Tuesday, July 5, 2011

EC for Men

Ellora's Cave is planning to launch a new line soon - EC For Men.

This will be erotica (not porn) for a male audience. Therefore, we are interested in hearing from men about their sexual fantasies, to help us target appropriate submissions and story types. Not what women think men want - we really want to hear directly from men. However, all you women reading this blog, feel free to pass this along to every adult male you know.

Men, give us your opinion. It's very easy, just send an email.
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To: jaidaa@live.com
Subject: Male fantasies

~ What are your sexual fantasies, what turns you on?
~ Would it matter to you whether the author name was male or female? If so, which would make you more inclined to buy the ebook.
~ Include "I was referred by Redlines and Deadlines blog."
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You don't have to include your name or any other personal info. However, if you are feeling very brave, cc redlinesdeadlines@gmail.com on your message, and we'll put you in a drawing for free ebooks.

So, men, speak up about what you would read in erotica!

21 comments:

JDuncan said...

Will be curious to see what you all come up with here. Honestly, can't say I would pick up a book that is so relationship focused with lots of sex, though I don't know what you have planned obviously. Given what I like to read, and I do like a good sex scene as much as the next reader, but if you were going to interest me, you'd have to have as much plot going on as the hot relationship stuff.

Anonymous said...

Having read many of your titles, I know plot is the foremost requirement in an EC book. Characterization, Setting, Dialogue... all are top professional level at EC. (My thanks, btw!) Will these books appeal only to men who prefer female companionship, or might we see also bi and gay relationships? Also, why not a poll for those anonymous readers who for various reasons may not wish to disclose their email address? Thank you in advance for creating this line.

bchivas said...

I doubt most men would admit this but I would enjoy books that included men being tempted to experience sex with another man. Also, sex with women that are aggressive, spontaneous and kinky as hell.

Unknown said...

I love romantic stories where there is a story and the romance (love, lust, sex) is not the primary point of the book. I love when characters develop love-love, love-lust, love-hate and plain lust relationships and when there are sexual tensions building but maybe not exploited right out. In other words don’t start off the story with a steamy love scene, build up to it. When it does finally get to a love scene, I also love the dirty talk between the characters. I also like descriptive love scenes that make my brain work and sparks my imagination and gets my blood flowing and makes me want to go seduce my wife all over again.

I love the mix of science fiction and romance - be it high tech sci-fi , vampire, old world mystical, middle age, elves, pixies, demons- anything that sparks imagery.

In summary - I don’t want to be compelled to skip to all the "steamy" parts of the story - I want to be compelled to read the entire piece, including the "climaxes".
Yes, I am a hopeless romantic!

lynneconnolly said...

Don't want to hijack the thread, but you know, those of us who write for EC's regular lines pretty much cover what you say you're looking for already!

Unknown said...

@Lynne Connolly - Yes I am aware and a huge fan. The majority of my Kindles memory is full of stuff from EC. Still- I am intrigued about a line of "EC for Men" exploring even more situations even the "taboo" ones described in some of the comments.

Anonymous said...

Judging by comment patterns on Literotica, the most popular male fantasies are being cuckolded by cheating wives, and mother-son incest. The guy is usually average Joe and he gets in with women way above his league.

Not sure if any of this is really EC material, lol.

Barbara Elsborg said...

I think an issue with this question from EC is that people who read this blog are likely already readers of EC books and as Lynne says - our books already have sex and plots and interesting characters!
I've bought a few erotic books, (Not EC but Aphrodisia) written by men that feel to me - to be written FOR men. Interestingly, the plot was minimal, the sex was nearly always from the the dominant male's POV, there were lots and lots of BJs and never any real affection or love. From the replies here, this isn't what men want but again, I'm not sure you lovely guys are the exception or the norm.

Unknown said...

@Barbara Elsborb- You bring up a good point. I seriously think my views on this genre are the "exception" not the norm - I.E. Of all my "guy" friends I don't have any who will admit to reading anything else but porn or stuff "with pictures". So, in terms of business, marketing and sales the viewpoints of the folks in this thread may be the minority part of the market. Of course this is my personal POV and not based on anything other than personal experience with my circle of guy friends. All that being said, I can't wait until the EC for Men line comes out. I'll buy two copies of everything if that helps foster the line and make it profitable! :P

Katalina Leon said...

The great strength of EC is, it was so ahead of the pack in honestly portraying women's stronger, darker sexual fantasies and grounding those fantasies in basic human values and a plot line.
Male fantasies are a whole other beast from female fantasies. If EC can grasp the raw gist of male fantasies and make them into enjoyable, redeemable entertainment it will work but the guidelines and the taboos list for male fantasies will have to be expanded.
If it's done well, EC Male will look like a the Exotika line on steroids.
XXOO Kat

Jason said...

