I write what I like, but…

As I'm writing my latest novel, I had an epiphany. I'm definitely not a commercial author. I'll explain.

I write erotica (which I do not consider porn although prudish people would). I also write thrillers. My current work-in-progress is a mystery/thriller. But it's an erotic mystery/thriller because, well, I write erotica and it has explicit sex scenes.

So here's my dilemma. For those readers looking for erotica, it's not page after page of sex. For those readers seeking a mystery/thriller, they may find the explicit sex vulgar (an actual word used in an Amazon review of one of my novels). Isn't that a lose/lose for a commercial author? (That's rhetorical.) A commercial author would target one type of reader and write for them. I don't. I write what I believe makes a good story.

My first novel was rejected by a traditional publisher of Romantica (Erotic Romance) because the heroine committed adultery. That's a no-no in the romance genre. I discussed it with the publisher's editor who said their readers were typically housewives who were turned off by adultery. She wanted me to change the heroine from a wife to a fiancé (I guess it's not adultery if she's not married). I explained why it would hurt the story and she agreed so to preserve the integrity of the story I self-published it. I didn't buckle to the commercial rules back then and I don't intend to now.

I try to write a novel on par with a traditionally published one. I self-publish simply because the explicit sex is still not accepted by traditional publishers.