Cameron D. James's Blog, page 27

Sins of Lust is a BESTSELLER!

I’ve been a bit busy the past few weeks with my day job, so I haven’t had much energy for blogging at the end of the day, so… this news is a little late… but…

Sins of Lust (Go-Go Boys of Club 21 #4) hit the bestseller list on All Romance eBooks!

The Author Newsletter – Sex For Money Post #7

Sex For Money is a semi-regular blog series about my experiences in writing, publishing, and marketing gay erotica and M/M erotic romance.  All of this information is from my own experience, so your experience may differ.  It’s hoped that sharing this information might be helpful to new and aspiring erotica and erotic romance authors, as I see a lot of questions and a lot of misinformation out there.  To read more Sex For Money posts, click here.

Everyone says that the key to marketing your book is to pimp it out on social media.  The problem is that almost no one can tell you how to do it, nor can they usually show you stats to back up their assertions that social media is the key to explosive sales.

I believe the real key to connecting with readers to promote your book is through an author newsletter.  This post is in part a book review of Tim Grahl’s Your First 1000 Copies, as the book focusses on this very topic.  I’ve sort of known about the power of an author newsletter before reading Grahl’s book, but he really hammered it home.  (In this post, I won’t give much away in terms of Grahl’s argument, because that would be like giving away the ending of a book — I’ve got to leave you with some interest to go and pick up your own copy.)

At present, my social media stats are roughly:

Twitter: 800 followers
Tumblr: 850 followers
Pinterest: 140 followers
MailChimp (newsletter): 27 subscribers
Facebook: 10 likes
Google+: 10 followers

I’m pretty new to Facebook and Google+, so that explains the very low numbers there.

You’d think, with over 1800 followers on the various social media platforms, I’d be drawing people to my site/books like flies.  But, no.  I pimp out my books on Twitter several times a day every day.  I post on Facebook regularly.  I have a banner ad on my Tumblr.  I have my book covers posted on Pinterest.  Yet, I only get at most five clicks per day from social media to my site.  And from what I can tell, they aren’t buying anything.

Social media seems to be getting me a return rate so small I don’t want to bother calculating it.  It’s statistically zero.  If I look at just Twitter, then my return rate is closer to 0.5%.  It’s still pitiful.

My newsletter, though… If I send out something in my newsletter, especially if I have a coupon of some sort, I get very high return rates.  A while back, I had a coupon for a free ebook that I had sent out to newsletter subscribers.  About 50% of subscribers followed through.

True, I didn’t get any money from giving out a book for free.  However, by doing this, and by getting follow-through, I’m generating brand loyalty.

While low sales suck in the short term, doing things like giving away an occasional free read to newsletter subscribers benefits you in the long term.  By doing so, you build a loyal following of dedicated readers who are more eager to buy your next release.  Even better, some dedicated followers can become brand ambassadors for you and recommend your books to his/her friends.

So how does one build a newsletter subscriber list?  That’s where Tim Grahl’s book comes in.  You’re going to cringe, I know you are, but the answer is… popups.  You know, those little windows that pop up when you visit a site and it asks you to subscribe.  You’re cringing, I know you are.  Grahl takes the reader through a very logical explanation — backed up with evidence — of how popups are actually a good thing.

Engaging readers and asking them to subscribe to your newsletter involves a complicated series of unspoken assurances and promises.  Grahl explores these assurances and promises and emphasizes how you can not only build a strong subscriber list, but how you can make it an attractive offer to sign up for your list, and how you can follow through so the reader feels like signing up was a good thing.

