Hi, all! I’m writing an erotic fiction novel, I’m crowdfunding for it — and the campaign just passed the $2,000 mark! Big thanks to the 73 backers so far who have kicked in. This support is going to give me the time I need to complete this book, and your confidence in my work means a lot. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy your perks (detailed below) — and mostly, I think you’re going to enjoy the hell out of this book.

For those who haven’t contributed but are interested: My novel is currently titled Coming. It tells the story of one woman’s sex life, starting in 1970 when she’s 18, and ending in roughly the present day. Each chapter describes a different sexual encounter, at a different point in her life: essentially, the book is a series of intense sex scenes, with several years between them. I’m looking at this woman’s life — her name is Sheila — through the lens of sex. I’m exploring Sheila’s sex life, the rest of her life, and how they intertwine. In particular, I’m looking at how she makes choices about sex: Sheila is often adventurous, even reckless, and she makes decisions impulsively, but she’s also cautious, a careful planner, and likes to be in control. I’m interested in how being both impulsive and a control freak plays out out in her sex life.

Yes, I’m writing the novel with lots of fun, hot, sexy sex. Women with women, women with men, probably some men with men, probably some gender fluidity, some of it kinky and SM-y, some of it not. It is an erotic novel, and I’m making it erotic. It’s also a novel — a story about people’s lives. As you know if you’ve read my erotic fiction, I hate erotica that’s, “plot, sex scene, plot, sex scene.” I don’t see these as separate. Erotica is much hotter when you feel what the sex feels like — not just what’s happening physically, but the emotions, the sensations, how this sex is going to change the characters’ lives.

I’m not going to be falsely modest — as an erotic fiction writer, I am very good at this, it’s one of the things I do best. People who have read my short erotic fiction collection, Bending, can attest to this. Don’t take my word for it — the reviews, both professional and from customers, are glowing.

So. Hopefully you’re intrigued, and want to read this novel. Why am I doing an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign?

There are expenses with writing and publishing a book. I generally self-publish my ebooks, which means paying a formatter. I’m a control freak about cover design, which means I get wonderful covers — but also means I have to pay a designer.

But the Number One expense of writing a book is time. Books do not spring fully formed from an author. It takes time — and I’ll need to pay the bills and the mortgage while I’m writing it. I’ll keep doing my other paid writing — blogging, magazine articles, etc. — but I won’t able to do as much of it. Writing a book is immensely fun, deeply rewarding — erotic fiction especially — and it produces something of substance that people want to read. But it takes time. Whenever you buy a book, or support an author’s crowdfunding campaign, that’s most of what you’re paying for. The more money I raise, the more time I’ll be able to put into this book, and the better it will be.

I’m offering a number of perks for donators. They’re listed on the Indiegogo page. Perks include: advance ebook copies; signed print copies; exclusive progress reports; invitation to a private launch party; a PDF copy of my “Kill Your Darlings” file for the book (a rare glimpse into the creative process!); a one-on-one Skype conversation discussing the book (no, it will not be Skype sex!); or copies in all formats of every book I’ve ever published, and every book I ever publish from now on, with all print copies signed with a personalized Thank you. But mostly, I hope you want to read this novel. Please kick in what you can, and please help spread the word. Thanks!

Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

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Your asking for donations for a porn novel? Are you kidding?

A commenter on Facebook asked this the other day, replying to a post about the crowdfunder I’m doing for my erotic novel, Coming. Here’s my reply:

Yes, I am.

I think sex is important and interesting, and I think it’s worth writing about, in both nonfiction and fiction. I’ve been writing about sex from a feminist, queer, political perspective for decades – long before I started writing about atheism. Many of my readers enjoy and respect my writing about sex, and want to support it and read more of it.

If you don’t want to read this novel and don’t want to support the crowdfunder for it, don’t. Not everyone is interested in everything, and that’s fine: I’m probably not going to support a crowdfunder for a book about golf. But if you hold sex writing in contempt and think the very idea of asking for support for it is ridiculous, I’m going to ask you to either reconsider that opinion or leave my page.

And for those who do enjoy and respect my writing about sex, and want to support it and read more of it: Here’s the link to the crowdfunder! A little more about the novel: Tentatively titled Coming, it tells the story of one woman’s sex life, starting in 1970 when she’s 18, and ending in roughly the present day. Each chapter describes a different sexual encounter, at a different point in her life: essentially, the book is a series of intense sex scenes, with several years between them. I’m looking at this woman’s life — her name is Sheila — through the lens of sex. I’m exploring Sheila’s sex life, the rest of her life, and how they intertwine. In particular, I’m looking at how she makes choices about sex: Sheila is often adventurous, even reckless, and she makes decisions impulsively, but she’s also cautious, a careful planner, and likes to be in control. I’m interested in how being both impulsive and a control freak plays out out in her sex life.

