Relative value of porn

Twenty-some years ago when I started writing digital novelette-length stories, I found the temptation of 'dirty' too damned much fun to pass up. To me, it was a story that contained a lot of sex, usually normal sex. I called it blue-collar romance; it was easy to sell. The royalties were lousy; who cared?

There's not a lot of lesson being taught here, other than to suggest that writing sex into a novel or short story is nothing short of -- crap, you should consider it even if you hit the delete button afterward.

What we knew about that genre in 1998 was that women were identifiably the biggest market, and they seemed to like the more peculiar forms of the craft, meaning bondage, partner domination, same-gender relationships, that sort of thing. The notion of an 'alternative' lifestyle seemed to hover. It was as though the bulk of the buyers had found that doorknob and exited the closet. 

Women also do not read porn. If it's about sex, to them it's erotica. Do not confuse that term with anything else. There are a couple of print labels that specialize in romance with something more than fade-to-black.

Anyhow, if you found out back then what women wanted to read, and you could assume they were a little past their twenties, you could crank out stories, books, poems, greeting cards ... you name it. The digital publishers had nothing invested. The writer was supposed to format the work and send it on. Contracts were standard. The E-book publishers took anything they could get. Marketing was just a word. Pfffft.

I have no idea if anybody still buys this stuff, or sells it. The market at the time seemed a bit immature, at least the women writers with whom I shared contact. We'd write something, email it off and get a 'Wow, that's powerful!' and think we had the X-rated version of Gone With the Wind.

I did create a character who found himself in the middle of a lot of sordid adventures, none of which harmed anyone. The notion that a befuddled male in the middle of an ironic world could get so lucky so often was nothing short of parody. I don't know if anybody realized that. The royalty checks were small. Regular sex does not sell as a rule. It just doesn't. Who knew?

But I learned to modify the character in later work that stepped up way past the childishness of blue-collar romance. I don't even see a need to include a rambunctious romance scene now, beyond what's just obvious.

I have a few of the old stories around here, and I might recast a couple of them. The plots work, the characters are interesting, and the stories make sense. A little less on the crude might work. Might not.

My greatest challenge was to write the perfect steamy shower scene. I think I have it, but I've not used it yet. 

It's the alternative bathroom lifestyle. Easy on the soap.