Market Growth.

There are times when I feel as if I have missed the boat, as a writer.

I can remember years ago, reading tons category romance novels where the hero was a cop/bodyguard/bountyhunter that save/protected the heroine. I loved them, but part of me (the part that has a black belt in karate and some years experience as a security specialist) wondered why it always had to be the man saving the woman. Why weren’t there any stories with the woman kick’n ass? Now, this was before I actually tried writing, and although I thought about giving it a shot, I never did. Then came along Bridget Fonda in POINT OF NO RETURN, and Geena Davis in THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT. Now that was what I wanted. And so it seemed, did others. Woman kick’n butt is a huge market now, from t.v’s ALIAS to Harlequins new BOMBSHELL series. And I missed the boat on it because I was too busy not believeing I could do it.

Three years ago, when I decided I wanted to “be a writer” I was told erotica was a great market for my “salacious imagination”. I took my tutor (I took a correspondance course on how to make money wiht my writing) at his word, and let my imagination run. At the time that I started out I didn’t know anything about “the business” of publishing. And I think that did me good. Instead of aiming small, I submitted my very first erotic short story to Virgin Books Black Lace, because it was what I read.

After I’d submitted it, my tutor mailed back my story (impatient me subbed it before he returned the assignment.) with some corrections, and the suggestion that I find a different publisher to submit to then BL. Something smaller as BL was the top of the pile and very hard to break into. Well, how happy was I when I got an acceptance letter for that story! Yehhaaa!!

That was the start.

And at the start, as much as I enjoyed it, I was a bit embarassed about telling people I wrote erotica. That’s changed, I now tell everyone proudly what I write. Not just because it’s become more openly accepted (with the success of ePublishers and some traditional romance publishers starting to push the envelope a bit more) but because I’ve learned that it is something that not everyone can do.

Not only can I do it, but I do it well. (I think so anyways, 😉 )

And doing it well is key. Ther eis a difference between erotica and other womens fiction…and more sex scenes is not all there is to it. Alison blogged today about Harlequins new line SPICE, and the way their editor says “”If you took all the sex out of the story, the story would stand alone.” and how if that’s true, then this is NOT erotica. Yay, Alison!!

Anyone who’s read Alison’s books, from her Tempataitons to her newest SG-5 series knows that she could do straight erotica no problem if she wanted to. She chooses erotic Romance, and the happily ever after, and and she does a fantastic job of it. However, I’ve seen other romance authors try to keep up with the new boom by simply adding more sex to their stories. In my opinion, this doesn’t work. The sex, or the erotic aspect, has to be part of the story, the conflict, the character growth, and part of the resolution.

But, that’s a different discussion. Back to the market one…

The thing that worries me now is that I might miss the boat again. I can see the market starting to boom, what with Brava becoming such a strong impint. Virgin Books has started a new imprint CHEEK that is targeting the North American Market, even Harlequin is trying to get in on it with SPICE. The market is starting to boom, and I’m still worrying that I can write a full length novel. But as I said before, I can do anything when I set my mind to it. I just hope I can get it done, and done right, before this boat leaves port.