I'm writing an adult-themed work about dating in our times. I've dated 45 women in 18 months. You could not invent what I have experienced on this roller-coaster. It has felt like I'm living someone else's life. I think you will find it entertaining. As I'm just an amateur drinker with a writing problem, I'm not sure how best to proceed. I think the adult nature of my work (graphic encounters, contentious dilemmas, etc.) prevents me following a conventional marketing approach that involves my identity being revealed. I also do not want any of the participants' identities being traced through me. The way I see it, after reading many posts on this august forum, my options are: Avoid all self-publishing of any sort and write the darn thing and find an agent or publisher Keep blogging away, release the whole work in to cyberspace, build a following and then use the metrics to present a business case to an agent or publisher Blog away half of it, release the full work on Kindle and its ilk, use ensuing metrics to snag an agent or publisher Forget about agents and publishers and go the self-published route and learn to promote like no-one else has. I've already started blogging and the feedback has been positive so far and I'm starting to get traction with followers. I'm not entirely comfortable with the blogging effort so far because, although it has proven to me to I have a ready market and I connect with them, it might not be the best strategy. What route would you follow and why? Or can you think of another route? Thank you for your input. Don.
Why not self-publish but use a different name? If you blog, do you blog in your own name? That probably holds the same risks as publishing some work in your own name. Just publish is with your blog alias.
I'm putting the blog out under a nom de plume. Definitely wouldn't want to use my real name - half a dozen women and their lawyers would make my life hell. The characters, most of whom appear as a chapter, as referred to as a persona, such as The Animal Tickler, Mad Musician or The Cougar to protect their proclivities.
That sounds like the kind of thing that would work well as a blog. As it progresses you'll be able to see how popular it is, and then decide based on that whether to try and gain the interest of an agent, or publish it yourself.
It sounds like a huge risk to take to publish such things in any medium. If your real name ever got out it might be very hard for anyone to trust you.
You should probably consult a literary lawyer - you don't want to end up being sued for preach of confidentiality or libel or whatever else a lawyer can come at you with. You can't be sure if you're toeing the line without professional advice, and it's really not worth the risk unless you knew exactly what you're doing. Like you said, half a dozen women and their lawyers would indeed make your life hell. Personally I'd go through a traditional agent/publisher - I think it's the kind of thing they might just snag because it's a pretty popular topic. It's about sex, lots and lots of sex. And it's non-fiction/memoir, which (now I might be wrong) I think is easier to publish traditionally than fiction would. If you sold it as non-fiction, it'd probably garner more interest. A fictional guy sleeping with 45 women is interesting, but someone doing this in real life as some kind of experiment - now that's worth reading. There're a lot of books published where the authors perform real life experiments - there's a Christian guy who lived a year as a gay man (he "came out" to all his friends and family as gay just to test their reaction and what life would be like after), and a Christian woman who lived a year following all the laws in the Old Testament, including camping in her garden during her period lol. What I'm saying is, there's precedence in the publishing world for just the sort of thing you're referring to. And if you went through the trad route, your agent and publisher would ensure you don't get sued. They'd have lawyers to give you literary advice. It's far cheaper for you overall. They'd also have experience with how an author's name should be protected so you stay under a pseudonym.
