Guest Post by Roselyn Jewell

The Pros and Cons of writing and selling erotica

Guest Post by Roselyn Jewell

First let me start by introducing myself and I also want to say that I’m thrilled to be doing this guest post! I’m Roselyn Jewell and I currently have 7 books on the market; of those 7, three are erotica and four are not. So since I have experience in writing and selling both erotica and “cleaner” books, I figured it would be interesting to do a pros and cons list for writing erotica vs. other genres. Since I hate to end anything on a negative note, I’ll start with the cons:

Cons:

• Erotica is definitely a niche market. I think these days it’s becoming more popular, but there are still a surprising number of sites that state they will not review or promote erotica, making it a bit harder to advertise and also limiting your potential audience and reviewers.
• It’s a controversial genre. Since erotica is filled with X rated content, it can be a controversial topic. Some people are dead set against it and are very vehement about it. Sadly, there are readers out there that may not even give your non X rated books a chance if you have X rated books out there. Also as stated before, there are sites that won’t advertise it all at because some of their viewers may see it as “offensive.” I think it is very unfortunate that it is viewed that way and that some people are so closed-minded, but even in 2014, that kind of thing still exists.
• It can be challenging to write. In my experience, it can be difficult and challenging to write a really steamy, hot book while still maintaining a solid plot line and real character depth and development. Another challenging aspect is continuing to come up with different and exciting sexual things that the characters can do. You don’t want to just have them doing the same things over and over or using the same descriptive words for certain body parts or acts. If you’ve written 50 books, all with detailed sex scenes, I imagine it would be quite challenging to keep the descriptions and the variety new and fresh.
• You could potentially lose some followers and fans. The first book I put out was PG rated. In fact, I didn’t put out an X rated book until the 4^th or 5^th. So by then I had already built up a bit of a fan base and had followers on social media. After I put out my first erotic novel, I did notice an increase in the number of unfollowers on Twitter. There were also some sites who had promoted me in the past that refused to promote me anymore, simply because I now had a book that was considered erotica. In my personal opinion, I’d rather not be associated with them anyway if that will make them turn on me so quick, but of course we all want as many readers, fans, followers, etc. as possible, so it is a consideration.

Okay, enough negativity. Let’s move on to the Pros:

Pros:

• Erotica readers tend to be very diehard and loyal fans. It may be a niche market, but if you gain fans in the erotica niche, they tend to be extremely loyal and dedicated. Not that fans in other markets aren’t just as loyal, but it’s a plus to know that even though the market may be more narrow, once you’ve made a fan, chances are you’ve made one for life.
• The challenges can be fun and help you grow as an author. Though it may be challenging to continue coming up with a variety of fresh erotic content, it can be really fun to challenge yourself. It also helps you grow as an author to continue to expand and grow your comfort zone and more thoroughly develop your writing abilities. Once your experience and your abilities grow, that will be reflected in any other genre you may write as well.
• It can spice up your own sex life. In my case, writing all of these detailed, erotic sex scenes definitely helped spice up my marriage a bit! Even if your sex life is already good, it can still be fun and different to say hey, check out this scene. Wouldn’t that be fun to try? It can also be used as a type of research to be able to know for sure whether that position you wrote about would actually be practical or not.
• You get to feel like a sex goddess. What woman doesn’t want to feel like a sex goddess now and again? While you’re writing all of these erotic scenes, you get to put yourself in the role of master sex goddess, which can be a lot of fun.
• You get to live out your fantasies. No matter what your sexual fantasies may be, if you’re an erotic author, you can “live them out” in the pages of your books. You can make the male main character have the looks and personality of your long time crush, you can have threesomes even if you’re married, or go wherever your imagination takes you! There’s nothing wrong with a little fantasy ;)

I’m sure there are more pros and cons that I have not covered. But I didn’t want this guest post to turn into a novel, so I just went with the main ones that I’ve had experience with. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your erotica J

About the Author:

Roselyn Jewell is the author of 7 novels, with another on the way. If you’d like to know more about her or her books, please see her website at http://www.roselynjewell.com.

She can also be emailed directly about anything at Roselyn@roselynjewell.com. She’s also on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter @jewellromance.

If you’d like updates about upcoming books, sneak peeks, freebies, and more, you can sign up for her mailing list at http://eepurl.com/0gNeT.