Like most writers, I'm not entirely sure where the publishing world is headed. EReaders have changed everything, and the old rules don't apply any more.
I'm trying hard to forecast the future - I was certainly right when I saw the eBook boom coming at the end of 2010 and I sold more than half a million eBooks last year.
The question is what will happen next. Well, I have had my thinking cap on.
I'm pretty sure that the eReader revolution will revitalise the short story market. With a paperback, buyers are very aware of how many words they are buying. In fact I'm pretty sure that my publisher puts lots of white space in my books so that the number of pages increases and buyers think they are getting a lot of pages for their money!
With an eReader word count isn't important, and I think buyers are going to start snapping up more short stories, especially if they are really cheap. Also, I think readers don't always want to be reading a novel. For instance, if they are about to start a journey on a plane or a train that's only going to last an hour or so, maybe they would prefer a short story. Or if they're planning to read before sleeping, maybe they'd prefer a complete short story rather than a chapter of a novel. I've already self-published four locked room mysteries set in Singapore, featuring Detective Inspector Zhang. All are selling steadily and getting good reviews.
Now the really great thing about the eReader is that no one knows what you are buying, or what you are reading. This makes it a lot easier to buy and read erotica. There are no more knowing looks from salespeople and no more disapproving stares on public transport. You can read what you want, when you want, on an eReader. I'm sure that's what has helped the recent boom in sales of the Shades of Grey erotic novels by British writer EL James.
So combining the two observations, I predict that there will be a boom in erotic short stories. And as I am always one to put my money where my mouth is, I have already self-published three of them! The first is Banging Bill's Wife, where a young man is persuaded to help a husband satisfy his wife's fantasy. It's set in Thailand, a country I know well. I self-published a book called Private Dancer, which is set in the go-go bars of a Bangkok red light area, and it has been a consistent bestseller, as a paperback in Thailand and as an eBook on Kindle and Smashwords.
I had a lot of fun writing Banging Bill's wife, and bought a terrific cover for it from the designer who does Joe Konrath's covers. I have to confess they're probably not that erotic as there are certain words that I have trouble typing! I do try not to use too many swearwords in my thrillers ever since a reader wrote to say that by blaspheming I was guaranteeing myself a place in Hell. I actually took her words to heart and asked my publisher to remove a phrase from my book Soft Target and ever since I have tried to only use swear words where they are really necessary.
I'm also not a fan of porn for porn's sake, I always prefer there to be a story along with it, so my erotic novels are really more about the story than the sex. But I did give the sex scenes my best shot!
I had a lot of fun writing Banging Bill's wife, and bought a terrific cover for it from the designer who does Joe Konrath's covers. I have to confess they're probably not that erotic as there are certain words that I have trouble typing! I do try not to use too many swearwords in my thrillers ever since a reader wrote to say that by blaspheming I was guaranteeing myself a place in Hell. I actually took her words to heart and asked my publisher to remove a phrase from my book Soft Target and ever since I have tried to only use swear words where they are really necessary.
I'm also not a fan of porn for porn's sake, I always prefer there to be a story along with it, so my erotic novels are really more about the story than the sex. But I did give the sex scenes my best shot!
Anyway, you can buy Banging Bill's Wife HERE IN THE US and HERE IN THE UK.
Next I wrote and published The Alphabet Game, where a sex tourist's life is changed forever when he sets out to sleep with girls whose name correspond to the letters of the alphabet. All goes well until he meets a girl called Zed...
You can buy it HERE IN THE US and HERE IN THE UK.
The third is The Pregnant Wife, about a young man who discovers a way of getting free sex in Thailand. He has the life of his dreams until he meets Nok. And when Nok falls pregnant, Dave is in a quandry...
You can buy it HERE IN THE US and HERE IN THE UK.
Anyway, all three are now available on Kindle and on Smashwords. I'll let you know how I get on! And yes, I'm already working on the fourth - The Threesome. Eventually I hope to have a dozen or so at which point I'll probably publish them as a collection under the title Asian Heat. We'll see....
