Cameron D. James's Blog, page 13

Sex For Money — Second Edition

The publishing industry — particularly the self-publishing industry — moves at lightning speed sometimes. It’s weird, really, because some aspects of the industry move so incredibly slow that it can be easy to sit back and relax… and miss all of the rapid changes going on behind the slow stuff.

About a year and a bit ago, I published Sex For Money, a no-nonsense guide to writing, publishing, and selling your erotica and erotic romance (of the MM variety, though the info applies to all pairings, really).

What’s happened since that time?

All Romance eBooks has gone out of business
I’ve learned more about the industry than I ever thought possible
The KU system changed
I started up my own publishing company

I figured it was time to update the book.

[image error]So, I’m proud to announce the second edition is available in ebook and print format! Click here to find out where to get your copy!

But wait! Did you buy the first edition?

Do you want the second edition for FREE?

If you bought the first edition (which has a rainbow-clad bum on the cover), in ebook or print, and would like the second edition for free, all you have to do is send me an email with a photo. Take a screen cap or a photo of the first page of the “Indie Platforms” page. It’s about halfway through the book — you’ll find it in the table of contents in the ebook or on page 93 of the print book. (Why do I want this picture? So I know that you actually purchased the previous edition. I know most of you will be honest about this, but there are always those few that try to take advantage of offers like this.)

Email me at cameron@indieerotica.com with the screen cap or photo and let me know if you want the ePub or Mobi file and I’ll send it on over to ya.

This offer never expires, so if you have the old edition and you’re stumbling across this post years later, the offer is still valid. Email me that photo at the email address above, and I’ll set you up with the most current edition (which may be even newer than this one).

This may be an annual thing… or every couple years…

I released the second edition about a month ago and since that time, there have been more changes:

Barnes & Noble went through a pornpocalypse and deleted almost all self-published erotica (though most of it returned to the site).
Because of the pornpocalypse, Smashwords has introduced a new erotica classification system so that you can tag your erotica if it has certain types of content in it (dubcon, incest / pseudoincest, age play, etc.), to better manage where your erotica goes and ensure that it doesn’t go to sites that don’t want certain types of content. Some have called this the first step to censorship, others (such as myself) call this a much-needed tool for controlling our content.
Barnes & Noble is currently looking at selling their ebook division, which could mean changes in how authors work with it.
There are numerous start-up sites looking to take the place of All Romance eBooks, but none of really risen to prominence yet — but that could change at any time.
In a couple months time, I’ll be getting into podcasting and will be able to offer my experience of the format as a book marketing tool.
A future edition may be more inclusive, featuring information for MF and menage authors.

But you know how I said that while certain parts of the industry move at lightning pace and other parts move oh-so-slow? The core message is the same and will always be the same — write a damn good book, take pride in your product, and always be professional. The core message is applicable no matter how the industry changes.

If I write a third edition (or fourth or fifth or so on), it will always be free for those who purchased a previous edition. This project was never about making money — this project is about helping authors cut through all the misinformation on the internet and get honest, ego-free advice.

Do I know everything? Certainly not. But I’ve been in this for five years now. I’ve published nearly 100 erotic ebooks across my pen names and with my publishing company, I’m now up to about 40 publications. You can say I’ve been around the block a few times.

My goal is to help you make the career you want to make — do you want to become a full time writer? Do you want to do this as a money-making side hobby? Do you want to just occasionally dabble? Whichever path you want, my goal is to help you reach it.

My Expanded Universe

It’s … it’s … it’s all connected …

Can’t you see?

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Well, maybe it’s not that much of a conspiracy.

But as I’m working on the sequel to both Go-Go Boys of Club 21 and Men In The Hot Room — a special crossover/sequel project — I’ve come to see how most of my stories are in the same universe and are connected.

Really, they’re all in the “same universe” since they’re all real world and none of them contradict each other. But I’ve come to see how those that fit in the “shared universe” will feature crossovers and characters that move about.

I’m not crazy. Really. Well, I’m a writer and we’re all a little bit crazy.

But here’s what I mean:

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Most of these books aren’t written yet — the single asterisk means it’s “not yet written, subject to change” and the double asterisk means “currently writing”. So almost all of this is up in the air.

However, here’s what I can tell you…

Go-Go Boys of Club 21 is getting a direct sequel, called New York Heat. However, in it, Brad and Simon from Men In The Hot Room will join the cast and we’ll see the continuation of their storyline. This book will feature Liam, Lance, Ken, Dan, DJ Heat, and Jake (the second bartender mentioned in passing) from GGBC21; Brad and Simon from MITHR; and two new characters.

Yes, it’s a BIG book. Each of the five serialized parts will be 20,000-40,000 words, meaning the whole novel will be in the 100,000 to 200,000 word range. It’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever written.

