Seven Weeks Of M.Christian: Week 6 – What Is Success?

Continuing my seven (possibly terrifying) weeks of M.Christian, here's my newest installment...

...my reasoning behind this is that I haven't really talked a lot about myself for a while so I thought it would be a fun little experiment to post - once a week, for seven weeks - a series of essays about little ol' me: where I came from, my professional journey, being an editor, being a publisher ... and even my hopes and dreams for the future.

Hope you like!

I was recently introduced as a successful writer: which immediately got me thinking – always a good thing. 

What is a successful writer?

We really should start by clearing the board a bit and admit that success is a pretty meaningless word.  I know a few writers who have only written three or four books but have made indecent amounts of money from them, I also know writers who have written dozens and dozens and dozens of books, and I even have a few writer friends who have won amazing awards – so which one is the most successful?  The reality is that for every literary success story there's usually a dark side: the author who makes a lot of money may very well be trapped by the genre that brought them that nice, juicy income – they simply can't afford to write anything else; the writer who has written dozens and dozens and dozens of books may be respected but has to live in their parents' basement; and the author with all those awards may be terrified by the thought of it's all downhill from here.

When I teach my (commercial begins – Sex Sells: How To Write And Sell Erotica class – commercial ends) I always take a few minutes to remind my students that writers are professional liars: it is, after all, our job to convince people that we are everything from aliens from the dark nebula, a serial killer, a turn-of-the-century grand dame, or whatever/whoever else – meaning that when I writer opens their mouth about anything you should always take what comes out with more than a grain of salt.

Writing, without a doubt, can be a very tough life.  Sure, as I mentioned, what we do is special, brave and even magical, but it can also regularly, methodically kick you in the gut: bad reviews, poor sales, rejection, rejection, rejection ... it is not for the weak.  It's not a surprise – though it is a bit shameful – that some writers deal with the harsh reality of being a writer by wearing an armored suit of arrogance.  They are the ones who love to tell you about their great new sale (though it took them a decade to do it), their amazing award (though no one really respects the quality of their work), the thousands of words they just wrote (that is nothing more than gibberish), or the huge royalty check they got (but will never see again). 

I have a rule: if I happen to have a fellow writer in my life who doesn't make me feel good about me or my work then that person can no longer be in my life.  Yeah, that might be a bit harsh, but anything or anyone that keeps me from working at what is already a damned hard thing to do is someone not worth having around.  The same holds true for blogs, twitter-twits, Facebook 'friends' – if you are not a positive thing in my life then you are simply not going to be in my life.  Writing can be tough, as said, so there's no reason to keep people around who make it any tougher.

So what is success – especially for a writer?  If you've been kind enough to read these little pieces you probably know where this is going ... but bear with me.  I really don't think success has anything to do with awards (I love this quote: "Awards are like hemorrhoids: eventually every asshole gets one"), money (which is extremely slippery for anyone doing anything creative), books or stories written, fame (just watch All About Eve), or anything similar.

For me, success is ... have you ever seen The Paper Chase?  For those that haven't, it's about a student (Timothy Bottoms) facing a very difficult time (to put it mildly) in law school.  It’s a great film (hey, it's got John Houseman so it has to be) but the ending has always resounded with me: after spending hour after hour, day after day, night after night, our student works and studies and studies and works – and, at the end, his girlfriend hands him an envelope with his final grade in it.  But rather than open it he simply tears it up, scattering it to the wind: he doesn't need to know what it says because he knows, without a doubt, that he has not just passed but understands the law.

Now I'm not a lawyer (thank god) but that scene, for me, is my personal definition of success.  Sure, money would be nice; an award would be flattering; having a nice, fat Wikipedia entry would be sweet; but what I really want is for one day to write a book that I finish with that same glorious moment of artistic satisfaction: the unshakable knowledge that what I have done is truly, inarguably wonderful.

It's subjective, of course: your version of success if not mine – but I hope this had made you think a bit about what you want your own, personal, artistic journey to be. 

But before I close I have one final piece of advice – one that I tell as many writers as I can, as well as hold very close to my heart: we all might have different ideas of what success is, but the only time a writer truly fails is ... when they stop writing.