Now, if you’re like me and you write in the erotica genre, creating a newsletter is a little more tricky than it is for any other genre.  Most newsletter providers have a “no porn” clause, and erotica is on the edge of being disallowed.  When I signed up for MailChimp, I immediately told them who I am and what I wanted to market.  They didn’t tell me if it was okay or not, but asked me to set up a sample newsletter that they could examine.  I didn’t pull any punches; I set it up exactly how I wanted, knowing that it might get me banned from MailChimp (particularly since my new release at the time featured half a guy’s ass on the cover).  They approved that newsletter, but haven’t given me blanket approval, as any inappropriate messages in the future could get me banned.  So I continue to tread carefully.  A newsletter is the most important marketing tactic a writer has, and I don’t want to screw it up.

So if newsletters are so important, should a writer give up on social media?  No.  Simple fact is that some sales do happen because of social media.  However, the purpose of social media should be to connect with readers, not to give them a constant sales pitch.  If you head over to my Twitter feed, you’ll see a lot of pics of hot guys, some comments about cute guys I see at Starbucks, links to blog posts, and a few promotional tweets.  So, I do market on Twitter, but it’s a small percentage of everything I do on Twitter.

Marketing to readers is a careful balancing act that requires an understanding of how readers engage with writers and what expectations readers have upon connecting with writers.  While social media is an important factor, the author newsletter is the key to marketing to readers.

UPDATE: Before posting this, I sent out a newsletter pointing people toward my new book, Men In The Hot Room.  Within half an hour, someone clicked on a link in the newsletter and bought a copy.

The Future of Sex – Guest Post by Harley Swank

Greetings blog-lovers!

Today we’re joined by Harley Swank, author of Jacob’s Lantern – and he’s here to tell us a bit about his vision of the future of sex, and how it plays into his new book.

But before we get to the post, check out the blurb for Jacob’s Lantern:

A naughty scientist has designed a machine for erotic pleasure, and he needs strapping young college bros to try it out.

The Future of Sex

By Harley Swank, author of Jacob’s Lantern

What is the future of sex? Is it going to gay bars and hitting on a hundred guys that say no? Is it wasting endless hours on Adam4Adam, Gay.com, Tinder, Plenty of Fish?

I say the future is MACHINES. Imagine sex machines that can be enjoyed by the Abercrombies as well as the Finches, by the pretty and the trolls. Slavery is illegal, and being a sugar daddy is not an option for most people, which is why Jacob’s Lantern represents one sexual invention, an artifice with holes designed to simulate anuses that are beyond humanity. Tighter, with more ridges, than anything nature could create.

A self-lubricating apparatus that permits the user to penetrate as well be penetrated, with an anal trainer designed to adapt to the virgin anus as well as the professional bottom that expects greater lengths and/or thickness. Whether it’s a lonely man or a socialite with his randy friends, this contraption encourages participation.

If you want to read a story of a sexy scientist and his hot research assistants, I invite you to read Jacob’s Lantern. This 16-page book will be FREE on Thursday, May 14th, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can buy it for free any day of the year.

WIN Autographed Books!

Goodreads Giveaway
Win one of three autographed paperback copies of Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series!
Click here to enter.

Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series — Now in Paperback!

I’m so excited to show this to y’all!

I just got these in the mail — paperback copies of Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series!

This was my first attempt at self-pubbing in print (via Createspace) and I’m really pleased with the outcome!  I’ll definitely be using them again when I’m ready to publish the complete Go-Go Boys of Club 21 collection this summer.

If you’d like to pick up your paperback copy (or ebook copy for less $$), click here to visit the Men In The Hot Room page on my website.

BUT!!! Maybe wait… I’m setting up a Goodreads Giveaway for three signed copies.  As soon as it’s approved by Goodreads, I’ll announce it here.  If you’re the type that loves giveaways, you’ll probably want to enter that before you go and buy your copy.

And here’s the blurb for Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series:

A wall of heat rolls through the hot room and sweat beads on Simon’s hard nipples. He contorts his body in all the right ways, intent on seducing his instructor, Brad. And Brad, a man twice Simon’s age, is unable to resist, no matter what the consequences might be. This simple act of seduction soon leads to weeks of scorching hot sex as Men In The Hot Room raises the mercury.