Ryan’s Boys is another direct sequel to Go-Go Boys of Club 21. If you read GGBC21, you’ll know that two thirds of the book takes place in New York City and the remaining third takes place in Los Angeles. This will be set in Los Angeles and feature Ryan, Francis, and Damien from GGBC21; Zack and Rachel from from the New York portion of GGBC21, as they will move to L.A.; and potentially some characters from the Bathhouse Series.

After New York Heat and Ryan’s Boys are published, I’ll figure out the next move — whether they get direct sequels, crossovers, or a mishmash.

So how do the Bathhouse Series and the Gaymer Series truly fit in?

In at least one of the not-yet-written Bathhouse Series stories, Francis and Damien will feature heavily, building relationships between themselves and the characters in that series. Thus, some Bathhouse characters will likely transition over to Ryan’s Boys.

In a coincidence I didn’t realize until yesterday, one of the male leads in Gaymer is named Zack. I’ve decided that he’s the same sex-crazed twink Zack in GGBC21 — my challenge over the Gaymer Series is to get Zack from where he is in Gaymer to where he is in GGBC21.

In other writing news…

A few months ago I laid out my writing plans for the coming year-ish. I’m mostly on track.

Forbidden Desires: The Complete Series was published on schedule.
Sex For Money, Second Edition was published in ebook format on schedule, but I’m just finalizing the print book before I announce it. So I’m a couple weeks behind, but that’s not bad.
Academic Discipline #1, still untitled, is done and ready to go. I just need a cover and a title. It’ll be released likely in the first week of October.
Academic Discipline #2: Schoolboy Secrets, is currently being written and should be released on schedule at the end of October or early November.
Academic Discipline #3 is not yet in process, but *fingers crossed* I’ll get it done late November / early December.
Academic Discipline: The Complete Series will be ready to go as soon as all three books are done — which means I’m pretty much on schedule with that, too.

But here’s where it gets off track.

New York Heat is far bigger and far more challenging than I expected. It’ll be quite late, but I hope to have it in mid- to late-2018.
Ryan’s Boys won’t be started until New York Heat is done. This will likely be a 2019 publication.
The to-be-written Bathhouse and Gaymer stories will likely be written and released between New York Heat and Ryan’s Boys so that we get better set-up and context for Ryan’s Boys.

All of this is up in the air and subject to change until the very moment I upload them to Amazon and Smashwords.

You may eventually see characters from other works popping in, so we can get updates on them. The leads from Autumn Fire and Silent Hearts could very well make appearances. (The characters from the Forbidden Desires and Academic Discipline series will not likely show up, as they are jointly owned by myself and my co-authors … but nothing is impossible!)

And, finally, one last note:

Even though most of my books are connected, they can all be enjoyed independently. Think of the Marvel movies — they’re all connected, but you don’t have to see them all to enjoy them. I actually don’t like superhero movies that much, so the only ones I watch are The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. I can tell that there’s some context I’m missing because I haven’t seen them all, but they’re still enjoyable and complete movies on their own. I’m striving for the same with my books.

A Ceasefire in the War Against Erotica

A few weeks back, I wrote about the war against erotica — about how big ebook retailers go through periods where they purge whole catalogues of erotica from their websites, throwing the erotic author community into turmoil. I argued that we as a community of erotic authors are partly responsible for our own demise — largely through the actions of a subset of us who engage in shady practices and/or make unwise choices. For my full argument, please read my previous post.

Yesterday, Smashwords announced what is essentially a ceasefire in the war on erotica.

Smashwords has introduced a new classification system for erotic works. Authors and publishers now have to explicitly state if their book contains age place, bestiality, dubious consent (dubcon), incest or pseudo-incest, nonconsensual sexual slavery, and rape for titillation.

I know for some authors, this will immediately feel like they are being discriminated against because these rules don’t apply to any other genre. However, I argue that these special classifications help you as an author/publisher, not hinder you.

If you occasionally write one of the above categories — say, age play — and you care about your account and your standing with Smashwords, then prior to the introduction of this new system, publishing an age play story could be a nerve-wracking experience. You know that not all stores take age play. (According to a chart provided by Smashwords, iBooks does not take age play.) Although you have done nothing wrong, what happens after uploading to Smashwords is largely out of your hands — Smashwords pushes your ebook to all of their third party retailers, including ones that don’t accept your story.

Let’s say that your age play story somehow got into iBooks. The system isn’t perfect, so these things happen. Some time later, iBooks catches on that they have age play in their store, so they go on a hunt for it and delete all of those titles — and if you catch the wrong person on the wrong day, that staffer might decide that you are trying to push the boundaries and purposely publish stuff against their guidelines… and they could ban your pen name entirely.

Under one of my other pen names, I occasionally publish stories that fall under one of these special classifications. Believe me, this has been my worry every time I upload a questionable title. If iBooks has a problem with what I write and makes a big enough stink about it, they could ban all of my stuff from their site — and iBooks is a big selling vendor for me.

