I never thought of myself as a Halloween girl, not like some Halloween folks I know, but I have always been into ghost stories and uncanny magic. Now six of my stories on those topics are collected in The Season, which comes out October 1.
(But if you’re already in a Halloween mood, you can read it now via Smashwords presale. There’s a special discount offer available with the presale, too.)
This post serves as a brief content recap/warning/recommendation of what it includes.
My fascination with ghosts, literal or more figurative, has always been a fascination with grief and loss (and it’s taken me all the way to Best Women’s Erotica of the Year). And then I’m, well–you may have noticed–kind of damn kinky. Danger and sex, pain and sex, these are hot to explore, especially in written fantasies. Fierce desperation and passion, stories that can be cathartic as well as arousing. Power that’s barely under control or completely out of control. Eros and Thanatos go hand in hand, or maybe it’s that in the face of death, eroticism is life-affirming defiance. Sometimes both are true at once.
So the stories in The Season contain all of that.
By now you’re probably wondering what this post title is about! It’s because, if “kinky is using a feather, perverted is using the whole chicken,” I would say this collection contains some downy tufts of cannibalism, and a rotisserie of knifeplay.
It also has bondage for a magical reason and willing power exchanges.
Pairings are M/M, F/M (the majority), and F/F/M. (If you’re interested in gothic F/F, my Poe retelling, “The Passion of Her Sleep,” is currently available in the Mystique anthology from Aurelia Leo and will be collected in the Urchronia omnibus out January 2022.)
Not all the stories in The Seasonhave happy endings, though I’d describe most as bittersweet: something lost, something salvaged. That’s my favorite ending to a horror story, and some of these pieces definitely count as horror, not just dark or kinky fantasy. There is no onscreen death but several deaths happen before or after the story (not a spoiler: there are ghost stories after all!). There are established relationships and new ones. There’s romance, though not the kind you’d find on the Hallmark Channel, unless it’s changed a lot since I last flipped past it.
Also I just typed “kind” in the previous sentence as “kink,” which is the perfect Freudian slip.
eBooks! You can buy them online! eBooks! I’m compose catchier lyrics but I’m out of ti-ime!
Opening announcement related to the subject of this post: Smashwords’s annual Read an Ebook sale runs March 7-March 13, 2021. You can check out all the books included in the sale here. And you can check out which of my books are available here–including several that are free this week.
You’ll note that no New Smut Project books are included. There’s two reasons for that–the meat of this post:
First, especially if you’re interested in the first two anthologies from NSP, keep your eye on them, because something fun will happen for their sixth birthday around March 23, and I didn’t want to confuse things by running multiple promos in a single month.
Second, while I do include NSP anthologies in some Smashwords sales, I never discount them below 50% (with the exception of Smashwords’s Authors Give Back sale last spring, which was…like so much of 2020…an unprecedented response to unprecedented times). Sales are good for promotion, getting the books in front of new eyes. They also give people who don’t have a lot of disposable income for book-buying the chance to pick up a title they’ve had on their wishlist. I want NSP’s books to be accessible. At the same time, I’ve picked a base price for them that I know is worth the value they offer.
After all, $8 (and under $20 in paperback) for 400 pages of smut and erotic romance is a good value. Erato, for $7 (or $16 in paperback), offers 50+ erotic scenes–less than 15 cents each. And then I’m humbled and excited–humblcited?–when reviews of the anthologies name a particular story or handful of stories as “Worth the price of admission on their own” (human taste being what it is, they don’t often name the same stories). That’s exactly the kind of value we want our books to provide!
In A People’s Guide to Publishing, Joe Biel remarks on the complexities of book pricing, and especially discounting, on a much larger scale than NSP has yet reached:
In 2012, I was on a panel at a festival in Pendleton, Oregon, about the future of books. The opposing view of my own was presented by a woman who had sold 100,000 copies of her fantasy novel eBook. At that time I had sold a little over 1.3 million books, with about 100,000 copies of my bestseller. Naturally, the juice was in the details. The other panelist revealed that the first 30,000 copies of her book had been ‘sold’ for free. She had then raised the price to 99 cents for the next 30,000 and the remaining 40,000 copies had sold for $2.99, making her net profit less than $15,000. Still, she was the envy of the room… But after expenses and paying the author, our company had netted over $400,000 on 100,000 copies of one title alone.
Now, Biel’s Microcosm Publishing uses offset printing, which means more money is earned per hard copy sold. And frankly, I wouldn’t say a strident No to the chance to sell 100,000 copies of any book I’ve worked on for ~$15,000 net earnings. That would be a significant chunk of change for my purposes and better yet, many readers.