Originally released as separate stories, the bestselling Men In The Hot Room series is now available in one delicious book. Follow the steamy encounters of Simon and Brad that begin in Go Deep, continue with a hot threesome in Go Deeper, and reach a light BDSM climax in Going All The Way.

This collection will have you gasping for breath and reaching for a cold glass of water…or some tissues.

BONUS FEATURE:

Bump and Grind, the start of the Go-Go Boys of Club 21, featuring the exploits of horny young men in New York City’s coolest gay club.

Captured on Video by FJ Smith

UPDATED May 14, 2015: Captured on Video: The Complete Serial is now available on Amazon!

It’s a busy week here on the good ol’ blog, with lots of hot guests and their scorching books!

Today, we’re joined by FJ Smith, author of the Captured on Video series.  The first four entries in the series have been released and the fifth (and final) entry will be released soon!  And when the fifth book is released, FJ Smith will also release The Complete Serial.

UPDATED: May 14, 2015 — Captured on Video: The Complete Serial is now available for purchase on Amazon.

Check out the blurb for Captured on Video: The Complete Serial:

Kyle Spencer, owner of the aptly-named Captive Studios, has a unique method of recruiting fresh talent for his extreme gay porn videos. He identifies likely candidates from their internet porn viewing habits, stalks them online, and then whisks them away to his basement video studio for proper training. His current acquisition, a shy closeted college-age virgin, turns out to be very special indeed. Exactly how far will Ryan go to prove his devotion to his new master, and will Kyle be able to release him when the time come for a new star to be recruited? ***For adults only, this 22,000 word complete m/m BDSM erotica serial features all five previously published Captured on Video books for one low price.***

And his author bio:

F.J. Smith is the author of the “Captured On Video” m/m BDSM erotica series. He enjoys writing stories that explore both sides of the D/s dynamic.

And now, let’s sit down for our chat and get to know a little more about FJ Smith, Captured on Video, and the inspiration behind it all.

You’re a first-time author, right? What made you decide to write this story?

I’ve written as a hobby since I was in grade school, but this is my first professional publication. The idea for this story started with internet porn, as many good things do. I was thinking about how the people behind porn sites know more about viewers’ kinks than those closest to them in real life. That led to the character of Kyle Spencer, a gay porn site operator who finds fresh talent for his extreme videos by cyberstalking young men who log into his site. The story revolves around the different stages of training his latest prize, a closeted college-age virgin named Ryan.

This serial includes some unusual kinks, especially the later books. How did you come up with the different scenes?

I originally drafted many of the scenes as part of a private correspondence with an interesting young man from New Orleans.   He’s a French Créole quasi-aristocrat who blogs on a number of topics under the name gascon-en-exil. It got to the point we were trying to see who could write the kinkiest scene.

Who won?

I’d say it was a tie. :)

So do you see this book as primarily as a BDSM fantasy?

Yes, although that’s true of any BDSM fiction. Anyone interested in trying this lifestyle needs to do the research first and not rely on fictional stories. However, I think that the core of Kyle and Ryan’s dynamic, and how they complete each other, is true to life. They each give the other what they really need.

You make it sound like a love story.

I think it is a love story. Granted, it’s a twisted love story involving gimp masks, gang bangs, frozen cum dildos, and body modification, all of which is captured on video, but a love story nonetheless.

That sounds like my kind of love story! So any more adventures in store for Kyle and Ryan?

The Captured on Video serial completes their story arc, but they will likely pop up as secondary characters in my follow-on serial, currently titled Initiated on Video, which will take place in a college frat house.

Awesome! How can readers keep tabs on upcoming releases?

They can follow my tumblr at author-fjsmith.tumblr.com or contact me at fjsmith@mail.com to be added to my mailing list.

UPDATED: May 14, 2015: Captured on Video: The Complete Serial is now available on Amazon!