Bravo On The Sizzler Blog Tour

(from M.Christian's Queen Imaginings)


The great Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions just posted a rave - a complete well-deserved one - about the book tour they so thoughtfully arranged for my new book, Stroke the Fire:

First Two Sizzler Blog Tours Big Success

Coordinated by Nikki of BTS Virtual Tours, our first author blog tours were smashing successes. Increase in sales and visibility for both authors. Very different though their work is, M. Christian and Betty Carlton both found themselves and their books on nine very different but appropriate blogs. Copies of each author's featured book were given away as prizes - with s grand prize winner receiving copies of all that author's books! The next tour will feature Olivia London's erotic romance novels and collections. 

Thanks Nikki and the great people at BTS!

MLK

 

An Anonymous Author’s Novel-

An anonymous author’s novel written on the walls of an abandoned house in Chongqing, China (2012)

Billierosie On Hunger - A Feast Of Sensual Tales Of Sex And Gastronomy

Remember how I recently announced the release of my (if I say so myself) wonderful anthology Hunger: A Feast Of Sensual Tales Of Sex And Gastronomy? Well, the absolutely-wonderful Billierosie just posted a kick-ass review of the book on her own great site as well as on Frequently Felt.

Check it out:

The writer Italo Calvino says; “In love, as in gluttony, pleasure is a matter of the utmost precision.”

When the innovative M.Christian and Alyn Rosselini suggested food and erotica as a theme for Sizzler’s latest anthology, A Lover’s Feast, I was reminded of Italo Calvino’s words.

Sex and food. Food and sex. The two are inextricably linked. The stories here celebrate their unique relationship. Whether it’s teen lovers slurping down hot dogs, washed down with Pepsi, or a dinner of the finest cuisine, eaten lovingly by a sophisticated gourmet, we watch each other as we eat.

We bite, we swallow, we lick our fingers, we kiss and taste each other.

Here is what Sizzler have to say about their great new anthology.

Food and sex – sex and food: two great things that can be even better together! From soothing chocolate to spicy meatballs the stories in this brand new erotic anthology edited by two masters of the genre - M.CHRISTIAN and ALYN ROSSELINI - feature stories by the crème-de-la-crème of sexual and literary cooking and will tickle your sensual taste buds and stir your pot of erotic thrills. 

Basting lovers, cooking orgies, steaming hot encounters, straight as well as queer taste treats ... the stories in HUNGER: A FEAST OF SENSUAL TALES OF SEX AND GASTRONOMY will push boundaries everyone's pleasurable buttons – both erotic and gastronomic: these are stories that will arouse, amuse, amaze, and whet your appetite for more!

Authors in this so-very tasty anthology include: SUSAN ST. AUBIN, DOMINIC SANTI, GISELLE RENARDE, ERIN O'RIORDAN, OLIVIA LONDON, JESSICA LENNOX, KIRSTEN IMANI KASAI, CÈSAR, SANCHEZ ZAPATA, GREGORY L. NORRIS, HEIDI CHAMPA, and BILLIEROSIE

And Sizzler’s writers have delivered in quality and abundance. As I read the stories, I think of taste, aroma, texture, moist inside my mouth, crumbling in my fingers; like these stories in “A Lover’s Feast”, playing havoc with my senses. I am gluttonous, as I gorge on these sexy tales.

In “A Meal”, Susan St.Aubin, has Evelyn preparing a meal for the man in her life, her lover Hal and the woman in her life, her lover, Rebecca. The point of view moves between the characters, telling of desire, lust, jealousy. Two girls and a guy, it should have all gone so smoothly, but lust for the flavour of food, overtakes the lust for sex. The salmon mornay, scooped and slurped from scallop shells is too delicious. Susan St.Aubin is talking about the dark side of desire. Evelyn has tried to control desire and it has turned around and bitten her. 

But what surprises her most of all, is that Hal is repelled by what Rebecca has in her mouth.

In “Jeb’s Wife”, Dominic Santi gives us three guys and a girl. Kaylee loves to cook. The guys love to eat; they all love to do other things. Through the delectable style of Kaylee’s homemaking skills, the four ravenous friends bring a whole new aspect to the notion of coming together. Whenever I have read Dominic Santi’s stories, I have always been drawn to, and impressed with the way he conjures up visual images. In “Jeb’s Wife”, he excels at writing spectacle. The orgy in the final paragraph, is loaded, saturated with excess. And it works.

