This is friggin' horrible!

[Sammael Bard]

I was busy reading samples from Most downloaded list on Smashwords, trying to get an idea of what sells the book. Usually, it's the first 20% that I got to read of paid erotica. I pick up a book at random, the seventh (or so) book on the first page.

Quoted as "Written by the Hottest Authors Collaborating on Google+, including renowned Miss Blahdiblah and Mr. Gurgles", priced at 3.99 USD.

The sample was terrible -- full of clichés, similes and terse sentences. It felt as if I'm reading something written by an excited HS teenager who has just discovered her clit.

This got to go on the most downloaded list? I've seen much better stories in here, with better writing style and a more mature content. This paid story would probably rate somewhere between 3.5 and 4 on Literotica, if I had to guess.

(Not trying to pull a similarity between authors out here who have published a book on the same lines, I repeat, I'm not trying to pull a similarity)


What I'm trying to say is......should I expect a Literotica-type audience out there in publishing? More sex = More Votes, and so on?

Is this what successful paid erotica is like? Without goddamn class?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I was busy reading samples from Most downloaded list on Smashwords, trying to get an idea of what sells the book. Usually, it's the first 20% that I got to read of paid erotica. I pick up a book at random, the seventh (or so) book on the first page.

Quoted as "Written by the Hottest Authors Collaborating on Google+, including renowned Miss Blahdiblah and Mr. Gurgles", priced at 3.99 USD.

The sample was terrible -- full of clichés, similes and terse sentences. It felt as if I'm reading something written by an excited HS teenager who has just discovered her clit.

This got to go on the most downloaded list? I've seen much better stories in here, with better writing style and a more mature content. This paid story would probably rate somewhere between 3.5 and 4 on Literotica, if I had to guess.

(Not trying to pull a similarity between authors out here who have published a book on the same lines, I repeat, I'm not trying to pull a similarity)


What I'm trying to say is......should I expect a Literotica-type audience out there in publishing? More sex = More Votes, and so on?

Is this what successful paid erotica is like? Without goddamn class?

Dear Shit For Brains.

Half the planet is less than average in intelligence. Most white people read at 8th grade competency, blacks at 4th grade. If you wanna read the best porn read the erotica John O'Hara published. When he has a grown man walk into a bedroom where a teen is naked, dressing, he adds nothing beyond her saying, COME IN to the knock at the door. Readers imagine a lot. Capturing every tingle is unnecessary.

 

[Daniel_Matthews]

What I'm trying to say is......should I expect a Literotica-type audience out there in publishing? More sex = More Votes, and so on?

Is this what successful paid erotica is like? Without goddamn class?

It's slightly different out there. When it comes to paid erotica, expect a naive audience. With the advent of self-publishing, it's usually the shit that rises to the top. Quality will follow quantity after the initial stages.

As for high downloads, there are a lot of unknown factors.

The Book Cover was great. The meta-info was exaggerated. An unpredictable bunch for an audience. High Publicity, etc. etc.

Also, a toss in a bit of review gaming when such a huge number of associates are involved.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Did an idiot just shit here?

Oh wow, he did!

This message is hidden because JAMESBJOHNSON is on your ignore list

Yo, numbskull! I bet it was something sexist, racist and off-topic at the same time. As you can see, these days I'm not in the mood to engage dimwits like you, so you're quarantined to my iggy for ninety-years.

Pity you can't do the same to me.


Cheers, you ole fag!

It's slightly different out there. When it comes to paid erotica, expect a naive audience. With the advent of self-publishing, it's usually the shit that rises to the top. Quality will follow quantity after the initial stages.

As for high downloads, there are a lot of unknown factors.

The Book Cover was great. The meta-info was exaggerated. An unpredictable bunch for an audience. High Publicity, etc. etc.

Also, a toss in a bit of review gaming when such a huge number of associates are involved.

The book cover was good. I admit that. The description was exaggerated too. I don't know who the audience were, but it sure smells fishy.

I thought Samshwords deleted fake reviews and deleted accounts for that.

Maybe the book really clicked with some people, word of mouth followed and it got sold.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Did an idiot just shit here?