To find out more about FJ Smith and the Captured on Video serial, click here to visit FJ Smith’s Amazon author page.  All of the books are in Kindle Unlimited, so if you’re a KU subscriber, you can read the whole thing for FREE!

Chariots on the Highway by Limor Moyal

Today, I have Limor Moyal, author of the gay romance novel, Chariots on the Highway, as my special guest.  In a moment, we’ll have a chat with Limor to find out more about her book and the inspiration behind it.

First, though, let’s take a glance at the blurb:

Every year, young men come from all over the world to join the IDF and fight for Israel. They leave everything behind and becoming what known as lone soldiers.

Tom, a young man from Kansas, has traveled to Israel to fight for his people. He came to fight, He came to escape.

Dan Green has it all. He owns Greentech technologies, lives in a small mention near Tel Aviv, and looks like a movie star. But his blue eyes, hiding a storm that threatens to smash him.

The end of his marriage to Lena, his memories of his late father, his disappointment with himself and his internal wars, pushing him towards the edge.

Dan and Tom cross paths at a crucial point in their lives. None of them thought that what began as volunteering mission, will change everything they thought they knew.

This is a journey of exploration and discovery. About asking the right questions and finding the answers.

In traffic jams of Ayalon Highway, the bustle of the city, on the battlefield, and deep in their dreams. Together they peel layers of pain, and find themselves.

And now, let’s welcome Limor to the blog and find out more about Chariots on the Highway!  And don’t miss the book trailer at the end of the interview!

Your book is originally in Hebrew and takes place in Israel, how do those facts affect the story?

Well I decided to be the first Israeli woman to write a gay romance in Hebrew. We actually have none, and it is sad and I decided to change that.

The setting in Israel and the fact that the plot is very Israeli makes it very unique for readers because it gives the book added value. Not only you get your fix of gay for you hot story, you get to travel to Israel and enjoy it for the price of 3.99. I think that every book that opens you to new things, and teaches you something you didn’t know before reading it, will leave a stronger impact on you in the long run

What was the hardest or most difficult scene to write?

I think the hardest part was the argument between Dan and Ehud. It’s extremely political, religious, emotional conversation that came from personal liberal beliefs that I felt that I need to express in the book

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

Well obviously the fact that I never experience this kind of sex since I’m a female, but I think sex is sex regardless the gender of participants, especially if there are emotions involved, and in this case they only started touching after they were involved emotionally in so many aspects, and that fact made it easy.

What’s your favourite part about writing a sex scene?

To check if it’s working :)

I read it, and if it has the desired effect on me, I know I nailed it. I think the best thing about being a woman and writing a gay sex scene, is that it actually kind of living your fantasy because you can never really be one of your characters.

I’ll even say that the best thing about writing in general is the ability to fly with your mind to places that the real you could never reach.

What kind of research went into this book?

Military research, including learning the radio communication codes, twice actually because the original book is in Hebrew and its completely different codes.

The battle in Lebanon is based on real events so I had to investigate it and write it as accurate as possible, same goes to the medical procedures taking place in the story. I worked with a medical doctor to make sure it’s all valid.

And most importantly the sessions Dan has with his shrink are all backed up by a psychologist that is working mainly with GLBT and their families, and has a lot of experience with the issues Dan is having in the book. So basically the story is very realistic facts wise.

What made you decide to write this genre?

Firstly it is my favorite genre as a reader so naturally I couldn’t think about writing anything else. I believe that in order to write a good book you need to write what you would love to read, don’t try to be something else just to sell more books. It’s true that M/M is a smaller market than general contemporary romance, but I don’t find it interesting to read so what is the point trying to write it.

Second reason because I’m a liberal and support gay rights, so being able to help in that aspect is a great opportunity, especially in Israel because here the book is a unique phenomenon and many mainstream readers are reading it, and discovering what is gay love and that gay love is just like straight love, that discovery sometimes can change their point of view and even shift their political views, if I get even one person to open up and support gay rights, I will be a happier human being.