Kirsten Imani Kasai’s contribution to the anthology is “Best Served Cold.” It is a skilful dish of betrayal, love; a haunting mix of recipes turned into a powerful lament. It is a story that stays with you, long after you have read the final paragraph.

In “Une Apetito Rubusto”, Renatto Garcia, has Gwen on holiday in Italy, with her girl friends. It is supposed to be a male free holiday. Gwen has taken a vow of abstinence, more than that; she has sworn off men for life. Then she meets Cristoforo, “with eyes the shape of ripe olives”. They drink wine in a bar; Blanc de Morgex, Petite Arvine, Picotendro. The exotic names are a slow tango of seduction. Cristoforo educates Gwen in the subtle arts of taste, aroma, texture. In a scene of pure, undiluted erotica, Gwen swoons into a bathtub of Italian marble; she is saturated with wonderful, luscious grapes and red, red wine.

Then there is Giselle Renarde’s tale, “The Sweetest Burn”. A woman becomes a vessel on which to serve Chef’s latest concoction. She is a platter; she also holds the secret ingredient within her skin and Chef’s expert tongue wants to taste and test the balance of flavours. Her sweat and bodily fluids enhance the recipe. The writer draws on the sensation of touch, as Chef laps, sucks and slurps his way over her flesh. “Her flesh was a regular bouquet garni of human aromas.”

And another Chef, in Gregory L. Norris’ “Foodie”. Marcel wakes up in the middle of a crazed fantasy. At least, as far as looming into consciousness and realising that you’re bound and helpless is a fantasy. Marcel is the current “it” man of the TV celebrity chef world. While in bondage, Marcus is feasted upon; his bodily secretions are pronounced as delicious by the “foodie”. Whether it’s a marinade or a glaze; a garnish to a delectable salad or an icy swirling decoration in a frosted glass, Marcus is there to be consumed.

The stories in this fabulous anthology have resonance. Perhaps it’s a moment in a restaurant, a bar, or a café or sharing coffee and croissants in bed with your first lover. A secluded picnic beneath an oak tree or catching and cooking a plump fish on a barbeque. The smoky aroma drifts and lingers.

Watching your lover cook with his fingers, eat with his fingers and getting turned on. Both of you.

Deep, dark green extra virgin olive oils and fragrant raspberry vinegars, gooey, slippery egg yolks separated from their whites. Oysters swallowed whole, slipping slowly down your throat. Peppery, yellow and orange nasturtium flowers scattered into a salad of green rocket with tiny, ripe, sweet vine tomatoes. Flavour and sensation, bursting on your tongue. Lapiz blue borage flowers crushed into chilled Pimms with chinking chunks of ice. Fragrant, golden honeysuckle flowers decorate an airy lemon soufflé. Pink damask rose petals scattered over a white, linen table cloth. Pomegranate seeds, staining mouths scarlet, little rubies hinting at the forbidden, bitter and sweet. Runny golden honey, crunchy, dripping, sticky eaten straight from the comb. White of egg, slimy, then whipped into a white, fluffy, crisp Pavlova. And smooth, dark chocolate, silky on the tongue, slowly melting.

And while writing this review, I am reminded of a scene from Tony Richardson’s great 1963 film, “Tom Jones.”

The famous, sex-drenched eating scene between Tom (Albert Finney) and, (all unknowingly) possibly his mother Mrs. Waters (Joyce Redman) begins naturally enough with big steaming pewter bowls of soup. Mrs. Waters leans over the table and lustily slurps big round spoonfuls, her breasts tumbling out of her bodice, with a more-than-come-hither look. Tom, nearly overcome, involuntarily rips a claw off the langouste he has in his hand and sucks happily on it. Drafts of ale, turkey, oysters, pears, and wine are then dispatched with loving attention.

M.Christian and Alyn Rosselini’s “Hunger!” anthology, has its roots in the spirit of Henry Fielding’s novel, published in 1749 and Tony Richardson’s 1963 film; both entitled “Tom Jones”.

