Today a new paperback has launched. Dirty Dorms and Fresh Men is a bestseller on Amazon in the LGBTQ+ Erotica category, and I couldn’t be happier. The key to the success was teamwork. I didn’t try to do the whole thing myself. I worked with a seasoned publisher to get the ideal title. I hired two writers to contribute to the anthology. We made this book, not I. That is what made all the difference.
One author, J. W. Steed, writes a fantastic blog in which he recounts true-adventure tales of sex. Today’s blog is about the writing of Sleazy A, the novella he wrote for Dirty Dorms. I highly recommend you read it.
The New Perspective
Many readers of gay erotica are women. I have always written my books for men. As such, they seem to miss the mark for a lot of would-be readers. I focus an inordinate amount of time on anatomy. The books describe pain that takes a while to dissolve into pleasure. They sometimes address sexual injury. Probably the most offensive details that might put off my female readers are the body fluids and where they end up at the completion of the act. This may have been the trigger for some one-star reviews, including one that simply contained the vomit emoji.
I don’t spend much time describing furniture, wallpaper, carpeting, or table settings. I’m actually not sure what I should or shouldn’t write about in order to avoid alienating my readers. I just take my filthy thoughts and put them on paper. They’re informed by a heady blend of experience and pornography.
I am never going to stop writing, but I’ve had some great experiences passing the torch to other writers whose desires, descriptions, details, and dimensions are different from mine. The anthologies are maturing, sharing a broad perspective of writing instead of my singularly phallic prose.
