Creative Differences

Even in a short story it can be remarkable how much the general direction of a tale can change from the start to somewhere in the general vicinity of the finish. I started off with the goal of a quick, fun project from the perspective of the stereotypical 18 year old air headed bimbo who falls for the suave older man down the street… but it seems I’ve ended up with a story about a stereotypical 18 year old bimbo who falls in love with the suave older man down the street, his enormous penis, and the fine line between pleasure and pain. That’s not where I thought I was headed, but it seems that’s where I’m ending up.

I could go back and rework the last few sections and tone it down a bit or try adjusting the front end to even things out, but I sort of like the idea of stories just kind of organically going wherever they go. Plot diagraming and outlining might work for other people, but I’m never really sure where the story will take me until I’m in the middle of writing it. Even then sometimes I don’t know for sure until I get to whatever feels like the last word of the first draft. It could be artistic style or laziness and lack of writing discipline. Either way, it’s not something I spend much time worried about.

It’s all terribly inconvenient sometimes. That’s my polite way of saying one way or another this even shorter than usual short story is going to require exerting even more editorial influence than usual to grind off the rough edges. I vaguely remember a quote where the writer apologizes for a letter being so long because he didn’t have time to make it shorter. It seems that may not have been an exaggeration. Writing short is hard work.

Does Size Matter?

When it comes to size, there are always two schools of thought. On one hand, there’s the “bigger is better crowd” and on the other is more concerned that you “just know how to use what you’ve got.” So the answer to the question “Does size matter?” seems to be a definite maybe. While there’s not much anyone can really do about the size of their equipment (despite what hundreds of junk emails tell you), the question never really goes away completely. As far as I can tell, it’s all mostly a matter of personal preference anyway. Judging from the array of toys hanging on the way at your local adult novelty shop, individual inclination runds the gambit from tiny to absurdly oversized.

If that’s true about silicone objects that people jam inside themselves, it only stands to reason that it’s also true for what they decide to read when they’re not busy playing with one of the array of toys available… or maybe while they’re using one of them. That’s the imagery I prefer, anyway.

I think it’s obvious by now that I tend to focus on telling short stories. For my purposes, I’ll define those as being between 10-20,000 words. If I’m lucky, three or four of them can be nested together to make up a longer story for those who want to spend a little more time with my characters. Some of them, of course, stand alone in their shortness. I have to believe there’s room for all shapes and sizes of story in the big tent that is erotic fiction.

Why do I believe this? Well, it’s because my current work in progress doesn’t feel like it’s going to get into the range of my “regular” shorts. It’s more likely to weigh in around 7,500 words by the time it’s all said and done. It’s a quick hit and I won’t make any apologies for that. I just don’t have a sense of what people expect when they pick up a dirty story from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. When you look at the sales charts, some stories that are <3,000 words sell like gangbusters. Some that are 75,000+ sell the same. The doesn't feel like any real "sweet spot" when it comes to word count. I won't lie though, it can be frustrating to pour out 14,000 words and then see a 2,500 word short selling what must be 20-30 copies a day while you're selling one or two. Authorial jealousy is an ugly thing, I know.

Maybe size matters, maybe it doesn't. I think the element that matters most to readers is that you tell a good story in the space you decide to use. Develop the characters, advance the plot, make it steamy, satisfy yourself that it's "good" copy, and let the readers decide if it carries its own weight or not. It's not a pretty process, but it's infinitely better than a formulaic response that everyone enjoys exactly the same thing at all times.

For my next trick I'll be delivering a short short story… we'll see if anyone likes the motion of the ocean.

Apple

I’ve had some pretty good luck with getting my short stories on the market using the usual retail and distribution channels. One of the biggest kids on the block, though, has been a little harder to deal with. Apple is well known for its control freak tendencies and the process for getting yourself listed in their iBook store is no exception.

The good news is that my short stories and collections are starting to appear in the iBook store in dribs and drabs. Would I like to have all my titles listed right away? Of course. But I’m willing to call breaking into the Apple ecosystem at all a personal victory. With Apple’s well-earned reputation for being a bit puritanical when it comes to what apps it sells, I’m very happy to see that they’re allowing erotic titles to show up for sale in iTunes. That might not seem like such a big deal to the casual observer, but to a guy trying to sell a few stories, knowing that all those people running around with an iPhone and iPad now have direct access to at least a few of them is a happy day.

If you’ve been waiting for your chance to buy your dirty stories directly from a classy outfit like Apple, check out my stories now available from the iBook store. Hopefully there will be many, many more to come.