And “Hunger is out now! Shortly to be available at Amazon, you can buy it here at Sizzler!

I'm Reading At My Perverted Sucky Valentine Puts Out!

(From M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

Good news: I'm going to be one of the featured readers at My Perverted Sucky Valentine Puts Out.

Here's the basic info - with more coming soon!

My Perverted Sucky Valentine Puts Out!
Saturday, February 9, 7pm – 10pm
The Center for Sex and Culture
1349 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

For an anti-Valentine's event of epic proportions, two of San Francisco's most celebrated erotic literary events join forces! On February 9, the Center will host the collision of Perverts Put Out and My Sucky Valentine! Come hear some of SF's favorite erotic authors read and tell stories about dirty love, dirtier lovemaking and the train-wreck delights of romance-gone-wrong!

Our three-way of hosts will be Carol Queen, Simon Sheppard and Thomas S. Roche; expect filthy heartache from Bay Area luminaries Charlie Jane Anders, M. Christian, Daphne Gottlieb, Philip Huang, Allison Moon and horehound stillpoint. This event is a benefit for the Center for Sex and Culture and the St. James Infirmary.

Out Now: Hunger: A Feast Of Sensual Tales Of Sex And Gastronomy

I am very, very, very thrilled to announce the release of a brand new anthology I edited with my pal Alyn Rosselini and published by the always-amazing Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions: Hunger: A Feast Of Sensual Tales Of Sex And Gastronomy

Food and sex – sex and food: two great things that can be even better together! From soothing chocolate to spicy meatballs the stories in this brand new erotic anthology edited by two masters of the genre - M.CHRISTIAN and ALYN ROSSELINI - feature stories by the crème-de-la-crème of sexual and literary cooking and will tickle your sensual taste buds and stir your pot of erotic thrills. 

Basting lovers, cooking orgies, steaming hot encounters, straight as well as queer taste treats ... the stories in HUNGER: A FEAST OF SENSUAL TALES OF SEX AND GASTRONOMY will push boundaries everyone's pleasurable buttons – both erotic and gastronomic: these are stories that will arouse, amuse, amaze, and whet your appetite for more! 

Authors in this so-very tasty anthology include: SUSAN ST. AUBIN, DOMINIC SANTI, GISELLE RENARDE, ERIN O'RIORDAN, OLIVIA LONDON, JESSICA LENNOX, KIRSTEN IMANI KASAI, CÈSAR, SANCHEZ ZAPATA, GREGORY L. NORRIS, HEIDI CHAMPA, and BILLIEROSIE

Seven Weeks Of M.Christian: Week 5 - Being A Publisher

Continuing my seven (possibly terrifying) weeks of M.Christian, here's my newest installment...

...my reasoning behind this is that I haven't really talked a lot about myself for a while so I thought it would be a fun little experiment to post - once a week, for seven weeks - a series of essays about little ol' me: where I came from, my professional journey, being an editor, being a publisher ... and even my hopes and dreams for the future.

Hope you like!

In our last installment we chatted ... well, okay I ranted a bit about what it's like to be an editor, especially as I wear a writer's hat as well.

But, recently, I added another sombrero to my hat rack when I was hired by the (prepare for heaping of praise in ... 1 ... 2... 3...) amazing, fantastic, wonderful, Renaissance E Books as an Associate Publisher. This makes me a very rare critter in the writing world: having my hand in not just writing novels and short stories, but also selecting stories for anthologies, and now books for publication. I often kid that one of these days I'm going to get so confused about who and what I am that I'm going to accidentally reject myself.

Being a publisher, though, has been a tremendously enlightening experience. When you’re an editor – for a site, magazine, or anthology – you’re really just there to pick what you think are good stories and then assemble the whole shebang. But being a publisher is a whole (prepare for cliché in ... 1 ... 2... 3...) kettle of fish.

Now I've dealt with a LOT of publishers in the years since I sold my first work – I lost count at somewhere around two dozen – so I've seen them at their best and, alas, at their worst, so when the amazing, fantastic, wonderful, Renaissance E Books hired me I knew more than a bit about the kind of publisher I wanted to be.