But with this classification system, I can explicitly say which of the topics (if any) are contained in my story. If I publish something with age play in it and specifically mark it as such, then it will not go to iBooks, Scribd, Gardners, Overdrive, Odilo, or Bibliotheca. This reduces the chance of me being on the receiving end of backlash if my story ends up in the wrong place.

The retailer benefits, too. They can ensure that what they are carrying is specifically what they feel is acceptable. This reduces the risk of erotica purges (sometimes called a “pornpocalypse”), because they are receiving none of what they do not want.

This does, of course, depend on authors and publishers being truthful about what’s in their book. And that is a problem for some. Some authors and publishers deliberately miscategorize their books to get around filters and content bans. However, it sounds like Smashwords is taking a much more involved role in this — miscategorization can lead to your account being banned.

The act of deliberate miscategorization helps no one — not the author and not the reader. All it does is put a book up in a totally inappropriate place, which then leads to backlash against the industry, which harms all erotic authors, including the majority who follow the rules.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to go ahead and read the blog post from Smashwords that details all of the changes and some of the negotiating they’ve done to lead up to this.

There are a few important points that I’ve gleaned from their post:

Smashwords fights for the rights of erotic authors.

Smashwords could have easily rolled over and acquiesced to the demands of their third party retailers and just remove the ability for erotic authors to have their books published on B&N, Kobo, etc. Instead, Smashwords worked with them to create this classification system that satisfies the retailers and Smashwords. Indeed, erotica is being allowed back onto a retailer’s website that had previous banned it (Gardners) — because Smashwords worked with them and rebuilt that trust.

I often see endless debate among authors as to which is better — Smashwords or Draft2Digital. When I last looked into Draft2Digital a few years ago, they didn’t even accept erotica. Their argument was that there are too many headaches in navigating what third party retailers do and don’t want. I just took a look at their site again and I don’t see any mention of erotica not being allowed, so perhaps they’ve changed their mind. However, I never see or hear of D2D going the extra mile for author rights like the way Smashwords does.

This will impact your sales strategy if you write one of these taboo topics.

Let’s say you write incest, which was available on B&N until very recently. There are readers who used to get all their incest erotica needs met on B&N — now that incest is being removed from their catalogue, readers are going to have a hard time finding what they want. This means that the reader will either settle for non-incest erotica or search for a new retailer that sells what they really want. If they choose to stay on B&N and settle for some non-incest erotica, this will impact your sales as you are missing out on opportunities.

Your job as an author is to find a way to point all your readers to a retailer that allows erotica. My suggestion is to point all your readers to Smashwords as they have the most open guidelines, their guidelines are unlikely to change, and they offer a higher royalty than sales through one of their third party retailers.

So how do you get your readers over to Smashwords? Plaster the message all over your social media channels that all of your books are available at Smashwords. Avoid making derogatory statements about other retailers being prudes. Instead, tease and entice your readers — your stories are “too hot for Barnes & Noble” and are available “exclusively at Smashwords”. That’s likely to have an effect.

You could also write a very dirty erotica that fits in the guidelines of what the other retailers allow — so, make it mainstream but it just feels very sinful (for example, my book, Seduced By My Best Friend’s Dad is a fairly vanilla mainstream erotica story, but it feels dirtier than it is because the “best friend’s dad” is like pseudo-pseudo-incest, without actually violating anyone’s guidelines — and make it clear in your back matter that the rest of your stories are “even dirtier” and the reader should go to your website to find out where to get “exactly what you’re looking for”.

While the war against erotica is not over, we’ve reached a truce.

Unfortunately, the war against erotica will never be over. Reading the comments below the post on Smashwords finds at least one person so far who is outraged that Smashwords would even consider allowing erotica. There are others who feel that this classification system is a step closer to further troubles, that an outright ban by some retailers is going to be the next step.

Is this system perfect? Absolutely not. Does it at least bring some temporary stability? Yes, I believe so.

As an independent author, I need to balance my sense of art with my goals as an independent business-person. I want to tell the stories I want to tell — but I also need to make consistent income. I depend on my monthly royalties to help pay the bills.

When Barnes & Noble temporarily deleted half of their erotica catalogue, I somehow flew under the radar and my books were not touched. However, it was very concerning — Barnes & Noble is a big percentage of my sales. If I were to be kicked out of there, I would lose out on sales and my monthly income would be lower.

If a further ban would be enacted and the big retailers only allowed erotica with certain themes, I would be disappointed, but I would also take it as a challenge. How can I, as an author, write the hottest story imaginable within the small sandbox a retailer is giving me? It’s not the ideal, of course. However, as an independent author who depends on royalty income, accepting that challenge is how one survives.

Additionally, if a further ban would happen and all taboo themes would be removed, then that could be the opportunity for smaller retailers like Excitica to shine. If there’s a market for it, someone will make money off of it.

Nowadays, an independent author has to be nimble to keep up with changes in the industry. Sometimes it means taking a hit, but other times it means taking advantage of an opportunity.

