AvroAnson
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2021
- Posts
- 174
I began writing stories here (under a different name) about 20 years ago, it was therapy of sorts, I had just buried my father, husband* and mother in the last few years. While I miss them, each was over 80 when they passed. The * is because I guess that legally I was a fiancee not a wife for over 30 years, my parents having extracted a promise from their 20-something daughter not to marry her 50-something boyfriend who had just proposed.
Back when I wrote the stories there were fewer rules here and they were interpreted and enforced differently. I named names, organizations, businesses and places during my little strolls down memory lane. It was niche writing, one commentator said I should remove the 'too brief and too graphic sex scenes' and split a story submitting half to 'Ladies Home Journal,' and half to 'Business Week.'
Other authors here suggested that my writings would receive higher marks if I did this and that. As an experiment I did under different pen names and they were absolutely right. Give the audience what they expect in a clearly understood way and you will be rewarded. But as I said I wrote as therapy, so after proving it to myself I went back to my "curiously odd," stories.
Times changed, asshats started pushing their anti sex agenda against print erotica. I started having to put disclaimers in front of a story that the college graduate and her boss with two ex-wives were both over 18. I had to laicize my priest. LW turned into a cesspool. I couldn't put lots of intense activities in mature, I couldn't mention family at all. Submissions mentioning daddy issues went to I/T, or spanking went to BDSM.
It was a double-whammy. Those who saw my writings didn't appreciate them because it was way too vanilla for those placements, and those who would appreciate it wouldn't see it because they wouldn't look where it was published. I had to start creating euphemisms and pseudonyms.
Years ago, when I bemoaned this process here at AH, a longtime member suggested that since I brought up the fact there were different criteria in print media (I had said fewer, he said different, he was right**) why didn't I go there.
I just donated the first payment on my second book to a charity. It isn't my job, it's therapy. I was just so nice "mostly restoring"** my many stories that had to be changed or split into parts in order to be published here. To my amazement my first anthology still sells at $8 to $11 per copy (all of my cut goes to charity) depending on whether it's in electronic or paper format and where it's sold.
I wouldn't have ever thought that I would be number ten million or so on the NYT best sellers list, but that's in front of 9,400,000 people, assuming that every author lives in New York State. I want to thank the person who suggested that I try that other avenue. And I think that I waited for the second book because I figured that the publisher would realize their error ... but apparently they haven't.
** The publisher left the story lines, real places and real people depicted in the story alone. They did edit the sex scenes, making some of them less graphic, but alluded to accurately.
Back when I wrote the stories there were fewer rules here and they were interpreted and enforced differently. I named names, organizations, businesses and places during my little strolls down memory lane. It was niche writing, one commentator said I should remove the 'too brief and too graphic sex scenes' and split a story submitting half to 'Ladies Home Journal,' and half to 'Business Week.'
Other authors here suggested that my writings would receive higher marks if I did this and that. As an experiment I did under different pen names and they were absolutely right. Give the audience what they expect in a clearly understood way and you will be rewarded. But as I said I wrote as therapy, so after proving it to myself I went back to my "curiously odd," stories.
Times changed, asshats started pushing their anti sex agenda against print erotica. I started having to put disclaimers in front of a story that the college graduate and her boss with two ex-wives were both over 18. I had to laicize my priest. LW turned into a cesspool. I couldn't put lots of intense activities in mature, I couldn't mention family at all. Submissions mentioning daddy issues went to I/T, or spanking went to BDSM.
It was a double-whammy. Those who saw my writings didn't appreciate them because it was way too vanilla for those placements, and those who would appreciate it wouldn't see it because they wouldn't look where it was published. I had to start creating euphemisms and pseudonyms.
Years ago, when I bemoaned this process here at AH, a longtime member suggested that since I brought up the fact there were different criteria in print media (I had said fewer, he said different, he was right**) why didn't I go there.
I just donated the first payment on my second book to a charity. It isn't my job, it's therapy. I was just so nice "mostly restoring"** my many stories that had to be changed or split into parts in order to be published here. To my amazement my first anthology still sells at $8 to $11 per copy (all of my cut goes to charity) depending on whether it's in electronic or paper format and where it's sold.
I wouldn't have ever thought that I would be number ten million or so on the NYT best sellers list, but that's in front of 9,400,000 people, assuming that every author lives in New York State. I want to thank the person who suggested that I try that other avenue. And I think that I waited for the second book because I figured that the publisher would realize their error ... but apparently they haven't.
** The publisher left the story lines, real places and real people depicted in the story alone. They did edit the sex scenes, making some of them less graphic, but alluded to accurately.
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