I thought (foolish me) that I knew all about how the business side of writing worked. I even knew that the real power behind the throne of publishing are the distributors: it is they who decide what can and cannot be published, as they are the ones who bookstores (in the past) and ebook resellers (now) go to for content. If they don't carry your book, in short, your book will never see the light of day. It used to be companies like Ingram but now it's ibooks and amazon.

But what working with Renaissance has taught me is there is a whole other side to the business of getting books out into the world – a side, I am rather ashamed to say, I wish I had known about when I was just trying to sell my own books. Now, I was never a cranky writer – in fact I developed a kind of a reputation for being very easy-going – as I trusted my publishers to know what they were doing when it came to dealing with my work, but there were a few times where, in retrospect, I just should have let them do what they thought was best.

This is particularly important now, what with the surge of self-published books. Okay, I might be a tad prejudiced, as I now work for a publisher, but there are a ton of things that a writer has no clue about when it comes to publishing and, most of all, selling books. Authors far too often see the decisions a publisher makes as capricious or even insulting – though that is not to say that there are quite a few publishers out there where that really is the case – but what is actually happening is that the publisher simply has special insight into what can make a book really fly.

Titles, for instance: if you're writing an erotic romance, for example, and give it a title that does not say that the book is an erotic romance it is all but guaranteed to flop. Knowing this – by looking at the sales figures – has put me in the very odd position of having to tell other writers that we need to change their title. It's not a very comfortable thing to have to say, but most authors come around when I tell them the logic behind it.

The same is true of covers. An author might have a very clear idea of what they want their cover to be but unless it the artwork immediately reaches out to the reader and screams erotic romance then the book will have a much lower chance of selling well. So, again, I am in the odd position of having to often tell a writer that they may not love their cover but that we have chosen one that says what their book is actually about, that speaks – loudly – to people interested in that kind of book.

Publishers – no duh – are a business, and as such many of their (our) decisions are based on trying to get work out there as efficiently, affordably, and comprehensively as possible. Efficiently in that we often have to really streamline the publishing process – and this is even more important with the new word of ebooks: so we look for writers that are easy to deal with, that trust our decisions, that are dependable, and who trust our decisions are really in their best interests. Affordably in that we would love to have covers that are 100% accurate but to do that is far too often too expensive – which gets back to a book saying, as quickly and as loudly, about what it is. Yes, the characters on the cover may not be exactly how the author pictured them but to do that would mean having a cover created that would be time-consuming as well as expensive ... and, again, the goal is to grab the reader as quickly as possible. Comprehensively in that the new game are ebooks ... now I won't get into the whole shebang about why they are better for authors, publishers, and readers ... but I will say that the publishers that are winning the ebook battle are not the ones with the most titles, the best writers, the best covers, the largest Facebook presence, that tweet like mad but, instead, have worked very hard to get their ebooks everywhere: if your book is just on amazon, for example, then your reach will be very limited. I'm pleased and proud to say that Renaissance prides itself in trying to get its titles in as many markets as possible – which is good news for the company as well as the writers.

Another big shock – and one that a lot of people really don't want to hear – is that very often publicity (including social media) has very little to do with a book's success. I've seen the numbers, people, and some of the best-selling titles our there are by authors who have a very minimal internet presence – they simply have written books that happen to – by luck or design -- perfectly reach their audience.

BUT that does not mean that publicity, social media, and all the rest isn’t important. To put it simply: all the reviews, publicity, social media that-and-that will not sell a bad book (50 Shades of Grey is a rare exception) – but not having a good Internet 'face' can seriously limit a writer's reach and, ultimately, sales. To put it even simpler: PR is not really about selling a single book but much more about keeping your name, and work, in people's minds. That's why we at Renaissance work very hard on publicity and marketing, and really encourage our authors to do the same, but we also know that overnight successes are few and far between so it's important to keep in mind that professional writing can be a really long term endeavor.

This is especially true with ebooks. One of my jobs – as I see it – is to be the publisher I would want to work with as a writer, and as such I routinely tell a writer not to focus on Facebook or Twitter or whatever-else, not hover over their amazon ranking, sales, etc., but, instead, to keep writing. The reason this is something I like to say, and hear, is that if a writer keeps writing then all if takes is one of their books to take off and then – here's the glory of ebooks – all of their books will also become best-sellers.

