--- Writing Porn For Fun and Profit! ---
The Bi-Weekly E-Letter
Volume I, Issue 2
October 16, 2000
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In This Issue:
From the Editor
The Second Short Story Contest - And the Winner Is...
Market Listings - An Apology and a Few More
A Great Resource for Porn/Erotica Writers
Article - The Basic How-To, Part I - Book Excerpt
Goings On - Porn 101 Column at AbsoluteWrite
What You Want - Markets!
Q & A - Readers' Questions
Looking for Writers
Talk to Me! Questions or Suggestions Anyone?
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Writing Porn For Fun and Profit!
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From the Editor
Katy Terrega
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All right! We all made it through the first issue. Okay, so there
were a few problems, which included my failure to fully check the
listings I put out. Duh, Katy. Oh, well, I'm learning as I go and y'all
are teaching me plenty! Thanks for all the feedback, which
was...um...mostly positive, anyway.
But seriously, thanks for all your support, suggestions and advice.
It was a pretty busy week so if I missed answering anyone's questions,
please let me know, I got a LOT of emails!
For those of you who tried to order the book and were unable
to, sorry for the mix-up. My order page is now back up and running here.
I've got some ideas for future newsletters, which I'll cover below, so
please feel free to continue contacting me with your invaluable feedback.
Katy
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--- Short Story Contest #2 ---
Fall, 2000
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And The Winner Is......(drum roll, please)...
Wait, before I announce the winner, I want y'all to know that
I do not play favorites, honest! I only tell you this because when
I announce said winner, you might be suspicious because, it is, once
again.....
Kelly Kesner!
But you'll know why after you read her story - March Madness - because it's a high
quality erotic take on a familiar scenario. You'll love it.
Thanks for all the fantastic entries and stay tuned for Contest #3, due
out in January, 2001!
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--- Market Listings ---
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First, an apology for a problem with last issue's listings.
Oceania is not taking submissions for Oceania Limited, sorry
to those of you who found that out the hard way. She is, however
taking submissions for a new venture which I hope to have out
to you in the next issue.
Thanks to Kevin for turning us on to this market...
ELECTRIFYE: PO Box 33, Wyndham, 6740, Australia. E-mail: mistress@electrifye.com Website: http://www.electrifye.com CONTACT: Ellen King (Mistress) - Editor/webmaster/site owner. A weekly ezine dedicated to women's sexuality and offering quality erotic fiction. 100% freelance written. Works with new writers. Usually "responds within a few days, but may be up to two weeks if we are receiving a lot of submissions." Buys first time electronic rights, exclusive for 6 months from time of
publication, with rights to archive indefinitely. Pays on publication. Publishes manuscripts approximately 2 weeks to 3 months after acceptance. Obtain guidelines online - http://www.electrifye.com/writers.shtml. Submit via email only. For fiction, submit manuscript. For articles, query first and mention any prior publishing credits. For reviews: query.
REPRINTS: Yes
CURRENT NEEDS: Reviews of any erotica-related items EXCEPT books. Article
queries on various aspects of women's sexuality are always welcome.
PAYMENT: 7.5c US per word for first electronic rights as specified above. 2 c US per word for reprint rights as specified above.
WORD LENGTH: Articles - Maximum length 1000 words. Fiction length - Maximum length 3000 words (but preferably about 1000). Reviews: Maximum length 400 words.
PHOTOS/ART: jpg or gif, file size under 50MB.
PAYMENT for PHOTOS: No budget for such, but sponsorship is welcome. If there any
erotic artists who would like exposure and links, please contact us.
HINTS: Please *do not* submit fiction that is more suited for a male audience. Much of what we receive is obviously crafted to appeal to men. While there is a grey area where the story may suit either a male or female audience, and some of these are great for our site, others are obviously not aimed at women. We don't want stories that have - for example - the man's rock hard, Eiffel Tower-proportioned, purple-headed love truncheon slamming lubelessly into the ass/pussy of a barely-legal, pert-titted, virgin cheerleader who (unlike the rest of the female population) suffers no discomfort from either a) the aforementioned virginity or b) the aforementioned lack of lube, and screams wildly that he is the most talented stuf-muffin on the face of the Earth and that she wants to be fucked again and again and again, and that the rest of the football team can have a turn too.
Electrifye wants *quality* erotic fiction. Engage the senses of the reader. Fantasy is good, but don't get too unrealistic (like the above scenario). You want to turn on your reader, not have them break out in fits of laughter. Humour is good, but keep it
in context with the story.