Oh wow, he did!



Yo, numbskull! I bet it was something sexist, racist and off-topic at the same time. As you can see, these days I'm not in the mood to engage dimwits like you, so you're quarantined to my iggy for ninety-years.

Pity you can't do the same to me.


Cheers, you ole fag!




The book cover was good. I admit that. The description was exaggerated too. I don't know who the audience were, but it sure smells fishy.

I thought Samshwords deleted fake reviews and deleted accounts for that.

Maybe the book really clicked with some people, word of mouth followed and it got sold.

Only in your dreams and fantasies.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Shit turd is a moderator so he prolly cant iggy me.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Two consecutive posts on my thread from you-no-poo.

Hey, Jimbo, did you notice that I'm not quoting you? That's because you're on my iggy.

That's right. My I-G-N-O-R-E-L-I-S-T

 

[Devilius]

I was busy reading samples from Most downloaded list on Smashwords, trying to get an idea of what sells the book. Usually, it's the first 20% that I got to read of paid erotica. I pick up a book at random, the seventh (or so) book on the first page.

Quoted as "Written by the Hottest Authors Collaborating on Google+, including renowned Miss Blahdiblah and Mr. Gurgles", priced at 3.99 USD.

The sample was terrible -- full of clichés, similes and terse sentences. It felt as if I'm reading something written by an excited HS teenager who has just discovered her clit.

This got to go on the most downloaded list? I've seen much better stories in here, with better writing style and a more mature content. This paid story would probably rate somewhere between 3.5 and 4 on Literotica, if I had to guess.

(Not trying to pull a similarity between authors out here who have published a book on the same lines, I repeat, I'm not trying to pull a similarity)


What I'm trying to say is......should I expect a Literotica-type audience out there in publishing? More sex = More Votes, and so on?

Is this what successful paid erotica is like? Without goddamn class?

lit is still better. i don't read smut that often, but a few authors around here make it worthwhile.

haven't paid for erotica yet, and hope i don't to do so anytime in future.

Shit turd is a moderator so he prolly cant iggy me.

its the other way around, ya meth-head.

mods can put you on iggy, but you can't do the same

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I look at a lot of the stuff I used to read and it's lost quite a bit of it's luster. Erotica is interesting in that people aren't necessarily looking for something good, just something to get off. A lot of people hunting for erotica have oddly low standards.

Granted, its a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, because did they get their low standards because of the mass of low-quality wank-stories? Or did the low-quality wankers get popular because of low standards?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I set my new password as "I wonder what JBJ has to say about this topic?" because nobody will ever think of it.

 

[jonthechaosman]

I set my new password as "I wonder what JBJ has to say about this topic?" because nobody will ever think of it.

OK...Now that was funny.

 

[SikFuk]

Maybe the audience for paid erotica is the same one Trump is talking to. That would explain the lack of taste.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Okay I look at it this way... If you are going to read something - that is, if someone out there actually picks up something, figuratively speaking, and sets about READING it, regardless of how good or bad (within reason) a reader they are, and they HAPPEN to read something of mine, I am going to affect their life.

 

[SamScribble]

I recently got a friend, a serious reader, to select six 'romance' e-books for me to read. I thought that I should find out what the readers are reading these days.

Her selection included three major 'best sellers'. Sadly, I had trouble getting through the first chapter of four of the books. The fifth book (sort of) held my interest almost to the halfway mark. And the sixth book I managed to read right to the end - although I certainly didn't feel that I had been rewarded for my effort.

I suspect that the erotic and raunchy romance categories have become their own worse enemies.
Back in the days of Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, 'dirty stories' were also well crafted. Today, many of them are little more than a badly-written accounts of how a bloke with a big cock sticks it into a woman with big tits. And, if that's what the readers want to write, that's what many of the writers are happy to write. Oh well ....

 

[JackLuis]

Well there is 'Erotica' and 'Fuck Books' and few will truthfully label the later.

Also, not all E-Books don't get the critical review of the publisher. This means that a lot of shit hits the pixels.

