Talking Dirty with Jamaica Layne

If you want to be the best you have to ask the best for advice, so I turned to popular and prolific erotica author Jamaica Layne for some insight and advice.
I am always fascinated by how people get started with things. Often the first time – for anything – can be stressful! But Jamaica had great success with her first attempt at writing erotica.

“I kind of decided to do it on a whim. I’ve long been a fan of steamy/erotic romance and thought I might be good at writing it.”

So she took a chance, and wrote the novel Market for Love. Her agent at the time declined to represent it, because it was “obscene and unmarketable”, so she went out on her own and sold the story to Virgin Cheek.

“I’ve been addicted ever since”, she says, and has found a new agent who specialises in erotica.

So, why erotica? “I think it serves many purposes,” Jamaica says, “first of all, like all literature, it’s a form of entertainment. Second it serves to sexually arouse the reader. And third, it’s a healthy way for adult women to indulge a sexual and emotional side of themselves that they might not otherwise.”

How can you argue with that? “It’s a perfectly safe, healthy guilty pleasure.”

Jamaica is currently doing a lot of writing for a new erotica epublisher called Ravenous Romance. This publisher was founded by three publishing executives with many years’ experience in the traditional US print publishing industry, and they saw an opportunity to start an erotica epublisher that publishes higher-quality erotica from more-notable authors than most of their competitors. 

“I will have six novels coming out at Ravenous over the next year (one, VITAL SIGNS Vol. 1, is already out and a bestseller) as well as several short stories.  Most of my erotic writing is contemporary erotic romance with a smattering of BDSM, but I’m branching out into time-travel and historical/paranormal erotica as well.”

But she doesn’t just write erotica, she reads it too – her favourite authors are Catherine Millet, Anais Nin, DH Lawrence, Henry Miller, Michelle Pillow, Emma Holly, Kate Pearce, and Julie Hilden.

That’s a long list, but as Jamaica says, “nobody should attempt to be an erotica author without already knowing how the genre works, and continuing to read the genre throughout their careers”.

And it seems to run in the family – her mom read and enjoyed her first book, and her dad also enjoys the erotica genre. Her husband doesn’t really care for erotic fiction, but “as long as my books sell and I earn a living by it, he doesn’t mind what I choose to write about”.

So now that you all want to be erotica writers too, what advice does she have? “First, make sure you’ve read a lot in the genre so you know what the conventions are.  Second, make sure you’ve crafted a great story, and the sex should be an integral part of that story. Third (and most important), you should get TURNED ON while you’re writing it!”

The facts : find her on the Web at http://www.jamaicalayne.com,  Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/jamaicalayne,  books online at Keenzo, Amazon, Fictionwise, RavenousRomance, BN.com, Powells, Tower.com, and more and MARKET FOR LOVE is also available in most bookstores (can be ordered if not in stock).

A professional voyeur and international woman of mystery, Karlita is a crusader for passion, and promotes (safe) sex wherever she goes. She seeks to inspire joy and happiness, and a sense of curiosity. She will do anything for the perfect Mojito, and frequently has.

Click here to learn more about Karlita’s Writing Erotic Fiction Course or you can read one of Karlita’s short stories here.