For now, though, I’m pleased with the stability Smashwords has brought to my “workplace”.

That’s So Gay: Super Bundle by Keith Anslyn

Looking for some hot gay erotica? Keith Anslyn’s got you covered!

And it’s on a Kindle Countdown deal right now!

[image error]That’s So Gay: Super Bundle

Keith Anslyn

This super bundle of erotic straight to gay fiction includes 10 stories that will be sure to keep the reader happy. Featuring first times, homoerotic experimentation, medical, military, bdsm, top/bottom fetishes, and more. This 25,000 word collection includes the following stories:

The Doctor
The King
The Queen
The Assassin
The Model
Practicing With My Roommate
Top to Bottom Service
A Shave and a Haircut
The Soldier’s Love
Seduced…by Another Man

(Looking for a description of what each story is about? You can find that here on the Amazon page!)

About Keith Anslyn

[image error]Keith Anslyn is a part time lawyer and full time writer of erotic gay literature. He grew up in Colorado and now lives on the banks of the Haw river in North Carolina with a cat who fancies himself an otter. He enjoys reading, writing, kayaking, and men and women who don’t give hoot about labeling their sexuality.

Twitter

Website

Long Weekend Sale!

Load up your ereader with tons of smut to get you through the long weekend!

I’ve teamed up with my Indie Erotica Collective pals and we’re offering all of our bundles at $0.99 each! And new author Ethan White is offering his first short story for $0.99, too!

All of these links lead to Smashwords and all of these coupon codes are valid on Smashwords until September 5th.

Cameron D. James – Gay erotica and erotic romance

Go-Go Boys of Club 21: The Complete Series – Coupon code: ZX23A

Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series – Coupon code: MG55J

Cameron D. James & Sandra Claire – Gay erotic romance

Forbidden Desires: The Complete Series – Coupon code: HE43D

Sandra Claire – Gay erotica

Forced Encounters – Coupon code: PL92Z

My Black Master: Gay Erotica Bundle – Coupon code: WY67D

Sandra Claire – Straight erotica

Cougar Encounters – Coupon code: WK78H

University Sex Encounters Bundle – Coupon code: MA49C

Master Dominic – Fetish/taboo/forbidden gay erotica

Dad Son Sex Secrets 4-Pack Bundle – Coupon code: SS87W

Dominating Daddies: A Dad/Son Gay Incest 4-Pack Bundle – Coupon code: TY24L

Gay BDSM Club 4-Pack Bundle – Coupon code: HP34Y

Gay Piss Play 4-Pack Bundle – Coupon code: CK65B

Loving Daddies: A Dad/Son Gay Incest 4-Pack Bundle – Coupon code: WW22X

Piss-Loving Boys 4-Pack – Coupon code: YC35T

Ethan White – Gay erotic sci-fi

Project ALPHA — Part One: The Beast – Coupon code: VS97K

The War Against Erotica

Last week, Barnes & Noble deleted approximately half of the erotica from their site and banned the accounts of dozens of erotica authors. Authors who were affected were sent form emails that simply stated the author had violated B&N’s policies — and authors who followed up to ask for further information or to make a case that they had not violated the policy were simply sent the same form email again. By the end of the week, it seemed that B&N had reversed whatever decision they’d made and reinstated most (or perhaps all) author accounts and their books.

Currently, Amazon is going through KDP accounts. If you have a KDP account, you might’ve noticed that your books are all out of order when you log in — that’s because when Amazon “investigates” a book, it jumps to the top of your list as it’s the most recently modified file. So far, it seems that few (if any) erotica books or accounts are being banned. Amazon has not said a word about what they’re doing — so authors are unsure if it’s another crackdown on erotica or if it’s perhaps something more innocent (like adjusting file information for the new Kindle Unlimited page numbering and payment system).

Erotica authors are, understandably, quite nervous right now.

This isn’t the first time a vendor has cracked down on erotica — these “pornpocalypses” happen on an almost annual basis. Huge catalogues of books are blocked or thrown in the “adult dungeon” on Amazon, authors lose their accounts, and that brings about the end of their self-publishing careers.

It’s a frustrating experience because vendors such as Amazon (who blasts erotica catalogues on an almost annual basis), Kobo (who did an erotica purge last year), and Barnes & Noble (which caused mass panic among erotica authors last week), make a ton of money on self-published erotica. They don’t like to admit it, though. In fact, when someone makes a stink about all the erotica on these book sites, the sites respond with a message like “Yikes! We had no idea this was going on! We’re going to delete everything!” Once the inevitable media attention dies down, these sites let their erotica catalogues grow again — until someone new raises a stink.

There are any number of reasons for this — but there is one reason that stands out above all others: We bring this on ourselves.

Not all of us bring this upon ourselves, but certain individuals within the self-publishing community make poor choices that lead to this unnecessary scrutiny and subsequent disaster.