After all, I’m giving away some books for free or for 99 cents this very week in hopes of getting more readers. Readers are fantastic :D, plus several of my stories have themes–like To Have and To Hold, which breaks down herpes stigma–that I want to reach as many people as possible. (It’s not like I’m wearing a sandwich board on the street corner, either–if I say so myself, the honeymoon pegging sex in THaTH is damn hot.) However, it’s a lot simpler to give my own short stories away for free than to give away longer work, much less someone else’s work.
Contributors to the first two New Smut Project anthologies are paid entirely by royalties–if sales of those books earn nothing, neither do the writers. And if Erato was given away for free, NSP would have no source of income to pay authors for future anthologies. In the future, as we have more books for sale, perhaps one could be made a “loss leader” or even “permafree”–but Biel’s whole point is that successful publishers don’t need to do that, and there are other reasons offering a book at a step discount can backfire.
For instance, the matter of perceived value. These are good books. A lot of time and effort went into making them. The presentation–from cover art to price–should reflect that.
Another reason is that the customers who buy something just because it’s cheap or discounted might not be the ones who vibe with the product itself: in Worth Every Penny,Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck share results of research into Groupon follow-ups: “We find a surge in [Yelp] reviews subsequent to the offer. But we also find that reviewers mentioning ‘Groupons’ and ‘coupons’ provide strikingly lower rating scores than those that do not.”
For ebooks specifically, Catherine Ryan Howard observes in Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing that readers who buy ebooks simply because they’re inexpensive are often not the authors’ target audience. When an ebook is priced at $4.99 or $6.99 rather than $2.99 or $0.99, it’s not a complete impulse purchase: the reader looks at the description, checks out reviews, and reads the sample pages before deciding to buy. This avoids 1-star reviews from church ladies who bought a 99 cent erotica book (or suspense, science fiction, historical fiction…basically any genre) and were shocked to see it contains the f-word.
Howard also recommends increasing an ebook’s price over time if it continues to sell, but I’m not sure that’s fair to readers. And if I wouldn’t feel good about it, I can’t use it as a pricing strategy. But maybe it’s “fairer” than an alternative of setting a high initial price and discounting afterward? Yet the marketing tip I’d learned is that big fans and ‘leader’ types will be fine with paying a little more if they get the item they want right away. Readers who wait for discounts pay with their patience rather than money. (And either way, they’re committed to the book because they want the story it tells, not because it’s cheap.)
Overall, I try to keep prices stable, with occasional well-advertised discounts for promotion and accessibility. To reflect the value of the book and have room for offering discounts, I need to price above rock bottom.
And discounts offer one more benefit: a way to circumvent Jeff Bezos. Smashwords’s sales attract readers to buy directly from Smashwords rather than Amazon (not only does this fight the monopoly, but authors surely appreciate receiving Smashwords’s 85% royalty rate rather than Amazon’s 70%–and while 85% of a discounted price may be less, it’s not like readers only buy on Smashwords during Read an Ebook Week. The sale just helps encourage more people to set up accounts and make purchases there). On the New Smut Project’s Gumroad store, where we receive ~90% of each sale, we’re able to offer discount codes to each newsmutprojectfan—get it? That’s the discount code. We don’t keep it secret because we want people to use it. You save a dollar, we earn more, and Jeff Bezos gets none–except at most the print cost of a paperback, which, yes, we’re currently printing on demand through Kindle Direct Publishing. It’s the most inexpensive POD option, thereby helping us price our books more accessibly and earn more to pay authors. Is it ungrateful of me to acknowledge the benefits Amazon offers us while also trying not to earn them as much money? I figure Amazon does get paid for the books it prints (see discussion here) and all the books sold through its storefront, which it is plenty good at attracting people to use. But that doesn’t make me their feudal vassal obligated to ensure they get 30%+ of all purchases of the books I publish.
Selling off of Amazon does knock a book’s Amazon sales rank and theoretically harms its visibility in the store, but frankly, I don’t expect most people to discover my books on a random walk through Amazon. Heck, I searched for “consensual erotica” (one of Between the Shores’s keywords) the other day and my results included The Story of O. “Discoverability” on Amazon doesn’t seem like all it’s cracked up to be, or nearly as achievable. Plus, given the rise of Bookshop.org last year, I like to think there’s a larger trend of online book buyers looking at shopfronts other than Amazon. (NSP books are available through Bookshop.org! We only receive the “expanded distribution” KDP royalty rate for them, but 10% of your purchase price goes to support local bookshops—and another 10% is paid as an affiliate fee when you buy through my storefront—so consider yourself encouraged to shop there, if my encouragement matters.)
I’ll put it this way: 50% of Erato’s earnings during its first month of sales–October 23-November 23, 2020–came through our Gumroad store.
So there’s my outlook on ebook pricing (and a little bit on paperbacks). If you’ve discovered that this is the most interesting topic in the world to you, first off, I’m delighted and want you to be my new best friend. Second, you might love Jamie McGarry’s series on small press publishing on Medium, which goes even deeper into these topics. Here, for instance, he talks about discounting and distribution.