New writers are welcome provided they can spell, punctuate
(please, no "!!!", "!??!?" and assorted variations) and write a
well-plotted, consistent story.
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And thanks to Stacy for turning us on to this market...
XES MAGAZINE - 210 Route 4 East, Suite 211 - Paramus NJ 07652. P(201) 843-4004.
F(201) 843-8636. E-mail: Xes@magnapublishing.com Website: http://www.xesmag.com (not live yet)
CONTACT: Dan Davis, Executive Editor. Monthly publication featuring explicit pictorials and editorial of what men want and need... sex! 50% freelance written. Works with new writers. Responds in 4-8 weeks. Buys First North American Rights. Pays on publication. Publishes manuscripts 2-4 months after acceptance. Send SASE and check or money order for $6.99 for guidelines. Submit query or complete ms
by mail (with SASE) or via e-mail.
CURRENT NEEDS: Long erotic fiction (500-2500 words) from female standpoint, first person accounts of sex lives, on the scene photo journals.
PAYMENT: $.13 per word
REPRINTS: Sometimes
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--- A Great Resource for Porn/Erotic Writers ---
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A couple of you mentioned a resource for porn/erotica writers
that I'd overlooked. The Erotica Readers Association is a
fantastic organization, they've got fiction, poetry, reviews, markets, articles
and more for writers as well as readers of the genre. Check 'em
out here - http://www.erotica-readers.com
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--- The Basic How-To, Part I of III ---
Book Excerpt by Katy Terrega
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When you're first starting to write porn, it's probably best to have some idea of where you want to go with a story. Later you may be able to wing it but for now have a character or a plot or an idea ready. Sometimes a really descriptive first sentence can serve a good starting point. Or an especially creative character or locale. Once you have a basic feel for what your story is going to say, the very best thing to do is sit down at your computer with your story idea and write it all down. Start to finish. If possible, do that all in one sitting so you don't lose your momentum or the tone of the story.
Just write. It doesn't matter if you were shooting for 3,000 words and come up with 6,000 or 2,000. It doesn't matter if every sentence sounds the same or if your setting is awkward or if your characters lack depth. At least not yet. There's time enough for editing and fine tuning later. All that matters is that you have a story, with a rough beginning, middle and end. For now, just write
It doesn't even matter if you write it in order. Got a great idea for a sex scene? Write it down. Chances are good that by the time you're done with that part, you may have another great idea for the beginning or ending. Sometimes I'll get stuck on the set up, maybe it's too wordy or I can't figure out how to gracefully move my characters from the beginning to the sex. So I'll work on whatever's easiest, sometimes even blocking out three or more parts to the story and piecing them together later.
Then you need to follow that time honored advice and set it aside. Take a walk, get some coffee, sleep on it. Whatever works for you. I find that I need anywhere from fifteen minutes to several days between first and final drafts. I need to distance myself from the rough copy so that I can come back and critique my manuscript with an unbiased eye. I have to switch gears; going from Writer Mode; that free flowing author whose ideas just pour out onto the page, to Editor Mode; that nitpicking perfectionist who goes around cleaning up after the sloppy and self indulgent artiste.
Don't expect to be able to transition instantly from either of these modes or you'll set yourself up for failure. For awhile just let yourself feel great about the creation of your masterpiece. That's a very satisfying feeling, reveling in the success of having actually done it, gotten it all down on paper. Enjoy it. Give yourself some time to come down before you move into the next phase. Because the next phase can sometimes hurt.
Now you've got your rough draft. You did all the right things, wrote it all down then set it aside, got on with your dinner, your life. You're ready to pick it up again. Only now the Writer's flush of success is gone, replaced by the Editor's critical eye. Ack! It's awful! What a ridiculous bunch of drivel. Look at the grammar, the sentence structure, those incredibly trite adjectives! Who ever said you could be a writer?
Ok, you've got that out of your system. That was the easy part. The part where, before you were a real writer, you used to stop, throw up your hands in frustration and toss (or file - for those of us who can't bear to part with our words) it away.
But now you're in for the hard part. The part where you sit down again with your decidedly un-masterpiece and this time you fix it. Because it can be fixed. Whatever it's flaws, it can be fixed. That was the amazing discovery that I made some time ago; almost nothing I've ever written is bad enough to be discarded completely, some things just need a little more work than others. Maybe it needs a total overhaul or maybe just a little tweaking here and there, but it can be done. You just have to be willing to do it. And it's honestly not that hard if you believe it can be done and if you take it a piece at a time.