 

[emap]

Fifty Shades of Grey I mean come on the writing in that was worse than what you are talking about and that sold millions of copies. The only reason it did well was that it contained bondage, consensual slavery, and it came out when everybody is going I want something different.

Read some romance some time, the less the two on the cover have on the more sex in the book and the less it has to do with plot, or sense, or mostly anything except her heaving bosom and his rampant readiness. The ladies who read those above anything else went to fifty shades since most of the heaving bosoms are not shackled, chained, roped, or whipped in a pleasing way, ever.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Did any of you *read* 50 Shades? That's what passes for erotica. Twilight is what passes for romance.

The 80-20 rule is everywhere. In this case, 80% of people can't tell shit from shinola. And they cost the same on Amazon, so...

When I want to be truly terrified, I look at it this way: do you know anyone with an IQ of 100? Half the people on the planet are dumber than that.

Be thankful anyone reads at all.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

John O'Hara wrote the best erotica, and it hardly exists. A few lines of dialog captures the whole event, without one OMG. Like this jewel: Doctor English completed his examination of Daphne and spoke, "Is there anything else I can do for you today Mrs. Bratwurst?" "Lock the door and don't send me home in a family way," she replied. O'Hara never tried to capture every thrill or firefly.

That said, too many of us lose sight of what we're doing and what job our story is about. Are you writing about forests or trees?

 

[emap]

I tried to read fifty shades, when it was nothing more than a fanfiction of twilight, shittiest one I've ever seen, and again when it was such a huge oh my god you gotta read that book, same fucking book. I'm not kidding, the only editing done to that thing was to change the names.

I remember when newspapers had people who read the stories and adjusted to flow better. Now, you are lucky if they have fact checkers. Novels don't bother, I mean there is an editor credited with fifty shades (isn't there?), if an editor actually looked at that thing, they need to be fired and blacklisted.

The story itself isn't that bad of a thing, if you first redid most of the wording, fixed the completely fucked up BDSM parts, and actually tried to make the sex scenes sex scenes and not what the fuck are they doing scenes, it wouldn't be that bad of a book.

As it stands now, a millions selling novel probably would not posted to literotica because the writer doesn't know english. Which is really sad since she is british.

 

[Sammael Bard]

I look at a lot of the stuff I used to read and it's lost quite a bit of it's luster. Erotica is interesting in that people aren't necessarily looking for something good, just something to get off. A lot of people hunting for erotica have oddly low standards.

Granted, its a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, because did they get their low standards because of the mass of low-quality wank-stories? Or did the low-quality wankers get popular because of low standards?

I still love my paperback editions of Sidney Sheldons and Jeffrey Archers. Granted my library is yet to be expanded, but they're great in their own right as compared to the drivel that passes off as best sellers. They did lose their sheen though.

I think the second version is true: Low quality wankers got popular because of low standards.

I recently got a friend, a serious reader, to select six 'romance' e-books for me to read. I thought that I should find out what the readers are reading these days.

Her selection included three major 'best sellers'. Sadly, I had trouble getting through the first chapter of four of the books. The fifth book (sort of) held my interest almost to the halfway mark. And the sixth book I managed to read right to the end - although I certainly didn't feel that I had been rewarded for my effort.

I suspect that the erotic and raunchy romance categories have become their own worse enemies.
Back in the days of Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, 'dirty stories' were also well crafted. Today, many of them are little more than a badly-written accounts of how a bloke with a big cock sticks it into a woman with big tits. And, if that's what the readers want to write, that's what many of the writers are happy to write. Oh well ....

Well, I don't know how many succumbed to this "Reader Demand", but I don't think it's a good idea to lower standards anywhere.

Yep, a hungry stomach has its needs first.

Well there is 'Erotica' and 'Fuck Books' and few will truthfully label the later.

Also, not all E-Books don't get the critical review of the publisher. This means that a lot of shit hits the pixels.

The one I read was a fuck book.

I agree with the publisher filter thing, but it's not the absolute measurement of quality. Sure, most of my paperbacks are printed Harper Collins, but I also have a few pieces of shit published by the same. So, I guess it's safe to say that it filters out most of the shit.