And breaking down the stigma around herpes — an incredibly common STD that will not ruin your sex life or any other aspect of your life, panic-mongering aside — is pretty sweet too.
That’s the logic behind “To Have and To Hold,” my romantic, erotic honeymoon pegging story for a cause. If “logic” is the right word when my primary goal was to evoke “Pegging. Mm. Hot.” and “Da’awww”. But also to raise some money for a good cause– With every copy sold, $1 will be donated to the Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (http://www.thecsph.org/), an organization that promotes education and dialogue about sexuality.
In the words of my sensitivity reader, Ella Dawson, “It is SO CUTE and THOUGHTFUL and HOT and FULL OF HERPES REPRESENTATION.
Y’all should donate + read!”
Here’s an excerpt to pique your interest:
“Maybe you should stop trying to make sense of my kinks,” he says, smiling.
“Yeah, maybe I should.”
With some reluctance, she takes her hand from his ass and leans over the side of the bed for her suitcase. He takes the items as she hands them up. The lube, the packets of gloves and condoms, and then the double-headed dildo. It’s in a marbled blue pattern that reminds her of the ocean. The “flesh” color didn’t match either of their skin tones, too pale for hers and too dark for his, and actually, she likes that this one doesn’t look at all realistic. What about any of this is realistic? She’s married, to James, they’re on their honeymoon, the view outside her window looks like a postcard, and she’s about to fuck him just as he wants her to.
Claire leans over him as he spreads his legs, opening a space for her, exposing himself to her. She lifts his balls, already high and tight with his erection, and looks at him. He shivers, a tremble working its way up his thighs and turning into a wiggle along his hips and spine, as if her examination is overwhelming.
“You look good,” she says. “You’re so turned on.” One gloved finger runs along his cock, tracing a vein. “You don’t need to be shy.”
She actually can’t see a lot, his modesty protected by shadows and a little dark, curling hair. In itself that’s sexy to her. Claire has never thought of herself as the kind of person to be turned on by despoiling virgins, but there it is.
She brushes his hole with a lubed fingertip. “Okay?”
He pushes himself a little wider, another visible tremor moving along his legs. “Yes. Please.”
She feels him flex against her fingertip, not resisting but uncertain, so obviously self-conscious that it makes her smile coyly herself. As she pushes into him, his reaction is like stuttering, stammering, a shy flutter of muscles around her that makes her heart skip beats with utter adoration. He’s adorable.
“Oh my god,” she whispers as she slips further inside, eased by the slick lubricant and by the way he relaxes with a deep, slow breath. In a way it’s simpler than she feared but it’s also astonishing, this intimate opening of his body for her.
For adult fans of gentle femdom and vanilla dynamics alike, “To Have and to Hold” is now available not only on Amazon but on Smashwords, Smashwords’ broader distribution (Nook, Kobo, iBooks, and more), and for direct download on Gumroad!
LibraryThing members take note: to celebrate “To Have and To Hold”s broad distribution release, I’m giving away 10 copies on LibraryThing. The giveaway ends April 18. You may need to search the page for “erotic” or “pegging” or scroll a bit to reach it, but it’s one of the few giveaways advertising both, so that makes it an easy find.
Since the release of our first two anthologies in 2015, the New Smut Project has sold ebooks on Sellfy, a platform that offers digital publishers one of the best royalty rates on the market–ensuring our authors are as well-paid as possible from each book sale.
Unfortunately, Sellfy is changing its terms of service, and as of February 1, 2020, it will no longer have a free plan option available. The Sellfy paid plans are not practical for a small publisher of our size, and so Heart, Body, Soul and Between the Shores will no longer be available through Sellfy after January 31, 2020.
However, they are still available there now, and will be until the end of January! You can CLICK HERE to view the NSP store for a read that will bring some heat to the beginning of your winter. <3
Not just the cause of making pegging enthusiasts happy, although that is an excellent cause on its own.
To Have and To Hold is a piece of swooningly romantic and sizzlingly explicit couples’ erotica for fans of gentle femdom and vanilla dynamics alike! It’s about a deliriously hot honeymoon and features first-time pegging. And also herpes.
In tropical seclusion, Claire and James begin their new life together by trying out a new toy. At the same time, they weigh their options for protection in light of his HSV+ status, knowing nothing can come between them or put a dent in their ravenous lust for each other.
Originally planned for an anthology project called Positively Sexy, this short story was written in the belief that knockout-passionate writing is one of the sexiest ways to break down a taboo, and it’s being published to raise funds for more education work! With every copy sold, $1 will be donated to the Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (http://www.thecsph.org/), an organization* that promotes dialogue about sexuality without fear or shame.
*Unaffiliated with me, except for the fact that I’m a fan of their work and CSPH had been intended to receive funds raised through the Positively Sexy.
