Free booze, free books and free cupcakes at my Sex & Cupcakes book party

Thanks to my fabulous boyfriend, we now have this lovely book party image for my debut book, Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays (I've edited lots, but this is my first written by me and I'm very proud), and if you want to invite people (the more, the merrier!), here's a handy Facebook link. No RSVP required, open to all (21+ to drink alcohol), Monday, November 17th, 6-8 pm, open bar 6-7, first 2 dozen cupcakes free, free book to first 25 guests. Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC, A/C/E/B/D/F/M to West 4th Street. Yes, I'm excited!



And I got a birthday surprise: Lux Alptraum reviewed Sex & Cupcakes at Fleshbot and had this to say (and lots more):

After over a decade of using her pen to titillate and educate, Rachel Kramer Bussel’s learned a great deal about sex – and even more about writing thoughtfully on the topic. Sex and Cupcakes is a fantastic read for anyone interested in insightful essays about human sexuality (which, if you’ve read this far, is most definitely you). Do yourself a favor and download a copy to whatever futuristic device you do your reading on these days – and get ready to fall in love with Rachel Kramer Bussel. You won’t regret it.

Intrigued? Read it now via Kindle (here's the Kindle reading apps so you can read on your phone, tablet, computer, etc.) or iBooks. If you like it, I'd love it if you'd rate it on Goodreads. My fingers are crossed that this book does well so that I can go on to write more books! In a sexy reading mood this month and want Sex & Cupcakes for free? Check out my November BOGO book sale where if you buy any of my 50+ other current books, I'll send it to you as a thank you gift!

I actually did not get to eat any cupcakes on my birthday because I was so full from my wonderful dinner at The Bistro, a Japanese and Italian restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey, but that means I have all the more room for them at my party! Don't worry, I won't cut into the free ones. Sweet Revenge's cupcakes are big enough that they are perfect to share.

Good Vibrations photo and Peep Show on Fleshbot!

Lots of Peep Show and other news to share, but for now...

Fleshbot ran a very sexy excerpt from Donna George Storey's "Clean and Dirty" from Peep Show, about a very special Japanese shower peep show. Stay tuned for the book trailer in which I act this out (well, I suds up in the shower).

I have some upcoming radio gigs, waiting for all the details but I believe Monday, October 26th, I'm going to be on Naked News, and then Monday night at 7:30 I teach erotica writing in Toronto at Come As You Are. And then when I get back I'll be on Hella Fabulous on East Village Radio - looking like the morning of Wednesday, October 28th. Will update (I learned my lesson with San Francisco - you snooze on the nonstop 24/7 event promotion, nobody comes to your events!).


Donna George Storey, me, Zille Defeu at Good Vibrations Berkeley on Sunday for the Bottoms Up reading

Yes, I wore jeans. And sneakers. I don't think in 9 years of doing readings I've ever worn sneakers, but there's a first time for everything. Audio from the reading coming soon.

Oh, and no time at all to investigate but my lovely little Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica blog that used to be at spanked.wordpress.com got removed for violating Wordpress's TOS. :(

The Spanked book trailer is still going strong on YouTube. An idea was floated to do a PG and an X-rated Bottoms Up trailer. Perhaps...someday I'd love to do 2 trailers, a clean and a dirty version. For now, I am eagerly awaiting the cut of my new trailer. And biting my nails.

Sex toy inspires Dacia's Love Machine

Today I finally got to catch most of (I was a little late - I blame the F train) my friend Audacia Ray's film Dacia's Love Machine at film festival CineKink. Below is the trailer; it's a fun movie about her trying to get rid of a sex toy she reviewed for Fleshbot. You can download it on her site (and only on her site) for just $2.99 here (so worth it!).

Fleshbot interview, "Magic Wand enthusiast," National Masturbation Month

The adorable Richard Blakely had me stop by the Gawker offices a few weeks ago and grilled (not really, more like gently queried) me about all sorts of topics, including Would I be willing to die for masturbation? (Really.)

Now a short snippet of that video interview is up on Fleshbot in celebration of National Masturbation Month. This time, I am not topless or getting spanked (though I would've gotten topless).

The best part (imo) is that I'm described as a "writer, editor and Magic Wand enthusiast" - exactly!

Tomorrow in San Francisco is the Masturbate-a-thon sponsored by the Center for Sex and Culture. (How can you not love "Sign up to be a masturbator?" I prefer to masturbate at home. Occasionally in moving vehicles.

Radar and Fleshbot awesomeness and shameless self-promotion the hard way

Radar went to a recent Playgirl party and reviewed the mag, giving a mention to my anthology Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z.



And the fabulous folks at crazy hot Fleshbot blogged my He's on Top/She's on Top kinky virtual book tour! It starts this Sunday, April Fool's Day (for real) over at Viviane's Sex Carnival. From April 1st through May 5th, you'll get giveaways, reviews, excerpts, and deep thoughts about dominance and submission!