And the third reason is because something about gay love is so strong, because it goes against so many factors. As a gay person you have to fight society, your family and friends, and sometimes even yourself to be able to love freely, and if you choose to make all this sacrifices just to be with the one you love, that is, for me a very bold move and show how deep is that love. Great circumstances to start a book.

Where do you like to write? Home? Coffee shop? Subway ride to work? Somewhere else?

In bed with the lights off.

Which of your characters is your favorite? Why?

All of them because when I finished the book I realized that they are all me, every one of them representing a piece of me that together with the other pieces forms the whole, which is me. Even the unpleasant characters represent the parts of me which I don’t really like, but are still part of who I am.

Which of your characters would you like to meet in person? What would you say or do with that character?

Ehud – I would slap him and tell him to get his head out of his ass!

If you’d like to learn more about Limor Moyal and Chariots on the Highway, check out Limor’s website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed.

And don’t forget to check out Chariots on the Highway (link takes you to Amazon).

Passive Writing with Editor John Robin – Sex For Money Post #6

Sex For Money is a semi-regular blog series about my experiences in writing, publishing, and marketing gay erotica and M/M erotic romance. ��All of this information is from my own experience, so your experience may differ. ��It���s hoped that sharing this information might be helpful to new and aspiring erotica and erotic romance authors, as I see a lot of questions and a lot of misinformation out there. ��To read more Sex For Money posts,��click here.

Today I have the great pleasure of hosting my editor, John Robin, for a quick Q&A on passive writing, which is a sequel to our previous Q&A about passive voice. ��John is a freelance editor over at��Story Perfect Editing Services��and has worked with me on all my self-published works. ��(And I don���t think he���s blushed once, no matter how filthy my sex scenes get!) ��John is also hard at work on his epic fantasy novel,��Blood Dawn.

So, without further ado, welcome to the blog, John!

Last time you stopped by the blog, we had a discussion about passive voice.�� You made an interesting comment in one of your answers; you mentioned that “passive voice” is different than “passive writing.” ��Can you tell us what passive writing is?

Passive writing is a very broad category. Essentially, it is any kind of writing that creates a disengaging narrative. I would say that most writers, save the few extremely talented ones who just have a knack for writing strong, begin with passive writing. Through improvement, especially if you have the chance to work with a professional editor on publishing your projects, you learn to eliminate most passive writing conventions and habits.

Sometimes passive writing can be thought of as lazy writing. If you sit down and write whatever comes to you without really drawing on your honed writing skills, then your instinct is to write like you speak or like you think, which is seldom narrative. You often over-describe. You don’t think of what you’re writing as a script that is going to create a picture for a reader, rather, you are just trying to get down the picture you see.

How does passive writing differ from passive voice?

Passive writing is a broad category, of which passive voice is a subcategory. There are many aspects to passive writing, and passive voice is just one of them. Other aspects of passive writing include disembodied description (sometimes called “zombie body parts”), vague description, and weak verbs.

What effect does passive writing have on a book?

Great writing is concrete, specific, active, and a reader’s eyes glide through the details effortlessly, the story taking shape like a three dimensional pop-up book. Passive writing, one the other hand, often takes effort to read.

If we carry forward the idea of your reader creating a picture as they read, then passive writing can be seen as any kind of writing that blurs that picture. You can do everything you want to make sure your story flows smoothly, that there are no contradictions, that it is very interesting and engaging, however, with passive writing, you will lose the sharp edge all those elements have. The result is that many readers will put the book down because it hasn’t grabbed them. This is especially a shame when you have written a great story.

How can we identify passive writing in our writing?

The good news is that passive writing can be converted to active writing with practice and persistence. It’s not magic. There are some key identifiers.

First of all, let’s go back to the idea of passive voice, because the principle is the same. A story must always center on the doer, usually the point of view character who is describing the scene. In passive voice, we see where that doer’s actions on objects are attributed instead to the object, thus losing focus on the doer.

