Pushing the Limits of Erotica (#amwriting #erotica #tabooerotica)

by Cameron D. James



I have a dirty pen name.

Like, really dirty.

It’s far dirtier than this one. In fact, this Cameron D. James name writes stuff that is almost puritanical when compared to what my dirty pen name writes.

It is so dirty that I’ve only divulged to a handful of people what that name is. There are a great number (far too many in fact) that know I have a dirtier pen name, but the people I spill the details to (the name and the subject matter) is extremely limited.

While with my Cameron D. James pen name, I write the stories I want to read, meaning that I am the primary target audience, with my secret pen name, I’ve taken a whole different slant. For a brief while several years back, I ran some Google Ads for my Cameron site and reviewed the keywords that people were using to find my ad and my site. Holy crap was I disturbed. Putting the search terms for illegal content aside, the legal stuff was very eye opening — it told me what secretly turns on a whole segment of the population. (In fact, I think these dark and dirty desires are more widespread than people want to admit — these are just the ones brave enough to type it into a search bar.)

After being disturbed, I cancelled my Google Ad (because paid advertisement is a waste of money) and just let that information percolate for a few years. Eventually, I became more comfortable with those taboo subjects — the information pushed my limits, I guess you could say.

A few years back, I needed a new creative outlet, something vastly different from Cameron D. James. Soon, my ultra dirty and ultra secret pen name was born.

For this project, I wasn’t writing for me — I’m not the target audience of these books. My target audience is that group of people who are searching the taboo search terms and somehow stumbling onto my website.

My first few short stories under this pen name were taboo, but still rather tame. Over time, they got dirtier and dirtier. I also shed the need to somehow show how ordinary people have these dirty desires in my stories — now I just jump right into the extreme smut. I give people what they want.

These readers have pushed my limits, and in return I push theirs.

These stories are not Amazon-friendly. This pen name’s ebooks are available on Smashwords (but not their third party sellers, just Smashwords) and Excitica. To most, that would be a death knell for sales. For most, Amazon is a source of mediocre income, outselling anything else.

Yet, these stories on Smashwords are my biggest source of sales. It’s primarily these stories that make me feel like I’m successful as a writer.

Sex sells. Taboo sex sells even better.



Cameron D. James is a writer of gay smut. His most recent publication is New York Heat.

Erotic Writing - Fad or Not? (#erotica #selfpub #eroticromance)

I’m not very good at following fads — especially in terms of clothing. Ask anybody who knows me in real life and they’ll tell you that my fashion sense is my major failing point as a gay man.

In truth, though, I would buy more clothing if I could afford it — but things like mortgage payments, cat food, human food, and bills tend to take precedence. And when I do have some money for clothing, that tends to be about when my underwear needs replacing, and that stuff is expensive. Buy a few pairs of underwear and my budget for buying a shirt is blown.

There is an upside, though. By sticking with generally non-fad clothing, what I wear tends to stand the test of time. I might not be the most color-coordinated or be wearing any fancy labels, but I never have to feel like I’m dressed dumpy.

Today, I’ve got on plaid shorts and a blue tee, as well as brown sandals and red underwear. None of it is particularly current or fashionable — but as a whole, it works and it’s affordable. The shirt is the newest clothing item — I think I got it last year.

But there’s more to fads than just clothing. There was that whole fidget spinner thing that’s just about burned itself out. And, of course, being an erotic author often seems like a fad.

I got into the erotic genre right around when Fifty Shades of Grey was taking off. I had no knowledge of the book at the time, nor did I have any real knowledge of self-publishing and how thousands of people were scribbling out dirty stories to make a quick buck.

If I was in it for a quick buck — if I was following the fad — I would’ve copied what everyone else was doing and just start cranking out the smut. Instead, like with clothing, I took my time and I invested in what I was doing.

