Come into the world of erotic romance and meet the authors who made millions by transforming their fantasies into fiction.
NAUGHTY BOOKS: A Documentary directed by Austen Eleanore Rachlis and starring Kelli Maine, Laurelin Paige, Kristen Proby, CJ Roberts, Aimee Garcia, Allison Tolman and Aisha Tyler is available now!
About Naughty Books
No one was prepared for the success of Fifty Shades of Grey. Originally written in 2010 as a piece of Twilight fan fiction and posted online, it eventually sold over 100 million copies, taking erotica mainstream. But women didn’t only read erotica in large numbers; they also wrote it. In the aftermath of Fifty Shades a cottage industry emerged around self-published romance novels. Once women who worked forty-hour-a-week jobs, living paycheck-to-paycheck, many of them are now New York Times bestselling authors with their own merchandise lines and die-hard fans. Naughty Books follows three such women: an Air Force vet, a telemarketer, and a hospital administrator who became millionaires in under a year by using pen names to sell erotica online. They garnered thousands of fans and secured lucrative book deals with major publishing houses by writing about good girls and bad boys finding love and having steamy sex. However, as more and more people saw writing erotic romance as a quick path to money and fame, the market became saturated with hundreds of romance novels published every month, making success difficult to maintain…
Naughty Books is now available to rent across digital, cable, and satellite platforms.
My Thoughts
The creative process of writing has always intrigued me, and this documentary offers an enlightening glimpse into the ups and downs of being an indie author who writes erotic romance. Romance is the top selling genre in the publishing industry, with thrillers coming in a distant second. It’s good to know I’m not the only one whose guilty pleasure is a spicy read.
A successful independently published author of erotic fiction can make quite a cushy living. This film follows four indie erotica authors as they face pressure to produce their next big hit. It dives deep into the financial aspects but it also examines the stigma attached to writing and reading “mom porn”, readers’ connection to the genre, and the double-edged sword of success. I only wish the documentary explored the design and marketing sides which are so crucial to a book’s success in such a competitive market. As a fan, I found this film to be particularly insightful.
** I received an early screening copy of this film. **
Naughty Books Trailer
So insightful…but was it entertaining? I couldn’t really tell if you truly liked it.
I wouldn’t call it entertaining but it was informative and I enjoyed it. One of the writers featured brought the mood down.
Oh, really? Which one?
Kelli Maine. I haven’t read her books.
I haven’t either.