I’m not normally the type to name names and call people out on their bad behaviour, nor am I one to usually make an example of bad books. (Nor am I one to freely swear in blog posts.) Today is different. Today, instead of talking about what we should be doing, I’m going to show you some examples of what people are doing that are wrong — because, apparently, we aren’t getting the message through to some people.

Chances are that if you’ve read this far, you’re one of the authors that treats self-publishing as a profession and you don’t do these things, so I may be preaching to the choir here. Nevertheless, let’s get started…

Self-Publishing is a Profession

Self-publishing may be a hobby to some, but it’s a profession for others. Even if it’s a hobby to you, you want your books to appear as professional and top-notch as possible. If you’re throwing garbage on Amazon and Smashwords, then what’s the point of self-publishing?

You can cut corners on editing and cover design, especially if this is more of a hobby for you, but unless you’re a very experienced author, you cannot write a draft and throw it up for sale. You need an editor. I have multiple pen names and I’ve been published over 80 times. I need an editor. I’ve published about a million words, but that doesn’t mean I can publish without a proper edit.

If you can’t afford an editor, then get a well-read friend to give you honest and critical feedback. If they say it’s perfect, find someone else, as they are either not experienced enough or objective enough. No one is a perfect writer. Also, a proofread is not an edit.

If you don’t want to get an editor or an objective friend because you are doing this as a hobby, then join a writers group and don’t self-publish. Don’t fuck things up for the rest of us.

At the core of all this is an ignorance of the very basic rules of story telling, such as:

Point of view. Pick a point of view. Stick with it. Don’t head-hop. If you don’t know what these mean, Google them.

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If you’re having trouble with sentence structure and your editor isn’t doing a good enough job, run your story through the Hemingway App or Grammarly to at least catch some of the problems. If you use the Hemingway App, it tells you what grade level your writing is at — you want to aim for about grade 5 for easy readability. (Using these sites are not a replacement for honest and critical feedback from an editor.)

Don’t refer to the cover image. I went perusing Smashwords’s recent publications and I found two books that refer to the cover image. The first was by a young writer (who I will not call out, as they are beginning this wonderful journey of writing and publishing and will make mistakes along the way) who had published two books — one was a novella and the other was a “book” that just had the cover image so that you could look at it.

But then…

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This one, though, when Annette is introduced, the narration literally says “That’s Annette on the cover of this story!”

That floored me. An author directly and overtly referring to the cover image? That is a huge no-no for fiction writing. It could work for non-fiction, but only in special circumstances.

The quality of writing in self-published works ranges from better-than-traditional-authors to absolutely atrocious. I have stopped reading self-published works because half of them are by authors who don’t know story structure, POV, grammar, punctuation, or any of the dozens of things that an author must know. This is also why I’ve stopped reviewing books. I get offers from authors I know can write extremely well, but I also get offers from authors who are nowhere near ready for publication — and I don’t have the time to sort through this.

I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that there is a lot of very excellent self-published fiction out there. I have just grown tired of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The biggest problem I’ve found with self-published fiction is that too often there simply isn’t a story, or at least not enough of one. Two people meeting and falling happily in love? That’s not a story. You need tension and conflict — maybe they meet but can’t stand each other (which is how a lot of romances work), maybe one has to win the affections of the other, perhaps the romance is a secondary storyline to an adventure plot.

Unless it’s a short story, you can have the problem solved on the first attempt. The heroes need to fail and come up with a new strategy to win the day.

A perfect romance is not a story. An effortless and conflict-free hookup is not a story.

If you don’t have a story, don’t publish a fucking book.

Invest in a Cover

You can usually identify a self-published title at a glance — because of the atrocious cover.

I’ve seen:

hand-drawn covers. Don’t ever do this.
covers that are not “book sized”. All covers should be at or close to a 2:3 ratio, such as 1600×2400 pixels; do not do a square cover or a different ratio UNLESS it’s an audiobook or a kids book. Even then, if the kids book is an ebook, you want a cover that fits on an ereader… which is at or close to a 2:3 ratio.
covers made with paper, scissors, and tape, then scanned and uploaded.
covers made in Paint or Word.
obviously copyrighted photos used illegally.

Ideally, you would invest in hiring a cover artist or cover design company.

However, this may be out of your budget range. You can easily purchase a stock photo and use Photoshop (or a free equivalent like Gimp or a user-friendly online program like Canva) to put something together. You can even find free stock photo sites that offer royalty-free images that you can use for any purpose.

If you are purchasing stock photography, make sure that the site you are purchasing from allows you to use it for erotic ebooks (read the terms and conditions).

And for the love of God, pick a photo that is at least remotely sexy.

Here we have a cottage that may be a location in the book — but if I’m looking for jerk-off material, I won’t even give this a second glance:

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And I don’t know what the fuck this is:

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And I highly doubt President Trump makes an appearance in this book:

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Also, that author is opening themselves up to a lawsuit from the lawsuit-loving president.

