Let Me Whisper In Your Ear

by Helen E. H. Madden

Digital vs. traditional. What a discussion! I've always considered my writing career one giant experiment, so it should be no surprise that I'm quite happy being e-published. I've even taken to reading e-books myself (yes, really!) now that I have a decent device to read them on. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to have a library of books on my little Asus EEE netbook. But the net book wasn't my first means of getting my fiction fix digitally, nor were e-books my only means of getting electronically published.

A few years ago, at a science fiction convention not too far from my home, I attended a workshop on podcasting. I had no clue about what podcasting was, only that it had something to do with iPods. This particular workshop was billed as a must for writer interested in promoting their work. Since I was a new writer who had just signed a contract for my first e-book, I decided to look into it. That's where I met Tee Morris, the godfather of podcasting.

Tee is one of many authors, and I believe the first, to create an audio recording of one of his book and post it to the internet for free. He has not been the last, not by a long shot. That weekend, I sat through several hours, listening to Tee and Rich Sigfrit and others talk about the benefits of creating free these free audio recordings and giving them away. I got my degree in broadcast journalism, so it wasn't hard to convince me. that this was somethng I wanted to try. All I would need was a USB mic, some audio recording and editing software (which I could get for free), enough space on my hard drive to store my recordings, and a website to post my work.

Oh, and I needed a topic.

Yeah, that last part was tricky. I was all a-buzz with the want, the need, to get my work out there on the intertubes, but I had no idea what to say. The one thing Tee Morris had emphasized over and over again in his workshop was the need for good content. A podcaster could get away with an okay technical set up, so long as what they recorded would grab the audience's attention.

In search of ideas, I bought a tiny little iPod and downloaded a bunch of other people's podcasts. I listened to fiction and non-fiction, full length books and short stories. There was Tee Morris' Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, Scott Sigler's Ancestor, Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing, Danni Cutler's Truth Seekers, and dozens of others. Pretty soon, I was getting my geek fix with Escape Pod, Psuedo Pod, and then Podcastle, all podcast magazines of short genre fiction. There was even an erotica author out there, Nobilis Reed of the Nobilis Erotica Podcast. I was in heaven, listening to all these stories while I exercised and cleaned house, taking them with me anywhere I wanted to go.

But I still didn't know what **I** wanted to podcast myself. I was getting desperate. I so wanted to get out there on the net and have my own show. The amazing ability to whisper my thoughts, my stories, my ideas, into people's ears seemed like such power ot me. The answer of what to record finally came to me while listening to Jared Axelrod's Aliens You Will Meet. This was my favorite podcast of them all. It was simply a very short spiel told by a computerized assistant to a galactic ambassador, detailing the aliens he would meet that day. It sounds strange. It's hysterically funny. As a story telling device, it's brilliant. Imagine what your day-planner would say to you if it could talk!

But the thing about it was, it was short, really short. I suddenly had the idea that perhaps I could write a series of flash ficiton pieces and record them. Writing flash fiction made sense. I had a tight schedule. Any new project I took on couldn't take up too much time. So I made a plan to write twenty or so pieces of flash fiction, to see how that would fit into my schedule. I would write the stories first before recording a single line, to give myself plenty of lead time on the techincal aspect of things. I knew it would be important to keep up with regular output. Once I got started, I'd have to keep going to build an audience, and that meant writing in well in advance of recording and producing and posting my work. What I didn't know, didn't count on, was that I would fall in love with what I was doing right off the bat.

I wrote my first piece of flash fiction for the podcast, a horror piece that I submitted to the storytime group at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. No sooner was it done than I was suddenly inspired to write a whole series of horror stories. "That's it!" I thought to myself. "I'll start in October, with a monthly theme of horror stories. Then in Novemember I can write about feasts. For December, I can write about gifts..."

It was already the first week of September. My plans to write 20 stories in advance went straight out the window. I spent the rest of that month knocking out four more horror erotica stories, buying a mic, setting up audio software and getting an RSS feed for my show. I mixed my own music from some free sound loops I had, and over that in as sexy a voice as I could muster, I recorded the following:

Warning, this podcast contains sexually explicit material, and is only intended for listeners ages 18 and older...

In the background, you could hear what sounded like the engine of a space ship revving up. Then the bomb sirens kicked in, along with the music, and "Welcome to Heat Flash..."

Heat Flash, the intense burst of heat that accompanies a nuclear explosion. Also, short erotic fiction available in audio format every week. That was my show. And it all started two years ago. Since then, I've written, recorded and produced over 100 stories for the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast. It's science fiction, fantasy, and horror erotica, the stuff I love the most. It's also completely free to anyone who wants to listen. I don't make any money off of it, at least not directly. I do think it keeps me out of the slush pile when I submit for anthologies, and it goes a long way toward promoting me and the other projects I work on. Last winter, I was picked up by Radio Dentata for part of their erotic story time line up on Thursday evenings. Again, still no pay, but you know what? I don't care. I'm addicted to the format. Each week, I can't wait to sit down and read my stories into the mic. I can't wait to mix those recordings together with some music and then send it out to whole wide world. I've had over 40,000 downloads of my show in the last 2 years. That's a lot of ears to whisper into. And I'm no longer the no-name writer with a handful of publishing credits to her name.

