How I Got into Writing Erotica as Barbie Scott

HOW I BECAME A WRITER OF EROTICA

(First published on Sue Howe's Blog)

Some years ago a woman I knew through a writing group I used to attend submitted a story to Black Lace and had it accepted. It was published in one of the Wicked Women collections. I read the story and others in the same anthology and, though I wasn't especially interested in reading erotica, I realised I could probably write it. That's not to say it's particularly easy to write but I felt sure I had the right mind-set to produce saleable work.

So I gave it a go.

I wrote The Celibate and sent it off to Kerri Sharp at Black Lace Books and within a very short time I had an acceptance. Wow, I thought, my very first erotic story got snapped up!

So I wrote another one.

The Black Lace Wicked Women series was only published three or four times a year so while I was waiting for the next submission period, I sent my latest story off to For Women. I was astonished and immensely gratified to find it was accepted as well.

So I wrote another one. And another one. And... well, you get the idea.

I looked around for other markets for erotica and sent pieces off here and there. Everything I sent off got accepted, except a short story I entered for a Cosmopolitan competition. Cosmo rejected it because it 'contained illegal activity'. Not illegal sexual activity, I hasten to add, but an account of a break in. In this story, Collar and Cuffs, a young burglar is accosted by the the raunchy lady of the house with predictable consequences. It was later published by Scarlet Magazine, who obviously weren't as fussy about the depiction of crime.

I did start writing an erotic novel a while ago but never finished it (yet!) as I found there was a ready market for short stories and they were much easier to dash off. I've been thinking recently I should get to work on it again. Got to keep my public happy!

Some of the magazines I wrote for are no longer in existence sadly, so the print market has narrowed. Another market has arisen with the rise of online publishing, but the financial rewards are not as high and the quality is not always as good.

This is why I decided to publish some of my previous work as an ebook, The Stiletto Heel and Other Stories. It is available from Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Apps under my usual erotica name of Barbie Scott.

So, though I'm still not much interested in reading erotica, it does provide me with my best writing sales and seems to be likely to keep on doing so for the foreseeable future.

Sex, it seems, sells.

For tips on writing erotica, see my other blog.

The Stiletto Heel and Other Stories is available at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com & amazon.de