Tara Tainton

The Hottest New Resource for Sex Writers

Written by Tara Tainton

Thursday, 15 June 2006 23:00

I'm already feeling a bit guilty...well, just a little guilty. I've had to write one of my very few negative reviews of a recent read. Negative but honest, as always. The Erotic Writer's Market Guide, fresh off the presses and long anticipated by sex writers (and maybe a few readers) everywhere, has been added to my personal resource library.

I actually filed through it as soon as it arrived via an order placed with Amazon. And that's a rarity for me. My queue of unread books I've been very excited to read is LOOOOOONNG. But this is the book that we've been waiting over a year to see published, one I'd actually pre-ordered early last year only to hear the publishing date was moved back...and back...and back. And considering how few, constantly changing, and low-paying markets for our adult/explicit writing tend to be, I was definitely eager to discover all the new markets I was formerly completely unaware of and send out some new submissions to various fun markets.

Boy, was I disappointed...

I won't go into detail here, but be sure to refer to my full review of The Erotic Writer's Market Guide churned out by The Circlet Press Collective on Amazon. You'll also see just why, although the book is very disappointing and a waste of paper in many aspects, I still recommend picking up a copy if you're a writer of sex, erotica, and/or porn. When it comes down to it, there are few markets for us in this genre, and discovering even one new one to bring more income and publicity our way is a priceless thing.

erotic writers market

Come to think of it, Amazon hasn't even updated their book cover graphic online. This cover photo with black and white photo lists the original author, Lawrence Schimel, and Rachel Kramer Bussel while my copy's cover is in full color and credited to The Circlet Press Collective as its compiler(s). Just reflects the book's many contributors over the past years and the confusion we've all had regarding when this book would appear on the shelves and just what might be in it.

At least it's finally here.

The Erotic Writer's Market Guide includes a lot of info generally useless to even the just-beginning writer and laughable to all of us. The actual market listing is definitely a side note in the book rather than the focus and main content. And it's embarrassingly incomplete and inaccurate, to say the least.

How can today's writers, editors, and publishers in the biz not acknowledge and list Ruthie's Club as a prominent and paying market in the genre?? How can they neglect to list the Erotica Readers & Writers Association in their list of writers' organizations?? How can they list information for a significant publication like Playgirl magazine itself that is so outdated as to print the name of the mag's editor..........TWO editors ago?!? How can they list Moist as a current ezine and publisher of erotica and name it's former site address when I actually blogged the news of Moist's collapse over a year ago on my own site? The word was from the editor himself, and a quick connection over to the ezine's former URL will show it now belongs to a typical adult site, no longer the quality and sophisticated ezine cover we once found there.

The list goes on and on....inaccuracies, misprints, missing markets, and missing resources abound in The Erotic Writer's Market Guide. BUT I was still introduced to a few markets I wasn't aware of, which makes my purchasing of the book worthwhile despite my sympathy for all the new writers without their own research into markets for the genre who'll be misguided by this book for a long time to come.

erotic writers market

Once again, I'm wondering if I need to turn my personal spreadsheet of collected erotica markets into a database available online to share with all. Of course, the time commitment stops me dead in my tracks, but I wish I could save my fellow writers the trouble of depending upon outdated resources, especially the ones just printed this month.

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Anonymous

| 2009-12-18 18:27

Linda Smith 06/22/2006 07:23 PM
Yeah, I spent at least $60 on a Writer's Guide for everything in general, for 2006. They have VERY few erotica listings there, and those mostly for gay male porn, plus Playboy, whose listing explicitly states they don't take new writers as a rule. So, I got tired of waiting for somebody else to admit me into the Literary Pearly Gates of (gasp!) PAID PUBLICATION!.... and started my own free erotic blog, link given above, complete with sexy photos of me! And I've gotten some very nice compliments. Thanks to my readers!

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