet Blue's Best Women's Erotica 2013 at 60, but still great news for the little book that could! (I took the screen shots last night.)



If you're wondering, anywhere you purchase The Big Book of Orgasms helps me, and if it does well, it means that I get to edit more books like it, so here are the buying links again, since it's holiday gift time!

Buy The Big Book of Orgasms from:

Amazon

Kindle ebook edition

Bn.com

Nook ebook edition

Powell’s

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your nearest local independent bookstore)

iBooks

Google Play

Cleis Press

6 spots left in December 3rd erotica writing workshop in Portland, Maine

There are 6 spots left in my December 3rd Portland, Maine erotica writing workshop at Nomia. Wanted to give you a heads up because there will be an article about the workshop in the upcoming Portland Phoenix and we expect it to sell out. Call 207.773.4774 to reserve a spot. Details:

December 3, 7:30-9 pm
Erotica 101 writing workshop
Nomia, 24 Exchange Street, Suite 215, Portland, Maine
Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Women in Lust, Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You'll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. She'll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market (including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites). Whether you're writing to that special someone, penning longtime fantasies, or want to earn cash for your dirty words, this workshop is for you. Please bring paper or writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided. Seating is limited and we expect this workshop to fill up FAST!
Please call the shop at 207.773.4774 to reserve your spot! $20 per person.

Why I only wear dresses and skirts

Check out my first piece for Refinery29, a site I've fast become addicted to: "Why Every Day Is No-Pants Day For Me", with a shoutout to Yumi Kim, one of my favorite designers. I'm not wearing them below, but I love the dresses of theirs I own, and look forward to wearing them in warmer weather.