This can happen in the other forms of passive writing. Take disembodied description, for example. Let’s take an example: “Jane’s eyes went to the clock.” Now, that sentence creates a problem, because we have attributed something other than Jane (in this case, her eyes) to something she is doing. Here is an example of the same description, but more active: “Jane glanced at the clock.” Now we see Jane at the center of the action.

The effect of disembodied description is that it takes the emphasis off the doer of an action involving their body parts. Sometimes, when used heavily, it can create quite a grotesque impression for the reader, hence the label “zombie body parts”. I once edited a manuscript where the author spent a paragraph describing someone frowning. It was a drama of facial features, where the eyes, nose, lips, even the forehead were characters. I crossed out the whole paragraph and said “she frowned”, and explained this principle–lesson was learned in that, and we had a good laugh about it afterward.

Vague description and weak verb choices require critical reading to identify. The idea of of these is that they dull the imagery you create with your story.

When you are describing something, if you are vague and general, then you are, in effect, blurring the camera lens. “The sun went down and they got to the river” is far weaker than “The sun sunk into purple clouds by the time they arrived at the river banks.” “She had numerous things hanging from her belt” is far weaker than “She wore a chatelaine, with spoons, small pans, and hunting knives dangling like a metal skirt.” There is no one simple fix for vague description, other than to rethink what you wrote and ask if you can create a more unique, compelling, engaging image.

Related to this, weak verbs are often a culprit in vague description. Take a look at the first example in the above paragraph. There, the verbs are “went” and “got”. Those are very general, weak verbs that pack very little in them. Now look at the revised version: the verbs here are “sunk” and “arrived”, which convey more information. Likewise, in the second example there was only one verb “hanging”, but in revisiting that sentence to make it more active, we not only made that verb more specific–“dangling”–we also introduced the verb “wore”. In that example, however, note that it wasn’t the verb that needed to be sharpened, but the verb general noun “things” (with the general adjective “numerous”). In revisiting this, we gleaned something more specific, and naturally brought our camera into stronger focus.

What are some tips for fixing passive writing?

We saw in the previous example with vague description and weak verbs that the basic idea was to look for general verbs, general nouns, and general adjectives, and ask yourself if you can make them more precise.��Similarly, with disembodied description, look for actions that involve body parts and make sure you’re using the verb that shows the doer, not a recounting of what their body parts do to do it. You can often hunt for these spots by searching for commonly used body parts: hands, legs, feet, eyes, mouth, face, lips, arms, or anything else you can think of that you might have used.

Apply that kind of critical thinking, and you’ll see your writing improve greatly.

Thanks for joining us on the blog today, John! ��For readers who enjoyed this post, keep an eye on my blog because John will return periodically for these Sex For Money posts.

And if you���d like to learn more about John, you can find out more about his editing services over at��Story Perfect Editing Services, and you can learn more about his epic fantasy novel,��Blood Dawn, on his blog. ��(He is crowdfunding the publication of Blood Dawn through Inkshares ��� a new publishing model that combines the control of self-publishing and the power of traditional publishing ��� and could use your help. ��Click here to find out more!)

Ten Inch Stepbrother: First Time Gay Erotic Romance by Phoenix Blair

Today I’m thrilled to have gay erotic romance author Phoenix Blair stopping by the blog! ��Phoenix just released Ten Inch Stepbrother and took a few minutes to talk to us about his book, the inspiration behind it, and a little more about him. ��Read on for all the dirty deets!

Ten Inch Stepbrother: First Time Gay Erotic Romance

Phoenix Blair

Senior year of high school was a horrible time for Jeff. After he came out as gay, everyone treated like he was some kind of freak. Everyone except for his only advocate: Jeff���s sexy stepbrother Danny Rocks.

Danny was the hottest guy in high school and everyone knew it. He was the high school quarterback who got all the girls he wanted. Even though Danny defended Jeff from all of the high school bullies, Jeff knew that Danny was straight as an arrow.

