Jeff Erno

Sixteen months ago, I published my first novel, Dumb Jock. To be honest, I did not have a clue what I was doing at the time. I knew nothing about m/m romance or gay fiction, and I didn’t even have an inkling as to which publishers would even consider publishing my story. I had sent out a few query letters to the big name publishers that I did know about, and of course I summarily received rejections.

So I just decided I would do it on my own. I had previously posted some of my writing on the nifty erotic archive and had received an enormous amount of feedback, so I knew there was at least a potential readership of the type of material I wrote. I paid the money to one of these self-publishing companies, and within a couple months it was done. My book was published.

I then had no idea how to promote my book. I didn’t even know who Jesse Wave, Rainbow Reviews, or the host of other book reviewers were. I had never read any of the popular m/m fiction novelists at that time. I would not have been able to tell you a thing about Keta Diablo, Ally Blue, James Buchanan, or Josh Lanyon. I did know about nifty.org, though.

I had resolved to finish an erotic series that I had been working on at the time…Puppy Love, and I already had six chapters of the second book completed, so I decided I would post this story on nifty. In so doing, I’d be able to tack on an author’s note at the end of each segment, advertising my newly published novel, Dumb Jock.

Well as soon as I began posting segments of Puppy Love 2 on the nifty website, I began receiving emails, and lots of them. Hundreds, in fact. One of these emails came from a person named Michele Montgomery from Phoenix, Arizona. At first I was confused, because I could not imagine why a woman would be reading my all-male erotic stories, and I assumed that this new fan of mine was actually a  man who just spelled his name oddly. I responded to Michele’s email, and of course I discovered she was not a man at all, and the course of events that followed may have ended up changing my life forever.

As Michele and I became online friends, she began to educate me on all the ins and outs of mm fiction. She sent me a huge list of websites which featured, reviewed, and advertised gay erotic material. She connected me with other bloggers, and provided me with the names of a slew of mm publishers.

And I kept writing. I finished the Puppy Love series a few months after meeting Michele. I submitted Dumb Jock to a bunch of review sites, and was surprised to receive favorable reviews. I was then offered a contract for a second novel entitled The Landlord. And then, to my astonishment, I got the offer for the publication of Puppy Love.

During this time period, Michele celebrated some accomplishments of her own. She published her first novel, River of Tears. She then went on to write a mm short story series entitled Tony and Ryan, and she published the first installment of this series. While all of this was occurring, though, she was in the process of a major relocation. Her family was moving from Phoenix to Denver.

My friendship with Michele has grown exponentially since that first email. We now talk to one another nearly every day. We have a website together which we started in March of this year which features mm fiction book reviews and author interviews. And although we have never seen one another in person, she has become one of my dearest friends.

Wednesday of this week is going to be a big day for both Michele and me. We will meet each other face-to-face for the very first time. I am traveling to Denver to spend a few days with Michele and her family!

I can hardly believe all that has happened since that day I received the first email from Michele. I now have four published novels and contracts for two more publications which will be released later this year. I have another novel which is nearing completion, and Michele and I are also working on the compilation of a BDSM anthology. Our website has been far more of a success than we had ever dared to imagine, and I’ve now read a couple hundred mm fiction books…at least.

I’m so anxious to spend some time with this very special person who helped make my dreams come true, and I’m so excited about the trip that I can hardly contain myself.  I’m a little frightened that I will be a disappointment to Michele when she meets me, because in truth I’m not much of a prize. My characters are a lot more colorful and interesting than I am, and I tend to be borderline neurotic…okay, maybe not borderline. Full-blown.

I guess we will see what happens. If Michele runs screaming in the opposite direction, I’ll know that I scared her off. I suspect, though, that the genuine connection we share will only be strengthened by our in-person meeting. She already knows my heart, and I know hers. So here we go…we’ll share some pictures with you later.

I’m packing my bags. Look out Denver—here I come.