Writing
Smut for Profit
It's Not just an
Adventure - It's a JOB
by
Morgan Hawke
***
Whoever
told you that writing fiction for adult industry publication
- for money - is supposed to be Artistic, Fun, or
Easy -- LIED.
Writing
may look artistic, and creative writing certainly
is artistic (that's why they call it Creative Writing,)
but writing for a living - writing for publication
in the adult industry with the intent to get paid
on a regular basis - is NOT artistic - it's NOT always
fun and it certainly is NOT easy.
Writing
for publication in the adult industry is WORK. Sure,
some of it is fun, but the bulk of it is mind-bending,
eye-straining work. Don't get me wrong, creativity
is part of the job of writing for a living... But
if you think us professional writers turn on "the
Creative Muse" at 8 AM and shut her back off
again at 5:30 PM then you are missing the point entirely.
~ The Road to publication
is paved with
glamorous Half-Truths. ~
Half-Truth:
"If you write it - it will
Sell."
Whole
truth: "If you write it, and we are
already looking for it - we'll Buy it."
If
you have written a spectacular BDSM story and the
Publisher is looking for a Lesbian story, they will
pass over your wonderful BDSM for a Lesbian one with
only half the quality of your BDSM, because Lesbian
is what they have an opening for - not BDSM.
And
when they hang onto your stuff for months - or even
years - at a time? Think of it this way: They're probably
waiting for an opening that they have the perfect
story for.
Half-Truth: "Once
you're in with a good Adult Novel or Magazine publisher
- you're in for life!"
Whole
truth: "Once you're
in with a good Adult Magazine publisher - you have
only One Month to prove that you can Write On Demand."
/ "Once you're in with a good Adult Book publisher
- you have only One Year to prove that you can Write
On Demand."
While
your name is still sitting on the `net (or the shelf,)-
you have until the next publishing cycle to punch
out another story equally as good. (One month for
your average magazine and one year for a novel.) Only
this time, the publisher is going to tell you what
they want: "Gimme the same story, different characters,
same plot arc but move some stuff around - oh and
this time, don't have them do this, the readers don't
like it, have them do that instead." (Sigh.)
Look
at it this way: You don't have to guess what the publisher
wants this time around.
Half-Truth: "Once
I'm in with a good publisher - I can write whatever
I want..."
Whole
truth: "If you want to
stay with that good publisher you better write, what
they want, when they want it, in the way they want
it."
You're
going to tell the publisher that you will only write
what YOU want to write? Do you really think any publishing
house is going to hire a writer that won't do what
they want them to do? Unless you are Susie Bright
or Anne Rice: "Game-Over, man. Game-Over."
Time
to go back to your desk, find a new pen name, punch
out yet another novel - and go through the whole damn
thing all over again to find another publisher. Only
this time your new publishing house will call your
old publishing house and ask what the problem was.
Why aren't you with Them anymore?
Let
me repeat myself:
Do you really think a publishing house is going to
hire a writer that won't write what they want them
to write?
You
want to make money? Then you knuckle under and Work
your butt off to deliver what the adult publisher
is asking for.
Writing
for a living is about sitting at a desk, in an office,
every day and WRITING whether or not you `feel like
it'. Does this make you less artistic? Does this mean
that you are not being creative? Does this make you
a hack writer?
Forget
all that stuff - it makes you EMPLOYED.
What
else would you call it? Authors telecommute their
work - and progress - to their editors and get paid
for it. The faster they write the faster they're paid.
The better they conform to the publishing house's
demands, the better they are paid. End story.
Writing
is NOT about creativity. It's about Money. A publisher
is in the business of selling Books or Magazines -
not displaying Art or promoting Literature. They are
looking for what THEY want, WHEN they want it in the
WAY they want it. Period. If you can sneak interesting,
different and Creative writing in between their formulaic
demands GREAT! They Love that! But in the mean time
- the rest of your work had better conform to what
they want.
What
if the Muse strikes and you get a terrific idea? Great!
Write it between assignments and make the publisher
PAY through the Nose to get it.
Half-Truth: "I can
make a fortune writing Sex stories..."
Whole
truth: "You can make a fortune writing
sex stories - if you sell it to a top publishing house,
and it ends up on the New York Times Bestseller list
- in one of the top 5 positions."