Next week - The Basic How-To, Part II - Including Structure, Paragraphs and Sentences
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--- Goings On ---
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I've got a new column at AbsoluteWrite
on (surprise!) writing porn. Jenna Glatzer's site for writers is fantastic, she's got
resources for screenplay writers, articles, interviews and much, much more.
Check it out. And keep an eye on my column, too, as I plan to cover all the
basics of the porn genre. It's a bi-weekly column and it comes out every other
Monday, alternating with this newsletter.
Now, what's up with you? It occurred to me that maybe we could
toot our own horns a little bit, don't you think? Like, did you get
an acceptance this week from a great market? Or are you published
in some national mag this month? If you feel like sharing, let me know, and maybe
we can post all our achievements here.
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--- What You Want ---
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Markets! Markets! Markets! Overwhelmingly, you want markets. You, too,
have had difficulty locating and contacting paying gigs. I've got thirty of them
in my book and I'm running a couple with each newsletter but a lot of you aren't interested in the how-to, you just want to be shown the money, thank you very much.
So that gave me some ideas, but, once again, I need your help...
The way I see it, there are two options. I could take a few months and ferret out 75-100 (mostly) paying markets and put them together in book form with maybe a
major update every year. The cost for a book like that would be around $12.00.
Or, I could do with porn what Angela Adair-Hoy has done with her Write Markets Report, tracking down markets and presenting them in a weekly (or monthly, I can't remember which) format. The cost for this service would run around $12.00 p/yr for 8-10 new markets per month.
Either way, I think that "Porn and Erotica Markets for Writers" has a nice ring to it,
I'm just not sure which format you'd prefer. Would you rather wait a few months and
have your markets all at once? Or would you like them doled out in smaller bites? The newsletter format would tend to be more current. On the other hand, I kind of like the finality of the book format. My goal for the newsletter would be to start November 1st, my goal for getting the book out would be late December.
And here's one more question...I'm thinking of including romance (books, mainly) markets as well as confession (you know, True Romance, etc) markets. What do you think? Romance can be similar to porn and the confession mags can be(like porn) a little easier to break into, so let me know what you think.
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--- Q & A ---
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Copyrights - that was the theme this week.
I am absolutely not an expert on this subject other than knowing
that copyright is created the instant you set down your idea in a
tangible form (in this case, writing it). That means that you don't
HAVE to register it with the copyright office if you don't want to,
although a "Copyright 2000 Jane Doe" is a good idea on all
your submitted manuscripts.
However, registering your copyright with the government does
have certain advantages, like if/when someone tries to steal your work.
Go here - http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ - for the expert advice that
I lack, the faq page is particularly helpful.
Send me your questions! I'll answer the most common
and/or interesting ones here, and if I don't know
the answer, I'll do my best to find a pro who does.
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--- Looking for Writers ---
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Thanks for all your e-mails concerning article ideas. To clarify, what
I'm looking for are essays/articles that will inspire and/or instruct
other porn writers. Success stories, how to break into certain markets, unique views on the genre, etc. I'm thinking about 800 words, although I'm flexible. No, you don't have
to be published but it might help. Or, maybe you're published in other genres but
not in porn, and maybe you've got something to say about that.
I don't really need queries, feel free to send me your finished article/essays and we'll go
from there. Right now I'm paying with a copy of the updated It's A Dirty Job...(plus credits) but as SOON as this site is self-supporting I'll be able to offer some cash.
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--- Talk to Me ---
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And you have been, thank you! Please keep on doing so. I will try to get to all e-mails asap, and that usually means within twenty four hours. But sometimes - Homework Project Due Yesterday! - Toilet Overflows Again! - it'll take me longer. If you haven't heard from me in two or three days, EMAIL ME AGAIN! I probably screwed up and didn't get/see/notice your question or comment.
Tell me what you want this newsletter to be, tell me what info you need to have, tell me what you like or (oh, alright) dislike about what's going on here.
Let's make this as interactive as possible here!
Thanks,
Katy
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Writing Porn For Fun and Profit!
The Bi-Weekly E-Letter
Copyright 2000 - All Rights Reserved
Katy Terrega
http;//www.KatyTerrega.com
Katy@KatyTerrega.com
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