When I first decided to make the push to publish my erotica, for multiple reasons, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to publish under my given name. Here are just a few of the many reasons I came to this conclusion:
- I have a full-time, fulfilling, uber-vanilla career and don’t want to mix business with pleasure…but, oooh, the pleasure.
- If my parents ever got their hands on the kind of smutty goodness I write, I don’t think I’d be able to look them in the face again. Yes, we’re all adults. Yes, it shouldn’t matter. Yes, I haven’t lived under their roof in years. But still. Mom doesn’t need to read the delightful sexually warped fantasies of her favorite (and only) daughter.
- Some of my earlier (unpublished as of yet) stories hit pretty close to home. While not completely autobiographical, for anyone who knows me even reasonably well, there would be plenty of telltale signs that I’m tapping into my own personal experiences. Best to keep my true identity in the background.
So, I came up with a pseudonym. My pen name. My nom de plume. And effectively shut out every last person I’ve ever known.
I can’t tell my family that I’ve published a book. I can’t share my latest efforts with my coworkers. I can’t call my best friends and tell them I finally achieved a major life goal of mine. Because Jaye Elise is a writer. And writers are solitary creatures.
My pseudonym reminds me of that every single day.
Jaye Elise writes... 
Anonymity gives us complete freedom to write without regret or fear of judgement or any retaliation. I’ve found it the best way to go.
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Thanks for your comment – and I wholeheartedly agree! 🙂
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I’m still trying to familiarize myself with the new forum as well. While I like the idea of creating my own website via WordPress, for purely blogging purposes, I’m still of the opinion that Blogger was a better platform. But I’m attempting to be patient!
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I find each have their relative strengths and weaknesses. My Blogger blog has 941 posts and it is easy to navigate the archives and search for older posts. WordPress running HTML5 looks nicer but makes such an endeavor fruitless. The end result is that people on Blogger are more likely to view your old content, especially if it shows up via search engine. On WordPress you will be lucky if anyone reads anything more than two weeks old. Blogger’s widgets and “adult” classification are also superior but that is where the advantages of Blogger stop. Ever since they made changes to the Blogger account vs. Google account vs. Google+ account it has really made finding new blogs a chore.
Big advantages of WordPress: A mobile app and mobile web version of the blog interface. A functioning “like” button and actual tracking of back-links. An actual way for people to find your blog (vs. an unsortable interest search from the Blogger account profile).
The key for WordPress will be your tags as this is how people will find your blog.
The Blogger vs. WordPress communities also feel very different and it is odd. e.g. on WordPress you will find that it is common for authors to put up a string of “disclaimers” in order to avoid having people come in and tear them apart via comments. On Blogger you get a lot more people that genuinely believe spouting their own singular view as the “truth” and a community of “identical thinkers” will then gravitate there. Very odd stuff.
PS you could always do what I do… and that is post on all platforms. WordPress has an option to auto-mirror on twitter and Google+. This will mangle your google results but the first 3 pages of google are all paid for links anyways 😛
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In my last paragraph replace “twitter” with “tumblr”
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I can relate to this quite well. While my erotica isn’t particularly good, it does sort of let my inner freaky out there. I have shared with a handful of friends that I write erotica but give them a firm “hell no” if they ask to read some. That may change some day but I doubt it will be anytime soon.
I do have one writer friend that struggles to find/have fulfilling relationships that I have shared a few of my relatively benign one-off type chapters but that is the farthest I have gone.
It is rather nice to have some people to discuss ideas with, but for the most part that stays anonymous through blogging.
Take care and thank you for sharing.
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Thanks for your comment! I’m hopeful that as I begin blogging again and exchanging ideas with authors (and others), I’ll build up a new community and won’t feel quite so disconnected.
Have a great weekend!
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It definitely feels good to connect with others, especially being able to get feedback upon what you write. I haven’t managed to “crack the code” yet on how to maintain an active cycle of comments on WordPress. While the “like” box is nice, it can be tough to find out what was liked about it. It’s quite a change after writing on Blogger for 7 years and moving over to this side of the blogosphere last year.
Take care.
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