(Irresistible personal aside: Speaking of pegging enthusiasts…no, aladydoesn’ttellaladydoesn’ttellaladydoesn’ttell–back to the writing desk with me. Ignore whoever might be kneeling under it. God, I’m a sappy perv when in love <3.)
The big day is coming, and it seems like an awesome time to try Smashwords’ new (or at least new to me) tools to create public coupons. So, starting now and running through the beginning of next year, amazing deals are on offer for my fiction featuring seductive dominant women and willing submissive men on Smashwords:
When Elise Caryl and her forces successfully take command of an enemy castle, she recognizes the defending commander: Adam Tynae, the knight she loved and lost long ago. Determined that nothing will come between them anymore, she seeks to prove it to the man she owns heart, body and soul—using whatever tools come to hand, from riding crops to knives to lengths of ribbon.
Content: These four short stories about a Dominant lady and her loving knight make up 28,000 words of tender romance and chivalry along with scorching erotic content, including knives, riding crops, bondage, sensation play, tease and denial, and oral and vaginal sex. Adult readers only.
Two stories of lyrical, lush femdom fantasy with spellbinding women and sweetness mixed with thorns.
Evann follows the summons of the Green Road and comes under the power of an Elven woman, curious and cruel, whose intentions are impossible to predict but whose methods are seductive and at times even sweet. Despite his fear, Evann finds some pleasure in being her plaything, and can’t deny a curiosity of his own.
@}-^-^–
When Henry goes to visit the Rosewich Desidiria for a love potion, he has a lot to learn about his true desires. Happily, Desidiria is ready to teach him.
Elizabeth still feels more affinity for sorcery than sex, and has the brilliant idea to combine the two. She and Michael devise another delicious experiment combining her magic and his willing body. Plus some padded cuffs.
She’s going to make him writhe in those bonds and eventually come, all through the power of pure sorcery.
This 6,600 word story includes explicit sexual content with bondage, teasing, a psychic touch, squirting, orgasms reached in a way you’ve probably never seen before, and an asexual witch enjoying her magic and dominance.
To celebrate 7 years of publishing, Pure Slush is releasing a 7-volume series about the 7 deadly sins. Lust is the first, with poetry and flash fiction by 70 different writers from around the world.
My piece, “What You Want,” is about sadism, both the sexy and the scary parts.
It gets to the point where you can’t even sit in the same room with him, because sooner or later your body and mind snap tight, contracting with what you want, an internal orbit around unspeakable things…
It’s one thing to say he’s so handsome you could punch him, but what do you really want?
Because it can’t be that.
Last night, when he took your ringing phone off the coffee table and handed it to you, his bent, broad shoulders and long, lean back and something about the points of his knees through his slim jeans made you want to make him crawl.
“Turn-ons include well-placed commas, devastating allusions, ten-dollar words, social commentary, moral ambiguity, alliteration.” As soon as I read the description on the website of MoFo Pubs, I knew this was somewhere I wanted to submit (fiction, that is).
The best turn-ons, the kind that weave the strongest spell, are those that engage your brain as well as your body, that serve up sensuality with flair. Such is what I try to deliver. I don’t see “literary erotica” as an oxymoron. For all the beliefs, emotions, sensations, anxieties, and rites of passage surrounding sex, it’s a strong contender for the most literary of topics. It certainly beats out taxes, though not necessarily death…
…and it may tie with travel. Discovering new places, or leaving the old ones behind; a hunger for different sights or sounds or tastes; short transactions or deeper exchanges with strangers you might never see again. And then there’s the logistics: carrying your baggage or finding somewhere to put it or forgetting it entirely, hoping your transportation doesn’t come to a halting crash, considering the sense of relief you might feel it it does–there’s a lot going on and going into your average case of Wanderlust.
I’m very excited to be part of this anthology for my first publication of 2017.
Read an excerpt from my story, “Soft, Rough,” under the cut
Originally planned for an anthology project called Positively Sexy, this short story was written in the belief that knockout-passionate writing is one of the sexiest ways to break down a taboo, and it’s being published to raise funds for more education work! With every copy sold, $1 will be donated to the Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (http://www.thecsph.org/), an organization* that promotes dialogue about sexuality without fear or shame.
When Elise Caryl and her forces successfully take command of an enemy castle, she recognizes the defending commander: Adam Tynae, the knight she loved and lost long ago. Determined that nothing will come between them anymore, she seeks to prove it to the man she owns heart, body and soul—using whatever tools come to hand, from riding crops to knives to lengths of ribbon.
Two stories of lyrical, lush femdom fantasy with spellbinding women and sweetness mixed with thorns.
Elizabeth still feels more affinity for sorcery than sex, and has the brilliant idea to combine the two. She and Michael devise another delicious experiment combining her magic and his willing body. Plus some padded cuffs.
