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When I started off as a freelance writer, my bread and butter was writing for porn sites. After I had started writing longer form erotica, especially for those looking to resell my work on Kindle, my writing needed to change.

Porn gallery descriptions and blog posts tend to focus on a set of keywords. Webmasters are looking to get their sites to rank as high as they can, so ensuring that the phrase “Thai creampie” (or whatever else the site is hoping to rank for) occurs a certain number of times in a block of text is rather important. The writing tends to be short and rough, quick and dirty. Let’s be honest, no one – especially guys – go to the majority of porn sites to read. Descriptions for sex toy web sites are quite similar. I walk a fine line between keyword-stuffing and readability, in the hopes that the latest Google update doesn’t penalize the site for over-optimization. I do have to admit, though, I do enjoy the intense rush of being as dirty as possible in as few words as possible (as webmasters are often looking for pieces between 100 and 300 words).

There are a few exceptions to this rule, though. Certain fetishes attract men who want as much detail as possible. They want to read what the slave is thinking when she is getting fucked in the ass with a mechanical dildo. They don’t want to imagine what it’s like when a Dominatrix steps on their naked cock – they want it spelled out for them.

This is where one genre of writing starts to roll into the other. This is where things like character, plot, exposition and conclusion come into the picture. Sometimes it all happens in the context of 250 words, other times a bit more fleshed out.

Erotica writing obviously tells a story. Going out on a limb here, I dare say that the main ‘readers’ of porn are men, and erotica women. Google doesn’t rank book text, so there’s no need to find ways to include a phrase over and over again. My erotica tells a story in “X” number of words. Sometimes I am given a general framework to write it (such as someone wants a vampire story, or a teacher-student piece, or FemDom), or I’m just told to write a 7K word story using my own ideas – as long as it’s formatted for Kindle, includes a title and a blurb, and can be expanded into a series if need be. This is where I write what I like to read, and where my skills as a freelance adult writer grow the most.

I often worry if employers for one side see the other half of my work and get turned off. If a webmaster read Snow White and the Seven Fetishes, would he think I’m too ‘wordy’ or ‘story driven’ for adult gallery descriptions? If someone who wants me to write erotica reads my work on Thai Fuckers and think I can barely string a sentence together that goes above the level of a twelve year old? I suppose its something to battle if that discussion ever arises.