Just what is your kink?

Recently I was reading an article about writing dark erotica. It had some interesting insights, in what we go through in finding that niche that will appeal to all of us as readers.

I consider myself a BDSM writer, and from this article I would be labelled too broad, not specific enough. That is fair, for my stories are more focused on the mental evolution of the person falling into the dark recess of herself. I use BDSM as a platform for her descent into an abyss of hedonistic pleasure. (On further reflection, I can see how someone might see Unveiling Facade, as dubious consent.)

The evidence says, today readers like to find a sub-genre and dive into that space. That got me thinking of what sub-genre’s or kinks are out there and popular. So I did my research and the findings were a bit astonishing, well at least for me.

I used Goodreads for my study. I am a member of the dark erotica group and the bookshelf there is loaded with over 600 titles (666 to be exact, but that number is a bit too freaky). What I discovered, in looking at content titles, is that over 70% of the books were in the kink of non consent, abduction, rape, sexual slavery and torture. That surprised me!

Here I thought I would see menage as a leader and actually it has one of the lowest percentages of interest.  BDSM is still an individual leader, but kept it out for it a broader genre.  Of the group, mentioned above, the leader was “dubious non consent, non consent”.  That too surprised me, for as a writer of dark erotica, you have to work around the guidelines of Amazon and the other digital publishers. Those guidelines are in general vague, but they make it clear they shy away from books in the category listed above..

With that in mind, I asked myself how do these authors get it past Amazon and the others?  Back I went and looked up a variety of titles, and when I took those titles to Amazon to see how they are categorized, another shocker. The majority of them are not listed as erotica at all.  The author will drop them into science fiction, suspense, mystery, thriller etc.

Problem solved! However, while the anecdotal study shows that readers (mainly women) want to read the kink of “non consent style dark erotica” (for a lack of a better term). I want to do a poll and get your opinions on this, what kink flips your trigger.

So take a moment and look at the poll and cast your vote.

This Thursday, July Cumming will be here for an interview. So don’t miss it.

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