And, please, don’t use garish, neon font.

Also, make it readable.

Product Descriptions

Write a product description that entices the reader and draws them in. Blurbs are written in first tense, are not weighed down with unnecessary detail, and are engaging.

None of the blurbs on the books I’ve shared here are good. Most of them are godawful.

For examples, look at traditionally published books and take notes on what they’re doing.

Categories

This is the reason we’re in this mess!

Categorize your stories properly.

Let’s look at this one:

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This is incest erotica being categorized as coming of age fiction. What the fuck?

Should you choose two categories? Yes. But for fuck’s sake, make them relevant. Incest erotica is NOT coming of age fiction. I’d barely call it “romance >> erotic”, but I’m willing to let that slide as I haven’t read the book and that’s at least an appropriate category. If this author wanted an appropriate secondary category, I would have gone with “fiction >> erotica >> men’s erotica”.

Let’s look again at the others we’ve already called out:

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^ That’s somehow both business fiction and action romance? If the author meant it’s a romance set in the workplace, the proper place to make that distinction is in the tags, not the business category.

And then there was this:

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^ I think this might’ve been miscategorized. The blurb seems to indicate political science, not general romance.

And we also saw this:

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^ “Women’s fiction”? Really? Granted, I haven’t read the story, but… generally books about prostitutes are not women’s fiction. That genre tends to be about women finding themselves, recovering from loss, finding strength in family, etc. While it’s not impossible for this to be women’s fiction, I doubt that’s the best category.

And, finally, we started off with this:

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^ I read the whole thing. It’s not contemporary romance. It’s not any kind of romance. It’s not even a fucking story. It’s a scene (that evidently refers to the cover image). If I had to choose a category, wow… I’d go with… uh… general fiction or perhaps literature (though that’s a stretch).

The Problem With Miscategorization

Shitty writing, crappy covers, and atrocious blurbs are bad enough for the self-publishing industry, as it gives us the reputation that we rightly deserve, but above absolutely everything, it is miscategorization that is killing the erotica self-publishing industry.

In self-publishing resources, we are told to think creatively with categories. If you write a western romance, you could categorize it as general romance and historical romance — but if you instead categorize it as general romance and western, then you get the readers who read westerns and are open to a romance book. It’s sound advice.

That is — it’s sound advice for romance, but you have to be careful with erotica.

You don’t fucking categorize incest as coming of age fiction.

Let me explain what happens:

A mother and child go on Amazon or Smashwords to look for a good ebook
They type in some innocent keywords or click on some ideal categories (coming of age fiction, perhaps)
They scroll through the list together until they find “Sex With Daddy For An Easy A”
The mother sends the child out of the room and, mouth agape with horror, clicks around a bit more and finds more incest or extreme erotica mixed in among kid-friendly titles
The mother contacts Amazon and complains
Amazon is slow to respond, so the mother goes to the local media
The media raises a stink
Amazon releases a press statement that say “Yikes! We didn’t know this was happening! We’re deleting everything now!”
All of us who play by the rules have any of the following happen:

Our titles get banned / removed
Our titles get put behind the “adult filter” (also known as “dungeoning”) and our sales plummet because we’re not as discoverable anymore
Our accounts may be cancelled, ending our self-publishing career, as Amazon bans your tax ID number permanently

Sound extreme?

I can almost guarantee that’s what happened at Barnes & Noble last week, minus the part about the media. It happened a year or two ago when a mother and daughter were looking for animal books and found erotica on Amazon. It happened last year on Kobo.

Those of us who play by the rules have to sit back and try not to stress out as our erotica colleagues are getting hit by the “ban hammer” and try not to freak out over the same thing possibly happening to us. Those who are in it for the quick buck — likely those that break all the rules — give up and move on. The industry recovers, we get back on our feet, and then a newbie who’s heard that erotica is an easy way to make big money comes in and breaks all the rules — throwing us into the same cycle.

If you’re thinking of writing erotica, here’s how you make money on it:

Write. Edit. Revise. Proofread. Get a cover. Publish. Repeat.

That’s it.

The money in erotica (other than risky and temporary trends and highs that lead to you eventually getting banned) is in building a catalogue. I have over 80 erotic titles under various pen names and I make a decent income from writing.

More importantly, it’s consistent income.

Sure, a rule breaker might make a ton of money before they go and wreck everything for the rest of us, but those of us who are in it for the long haul make more money over time.

I’m not perfect.

I never claim to be. I’ve made mistakes and I continue to do so.

I also don’t like calling people out on their shit. Everyone starts somewhere and if any of these authors are new to self-publishing, the last thing they need is a public lashing.

But I’ve had it.

I am probably one of the most patient and understanding people you will meet, but I’ve had it with those who constantly break the rules in search of a quick buck and just end up making the rest of our lives a living hell.

I continue to support indie authors

I know how hard it is to make money as an indie author. Truth be told, most of us do it because we love telling stories, not because we’re chasing money.

