I’ve been an escort in the past but I’m trying to stay “clean,” if you know what I mean. It’s been hard to shut that thought out though—I’ve already started building a blog—it’s not accessible to the public but it’s just a matter of receiving the next bill that will make the glass overflow.
As I’ve been writing my blog entries, I’ve been surprised at how good the writing is. It’s basically a courtesan’s journal—numerous short entries where fantasies of mine are described. The thought popped into my mind: maybe I could sell this as erotica. My question: is becoming an erotica writer even feasible?
Ever since the oldest profession began, those involved on the frontlines have been chronicling their experiences to boost intrigue and profit. The Internet has obviously facilitated this immensely and people have certainly made good money writing online courtesan journals, as evidenced by the wildly successful Belle de Jour blog (belledejour-uk.blogspot.com).
Belle’s blog was parlayed into a book called Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl and a television series called The Secret Diary of a London Call Girl. For over five years, the author of this work remained anonymous, only recently revealing herself as Brooke Magnani, a woman who funded her education as a research scientist through sex work and the aforementioned satellite endeavours.
But, says Audacia Ray, who runs the site wakingvixen.com, “Especially in the age of rampant sex blogs, it’s not really possible to make a living as an erotica writer unless you luck into getting some private clients who want custom stories. Most of the places where you can get erotica published (both print and web) take their sweet time paying you—and the pay isn’t spectacular, if there’s remuneration at all.”
Ray recommends erotica-readers.com as, “The best source for call for submissions of erotica. I also highly recommend following the work of Rachel Kramer Bussel. She often announces calls for anthologies on her blog lustylady.blogspot.com.”
If you do want to go strictly the blog route, Benjamin Nicholas has some advice. Nicholas is a high-class escort who started his blog 15 Minutes (benjaminnicholas.com/blogger.com), as a way to get his name out there. “It was 2003 and very few escorts gay or straight had taken to blogs to describe the life and industry. I knew that with a little polish and a lot of gossip I would create waves and gain a readership. I felt that I could eventually target that audience with advertisers who would pay to have space on the page, not only taking care of my increasing bandwidth costs, but also leaving a little something more in return.”
Nicholas’s blog took off like gangbusters. “Within the first month, I had 50,000 unique hits. I got picked up by the OutInAmerica network of websites for a weekly column. I had other bloggers and gossip sites namecheck me and that boosted traffic even more. Within about six months, I was pulling in a solid 30,000 hits a week. Advertisers were e-mailing on a daily basis.”
The only thing that went wrong, says Nicholas, is that he actually enjoyed writing his blog. “Loved it, actually, so much so that I didn’t want to clutter my site up with craptastic ad space. I instead opted for paid endorsements of product that might interest my readers—clothing, resorts, travel and other things that I got positive and negative feedback about. In return for lip service, I charged. While I wouldn’t put a product up on my blog that I didn’t believe in, I’m getting paid to say nicey-nice things about this, that and the other. I feel, for now, it’s a good compromise. It allows me to make a nice amount from 15 Minutes while still earning major money from travelling around the world to see my clients.”
So Fancy, given the glut of online tell-all journals, profit is uncertain in the world of erotic storytelling. Nicholas’s blog works because he continues to escort, thereby constantly generating fresh content and being a sought after male escort, and he appeals to a demographic that has a lot of money. Advertisers are savvy to this, which is why he makes big bucks off endorsements.
