Sinh - Writing Erotica A Self-Publishing How-To Manual

Definitions: Erotica vs Romance vs Porn:

What is pornography? Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart, in a 1964 case (Jacobellis v. Ohio) highlighted the difficulty of definitions when he famously attempted to define pornography as I know it when I see it. Nevertheless, some definitions are possible and useful to make.

Romance: A love story with a happy ending (the happy ending is a requirement of the genre).

Romantic Erotica: A love story with sex (possibly explicit) as one very important element.

Erotica: A well-developed story in which sex is an essential element. Sex is usually described with some level of explicit detail. Love is not an absolute requirement. Most frequently, the sex is pivotal. It is not Romance and it is not Porn, although the boundaries between Romance, Erotica and Porn can be blurry, with a good deal of overlap

Porn: Sex without a well-developed story. A poor plot or none at all. There is limited or no character development. There is nothing wrong with writing this (pure porn also sells), but most readers expect and deserve a good story along with the sex.

There is some difference of opinion with regard to these definitions, but these represent the opinions most widely held by writers and readers. Consider them the average definitions. This book is about writing erotica, but most of the information included here can be easily adapted to any form of fiction.

While we are writing erotica, when it comes time to apply a search category to your work, there is a great advantage to labeling it as romance. Amazon, in particular, pushes adult works down in its search results, which hurts discoverability and sales. Romance can contain significant explicit erotic passages. For this reason, I strongly recommend you write erotica that can be characterized as romance or romantic erotica.

Why Write Erotica?

You should write erotica because you love to write. A love of erotica is secondary, but a love of writing comes first. You can make money, maybe even a significant amount, but that should not be your primary goal.

Sex is a basic human need and desire. That fact alone makes it worth writing about. You dont have to be a sex-addict, but you should definitely be interested in sex, and in writing about it.

You absolutely should not write erotica if you dont actually like the genre, are uncomfortable with it or if dont know anything about sex. Your readers will be able to tell and it will be a turn-off. The goal is to have your reader turned-on, not turned-off.

There are as many different genres of writing as you can imagine (and more). Within the erotic genre there are many sub-genres. There are probably more sub-genres for erotica than there are for any non-erotic genre. You can even create your own new sub-genres, limited only by your imagination.

Human sexuality covers an enormous range of behaviors. This range is sufficiently broad as to surprise and shock some people. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, If you can imagine it, somebody is doing it. And that stuff you cant possibly imagine: somebody is doing that too.

Choose a subgenre you are comfortable writing in. This is one question I cant answer for you. While you must be knowledgeable about your chosen topics, you dont need to be an active practitioner of any specific subgenre. Just as you dont need to be a space alien to write science fiction, you dont need to be a lesbian to write lesbian erotica. In both cases, of course, it would certainly be a tremendous advantage. The more knowledgeable and more enthusiastic you can be about your subject, the better writer of erotica you will be. Obviously, this holds true for any genre, but especially so for erotica.

Having said all that, there are certain topics that are forbidden or illegal or just plain difficult to market. Some topics will be banned outright by some distributors, not accepted by publishers, or pushed down in the search rankings, making them unprofitable. Certain banking and payment providers have put pressure on publishers to censor the books they will accept. While such things as Bigfoot Erotica and Dinosaur Erotica have had some limited success, I suspect sales have come mostly from curiosity. Here is a brief list of the types of material usually not acceptable by mainstream erotic publishers:

Bestiality: Sex with animals. Sometimes there is an exception for werewolves.

Necrophilia : Sex with dead bodies. Vampires are an obvious exception. Maybe zombies too.

Pedophilia: Sex between an adult and anyone under the age of 18.

Scat / golden showers: Sex involving urine or feces.

Non-Consensual sex: Rape when intended to arouse.

V iolence: If gratuitous, especially snuff sex: murder during the sex act.

Sex is essential in erotica. However, just how explicit it is described is entirely up to you. It is absolutely possible to be sensual (erotic) merely by hinting at sex.

Just being close to Susie got me aroused. The scent of her perfume, the warmth of her body when she stood next to me, it all made me want to just reach out and touch her.

Compare that to this:

Susie welcomed my enormous throbbing prick into her dripping wet pussy, moaning with relief when I sank all the way in.

Something in-between those two sentences in tone and style is probably preferred by most readers.