Write To Be Marketable

I haven't read Brenda Joyce since she stopped three books shy of finishing her Deadly series. Her publisher said it just wasn't marketable enough.

That's just cruel and unusual. 

I know authors often make decision based on profitability. I've seen quite a few romance authors switch to paranormal young adult and wonder each time if it's what they really want to write or if they are following fads. The same thing with duke and billionaire stories. Eloisa James recently posted the question on FB: 

If you see Duke or Billionaire in the title of a book, does it make you feel more like buying the novel? Do you remember when "millionaire" and "sheikh" were the magic words?

Some one needs to write a paranormal young adult turned erotic bdsm story about a millionaire turned billionaire, vampire part shifter sheikh, who discovers he's a the lost duke of somewhere. He will of course fall in love with a sassy strong yet fragile raga muffin virgin. It will be a series and the most marketable books ever. 

Hell, it would be a serial drama on the WB before you could say Joss Whedon. 

The cruel truth is it pays to be marketable. I get it. When you quit your day job the pressure to write towards the trends can be overwhelming. Lord knows that most writers are paid flee market prices and being able to pay your bills while still doing something you love is more than enticing. It's practical. 

What happens when a sci-fi erotic writer decides to write what she wants to write the way she wants to write it?

Fans divided.

You win some you loose some or that's how the story goes for Tracy St. John. The author loves non consensual/coerced seduction and anti heroes and so do some of her fans. These fans read Alien Embrace and Alien Conquest and yelled ENCORE!

The other half have been tearing it up in the review since book one. They are the I loved it, but I wish she'd throw in more romance fans. Others in this group complained, the guys were too mean and the coercion was too rapey. <----I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist.

I'm not even going to get on my non-consensual/coerced seduction fantasy soap box. (warning label for a reason people!!!!)

So, Tracy St. John let romance prevail and tried to make her guys more understanding while not folding completely. This seemed to work and was an instant crowd pleaser. Those recommended to read Tracy St. John on Goodreads could indulge in some erotic alien lovin' and not be too scandalized because it has romance and a safe word.

(FYI, Goodreads lists ALL books containing sex under Romance. I've seen many one-two star erotica reviews on Amazon, from people  recommended a Romance by Goodreads)

The birth child of Goodreads and Amazon

But what about the other fans that loved that nitty gritty stuff the masses thought was too harsh?

Well, now Tracy St. John has got them covered. Turns out Tracy St. John missed writing that stuff as much as we missed reading it, so she started a side project book that is crammed pack full of everything that would send the average romance/erotica reader screaming.

Ravenous Virtue. 

http://amzn.com/B00ES6ABR4

Ravenous Virtue by Tracy St. John

Raven is a kick ass and practical gal that thankfully doesn't hold sentimentality high up on her priority list, making her the perfect woman to serve as protector and lover to Vendeen and Daagiis.

Daagiis, aka Douglas Bringer, get's Raven to agree to come with him and serve his master, Gilothian supreme judge Vendeen. Daagiis knows Raven accepts to be an indentured servant under duress, but the Paatiin warrior shifter will do anything to protect Vendeen and save Raven.

Raven happens to share a common goal with Vendeen, so while she's not thrilled with her new slave status or the feelings her new master invokes in her, she willingly serves and protects him.

Tracy St. John posted about Ravenous Virtue before it came out and she warned the crap out of her readers that this book wasn't going to be anything like what she's done before. I believe the exact phrase was, If you're going to read this one, make sure your big girl panties are on.

My big girl panties were firmly in place and I friggin loved it!

I adore her Kalquorian series but for me, in many ways the Kalquor guys have gotten too understanding and mushy. Don't get me wrong, I still think the average Kalquorian male possess all the qualities you should look for in a man. I still would gladly climb aboard the shuttle marked for Kalquor. I still enjoy a good romance, but sometime I need a book with antihero type of men that are ruthless and unyielding.

I've been dying for Tracy St. John to break out and do something like her first few books that made me fall in love with her stories.

Ravenous Virtue is just what I've been waiting for. An unconventional love story, set in an awesome new sci-fi universe, with hot alien antiheroes as the abductors.

While it's not nearly the most extreme erotic book I've ever read, it is probably the most extreme book Tracy St. John has ever written. It contains quite a few of my favorite things as well as a few things I've never read before. Comfort levels will pushed.

Vendeen and Daagiis are the perfect antiheroes and deliciously wicked Masters. Don't expect these guys to pull any punches. They'd fight to save Raven and each other. They'd even die for her and each other, but their love is a gritty twisted entity that is as warped as it is hot.

And yes it's love, dammit.

Early in the book you can feel the depth of emotion Daagiis has for Raven. It also becomes clear just how much Daagiis and Vendeen mean to each other. Anti hero love stories don't always use the term I love you. This one does but as a rule the words are not necessary, and the love the characters share is never conventional, yet it is still love.

The first chapter for me was set up, I was more accurately hooked by the second chapter and swept away by the third. For me, the book kept getting better as went along.

I would love to see more from this universe and hope characters like Kimi, Saazzer, Laaruu and Mikroe get stories.

283pgs

Warning: Contains strong elements of BDSM including captive/coerced sex, bondage, punishments including whippings, anal play/intercourse, multipule sex partners (m/f/m) and homoerotic sex (m/m/f, m/m, and f/f)

Not into the heavier slave/Master and sadomasochistic fantasy? That's okay, it's an acquired taste. Tracy St. John has not forsaken her readers on more of a romantic bend. Her newest Kalquor creation, Alien Caged will be hitting the e-shelves as early as October. 

Like many others, I am greatly looking forward to reading it. 

For more from Tracy St. John please visit @ http://www.tracystjohn.blogspot.com/

Thank You Tracy St. John!!!