My offer for book promotion help is always open and is always indie-friendly. This rant doesn’t change that fact.

Indie publishing is a lot of fun — it’s challenging, but it’s fun. If you’re a total newbie to self-publishing or if you’re perhaps guilty of making some of these mistakes (or perhaps you’re one of the authors I made an example of) — don’t let this hinder you from doing this, if this is really what you want to do.

Learn from your mistakes, learn from the mistakes of others, and strive to do better.

Like I said, I’m not perfect. I’ve made many mistakes with self-publishing, but I learned from them. I’ve also learned from looking at what other authors do — both good and bad.

Anyone with interest, patience, and perseverance can do this.

Let’s write some good books.

It’s Butt Week!

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I’m participating in Butt Week!

All week long, CB Archer is holding a rump-tastic party filled with great deals, free books, prizes, games, and more! Click on the graphic above or below to visit CB’s site and learn more!

And I’ve got two books on sale this week! Both Forbidden Desires: The Complete Series and Go-Go Boys of Club 21: The Complete Series are on sale on Amazon for only $0.99 each! (Click the Butt Week graphic above or below to find the links to these books and all the other amazing MM reads on sale this week!)

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Forbidden Desires: The Complete Series

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Forbidden Desires: The Complete Series
Cameron D. James and Sandra Claire

There are some lines not mean to be crossed … some desires that are forbidden. But try as one might, some taboos are simply too irresistible to hold sacred.

From a young man hooking up with his best friend’s dad, someone he’s always considered to be like a father, to a priest who engages in carnal sins with a parishioner, to a bombastic American president and his illicit love affair with an illegal Mexican rentboy … these men explore the forbidden, indulging in their deepest, darkest desires.

Collected in one volume are three such stories — tales of forbidden passions and devious desires.

Forbidden Desires is a 78,000-word bundle that collects Seduced By My Best Friend’s Dad, Erotic Love and Carnal Sins: Confessions of a Priest, and The President And The Rentboy.

Purchase the ebook for only $0.99 at Smashwords, using coupon code YB47E!

That’s 83% off! Coupon code expires August 22, 2017.

Want to purchase the ebook at full price instead?

It’s available for $5.99 at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Excitica | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords

Prefer paperback? You can find that here:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway
What’s this?

The paperback is also up for giveaway on Goodreads!

(Canada and USA only.)

Author Interview: Rebecca James, author of Teresias Bound

Hi book lovers! Today we have Rebecca James, author of Teresias Bound, stopping by for a chat!

[image error]Tell us about your latest release.

My latest release, Teresias Bound, is a sci-fi/fantasy and involves a futuristic trans character. It went live on July 29.

What was the hardest or most difficult scene to write?

I think the most difficult scene to write in this book was the scene where Aiden’s female body is transformed to a male body. I’d never want to make little of the struggle trans people go through, but since my book is futuristic, the transition is more complete and fantasy-like. I had a little difficulty envisioning what that might look like at first.

What’s the most difficult part of writing a sex scene?

For me, the most difficult part of writing a sex scene is making each one unique and sexy. Most M/M readers have read hundreds of sex scenes, and it’s not easy writing something that not only doesn’t sound like everything else out there, but also fits the plot and develops a real connection between characters.

Are you writing anything now? Can you tell us about it?

I usually have several projects going, so I can switch off when my muse takes a notion. Right now, I am writing book two of my Angel Hills shifter series and also working on a sci-fi/fantasy that has a sort of mail-order-husband plot.

Can you describe your editing process?

Usually about half-way through a book, I do what I privately call a “comb-over” where I re-read what I’ve written and get a feel for where I’m going and what I need to make sure to conclude. During this process, I edit errors, rearrange sentence structure, etc. When the book’s finished, I go over the second half, and then I have one or two beta-readers look at it mostly for continuity. It then either goes to my publisher’s editor and then back to me, or, if I’m self-publishing, I hire an editor.

Will you be attending GRL in Denver this year?

Yes! I’ll be there as a supporting author, and I’m so excited about it. I’d love to meet my readers, and if you’re a subscriber to my newsletter and going to be there, let me know—I’ll have a special gift for you. You can drop a message at my website: https://rebeccajamesgayromance.wordpress.com/ , facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccajamesgayromance/, tweet me: @rjamesromance1, or email me: rjames201581@yahoo.com. You can also find me at tumblr: http://rebeccajamesbooks.tumblr.com/

Thanks for the chat, Rebecca!

[image error]Now, go and check out Rebecca’s new book, Teresias Bound!

Aiden is a man in a woman’s body. His dream is to fly to Aquarix where the elusive Fluens–the only species capable of changing his life record and physically making him a man–reside, and for years he’s been working at a seedy brothel in Solarias to save enough money to make that dream a reality.