I don’t sell as well as those who are able to follow the market with more agility. I write the stories I want to write and I take my time doing so. I may be behind on trends, like with clothing. But also like with clothing, my books and my presence as an author seem to be standing the test of time. They might not be the most current or trendy, but they do the job.

Like with that whole fidget spinner thing, we all know of authors who burst onto the erotic ebook scene with half a dozen short stories because they heard it was a good way to make some easy money — and then when it doesn’t work out like they expected, they give up and move on to the next thing.

I don’t mean to denigrate those authors at all. Those who can make it work are writers whom I admire. And those who didn’t make it work and who gave up — well, if they were in it for the money and nothing else, then they were in it for the wrong reasons.

Fads come and go. Eventually, the fad of “there’s easy money in smutty ebooks” will pass — and those who are in it because they love it, and not because it’s supposedly an easy buck, will still be here and benefit from the suddenly-decreased competition.

Success in writing erotic fiction more often than not comes from persistence, patience, and productivity. This means writing and releasing work on a semi-regular schedule and not getting discouraged when sales are low, but rather knowing that with time and more releases, sales will grow.

Erotic writing is a fad to some, but not to me.



Cameron D. James is a writer of gay erotica and M/M erotic romance; his latest release is The President And The Rentboy. He is publisher at and co-founder of Deep Desires Press and a member of the Indie Erotica Collective. He lives in Canada, is always crushing on Starbucks baristas, and has two rescue cats. To learn more about Cameron, visit http://www.camerondjames.com.

Dipping My Toes in This Year, I Hope

by Annabeth Leong

I was given a subscription to Writer's Digest much too early for it to be good for me, and so I internalized a lot of scolding about always buying sample copies, not bothering editors, following the guidelines, and recognizing that honey-you're-not-that-special-and-there-are-thousands-of-other-people-who-would-gladly-take-your-place-if-you-can't-cut-it. I also learned that self publishing is for deluded losers who are impatient and gullible. Clearly, the nature of the industry has changed a lot in the past ten years, but the desire to have publishers validate me has remained strong.

I also appreciate not having to learn all the skills involved with book production. Writing and editing are a lot in themselves, and I always wanted a business partner who would help with technical stuff, cover art, advertising, and so on.

We all know the reasons that's gone poorly in erotica. I wrote for Ellora's Cave. I wrote for many other presses that were closed/sold off/suddenly decided to stop paying authors.

Not all my experiences were bad. I've had some wonderful editor relationships, and a few successes working with publishers.

However, I've noticed that there's a common theme to working with a lot of publishers in our field: I am treated as disposable. Some of it relates to the way our industry has changed, but some of it gets back to all that stuff I internalized from Writer's Digest years ago—because that's about my work being disposable, too.

At some point last year, I started thinking about what it would look like to value myself, to treat my work like something to be respected. And my opposition to self publishing started to come down.

It's still intimidating to me, and I've been derailed from starting it up according to the timetable I originally planned, but I've started to feel I owe this to myself. I've learned that I can't expect other people to care for me and my work as well as I can.

I need to revisit my scheduling, but I want to start by rereleasing stories I wrote that I care about that are currently out of print. Along with that, I came up with some exciting ideas about bonus content and such.

My plan is to start with the first erotic story I published, Robot Lovers Prey on the Lonely. I'm well on the way to getting it finished and packaged. I have a marketing plan for it and stuff like that, but I'm way behind on progressing with it.

I do want to take this opportunity to remember the project, though, and to remind myself about self respect and taking what control is available to me. So I'll go ahead and show you the cover here, though this isn't the way I planned to do a cover reveal. I like this image a lot, and I've always loved the story, and I'm excited to release it in a new form, with care.

(I'm currently traveling, and I apologize for not having commented on other posts yet. If anyone reading this happens to be in Baltimore, New York, or New Jersey, I'm reading tonight (Thursday) at Sugar in downtown Baltimore and Saturday night at Bluestockings in New York City. I'm also going to be on a panel about erotica writing in Jersey City on Monday. Maybe I'll see you there!)