Your First Submission
How to get started
So, you know who we are, and you know what we do. And you still want to get involved?
That’s the spirit. You’ll fit right in.
Before You Begin
- If you don’t already have one, create an account on Medium.
- Enroll in the Medium Partner Program so you can get paid.
- Follow Cream Shaboogie Cock on Medium so we can find you (and invite you to join us!) and follow you back. Also follow our other authors — this is a co-op where we help each other.
- Follow Belinda on Twitter so she can credit you when she promotes your Feature Story.
Step 1: Write
First, you’re going to need to write an erotic Feature Story of at least 4000 words. We are open to a wide range of settings, characters, and kinks — check out our Feature Story Guidelines for full details.
Step 2: Self-Edit
If you’re a new author, the urge to hit that Submit button is overwhelming. Here’s the bad news — your story is going to be rejected. Quite simply, you’re not that good you can write a great story in a single draft. Nobody is.
Put the story away for a minimum of one week and then do a slow read-through to clean up the language and correct typos. If you don’t find any, you’re not doing it right.
Step 3: Get Feedback
If you have Beta readers or your own writers’ circle, great. Use them.
If you don’t have anyone who can provide feedback (or even if you do) join the StoryTime writers’ circle at ERWA (Erotic Readers and Writers Association). Make sure you read the rules and offer critiques on other authors’ work before submitting your own work.
However you do it, get feedback and use it to refine your story.
Step 4: Final Proofread
We’re not a proofreading service. Every story we post must be pristine, so it’s your responsibility to get it that way.
We recommend using a Text-to-Speech service to read the story aloud. (We shouldn’t have to say this, but please use headphones if you’re in public.) Your errors are so much easier to hear than they are to see. Here’s how to do it with Microsoft Word.
Step 5: Submit
Only accepted authors can submit directly to Cream Shaboogie Cock, so in the first instance, please post the story on Medium according to our formatting guidelines and send the Friend Link (hit the Settings icon and click Share Friend Link) to us at belindalapageerotica@gmail.com.
The subject line of your email should read ‘Audition: Cream Shaboogie Cock’, and use the opportunity to tell us a little about yourself and why you want to join.
Step 6: Acceptance
We’ll contact you within a couple of days to let you know your story is in the queue. Usually within two weeks, we’ll decide whether to accept or reject the submission.
If we accept, we’ll send an invitation to join Cream Shaboogie Cock, and you’ll be able to draft stories on Medium and submit them to the publication. You’ll need to Unpublish your audition story and then submit it to Cream Shaboogie Cock.
Cream Shaboogie Cock reserves the right to make minor edits to your story, for example, to correct errors, split/join paragraphs, to conform to our publication standards, or to maintain typographical consistency.
Step 7: Welcome to Cream Shaboogie Cock
Once your first Feature Story is accepted, you can start submitting Flash Fiction and Poetry (one per week), and Hot Chapters / Sexy Snippets of your published erotica (one each per month). After 12 months, we’ll need another Feature Story from you if you want to keep publishing Hot Chapters and Sexy Snippets.
You can release your first three Hot Chapters and Sexy Snippets up-front, so get those ready to submit along with your accepted Feature Story. This way, when readers come for your Feature Story, they’ll be able to find the rest of your content.