Lydo, the prince of Teresias, has spent his youth leading his father’s army and avoiding his responsibilities on his home planet. On brief leave during a dangerous mission, he stops at a brothel and acquires the services of a feisty young prostitute who insists Lydo refer to her as a boy. Amused by the girl, the prince pays her way to Aquarix.

Aiden is euphoric at his transformation, but Lydo is more than a little disconcerted by the fact he is attracted to Aiden as a man.

When it’s time to part ways, Aiden fulfills his second dream by taking a job on a spaceship. Resigned to step into his expected role on Teresias, the prince returns to his homophobic planet. But as the king parades princesses before his son in hopes of a betrothal, Lydo finds his heart remains with a certain adventurous boy somewhere out in space.

[image error]About Rebecca James:


Rebecca James is a right-brained Scorpio living in the southern United States. An English major and life-long reader and writer, she only recently became a published author. At present, Ms. James only writes in the M/M genre.

Interview with Spencer Barnes, author of Drink, Dance, HUMP!

 

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Greetings book lovers! Today I’m thrilled to have Spencer Barnes with me, author of Drink, Dance, HUMP!

I read this book and knew I had to have him here on the blog for a chat — read on for our interview and then don’t miss the blurb and buy links at the bottom! This book is a sexy and fun-filled read!

Let’s start with a basic question — tell us about Drink, Dance, HUMP.

Drink, Dance, HUMP is a coming out story that paints the gay party scene and all aspects of our crazy gay lives.  Where a conservative gay boy, who had never met a gay before, slowly goes through the coming out process, then ramps up to the full roller coaster ride of meeting boys, making friends, and partying like no frat boy or private school kid could even imagine.  From waking up under a pile of men, having hot tub orgies and getting bjs behind a dumpster kinda ride. It’s like 50 shades of GAY meets Chelsea Handler’s Are you there Vodka, it’s me Chelsea with a touch of Eat Pray Love.

That sounds like a pretty accurate  description! Now, this book is memoir, right? Are all the stories true?

It is amazing I’m still alive.  Yes, it’s all true.

This book is FULL of sex… but what do you consider your wildest sexual adventure?

I’ve had so many!  The wildest was probably having an orgy with 5 Greek guys in Athens that I met at a bar with my friend Pete.  It’s in there so you have to read through to find it.  My friend Pete walks into the hotel room at 5am and kicks them all out but I had already humped them all at that point.

Wow… Five guys?

*Clears throat*

Um… even though I write erotica, I’m actually quite shy in real life. If you could give me one tip to pick up guys, what would it be?

You need to be in tune with gay energy.  Watch where boys look, how they position their feet towards you or away, and how long they will hold a glaze.  Gay guys like to chase so you have to let them chase you and then right at the perfect moment on the dance floor or in a bathroom stall you go make your move when you know they are into you.  All of their work in chasing will have paid off but you were actually luring him in like a sailor to the singing Sirens of greek mythology!  To the victor goes the bubble bum.

*Takes notes*

Back to the book — what are you hoping readers will get out of Drink, Dance, HUMP? What’s the message you want them to walk away with?

My story is a universal story of learning what makes you happy.  Only when you let go of social prejudice and what other people think can you truly be you.  Only when you let yourself be young, lustful, and self-indulgent will you every truly self actualize and find yourself.  Gay hedonism is something to run to when you are blessed by being gay than to run from.  I’m extremely grateful that I grew up in a family and city that allows me to be who I am and even allows me prosper.   I’m a lucky kid.

That sounds great! Thank you so much for coming by the blog today, Spencer!

Readers, keep scrolling for the cover, blurb, and buy links! You’ll love this book — I know it!

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Spencer’s life is perfect…almost. He’s got a spiffy job and a tip-top wardrobe, a solid group of friends and a packed social calendar. But Spencer’s got a secret: he’s gay. When he finally spills it to his friends & family, a whole new life floods in hard and fast. There are clubs to hit, men to do, and fun to be had.

Drink, Dance, HUMP! is the story of one young man’s journey of self-discovery from being a closeted, suburban kid to a man on the gay party scene in Toronto and around the globe. Spencer dives deep into the raunchy, turbulent world of disco balls and strobe lights, stiff drinks, drugs, and hook-ups with a hot guy or four. Hearts get broken, demons are confronted and Spencer grows up, trying to figure out exactly where he fits in the hedonistic rush of it all.

Step into the adventure of one gay boy as he drinks, dances, humps, and discovers that his hedonistic ways aren’t just something to embrace, but the very road to self-knowledge and self-acclamation.

Buy the book on Amazon

About Spencer Barnes

“In every man there is an eye of the soul which is more precious than ten thousand bodily eyes.”   Plato

This is Spencer’s first memoir / erotica book.  He currently lives in NYC and is still finding and refinding himself by drinking, dancing and HUMPING his way through life.  He believes Plato was super gay firstly because he looked like a Williamsburg gay with that beard and secondly because he knew that it is pointless to pursue anything else when you don’t allow yourself to “know thyself”.