When I was in Oregon people kept asking about my book "tour." I don't think they quite understand that I pay my own way for all my travel, and bought 90 extra copies each of my books to do this promotion and a lot of other promo (like take an ad out on Susie Bright's blog. Hopefully it'll pay off, but I've spent out most of my advance. By choice; it's a calculated risk, one I can take because I have other money coming in and because, frankly, otherwise I don't really know how to spread the word about my books. I feel like I've been gifted with these brilliant, gorgeous covers, and I'm so proud of every single dirty story in these two; there's no filler, no iffiness, no things I'm not that cool with. Recently, another publisher I'd worked with in the past, Alyson, chose to cancel one of the anthologies I co-edited for them, called Second Skin. I was sad, because my co-editor and I put a lot of work into it and the three previous books in the Fetish Chest series, but at the same time, it made me realize that publishers, especially ones new to the erotica field, don't always know what they're doing and can come up with unsellable ideas just as easily as us authors can. When you're really broke or in debt, you have to jump at any opportunity given to you, and I did, and we put those first three out at breakneck speed. I have my own ideas about why they didn't sell all that well, largely to do with the covers, content (an equal mix of straight, lesbian, and gay erotica) and placement (I believe they are in the gay/lesbian section of most stores, due to being published by Alyson, but am not really sure). I still think those are great books but have to put my energies into the ones I'm most passionate about. I'll also always be the kind of person who wants to know what's being said/written about me, and wants to take an active part in the publicity process. I know that can only be a boon next year when working with Bantam (part of Random House) to promote my first novel, Everything But... I'm not saying I know everything, but I do feel that I know the erotica market pretty damn well, both in terms of selling my work, editing anthologies, and figuring out which media outlets might bite.

I hear and observe a lot of authors pretty much leaving everything up to someone else, and I can't speak for them, but for me, that'd be a mistake. I'm a control freak about a lot of things and I want to know what's happening with my books, and also, for me, I got into all this not so much to make money (though clearly I want that), but because it's something important to me. Though my erotica has largely, though not entirely, shifted from true, personal stories to actual fiction, it's still me writing it, and I still cover topics I care about. I miss the sex journalism I used to do but am looking for new outlets for that, but am also welcoming the freedom fiction gives me. Sometimes it is a tough balance between the creative work and the marketing work, but I also find a real satisfaction in it. Plus I get to indulge my post office fetish and feel a little bit more connected to my readers. Sending out postcards all over the country has been really cool and whether or not those people buy books, I like having a little piece of something I created to hand out. For me, that is always the most exciting part, to take an idea from the mere idea stage and turn it into something people can hold in their hands, can savor, can jerk off to. I sometimes forget that that's what erotica is for, which sounds odd, I know, but I'm in it and surrounded by it all the time, so it's rarer now that I get so lost in it, but show me a good story, and my body reacts. I think these books tap into really elemental, key parts of some people's sexuality - at least, I hope they do - and knowing that, I hope I've done them justice. All this to say that I'm very invested in how my books do, not just for ego or financial purposes, but because they're a part of me. They're my babies, though I think I am definitely playing favorites with my books much more than I will do with my babies. Yes, I want a couple of those someday too. Like three, or four.

I think doing your own publicity, as my friend Audacia Ray has written about, teaches you about what works and what doesn't. It allows you to try innovations like this virtual book tour, and I think there is also something about the personal contact, as opposed to the publicist pitch, that can help. I deal with publicists about book reviews all the time and they're courteous and helpful, and refer people to my books' publicists when I need to, but even leaving aside my post office fetish, I think over the last six or seven years I've gotten pretty good at publicizing my readings and events. It's hard, and there's a lot to stay on top of; you can't just mail stuff off and forget about it. I saw my Powell's reading listed in The Oregonian, via Google news alert, but had to be told that it got a very nice plug in The Portland Mercury. I think it's all valuable, but it does come at the expense of, and uses a different area of my brain's creative energies, writing at times. I've never been the hide away in an attic type of writer, and while I don't often physically write in public (though I did file a piece that's running tomorrow, on cupcakes - I think it's my first paid gig writing about cupcakes - from the Portland airport), I think getting your name out there, forcing yourself to overcome the nerves and do readings, is valuable and can be fun.



Speaking of book promotion, the fabulous Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube (which I also recommend for those of you, like me, who work full-time, and to men), looks for affordable printers and quotes some of the stats I found. I wound up getting my She's on Top promo postcards, which I'm bringing/sending to bookstores and sex toy stores and mailing out to interested readers (want one? email me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com with "postcard" in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body) from 1-800-POSTCARDS, because they were local and I thought I'd get them before SXSW. That didn't happen, but I am still really happy with their service. I also chose them because they did some of the layout work for me for only $25 extra, because I have ZERO brain for design. Next time, I'd go with 4 X 6 instead of 3.5 X 5.5, but still, I'm happy. And still have well over 4,000 postcards, which I'm sure I'll be using and handing out for a long time to come. (Thanks again to this Saturday's Spextravaganza organizer and Girl With Glasses author Marissa Walsh for the 1-800-POSTCARDS tip.)