But when Jeff returns home from his first year at high school to see his stepbrother Jeff, something has changed about Danny. Something that Jeff can’t quite put his finger on.

When the boys have a few extra beers on a hot summer night outside in the hot tub, it turns out that maybe Danny wasn���t quite as straight as he thought…

It turns out that Danny has a BIG surprise for his stepbrother Jeff.

***

This is short erotic yet cerebral romance, one that blurs the lines between the romantic, the sexual, friendship, and fantasy. Even where you try to ignore it, the reality is that every plot has an intricate story of attraction and sexuality behind it.

Is it erotic but deep? You decide!

*Free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.*

And, as promised…

Interview with Phoenix Blair

So tell us about yourself, who are you:

Hi! My name is Phoenix and I���ve been around the block quite a few times. I���m 28���and I know so many closet gay guys that I decided to write about it.

Wow! Where did you meet all these closet gay guys?

I���ve been fortunate enough to live abroad, and I���ve lived in some very old fashioned cities and small towns where homosexuality was unfortunately still extremely taboo. I feel lucky to have grown up in the United States. Even though I have heard some bad blood, it���s nothing like in these small towns where you could would not hear the end of it for expressing love.

That sounds like a pretty crazy experience. How did it impact your book?

I started writing when I was abroad in South America. I���ve been back for a couple of years now, but still, I sense that there is an underlying theme of hypersexuality that does indeed color everyone���s experience.

So what does Ten Inch Stepbrother have to do with your experience?

Ten Inch Stepbrother is a thoughtful erotica project. It marries the sexual and the close friendship, the sexual fantasy and the hopeful reality. I, as well as many people I���m sure, hope for a visually and erotically stimulating experience from my relationships. Yet, in an era of grindr and tinder and easy hookups, sometimes that depth of friendship is more difficult to find now. I like to think that Ten Inch Stepbrother is an extension of that thoughtful curiosity of what could be, if you had both the erotic and the depth going for you.

Wow. Okay. So we are talking about a very sexual book that has reality to it?

Basically, I took a fantasy that I had, and that many people I know had, and that may or have not actually happened to someone���and wrote it down. Hopefully this is a book that gets you worked up, but at the same time, I really hope you identify with the characters.

Sounds pretty interesting. Anything else you want to tell us about it?

Yes, Danny is a real character from my life, and this kind of stuff does happen. Maybe people aren���t always there to chronicle it, but this kind of action is happening in real life more than you think. I wish I had a dime for every straight guy who asked me curious questions.

Thanks! Can we sign up for a mailing list or anything to stay on top of your book releases?

You can email me at phoenixblair9@gmail.com and I will put you on my mailing list as soon as it���s active, probably in a few days.

Thanks!

Thanks for reading! Don���t forget to check out Ten Inch Stepbrother for yourself when you have a minute���a hot cerebral erotic romance!

Cool — thank for stopping by, Phoenix!

And click here��to check out Ten Inch Stepbrother (or Phoenix’s earlier work, The Ten Inch Massage), both of which are in Kindle Unlimited and FREE for KU subscribers!

Wrapping Up a Series – Sex For Money Post #5

Sex For Money is a semi-regular blog series about my experiences in writing, publishing, and marketing gay erotica and M/M erotic romance. ��All of this information is from my own experience, so your experience may differ. ��It���s hoped that sharing this information might be helpful to new and aspiring erotica and erotic romance authors, as I see a lot of questions and a lot of misinformation out there. ��To read more Sex For Money posts,��click here.

Earlier this week I released Sins of Lust, the fourth entry in the Go-Go Boys of Club 21 series. ��The fifth book in the series, as yet untitled, will be the final entry. ��And with that decision comes a great deal of responsibility to my readers.