Yes, I’m writing the novel with lots of fun, hot, sexy sex. Women with women, women with men, probably some men with men, probably some gender fluidity, some of it kinky and SM-y, some of it not. It is an erotic novel, and I’m making it erotic. It’s also a novel — a story about people’s lives. As you know if you’ve read my erotic fiction, I hate erotica that’s, “plot, sex scene, plot, sex scene.” I don’t see these as separate. Erotica is much hotter when you feel what the sex feels like — not just what’s happening physically, but the emotions, the sensations, how this sex is going to change the characters’ lives.

I’m not going to be falsely modest — as an erotic fiction writer, I am very good at this, it’s one of the things I do best. People who have read my short erotic fiction collection, Bending, can attest to this. Don’t take my word for it — the reviews, both professional and from customers, are glowing.

If this makes you want to read the novel — please kick into the crowdfunder if you can! I’m offering a number of perks for donators, including signed copies of the book, regular updates about the book’s progress, invitations to a private book launch party, one-on-one Skype conversations about the book, and thank yous, of course. (A complete list of perks is on the Indiegogo page.) If you don’t want to read the novel, that’s totally fine; whether it’s because you don’t like erotic fiction or aren’t interested in this particular book. But if you’re going to express dismissive contempt for the very idea of erotic fiction as something of value, you picked the wrong writer to tangle with.

Hi, all! I’m writing an erotic fiction novel, and I’m crowdfunding for it! I’m giving all sorts of perks for people who kick in (details below, and at Indiegogo of course) — but mostly, I hope you just want to read the book.

My novel is currently titled Coming. It tells the story of one woman’s sex life, starting in 1970 when she’s 18, and ending in roughly the present day. Each chapter describes a different sexual encounter, at a different point in her life: essentially, the book is a series of intense sex scenes, with several years between them. I’m looking at this woman’s life — her name is Sheila — through the lens of sex. I’m exploring Sheila’s sex life, the rest of her life, and how they intertwine. In particular, I’m looking at how she makes choices about sex: Sheila is often adventurous, even reckless, and she makes decisions impulsively, but she’s also cautious, a careful planner, and likes to be in control. I’m interested in how being both impulsive and a control freak plays out out in her sex life.

Yes, I’m writing the novel with lots of fun, hot, sexy sex. Women with women, women with men, probably some men with men, probably some gender fluidity, some of it kinky and SM-y, some of it not. It is an erotic novel, and I’m making it erotic. It’s also a novel — a story about people’s lives. As you know if you’ve read my erotic fiction, I hate erotica that’s, “plot, sex scene, plot, sex scene.” I don’t see these as separate. Erotica is much hotter when you feel what the sex feels like — not just what’s happening physically, but the emotions, the sensations, how this sex is going to change the characters’ lives.

I’m not going to be falsely modest — as an erotic fiction writer, I am very good at this, it’s one of the things I do best. People who have read my short erotic fiction collection, Bending, can attest to this. Don’t take my word for it — the reviews, both professional and from customers, are glowing.

So. Hopefully you’re intrigued, and want to read this novel. Why am I doing an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign?

There are expenses with writing and publishing a book. I generally self-publish my ebooks, which means paying a formatter. I’m a control freak about cover design, which means I get wonderful covers — but also means I have to pay a designer.

But the Number One expense of writing a book is time. Books do not spring fully formed from an author. It takes time — and I’ll need to pay the bills and the mortgage while I’m writing it. I’ll keep doing my other paid writing — blogging, magazine articles, etc. — but I won’t able to do as much of it. Writing a book is immensely fun, deeply rewarding — erotic fiction especially — and it produces something of substance that people want to read. But it takes time. Whenever you buy a book, or support an author’s crowdfunding campaign, that’s most of what you’re paying for. The more money I raise, the more time I’ll be able to put into this book, and the better it will be.

I’m offering a number of perks for donators. They’re listed on the Indiegogo page. Perks include: advance ebook copies; signed print copies; exclusive progress reports; invitation to a private launch party; a PDF copy of my “Kill Your Darlings” file for the book (a rare glimpse into the creative process!); a one-on-one Skype conversation discussing the book (no, it will not be Skype sex!); or copies in all formats of every book I’ve ever published, and every book I ever publish from now on, with all print copies signed with a personalized Thank you. But mostly, I hope you want to read this novel. Please kick in what you can, and please help spread the word. Thanks!

Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

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