Taxing times

Yes, it's that filling-in-the-self-assessment-tax-form time of year again. These are the files full of receipts and paperwork I've kept for each year since 2003.

The fact that the box is close to full is a reminder that I've been an, ahem, professional writer, for 10 years now. How did that happen?!

In those ten years I've seen a load of changes:

• I've seen erotica books go from something you bought in paperback to something you're likely to buy in e-form, or just read for free on some website.
• I've seen my first publisher, Black Lace, crash into nothing and then magically reappear.
• I've seen guy-on-guy fiction go from something forbidden by mainstream editors to a bizarre but recognised alternate reality all of its own.
• I've seen the rise and rise of erotic urban paranormal romance: shifters, shifters, vampires, shifters.
• I've seen the 50 Shades of Grey bubble expand - and now it's deflating again.
• I've seen several really good writers give up on erotica because they're fed up with the silly rules, the sneering of the establishment, and/or the lack of financial reward for their work.
• I've seen the reading market absolutely swamped with self-published e-books of, let us say, "varying" quality.
• I've seen BDSM become mainstream, AND the rise of a new puritan censorship - simultaneously and sometimes perpetrated by the same people.
• I've seen Amazon take over the goddamn planet. We are all its slaves now.

The landscape is changing. Goodness knows where it'll be in another 10 years time. And since I can't guess, I suppose I'm going to just go on writing my stuff, my way. Maybe one day the bandwagon will catch up with me...

xxx