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If you’re new to the erotic romance genre, you might be trying to figure out what some of the abbreviations mean. They’re there to help the reader choose the kind of story that will most entertain them–and the letters refer to the kind of kink in the story.

No, I don’t mean a twist in the story, I mean what kind of sexual kink will be in the story–and straight (pun intended) male/female action is the base form of kink in this subgenre. That’s what’s listed as M/F.

So here’s a quick run-down so you have a better idea:

M/F: male/female

M/M: male/male (somewhat surprisingly popular among hetero female readers)

F/F: female/female (rarely published at the biggest online publishers: Ellora’s Cave , Amber Heat , Loose Id , Samhain )

And then it all gets really interesting. Multiples are increasingly popular, and there’s an interesting twist you should be aware of. A majority of the audience of online erotic romance is heterosexual female (I said “majority”, not “all”), so most of these stories are focused on one female main character.

M/M/F: This is a threesome. The men are as attracted to each other as they are to the main female character.

M/F/M: The men are not attracted to each other, and the focus really stays on the woman.

M/F/M/M: This abbreviation isn’t often used, but if you see it, you can probably guess by now that we’re talking about a foursome focused (probably) on the woman.

M/M/M/F: Group of four, probably not focused.

And the other abbreviation that you’ll run accoss is D for dominant, and s for submissive. Slot those in where appropriate in the abbreviations above and you’ll get:

D/s: Since the males (if there are any) are usually listed first, this probably means the story has a dominant male and a submissive female.

D/s/D: Probably an M/F/M (above), where both men are dominant and the woman is submissive.

D/D/s: You never see this, but it might be intriguing to write. What does it mean to you?

So far, that’s about all of them, but I’m expecting more craziness in the future. Why stop at D/s/D when there could be quick abbreviations from everything from spanking (SP), to shoe fetishes (SF, or FT for foot), to hanging from chandeliers (HFC)?

Being able to buy sexy, romantic stories that don’t close the bedroom door is easier than ever over the internet. Books can be bought, downloaded, and read without anything sitting around the house–and the variety of quality stories is excellent.

So there’s your mini-map to the wild side. Go on in and look around. You’re welcome.

Trying to make money writing is a constant struggle to find new markets. For many writers, it involves writing all kinds of stories and sending them out on a near-constant round of submissions until acceptance and payment. (You are getting paid, aren’t you? You don’t have to write for free, so don’t!)

If you’re willing or psyched to write some erotica, one good place to find a couple of new options is at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association website. Bookmark this page and check back regularly because this is really good information to start with. Add in the information at the EREC site about which e-publishers really make money, and/or some other research to find out the state of your chosen publication (Google first, ask questions second). Then, you’re closer to making some cash for doing what you like to do best: write.

A woman in my writing group is writing a mystery novel. The story seemed to be ticking along, but the characters are acting erratically. She also made the mistake of/told me that she really wants to publish her mystery.

I decided to play “Let’s Look at the Market” and I walked with her over to the mystery section of the bookstore. What I showed her shocked her.

You see, she had decided to write a mystery novel, but she was reading them only sporadically, and she hadn’t tried to take an overview of the genre.

I explained that if you look at the mystery novels on the shelves, around 50% (for sake of argument) are the forensics/serial killer/thriller type that have words like ‘blood’, ‘danger’, and ‘kill’ in the titles. The other 50% are of the cozy, themed variety that have pictures on the covers of things like a cake with a carving knife stuck straight down into it, and a cute title about deadly calories.

That’s not to say that there are only two types of mysteries, but it does mean that the average mystery falls into one camp or the other.

She was actually most upset when she realized that men mostly write the first kind, and women write the second. I told her that was not a problem. The problem was that she needed to realize what types of books were on the market and try and decide where her story fit into the mix.

She went off with a pensive look on her face, but pleased that she had looked at her story in a context.

Each Saturday, I go to my writing group. There are usually six of us there. One is multi-published and is the leader of the group. Then, there’s me. And then there’s the woman who is writing a mystery who told me she wants to sell it.

That leaves three others (sometimes four) in the group who have not only never asked about the genres they are writing in, but have refused to pick one–and at least one person who calls genre writing, or writing any particular type of book, “formulaic crap”.

I’m taking bets on who is going to be the next person in the group to be published. Care to place a wager?