Thursday 27 February 2014

Erotic stories and pornography

How do erotica writers get their inspirations to write? For me, I enjoy sex, but somehow deprive of it. So, I started to read and imagine. Then I started to write and concoct stories from my naughty imaginations. Sometimes, I watch… pornography, that is. Watch not for the actions, but for the settings and storylines and; to somehow acquire inspirations and trigger thoughts. But again, who am I kidding, most porn have minimal storylines, at least those that I have watched.

With erotica, readers get to imagine the settings, background and parameters set by the author. It is up to the author to bring the imaginative world to his/her readers. Readers get the share, experience and feel the thoughts of the author as he/she read. And to sometimes, go beyond the words of the author. Porn on the hand, restricts the imagination of the audiences.

Pornography, I must admit, enjoyed mostly by men. In my humble opinion, men love straight forward actions rather having to read, imagine and then fantasize. If you have it, and I need it, I’ll just take it, why all the trouble going round the bush. That’s my opinion on men. Women on the other hand, like to take things more slowly, to build up the mood, and I personally feel erotica stories fit the bill more than porn. So, it is about right when the numbers show that there are more female readers than male and more female erotica authors than male.

When I decided to write my first erotica piece, I felt that the odds are not with me – a demand market driven by female readers and matched by a supplying market dominated by female authors. So, where can I stand as the little guy? There must be something I can provide, I persisted. Perhaps, a niche market where female readers want something different, something from the perspective of a guy, and viola.. that’s me in the making, a male erotica author.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Indie books publishing at Smashwords

I do my indie books publishing using Smashwords, firstly for my non-fiction books, now intending to use Smashwords for my erotica fiction, erotic stories. I got to know about Smashwords some time back, but only started using them in 2013. Mark Coker and his team really done a great job in helping indie authors moving forward. Kudos to them!

By following their guide and intuitive screen instruction, I got my first book published in less than an hour, available almost immediately in Smashwords website itself. Smashwords then helps indie authors distribute their ebooks to major e-retailers such as Apple’s iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and etc. except Amazon (at time of writing this post) because of the royalty structure of Amazon. Anyways, for a full list of e-retailers doing business with Smashwords, do visit their website.

The best feature of Smahwords would be its ability to do a Pre-order launch of new books to Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo!  Pre-orders essentially accumulated sales during the preorder period so that your book may have the chance to rise in the bestseller lists in those e-stores. Smashwords’ other features include:
  • FREE ISBNs. Or, use your own.
  •  FREE ebook conversion to multiple formats from a Word .doc.
  •  FREE unlimited anytime-updates to books and metadata.
  •  FREE consolidated sales reporting simplifies year-end tax reporting.
  •  FREE centralized metadata management.
  •  FREE exclusive marketing and selling tools such as our Smashwords Coupon Manager, Smashwords Series Manager and Smashwords Interviews!

For a first time author like myself, I find Smashwords very useful. I can concentrate in writing good books, while they take care of the distribution. 

I have an up-coming fiction of contemporary erotica genre and this will be my first fiction piece to go into Smashwords.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Why Erotica?

My first entry, my first foray into the art of writing. Whilst I have been writing for quite a while, I never dreamt of taking this leap of faith to write fictionally.

I am a first time indie author musing and writing about life and happenings in my own small taboo universe. I am in the midst of completing my first so called masterpiece in the contemporary erotica genre, concocted from my naughty yet hilarious imaginations.

Why erotica if you must asked?

Besides entertaining, I believe erotic romance or story serves more than it suggest. It actually tells you about your sexuality, your inner feelings and your yearns and carvings. It somehow empowers you to talk, discuss, to search for yourself in a relationship, my thought. And since erotica is a taboo thingy in many parts of the world, especially mine, I take it as my personal mission to step away from the censure and criticism that most did not. I am such a rebel thinker in a society of traditional Chinese. Or...may I just enjoy sex like most people do, and decided to write on it, crafting and plotting them into a published book. Or maybe, just maybe, it happens that sex sells! So, my journey begins.