As book publishing, distribution, and retailing platforms become less tolerant—exhibiting a parochial mentality towards sex in addition to endless policy changes designed to erode royalties—some erotica authors have washed their hands of the biggest players. A few were not given a choice in the matter.
Book sales WILL take a hit.
Erotica authors are being herded into new corrals. Many were kicked out of some of the better social media sites. . . and, for those who took a swing at content creation to offset sagging book sales, they are having to deal with demonetization and shadow-banning of their accounts on the highest traffic platforms.
Chalk it up the patriarchy’s old world order—re-branded as “the new world order”—where human minds never advance and the status quo is maintained.
- They’ll claim you have freedom of thought while quietly removing “undesirable” voices capable of influencing your thinking by presenting alternative views and facts.
- They’ll claim you have freedom of speech where you are welcome to stand on a soapbox in a park and say anything you like to passersby, as long as you don’t attempt to widen your audience by publishing your ideas.
Why are erotica writers a threat to the masters?
Most writers-of-the-sex have these (dangerous) traits in common:
- They are more tolerant than most. The sh-t we’ve seen would uncurl a YA reader’s pubes, but we do the “live and let live” thing almost daily.
- They speak more openly and honestly than most. Inhibited we are not.
- Their minds are more open than the average person on the street. We judge less; especially when we haven’t experienced something firsthand.
- They have lived and loved more. We know stuff.
Tolerance, open-mindedness, and a willingness to delve into new things are not welcome in the society they are attempting to create.
What is a poor indie erotica writer to do? Sure, we could escape into even more sex. . . Is that even possible? I mean somebody has to do the grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, house cleaning. . . and there are not enough hours in the day already.
Demand for our stories won’t change. Where people find them will.
In the business world we call it pivoting. There will always be places to publish; whether they are fair, profitable, or have any chance of selling books is another story. Most recently, while promoting The $1.99 Author, I stumbled across a great book promotion site with an e-book publishing option which I will describe as a work in progress; a publisher of last resort type of thing. The reason I mention this is a taboo erotica writer I am acquainted with is on there. She only requires her books be all in one place for the sake of convenience for her readers, and cares little about global reach, physical books, and the like. She is growing what is essentially a niche business, ostensibly by word of mouth in the kink community.
Community is our best defence.
When I link to B.B. Pierce’s site, because she was awesome enough to offer the erotica book author community a place to list our books, both our sites benefit as do our readers. This type of altruism might be how word gets around about erotica books after being driven back underground five years from now. It is in keeping with this idea of community that I’m sharing my recommendations for those of you looking for no cost book promotion outside of author friend’s websites.
Just the TIP: You probably have hundreds, if not thousands, of authors following you on social media. It’s time to visit their websites to see what they do so your time spent on social media might actually pay off in some way.
14 NO COST, erotica friendly, author interview and/or book listing sites:
- PRETTY-HOT.COM
- Topless Cowboy
- DISCOUNT BOOK MAN
- Book Reader Magazine
- Awesome Gang
- Time To Feed My Reads This one is brand new and growing fast.
- allauthor
- ebooklingo
- BookClubPro
- Best Book Monkey
- Indie Book Browser
- goodreads Whatever happens on its parent company’s site will trickle down. Sh-t flows downhill.
- booklife Its parent company is the epitome of mainstream. You couldn’t pull a needle out of their butts with a tractor.
I am forecasting we won’t be welcome on those last two for long.
Keep writing smut.
It makes you a warrior against the forces bent on managing every aspect of our lives. . . whether you realize it or not.
Have a sexy 2022 everyone. Now run along and put your lips on something you love.
You & I Erotic Tales 