Good Heavens....

[alfreda89]

A friend asked me if I'd thought about writing erotica to pay my bills and allow me to write the fantasy and SF I wanted to write.

{GRIN}

I know nothing about that market. I wonder if I could make enough to live on? I'd need a pseudonym....

Comments

[madspark.livejournal.com]

I know someone who founded their company based on the revenue from their porn writing... so it's feasible!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Hummm....

[originalkitsune.livejournal.com]

I hear Harlequin type romances sell like crazy. I know nothing about the genre but the mother of one of my colleagues went from professional trick driver to professional write in an a few months. Plus i proof read some of her work and was like...either ewww or bored....but hey it sells!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I just read some of the newer stuff. I don't know if I can do it, simply because if I don't care about the characters, I quickly become bored. But if I could do it and not have it sour my interest in other writing (nor contaminate my other writing -- most fantasy readers don't want a lot of sex in the story) I'd much rather do that than work retail or a state office job....

[originalkitsune.livejournal.com]

lol... i wrote "trick driver"! I meant TRUCK driver!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I suspected that, but was going to ask for clarification by e-mail... ;^)

lol... i wrote "trick driver"! I meant TRUCK driver!

[lagilman]

Speaking as someone who writes for Harlequin, it's harder than it sounds to do properly, and it's not even close to pr0n, but if you want to talk about the gig...

Smut paid better in the days-before-Internet. But if you have the knack for it, the money is still there.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I am quite sure it is harder than it looks, and I wasn't even aspiring to Harlequin. My friend's friend is in the porn industry, and was probably going to refer me to specific markets depending on what I came up with.

But as I explained to my friend, this would require researching a new part of the fiction industry, a separate name and web site (I can't write Allie and erotica under the same name. Sheer difference in orders, let alone audience, demands another name.) Plus taking time away from other works for an experiment -- and my urban fantasy may already be enough of an experiment for my career. It would have to be romantic erotica, because porn bores me -- lots of variables in the puzzle!

Are you referring to Anna, or still another name you keep secret?

[lagilman]

We should start up a femme-friendly kink-friendly, vanilla-friendly pr0n website....

And yeah, as Anna, although I used to write harder-core stuff in my college years, for beer money. If I had an outlet, I'd def. go back to it. Writing good porn is a challenge I enjoy.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I believe that it could be a satisfying challenge to do well and get paid accordingly. I have a girlfriend who would probably like launching the site! If she wasn't already so busy.

I'll see if the spirit moves me to try writing something. Maybe watch for an anthology that's open? I was hoping that you might be making enough by now from the regular writing? Of course the definition of "enough" does vary....