Question for the Published Authors (Or anyone who might know the answer)

[Bianca_Sommerland]

I've done my homework. I know most Erotic Publishers won't accept anything that has underage sex. No if, ands or buts. What I wanted to know is, are there any that do?

Before anyone starts thinking I've got an entire story based on an old man and a tween let me tell you right off the bat, it's nothing like that. I have one character, not a main, that says she is eighteen (she was forced to) but everyone knows she's not. There's some sex scenes involving her and I'm wondering how many publishers will reject it offhand, and which ones might let it slide.

The only reason I ask, rather then muddling through is one, it seems to be a good idea to use the resorces I have, and two, I don't bother sending submissions to places that state very clearly in their guidlines they won't accept it. To me that's unproffesional and I'm wasting everyones time.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

None that I know of in the US. Black Lace in England may, but probubly not. The Germans are a kinky bunch. There may be one or two there but your story would have to be in German.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

None that I know of in the US. Black Lace in England may, but probubly not. The Germans are a kinky bunch. There may be one or two there but your story would have to be in German.

Yikes. So I take it just implying underage would be a problem for most?

I could change the little detail...the only thing is it makes a bigger impact...

Darn it.

 

[Belegon]

You can't get a US based erotic publisher to touch it. Sorry. It just opens the door for so many problems.

I find it ironic that you can get something involving underage sex published quite easily if it takes place as part of a mainstream publication, be it novel or some other media. It struck me the other day when we showed Fast Times At Ridgemont High to the teenage son of my partner.

A major part of that film is perfectly fine in a mainstream movie and yet would be cause for immediate rejection by a publisher that had ties with erotic elements.

So, Lolita is fine. Showing nudity of characters specifically stated to be underage in a mainstream high school comedy is fine (yes, I know the actresses were over 18). But a written sex scene involving a character at 11 pm on the night before her 18th birthday is wrought with overtones of child pornography - - if the book is a romance or erotica.

*shakes head* But that is the way it is.

 

[amicus]

For those who think 'first time' experiences provide fertile ideas for stories, the problem is complex.

As far as I know, the age of consensual sex in England is 16 rather than the 18it is here in the US, thus I would think your particular story might find a home.

Selena Kitt, who founded Excessica Publishing, here on the AH, might be able to offer more ideas. You can search for Excessica and find it easily and Selena shows up from time to time here.

Good luck!

Amicus

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

You can't get a US based erotic publisher to touch it. Sorry. It just opens the door for so many problems.

I find it ironic that you can get something involving underage sex published quite easily if it takes place as part of a mainstream publication, be it novel or some other media. It struck me the other day when we showed Fast Times At Ridgemont High to the teenage son of my partner.

A major part of that film is perfectly fine in a mainstream movie and yet would be cause for immediate rejection by a publisher that had ties with erotic elements.

So, Lolita is fine. Showing nudity of characters specifically stated to be underage in a mainstream high school comedy is fine (yes, I know the actresses were over 18). But a written sex scene involving a character at 11 pm on the night before her 18th birthday is wrought with overtones of child pornography - - if the book is a romance or erotica.

*shakes head* But that is the way it is.

Arrgg. So I guess my best bet would be to take out the part that eludes to her being under eighteen?

That sucks. The worst is that I know for a fact that if you write sex in young adult you can be published, even if the protagonist is quite young.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

For those who think 'first time' experiences provide fertile ideas for stories, the problem is complex.

As far as I know, the age of consensual sex in England is 16 rather than the 18it is here in the US, thus I would think your particular story might find a home.

Selena Kitt, who founded Excessica Publishing, here on the AH, might be able to offer more ideas. You can search for Excessica and find it easily and Selena shows up from time to time here.

Good luck!

Amicus

Thanks Ami. I checked Excessica, and they are actually my first choice for this story, but they still have the eighteen rule. I'm just concerned sending it to them might still pose problems because of that little detail.

Damn it it's an awesome story, if I may say so myself. I hate changing things to suit 'rules', but I won't see it unpublished by being hardheaded either.

 

[WRJames]

It would depend how it was handled. A direct sex scene -- no. A flashback -- maybe.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

It would depend how it was handled. A direct sex scene -- no. A flashback -- maybe.

I kinda made it a flashback...then again I don't think it's enough. I wrote it as implied, hoping it would pass. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[sr71plt]

I sort of doubt eXcessica would be eager to publish this either. That publisher was knocked off the list of a major distributor for a while this year, and my understanding was that this was because one or more author was going over that age line and some readers objected. So the rest of us had our books thrown off line too.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Arrgg. So I guess my best bet would be to take out the part that eludes to her being under eighteen?

Yeah. Take out the word "eighteen" and replace with with "nasty little slut." That always works for me.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Shakespeare got away with it with ROMEO & JULIET.

