I consider myself to be a pulp smut writer. My characters aren't particularly nice people. In fact, a lot of them are cruel and a bit evil. I do not do well at writing romance.

I've taken a shot at it a few times. I've tried writing softer stories with more likable male protagonists. These stories go unread while the ones with the rat bastard dominants do quite well.

I'm taking this to mean I should stick to what I do best. It would seem that in my fiction, much like in real life, women prefer bad boys to nice guys. And in the case of my fiction, readers want really bad boys.

I've come to this decision after spending a couple of months laid up with vision problems that left me unable to write as much as I'd like and with time on my hand to listen to audiobooks. I've been reading a lot of erotica and romance because that's what I write.

What I've learned:
-- Shorter is better. Maybe not 10 pages, but definitely not more than 100. Longer may be better in romance, but in erotica, I can't find a character I don't want to strangle once they get past page 50. The longer a story runs, the less I like the character. Maybe it's just that I feel I already know all I need to know about them.

-- Darker is better.

-- Rougher is better.

-- Happy endings are overrated. Sometimes, you just have to let your characters be grateful for surviving a story.

I'm not F. Scott Fitzgerald, spinning glorious descriptions of gorgeous parties. I'm Hemmingway, giving short, sharp punches that drive home rough and sometimes dirty actions.

But I'm curious. What do people who regularly read erotica ... and especially those who have given mine a chance ... think?