Naming Names

I’ve always has trouble with names, or I should say I’ve always had trouble naming characters. If I were writing sci-fi or fantasy I could just jam some random letters together and call it a day, but I’m usually looking to catch that “girl next door” flavor than surprise a reader with a name that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the story. I’m pretty sure there’s a part of me that likes to think most of my characters are people we could actually meet one day or even that they’re living out the secret lives of people we may know already. Therein lies the problem…

Instead of spending a lot of time worrying about a name at the beginning, I usually just assign placeholder names to my main characters and replace them later during editing. Unfortunately, that leads towards characters being named for an inordinate number of people I know in the real world… not necessarily ones that I want to stick my penis in, but real people nonetheless. Maybe it’s only a problem when you start giving your characters the same physical attributes as their real world counterparts, but it’s something thats bothered me in my last few short stories. Maybe I’m the only on troubled by hitting the “publish” button only to find that you forgot to swap out all the names. But when you end up with your best friend’s wife or the cute brunette from the sales office taking a ten inch cock up the ass and screaming about what a slut she is somewhere in chapter five it can make for an awkward moment at the mailbox or during the next staff picnic… and people wonder why I’m usually walking around with a shit-eating grin on my face.

Turning Myself On

After uploading Coveting Thy Neighbor’s Trophy Wife: The Complete Collection to my retailers and hitting the “put on sale” button, I took a two-week break from anything that even reminded me of writing. I’m not going to lie – it was a nice and apparently much needed break. Maybe it’s not true for everyone, but I seem to get lost in how much time and effort gets wrapped up in getting even a short story into “print.”

After the break I’m feeling much better and I’m happy to say that productivity has never been higher. After laying down 1600+ words in the last three days, I’m feeling confident enough to say that my latest work in progress is now well underway. With the working title Confessions of a Teenaged Whore, I’m working on another short story featuring a high school senior (of age, obviously), who discovers that sex with the boys from school isn’t nearly as lucrative as hooking up with men twice her age.

It’s not exactly uncharted territory for erotic fiction, but it’s my first real attempt at writing a short from the female first person perspective. It’s been disturbingly easy to slip into the mind of a 18 year old girl who’s fucking for dollars. It’s not Nobel territory, but there’s something to be said for being turned on by your own writing. I think that bodes well for the kind of story I’m trying to tell. I just hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it so far.

The Retailers

Compared to self publishing, the job of being a writer can seem downright easy by comparison. I have plenty of love for Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the two 800 pound gorillas in the self publishing room, but by the same token, I’m very glad they don’t completely dominate the marketplace – especially when it comes to independent writing and publishing. Here on the Internet there is plenty of room for writers of every stripe, but when you’re trying to get noticed, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd if you’re only playing with the big two.

The fear of getting lost in the shuffle is one of the biggest reasons I opted to also publish all of my material with Smashwords. Between the store that they host directly and the distributor arrangements they have with some of the smaller ebook retailers, it’s hard not to like them. What I lack in total sales volume with Smashwords and their affiliates is more than made up for by the very favorable royalty agreement they operate under. Where I receive $.35 from Amazon on a $.99 sale, through Smashwords my average royalty through Smashwords is generally $.60-.80 for the same title. It seems like a small number, but you really would be surprised how quickly $.80 sales add up to respectable money.

My titles are slowly flowing out to the smaller retailers – several now have my full catalog listed. Aside from a few hiccups in making sure the titles and descriptions are formatted correctly, it’s gone well. I’m working with those retailers to make sure that the product pages are well put together and clear. I hope to see the corrections being made in the coming weeks. It’s a slower process than I’d like, but it’s one that I’m confident will pay dividends over the long run.

If you’re looking for alternative to the major retailers or if you have a fetish for independent writers in general, be sure to check out Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Ebook Eros.

A Year in the Life

A few days ago a little widget popped up on my dashboard letting me know that I’d been blogging here for a year now. It seems like as good a time as any to sit back and look at what kind of year it’s been.

By the numbers, I like to think it’s been a success:

- Total Posts: 84
- Views: 742
- Comments: 28
- Sales: 1,081

Where’s the room for improvement? Everywhere. I’d like to see more frequent posts and obviously more comments. I’d like to drive up the number of views per day and week. I’d dearly love to push sales higher over the next 52 weeks as well. And the best part is I think all of those things are reasonable goals.

For my second year with WordPress, I’m aiming to post regularly twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) and I’m going to do better at engaging other erotic fiction authors and blogs. I’m going to do my best to have five or six more short stories available by this time next year. As a writer, it seems to me that the more opportunities you have to get your work in front of a reader, the better your chances of finding new fans. All the marketing in the world won’t make up for a lack of fresh content.

As far as marketing goes, well, that’s still a foreign language to me. Maybe I’ll figure it out and maybe I won’t. In a perfect world, there would be time enough to write, do the marketing, have a life, and take care of your day job too. Not being a perfect world, one or more of those things usually has to be sacrificed. Since I can’t manufacture more time, all that’s left is to try better managing the time I do have available. And that’s my last goal for the year ahead. We’ll see how it goes.

- Ed.