When writing a series, whether it is a series (in that each story is self-contained, but each subsequent story carries the characters and world forward) or it’s a serial (in which the story is broken into bite-sized pieces, each of which has somewhat of a narrative arc), there are certain responsibilities the writer must accept that he or she owes the reader.

The biggest��of these is that the finale needs to be explosive. ��In a series, each entry must be better than the one before. ��And when you get to the finale, that entry needs to be,��by far, the strongest of them all.

The next biggest responsibility, and I would hope this would be obvious, is that each storyline must be tied up. ��The main storylines are obvious, but over the course of writing all of the entries, little storylines have probably popped up and been carried forward. ��These little storylines need to be brought to their own conclusion.

So with the release of Sins of Lust, I’m preparing to start writing the final book. ��Overall, I know what’s going to happen in the book, particularly with the main storylines. ��However, over the past four entries, and particularly with Sins of Lust, I’ve introduced a whole host of minor characters and each of these has a minor storyline that will need to be addressed and concluded.

To prepare for this, I’ve loaded the first four volumes on my Kobo and am about to sit down and start reading through it. ��Of course, I remember all the main events as I wrote the whole thing and it wasn’t that long ago… but if I want to create an intimate scene between to characters that harkens back to when we first met them, well, I better be familiar with what was said and done in that first scene. ��As well, I know that a lot of the characters have expressed hopes, fears, dreams, and aspirations — and the more of these I can address, the stronger my finale will be.

Writing a series or serial isn’t just about taking the characters and seeing what calamities befall them this week. ��Yes, this is generally how television works, but it’s not how book series work. ��(There are some, of course, that follow this format. ��I’m a huge Star Trek fan and for years, the books were just like the TV shows — let’s shake things up, see what happens, and bring the characters back to where they were at the start. ��The books are far better now, though, because they’ve adopted the stronger underpinnings of a series.)

Characters grow, plots evolve, and the world moves on. ��The books must evolve and grow as well, the storytelling must get stronger and more compelling. ��You need to give readers the payoff they’ve been waiting for.

And believe me, when the fifth Go-Go Boys book comes out, readers will get that payoff. ��I’ve got intense sex scenes planned and deep emotional resonance with the characters — in many ways, I think it will be the strongest piece I’ve written to date. ��I’m quite excited to start this journey.

But how did I get there? ��I didn’t just decide to write a random book. ��No, I examined what happened in the series so far and projected where the plot could go. ��And from these projections, I chose the ones with the strongest payoff. ��I want my readers to be over-the-moon thrilled with what happens to the characters they love, and I want them touching themselves as they read these sex scenes.

And then the series will be over. ��Could I write more in the series? ��I could, of course, but I have to be sure it’s worth it and that I have a story to tell. ��We may, in fact, see some of the secondary characters feature in a spin-off series. ��But, at present, there are no plans to continue on with the Go-Go Boys of Club 21 beyond this finale.

That can be a hard realization sometimes. ��This week, I also released Men In The Hot Room: The Complete Series, an omnibus edition of the three Men In The Hot Room short stories. ��It is so tempting to continue this series, as Go Deep (a free download) was on Amazon’s Top 100 Free Gay Erotica list for about a year and has been downloaded over 11,000 times now, and the third story, Going All The Way, was a bestseller on All Romance eBooks. ��People obviously enjoy these stories and I feel like I should give them more.

But do I have a good story to tell? ��Can I tell a story that takes the series and amps it up a factor of ten? ��After all, every work has to be stronger and more compelling than the one before it. ��I currently don’t have story ideas that meet those requirements, so Simon and Brad are on the shelf for the moment. ��(Although, we may see them pop up here or there in a potential crossover series.)

Writing a series or serial isn’t simply an ongoing story. ��It’s a promise to the reader. ��It’s a promise that if they stick with it, your story will thrill them more and more with each entry and the payoff in the finale will rock their world. ��Keep that in mind when planning out a series. ��You owe it to your readers for sticking with you and, really, in the end, you’ll build a stronger and more dedicated readership.