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Carla Reighard's avatar

I've been probably discouraged more over the facts you pointed out in this article than I wanted to admit. My inner voice says, "Should I continue writing if I can never reach anyone with my books?" Is there a way to find readers with my vanilla books? As I follow people on Instagram and see what books get their juices flowing, I realize they aren't my target audience. My friend actually told me she couldn't read my one of my books because it was too vanilla. I write fantasy, but with no cussing, no sexually explicit scenes, and no demons.

Your article has encouraged me to realize it's the world and not necessarily my writing ability that has probably made my books less popular or even unsaleable. I can still get the middle grader who hasn't been reading S.J. Maas books to enjoy my stories, but perhaps I should just be content with reaching my 5 fans and not worry about the millions who have been fed a steady diet of smut. They actually use the word "smut" on Instagram. They love smut. Oy vey!

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Summer Lane's avatar

I agree that this is a very hard topic to write about! I have read my fair share of "smut" over the years, for lack of a better term, haha! And I enjoyed every minute of it at the time. I think it's absolutely possible to write stories without getting too graphic. I think you can be adult, gritty, and realistic without being obscene or erotic. S.J. Maas is a wonderful author, and extremely talented...but as writers we have the difficult burden of deciding who WE want to be as authors and what WE want our legacy to be. I actually believe that many people are craving cleaner and more wholesome content. I have found that in keeping my original series (Collapse and Reesurrection) family-friendly but realistic and gritty, I gained more readers instead of losing them. It was a positive thing, not a negative one.

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