Fifty Shades of Grey I mean come on the writing in that was worse than what you are talking about and that sold millions of copies. The only reason it did well was that it contained bondage, consensual slavery, and it came out when everybody is going I want something different.

Read some romance some time, the less the two on the cover have on the more sex in the book and the less it has to do with plot, or sense, or mostly anything except her heaving bosom and his rampant readiness. The ladies who read those above anything else went to fifty shades since most of the heaving bosoms are not shackled, chained, roped, or whipped in a pleasing way, ever.

BDSM is a taboo subject in most places. When 50 Shades came out, most people went gaga over its theme, not the story itself. Like discovering new realms of pleasure.

50 shades fucked up the general perspective of BDSM. Not many people understand the difference between harassment, rape and BDSM. E. L. James was, unfortunately, one of those who hit the motherlode the wrong way.

Did any of you *read* 50 Shades? That's what passes for erotica. Twilight is what passes for romance.

The 80-20 rule is everywhere. In this case, 80% of people can't tell shit from shinola. And they cost the same on Amazon, so...

When I want to be truly terrified, I look at it this way: do you know anyone with an IQ of 100? Half the people on the planet are dumber than that.

Be thankful anyone reads at all.

No, they don't.

You've got this broad sweeping brush called "Generalisation" in your hands and you're painting the whole world with it.

 

[PayDay]

JBJ and emap are dead on.
http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/21/d9eFAUo.jpg

 

[rjordan]

There's probably about as much crap written now as ever. No more, no less.

The difference is there are fewer trustworthy filters. Mainstream fiction still has filters. The publisher represents the first filter, though their interests are more commercial than literary. 50 Shades shows that to be true.

The most important filter is still the army of independent critics. I read 50-60 novels a year from major publishers, and probably a dozen non-fiction a year. I rarely buy one that I haven't researched a little first. I look for critical reviews, interviews with the author, etc. I don't buy on impulse or word of mouth, but sometimes a single video interview with the author is enough. I'm as likely to read a first novel as something from an established author.

I've read about a dozen self-published books from amazon.com. The decision was based mostly on samples. About half were erotica. Every single one of them was a total waste of time and money even at 99 cents. I didn't finish any of them. As good or better works are available right here on Lit.

There has to be a small percentage of self-published ebooks that are as good as anything in the mainstream, but it is just too time consuming and costly to find them without critical review. I no longer bother searching.

rj

 

[sr71plt]

Oh, there is much, much more being published now than in the past--e-publishing and economic production of paperbacks have opened the floodgates in not only the volume of titles published but the genres that can now go to market and the content volume of the titles that now can be published (works of no more than 1,000 works have covers and are for sale now--before the e-book revolution, you couldn't book anything for the market that was less than 40,000 words).

I won't make judgment on the content value, as you can find a satisfied reader for just about anything, and quality is a highly subjective issue and talking about crap being published detracts from the expanded opportunities in publishing for writers and readers alike.

I'll note again that some of the same Lit. authors who readers here think are worth reading are also publishing to the marketplace--and publishing more titles than they are offering here. So, if you enjoy Lit. authors, you should be able to find them in the marketplace with other works. Of course, maybe what you are saying is that your standard for what is readable changes between getting it for free and having to pay for it. That would make sense--if it's what you are trying to say.

With a little bit of research you can parse out in the market what is truly self-published and what has at least gone through the hands of a publisher. Publishers are listed with the book in Amazon, and you can check out the publisher's Web site. What has gone through the hands of even a minimalist publisher has been selected and backed by someone other than just the author him/herself and stands of chance of at least a second pair of eyes going through it before it's published.

Concerning volume being on offer, one question I've been checking out with mainstream publishers I know is whether or not the opening of who can publish what has helped lessen the load of what is being submitted to the publisher for consideration. It stands to reason that many won't bother to go through the complex and convoluted submissions process to agents and publishers now. The answer that invariably has come back is, "No, it's just increased the number of writers who think that having published themselves and have sold a few copies means that they are publishable and they are sending more--and often what they'll already put in the marketplace themselves--to publishers for consideration."