This is also why, as a publisher, I am more than willing to tell an author what’s the 50 Shades of the moment – but I also vehemently dissuade them from trying to copy that blip of 'success.' It is much better – professionally as well as artistically – to write what they want to write. If they keep at it, get better and better with each book, stretch their range, and – most of all- -- have fun then success will more-than-likely come. If they try to chase the best-seller all they'll end up doing is creating shallow copycats and not the next next next big thing.

In the end, being on the other side of the publishing fence has been not just been educational but has also been a very positive thing for me, artistically: the lesson being looking behind the curtain at the machinery doesn't ruin the art of writing but, instead, can reveal the naked reality behind literary 'success.' Knowing how twisted, odd, strange – if not totally weird – this industry can be sometimes has made me a lot less sensitive to how my own work is progressing ... and I remind myself to take my own advice and not pay attention to the best seller's list and instead have fun, play, experiment and, most of all, keep writing.

Honest Abe

Confessions Of A Literary Streetwalker: Seven M.Christians - Number 1: Intelligence Is Imagination With An Erection

Check it out: as part of my Seven M.Christian series (next one goes up tomorrow, btw) I just posted the first installment as part of my on-going Confessions Of A Literary Streetwalker column for the always-great Erotica Readers And Writers Site:

Intelligence Is Imagination With An Erection

I didn't always want to be a writer. Sure, I was one of those kids: the ones who are too bright, too creative, too curious – and, yes, in case you're interested, I was bullied ... a lot – but actually doing anything with that brightness, creativity, curiosity didn't pop into mind until high school.

But, boy, did it POP. In retrospect it's more than a bit ... odd (to be polite) how enthusiastic and disciplined I became about writing. In hindsight a lot of it probably had to do with trying to find an escape from a less-than-perfect family dynamic – but another big motivator was that I'd always been the kid who didn't just talk about doing things: I did them. Perfect example: I remember, in early elementary school, discovering that the science classroom had a darkroom ... so I went home and over the weekend read every book I could on photography so when I came back on Monday I developed my first roll of film and did my first few test prints.

Alas, discipline and enthusiasm are fine and good – actually they are absolutely essential in a writer – but my discipline and enthusiasm was focused on Mount Everest: selling a story to the likes of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Early rejections didn't stop me – in fact nothing stopped me – and I kept trying, kept writing, kept submitting: my goal was a short story a week and/or three pages of writing or three pages of just story ideas.

And, you know, it worked -- sort of. I've never sold a story to Fantasy & Science Fiction but all that work, all that passion, paid off ... abet in a very unusual and totally unexpected way.

Eventually I made my way to the Bay Area, got married, and – on a total whim – took a class from Lisa Palac who, at the time, was editing a magazine called FutureSex. When I discovered ... well, sex, my stories got a little more (ahem) mature. It was one of those stories I was brave enough to hand to Lisa.

What happened next is, to resort to cliché – and hyperbole – is the stuff of legends: Lisa not just liked the story but bought it. A year later Susie Bright also liked the story and bought it for Best American Erotica 1994.

Sure, it took me ten years of trying (and, yes, you may whistle at that) but that wasn't important. People often ask me why I write what I write -- lesbian erotica, gay erotica, bisexual erotica, kink after fetish after stroke after stroke – and the answer couldn't be simpler.

I am a writer ... and for someone who lives to tell stories, who worked so hard to hang onto that brightness, creativity, curiosity, discipline, and enthusiasm, finding a way to do what I love to do and be recognized for it, in demand for it, and even paid for it there is simply nothing better.

My name is Chris, my main pseudonym is M.Christian, and I am a pornographer ... and I couldn't be happier.

(by the way, the quote that starts this is by Victor Hugo ... and is a kind of personal philosophy)

Had A Blast At Xbiz!

(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

Just wanted to give a hearty thanks so all the great folks I met - and spent fun times with - at the XBIZ 360° | Digital Media Conference . It was a blast and a half! 

If you want to see some of the shots I casually snapped while having La-La- Land adventures, just cruise my flickr feed.

Still More Philosophy