Recently an author wrote a long diatribe on how she sold out and wrote an erotic story. The post has since been deleted, because it was offensive to many erotic authors. But because the Internet is forever, here’s a screenshot of the post in its entirety (click to view the bigger image):

I don’t usually write responses to posts by people who don’t think before they leap. It’s not worth my time. But there were a number of things in this post that I take issue with.

I’ve been self-publishing for a few months now. One of my books took three months to write, the other a year and numerous rewrites. I’m proud of both of them. I stand by my work.

They’re also erotic romance.

This particular author made a business decision and published an erotic story. And then got upset when it sold well.

I’m sorry. I’m not going to feel sorry for someone who made a decision to make money and then got upset when she sold well. The sad truth is that best selling genres change. Erotic content sells. It always has. And with the advent of ebooks, it’s gotten even more lucrative. But getting angry because your urban fantasies didn’t hit bestseller status right off the bat? I can’t agree with that.

Switching genres is a time honored strategy to sell more books. Publishers do it all the time. Sometimes, they do it with the same book. I remember finding Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn series on the shelves at Barnes and Noble in the Fantasy and Science Fiction section. I bought them, glommed them, and went back for more. But by the time I did that, PNR had taken off. The books were moved from SFF to Romance shelves. They changed genres. Is that a sellout? Or is that simply doing what it best for the lives of the book?

If Lynn’s books had stayed in the SFF section, her later books probably wouldn’t have existed, because they would have languished.

The author mentioned this in the post: “Some hard truths came to light through this process. The biggest revelation was that as authors, we have to decide whether we’re in this business to make art or to make money. We can’t have both.”

I think that’s wrong. Lynn Viehl didn’t write her Darkyn series because vampires were popular. No, her books weren’t even categorized as romance at first, even though they really are. She wrote those books because she loved the story.

I wrote my first hockey romance because I couldn’t find any on the shelves. Now there’s a lot, and it could be said that I’m chasing a trend. No. I just wrote what I wanted to read. I found readers that felt the same.

It is possible to have art and money. It’s difficult and it means putting in your dues. But it is possible.

I hope this author realizes how offensive her post is to authors who write erotic content. I like writing sexy books. I like the explicitness of it. I like that these books are unabashedly unapologetic. The authors that wrote them? They love what they do, and they don’t do it because it’s popular.

J.K. Rowling didn’t write about a boy who goes to wizard school because it was the popular thing to do. E.L. James didn’t write 50 Shades because BDSM was popular. Suzanne Collins didn’t write The Hunger Games because kids killing each other were the New Thing. They wrote what they loved, and whether we like their books or not, they struck a chord in the mainstream readership.

So, I’ll keep writing my “trashy smut” because I like it.

Don’t judge me because you don’t like what I write and what I write sells. Don’t get mad at me because urban fantasy (a genre I truly love and have written in the past) had its heyday five years ago and you missed the boat.

I write for me first. I don’t write to the market.

But I’m always aware of what sells. It’s called good business.