.99 cent Erotica is NOT Bargain Basement Erotica.

There seems to be a very popular misconception out there that erotica priced at the .99 cent selling point is bargain basement and of inferior quality!!! That's Ridiculous I say and not just for the saying of it!
I have read in my research before even writing in the field of erotica from every pricepoint ranging from the despised .99 cents to the even more horribly received $1.99 to the ever popular $2.99 and up price points and they all have one thing in common. They all vary greatly in quality and value and content.
Bad grammar? Bad editing? Bad story? Cliches? Just plain old BAD writing? Yes, they are all guilty of this at every price point. But do you know what else they are guilty of? Beautiful eye catching covers, imaginitive and original stories, great characters, steamy heat inducing sex, and a passion to entertain are all also prevelant in(you guessed it) every price range.
So, how do you sort the good from the bad? That's usually pretty easy actually. I tend to only purchase erotica(and personally every other genre as well) off of Amazon if:
1. They have a Look Inside feature. Authors who put out quality work tend to always include this feature and why not? You will occassionaly find a few unmentionably bad reads in these but at least you will know and can now avoid the purchase.
2.Reviews. They are there for a reason. And I know that some reviews are padded but couple reading reviews with the Look Inside feature and you will have a great idea what is b.s. and what is the actual.
3. Stick to your likes. Don't just download a book because it's free or .99 cents and bash it because it contains anal sex or group sex and you only like romance and light sexually described encounters. The authors take a lot of time setting up the information on the books page of what the book is and what it contains. Read it because it's there for a reason. It's meant to inform and attract it's target audience while warning it's non-targeted audience that this book just isn't for them. There is nothing more frustrating for an erotica writer than someone reading their book and calling it smut! Really? Smut!!!! But I took ten minutes writing out a description and warning that this contained hardcore and sexually explicit material. I told you it's smut. If you don't like smut then don't read it. Seems pretty obvious but I think there are also a lot of haters out there that can only make their day better by trying to destroy someone elses.
4. Look through the "Customers who bought this product also bought" feature lower on the page. See what is in there that matches your likes and Look Inside and read reviews and then purchase what fits your tastes. At the end of the day you will end up with quite a few hot reads on your kindle or other reading devices that you will find extremely satisfying.
As always these are just my thoughts and opinions and you are all welcome to your own. I hope you next purchases not only entertain you but send you diving back in for more fiction from those same authors. We're all here for each other. Writers need the readers and readers need the writers. Let's show each other a good time, shall we? :-)