I would recommend mixing explicit, hot sex scenes with some sort of action or noir type plot. Science Fiction would work well, too. I think one of the biggest barriers for most men in reading erotica and romance targeted at women is that the men are generally written so unrealistically. Too many men who seem all tough on the outside, but are wounded, sensitive men who are just looking to open up. And the sex scenes need to be hot and explicit. I'm not saying something as vulgar as Penthouse Letters, but but the heat level needs to be very high, and most men aren't looking for a lot of euphemisms in their sex/love scenes.

Barbara Elsborg said...

That fits with what I read, Jason. Erotica- erotic romance for guys is much more in your face - if you'll excuse the expression. There was far less interest in why characters were as they were, they just needed to get down and dirty as soon as possible! And nearly always walk away after the encounter.

Katalina said...

Make that well plotted, emotionally grounded and socially redeeming Letters to Penthouse set in space... lol
Speaking for myself, the gender gap would need to be taken into account. Most women need trust and reassurance from a partner to enjoy sex. Men need a pulse.
XXOO Kat

Unknown said...

Sometimes only half a pulse.. I know if I could choose how I would die, it would be while making love! :P

Jake Marlow said...

Men also like to see the good girl go naughty. It's the Madonna-whore thing, I'd guess. I think it's why the "cheating wife" thing, or even wife watching is so popular for guys in erotica. I explore those themes a lot in my work, and my fans seem to split (from what I know) about 60-40 male-female. But I don't just write meaningless encounters, and for me, knowing why the characters are doing what they are doing, seeing the internal struggle, is what makes it hot. I don't want to see cardboard cut-outs going through the motions.

Paisley Smith said...

:-) One or two of my girl on girl stories have been passed around by the guys. One male reader told me he liked the f/f stories because he didn't like reading the descriptions of male junk.

Nina Pierce said...

Wow, it does open up another whole venue doesn't it? I enjoy reading "guy" fiction. Mostly because the writers do put a little bit of romance in there. Sometimes more than a little. I already delve in the sci fi realm, but it sounds like the romance plot would have to be toned down. No happy-ever-after? Or more just kind of percolating romance in the background? Just curious.

Kenny Wright said...

More than just percolating romance, I'd say, although it all depends on the type of erotic story being told. I wrote a post about this on my blog, but the gist of it is that men and women have similar fantasies (if not, often, the same fantasies), but it's the telling of them that is slightly different. It's also important to note that we're talking erotica, not romance, and while the two are closely entwined, I think that guys tend to diffentiate them more than women. So yes, erotica doesn't need to have a happy ending in my mind (and I won't even qualify the erotica as men's or women's) -- that being said, I'm a sucker for an HEA ending.

Anonymous said...

The first things I thought about when I saw this was one, men are visual creatures and it would be fun "seducing" readers of the opposite sex with descriptions of nipples and nighties. Two was that this line could prove to be very challenging but very rewarding especially for female writers.

I think this is a great idea and if things were different I'd be all over it.

Good luck with it.

Anonymous said...

Keeping in mind that fantasy is an escape, I make the following observations: It appears men don't want to deal with emotions. One of the main reasons men have affairs is because the SEX is what they want, NOT an emotional attachment outside of their marriage. They want to get kinky, hot, and hard without having to worry about respecting her in the morning or what she's feeling...which is why most men do NOT leave their wives for their mistresses. The ones that DO marry their mistress usually end up in another affair.

I would imagine, at least for heterosexual males, the fantasy fiction they'd be interested in would be the emotionally detached encounters, very explicit, and have some action and thrill thrown in for good measure.

It goes without saying, these should have quality storylines and strong characters.

Obviously, this is not a blanket assessment, but a part of the offerings. Yes? No?

Ryan R said...

I know I'm incredibly late to the game, by like 6 years, but I was so intrigued by this I had to respond.

What turns me on? Foreign-born women (especially places that are not friendly to the US - large swaths of the Middle East), feet and legs and the things that adorn them - stockings and shoes and pantyhose, oral action, tight skirts, well-dressed women, office settings, secretaries.

Would it matter to me if the author's name was male or female? That is honestly a tough question and I'll tell you why:

1. If it's a female name, part of me will know/assume that she can't 100% relate to me, what I experience, and what really, truly gets me going
2. If it's a male name, part of me will begin to criticize, analyze, and deconstruct the author's writing as competition mode kicks on in my brain and I think "I could write better than this guy"

If someone held a gun to my head and said "choose", I'd take erotica written under a male name.