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.