I'm a podcasting star, baby. And you could be one too. All it takes is a USB microphone, some free audio editing software, a little hard drive space and a website with an RSS feed.

Oh, and content. Something you want to record, something you desperately need to share with the rest of the world, to whisper into eveyrone's ear. That's the hard part, but it's also the best part.

Paper or Electronic?

When I dreamed up this topic, I was so sure I'd have all my answers and ideas right on the tips of my fingers. Not so. There really are so many angles to think about.

To hold a book in your hands, to feel the give of the pages and smell that special smell they have is something I've enjoyed all my life. To hold my own book is enormous. I can't deny that. It's part of why I'm an author. I can't see myself ever becoming a big NY best seller, and to be really honest, I don't want to be. I think the waste of the old way of publishing is horrendous. Runs of thousands of books, many simply destroyed for lack of warehouse space is ludicrous and, I feel, is a slap in the face of anyone who is eco-friendly. That saying, save a tree, read an ebook, comes to mind.

But, having said that, small run presses or print on demand spark a brilliant flash of interest. True, right now it costs more to supply books that way, but that's now. Give it a little time and I'm sure the cost will be more friendly, the concept more acceptable and bookstores will become more used to the idea of ordering ten, fifty, two hundred or whatever of a new release. Yes, there are authors who can sell those enormous numbers and possibly there will be a place for the big printers for awhile, but I truly think the future lies in POD and/or e-books.

E-books, electronic devices for reading them and the environment. Are e-books really all the environmentally friendly? I mean think about it. The author needs a computer to write the book. And software, can't forget those fancy programs we all gush over. A computer is designed to fall apart after a few years, the software is no good on the newer model. Our landfills are growing with the plastics and whatever computers are made of. Manufactured obsolescence is the way of our world and somehow that's got to stop.

Add the cost of e-book readers to this mix and we can see why so many people shy away from this 'new' technology that Ash said has been around since the 70's. I know in my small city there are few people who truly understand e-publishing, and I'm including the bookstore where I've finally managed to get my books on the shelves. Print on demand is still thought of as self publishing. E-books are a mystery. Pirates and readers, and even some authors have no idea what the rules are about giving e-books to friends/families and are shocked to find out it's illegal. As an author, I die of frustration a little bit every time I think about how little the average person knows about what I love so much.

So, print or electronic? Personally, I write for the readers anywhere and everywhere. If I could snap my fingers and educate them all, I would. I believe that's what we all have to do in this every changing world. Educate the masses and show em our books. Sure, there are some authors I may feel aren't up to snuff when it comes to the craft, but readers will discover that in their own good time.

E-book then into print. Yes, to me that's the dream. Cover all the bases. Snag all the readers wherever they are. Yup, I'm greedy. But, I do believe electronic is the future. I also believe there will always be print books out there. Just not as many and possibly priced beyond the average Joe.

I guess we'll all see, won't we? What do you think the future will bring?

Too Much Sex?

How much sex is too much in a romance?

I suspect there are as many different answers to that question as there are readers. I write both erotic romance and mainstream romance. Both have lots of sex, both have it fairly well spelled out, but there are differences. I use certain words much more frequently in the erotic. The ratio of sex to other plot points varies dramatically. The sex in the erotic romance tends to be a bit kinkier, a bit, well, rougher. And yes, it happens much earlier in the story.

I've had reviewers complain that some of my short stories are nothing but sex. Well, in ten thousand words for an erotic publisher, I'm sorry, but you're not going to get much else. I'd strongly suggest not picking up a story labeled "Quickie" or "Lust Bite" if that isn't what you want. On the other hand, those are far and away my best selling books. So I'm guessing there must be readers out there who like that. Honestly? I've got no problem providing that if that's what my publishers and readers want.

On the other hand, I've had people complain my mainstream titles have too much sex. For my cowboy series, which are labeled "spicy", that means usually two to three scenes per book. Hmmm. That publisher has a rating system, folks. You want sweet, buy the ones labeled sweet. If you want HOT buy those. Seems pretty easy to me.

Of course that doesn't mean I want my teenage sons to hand my books over to their female friends. I keep waiting for their parents to come after me with pitchforks and torches. (Yes, we are talking about the spicy cowboys here, not the erotic menage, for example. But still...) On the other hand I think it is a bit hypocritical for them to get bent about my romance with a bit of lovemaking when they LET their kids read some of the anime and manga titles out there. Really. I can learn stuff from those books. Yowza! But parents are not always rational, so until they're all in college, I'll keep telling my sons no when they want to pass my books out to their friends.

There are segments within the romance industry that claim erotic romance is ruining the genre. My response to that is a more politely phrased, WTF? Please. If some of the drivel that's been out since the 50's didn't manage to kill the industry, I doubt my sexy romances are going to do the trick. And I DO get pissy when someone implies that with 20 contracts under my belt, I'm still not a "real" published author. Yes, e-publishing is still the new kid on the block. Doesn't mean we're not the wave of the future. I mean where's the problem with E-books AND print-on-demand. Seems like that way we don't have warehouses full of dead trees, but those who want paper books can still get them. Wouldn't be surprised if that was where the industry eventually ended up.

So what do you think? Is there such thing as too much sex? Not enough? And do you like pixels or paper, or a mixture of both? Where do you see the romance industry headed in the future?