The problem for the book-burners is underage sex has existed in America since forever, and recent efforts to prohibit it were motivated by the costs to welfare and Medicaid rather than morality issues.

I dont see how the underage sex ban could prevail in a court case.

 

[Epmd607]

Why is erotica given its own section apart from fiction?

If a book's selling point is sex, then you can't have any 'performer' under the age of 18(US anyway) same as a hardcore porno or softcore picture set. You could go read the laws, but it's a waste of time, trying to slide sixteen year olds into an erotic text. What defines each, makes something art/fiction over the sale of sex is pretty clear and on the other hand it can be blurry, since there are pictures/paintings/film of underage girls/boys released professionally(artfully, educationally?) same as Lolita's ban 60 odd years ago and then again in the 90's with the movie re-make. The reason it was banned was a group of pricks decided its selling point was sex. Funny thing is, most people really do go read Lolita because of the taboo/sensational nature of its depiction of sex.

 

[Epmd607]

Shakespeare got away with it with ROMEO & JULIET.

The problem for the book-burners is underage sex has existed in America since forever, and recent efforts to prohibit it were motivated by the costs to welfare and Medicaid rather than morality issues.

I dont see how the underage sex ban could prevail in a court case.

There's underage sex in Romeo and Juliet? It's one of the most popular stories in the English speaking world...I don't remember that part. I need to go do some homework. Pretty much all the early Greek novels were about underage sex, Ephesian Tale and all those stories the English ripped off a thousand years later.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OKAY, LETS SEE....

CAPULET
But saying o'er what I have said before:
My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

PARIS
Younger than she are happy mothers made.

LADY CAPULET
Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,
Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
Are made already mothers: by my count,
I was your mother much upon these years
That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:
The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.
(Juliet is 13 years old according to the nurse).

Nurse
Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell;
There stays a husband to make you a wife:
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
They'll be in scarlet straight at any news.
Hie you to church; I must another way,
To fetch a ladder, by the which your love
Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark:
I am the drudge and toil in your delight,
But you shall bear the burden soon at night.
Go; I'll to dinner: hie you to the cell.
THE NURSE ALLUDES TO THE CONSUMMATION OF THE MARRIAGE.

JULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.

Nurse
Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night:
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.

JULIET
O, find him! give this ring to my true knight,
And bid him come to take his last farewell.

JULIET
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

ROMEO
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

JULIET
Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.

ROMEO
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:
I have more care to stay than will to go:
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
How is't, my soul? let's talk; it is not day.

MERCUTIO TALKS ABOUT ALL OF THIS IN AN EARLIER SCENE, ESPECIALLY HIS OPINION THAT ROMEO'S PASSION AMOUNTS TO NO MORE THAN 'HIDING HIS BAUBLE IN A HOLE.'

Anyway, there it is; she's 13, they're married, and spend the night together in her bedroom.

 

[Epmd607]

OKAY, LETS SEE....

CAPULET
But saying o'er what I have said before:
My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

PARIS
Younger than she are happy mothers made.

That's not a depiction of underage sex. Is there a passage that says sex was had? I've just scrolled through it, Juliet says she's still unmarred for her husband when Paris wants to marry her after she's been married. Saying a girl of fourteen is marriageable isn't underage sex and would fly in any work, just as long as the act is never depicted or mentioned after the fact.

 

[impressive]

Publish it yourself. Check into Smashwords.com

You've gotta do it all -- from cover art to editing -- but there is no fee to upload your work there, and they have distribution to B&N/Fictionwise. They keep 15% of your sales.

Put a big-ass disclaimer (no teens were harmed in the making of this ebook) in the blurb. Categorize it as mainstream fiction, NOT erotica.

Good luck!

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Publish it yourself. Check into Smashwords.com

You've gotta do it all -- from cover art to editing -- but there is no fee to upload your work there, and they have distribution to B&N/Fictionwise. They keep 15% of your sales.

Put a big-ass disclaimer (no teens were harmed in the making of this ebook) in the blurb. Categorize it as mainstream fiction, NOT erotica.

Good luck!

Would mainstream fiction with a lot of sex still work?

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna check out that site now. Might actually work for the other series I have.

 

[bronzeage]

Arrgg. So I guess my best bet would be to take out the part that eludes to her being under eighteen?

That sucks. The worst is that I know for a fact that if you write sex in young adult you can be published, even if the protagonist is quite young.

The problem started when child pornography became a separate entity under the law. It's impossible to write a practical law that does not include the age of the participants and the only practical age is 18.

In the old days, when pornography and various forms of obscenity were illegal in most places, it was the publisher who risked going to prison, not the author or the models. That lesson is not lost on today's erotica houses.