Erotica
is currently making a huge sweep in the eBook market.
Authors for ePublishing Houses like New Concepts Publishing,
Amber Quill, ExtasyBooks.com and Ellora's Cave are
making rather tidy - and regular - royalties on their
erotica novels, but not a fortune.
The
Sex-story or Porn Letter on the other hand, is much
faster and far easier to crank out at volume. It's
also steadier work than erotica and it pays better
per word count. ($25.00 to $150.00 per letter at 15,000
words max.)
What?
Did you think adult magazine Letters were written
by Amateurs? Hell no! Those are professional writers.
Trust me, A magazine editor will accept and pay more
for a letter written by a professional writer than
anything written by an amateur. In addition: the more
expensive the magazine, the more they'll (probably)
pay their writers.
Note:
The writing standards for Erotica Markets are higher
than those asking for Sex Stories. Translation:
To write erotica, you have to use basic grammar, characterizations
and a PLOT.
Does all this full-time writing sounds like too much
work? Ask yourself a very important question:
~
What is more crucial
to your personal writing happiness? ~
Your
Artistic Endeavors?
- Then you are a "Recreational
writer"; someone who writes for the sheer
pleasure of doing something creative. You are an Artist.
Your future consists of publishing one 'great work',
with the possibility of publishing another 'great
work' a few years (or more) later on down the road
- and never with the same publishing house.
Money?
- You are a "Mercenary
writer" who will pump out what ever is
asked for in a timely professional manner. You have
all the traits of a professional Ghostwriter. Most
ghostwriters make better money than most authors -
because their books sell off the shelves every time.
They're writing under someone else's already established
and popular name.
What?
Did you really think those big-time authors that wrote
3-5 books a year, wrote them All By Themselves???
HELL NO! They have a staff and / or ghostwriters to
support them - and that staff gets paid - and paid
well.
Making
Money - under Your Own Name?
- That makes you an "aspiring
Author". Then you certainly have your
work cut out for you. This is what Anne Rice writing
Adult fiction under the name: AN Roquelaure, and horror
author Steven King have done. They worked their butts
off writing for their publishers pumping out work
after work, after work - all by themselves with no
support, until they made a name big enough to dictate
their demands to their publishers. And since they
don't have a support staff - they don't have to share
their profits either.
~ How do I know all
this? ~
I
actually write for a living. I was Associate editor
of an adult entertainment magazine. This is where
I learned all about writing articles on demand. Somebody
had to write all that filler text - and make it interesting.
Currently
I am the copywriter / publicist for one of the largest
Internet corporations in the Adult Industry. (AEBN.Com).
I write what I'm told to write, when I'm told to write
it about things that I'm told to write about, because
I'm being paid to do just that.
I'm
a Mercenary.
~ Advice to the Burgeoning Writer
~
Write
every spare moment you have
and FINISH your story.
Always
have at least two people read your stuff
and check it for:
Readability:
Can you tell exactly what's happening to who? And
How?
Story-Drag:
Is it Boring? Did your reader
skim over any of your paragraphs to "Get to the
Good Stuff"?
Effectiveness:
Does it get you hot?
Have
at least two more people check your grammar and your
sentence structure.
Read
the Submission Guidelines carefully.
Send the editors `exactly' what they are looking for.
`Close' is not good enough. If they are looking for
`Romantica' then your story had better be sexually
explicit and involve a couple falling in love. You
have to have both the sex and the Romance to interest
a `Romantica' publisher.
Be
willing to work with the editors on requested changes.
Many editors try to be gentle
with their comments to new authors and have been known
to understate what they mean. That does not make their
comment random or invalid! If an editor goes to the
trouble of noting something about your story, take
it very seriously. Remember - you are Writing to Sell
and Publication Editors are looking for authors to
fill their readers requests. They are there to make
their publishing house look good by making YOU look
good.
~ Who's looking for Smut? ~
http://www.erotica-readers.com
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/...ecategories.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ms. Hawke has been a professional
writer since May 2001 writing and publishing numerous,
Adult Industry related articles. Ms. Hawke is also
an published author of (recreational) fiction since
1980, an Erotica author since 1996, and an author
of Erotic Romance since 2002.