 

[legerdemer]

I recently got a friend, a serious reader, to select six 'romance' e-books for me to read. I thought that I should find out what the readers are reading these days.

Her selection included three major 'best sellers'. Sadly, I had trouble getting through the first chapter of four of the books. The fifth book (sort of) held my interest almost to the halfway mark. And the sixth book I managed to read right to the end - although I certainly didn't feel that I had been rewarded for my effort.

I suspect that the erotic and raunchy romance categories have become their own worse enemies.
Back in the days of Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, 'dirty stories' were also well crafted. Today, many of them are little more than a badly-written accounts of how a bloke with a big cock sticks it into a woman with big tits. And, if that's what the readers want to write, that's what many of the writers are happy to write. Oh well ....

Well, come on, Sam, share what the 6th book was!

 

[rjordan]

Oh, there is much, much more being published now than in the past--e-publishing and economic production of paperbacks have opened the floodgates in not only the volume of titles published but the genres that can now go to market and the content volume of the titles that now can be published (works of no more than 1,000 works have covers and are for sale now--before the e-book revolution, you couldn't book anything for the market that was less than 40,000 words).

What I wrote was that there is probably about as much crap WRITTEN as ever. My point was that we aren't necessarily writing worse. We are just able to publish it with fewer people along the way trying to explain to us that it wasn't such a good idea. In the current vernacular, "Rejection slips are a teachable moment." The lack of them means writers learn less and exercise their egos more.

But that wasn't the main point of my post. I wasn't clear enough about that. My main point is that without filters and especially critique, it is very costly in terms of time for each of us to wade through the torrent of published materials hoping to snag something worth reading. Again, it's not that worthwhile materials aren't published. It's that it's very difficult to find them without a lot of effort.

I won't make judgment on the content value, as you can find a satisfied reader for just about anything, and quality is a highly subjective issue and talking about crap being published detracts from the expanded opportunities in publishing for writers and readers alike.

Though I mentioned "crap", that isn't the problem. The problem is crap, instead of being winnowed out, is now published right along side good stuff. Again, that makes me, as a reader, work a lot harder to find what I want.

Before the ebook explosion, the system ensured that a certain number of the "best" in each genre would filter to the top and be published. Professional critiques ensured that readers would have good information available to find the titles that suited them. I don't think the system ever suffered a shortage of titles to publish, mainly because they could just dig down to the next level and publish some of those.

I'll note again that some of the same Lit. authors who readers here think are worth reading are also publishing to the marketplace--and publishing more titles than they are offering here. So, if you enjoy Lit. authors, you should be able to find them in the marketplace with other works.

True, but then you have the problem of finding out who they are as they don't often publish under their Lit name. And once again, the onus is on the reader to find all this out with very little help. Nothing but a few hours of reading pleasure is at stake so readers like me are just going to opt out of it as too much trouble.

Of course, maybe what you are saying is that your standard for what is readable changes between getting it for free and having to pay for it. That would make sense--if it's what you are trying to say.

Yeah, there's that too. I can go through 10 stories or so in an evening looking for one to read. If I don't find anything, no problem, there's always tomorrow. I've wasted nothing. Not even the time scanning was wasted as I probably learned something.

Concerning volume being on offer, one question I've been checking out with mainstream publishers I know is whether or not the opening of who can publish what has helped lessen the load of what is being submitted to the publisher for consideration. It stands to reason that many won't bother to go through the complex and convoluted submissions process to agents and publishers now. The answer that invariably has come back is, "No, it's just increased the number of writers who think that having published themselves and have sold a few copies means that they are publishable and they are sending more--and often what they'll already put in the marketplace themselves--to publishers for consideration."

Ha ha. Interesting result.

People forget that the major function of a publisher is to market and sell books. Before the internet, authors who couldn't attract a publisher would self-publish. They would end up with a couple of pallets of books in their garage, and realize that the EASY part is publishing a book and anybody can do it. The hard part is selling them, and that's the part authors typically are not very good at.

eBooks prevents having a garage full of unsold and books, but it still requires some sort of marketing effort or nobody knows you're alive.

rj