Summoning Smut in 2023! January Releases!

Wow! 2022 was a year full of ups and downs for me in terms of releases, but I finished the year very strong with my best couple months of the year! 

I have some great releases planned for January which I have teased recently, including Happy Endings Dungeon #1 and Harlot Knight #2 as well as at least one release in the Library of Forbidden Pleasures! 

I am working on two books for the year as my main priorities: Happy Endings Dungeon and Harlot Knight. These are a Cheating Elf and Wasteland Bombshell equivalent, although both of them are generally light in tone. I am also hoping to release at least one CYOA book this year, but more on that later.

Harlot Knight in 2023

The first book in the Harlot Knight series has been a success and I look forward to launching into Sophie's quest to rid herself of her lustful curse and restore her family's good name and properties. This will be a wild, fun, milky ride with covers and pinups illustrated by Udders Comix! I had hoped to release one a month, but I will be satisfied with every other month because these books are pretty hefty. I expect 10 or so books with a collection in early 2024.

Happy Endings Dungeon in 2023

I have been working on this series for months with Jay. It's a lot of fun and there are at least 10 books planned. It centers on Alfie, a failed hero who inherits an evil dungeon and the title of Dungeon Lord. Under his evil uncle, this dungeon lured women adventurers to their doom, but Alfie is not his uncle and he uses the dungeon to offer women a good time. Much to the chagrin of his dommy demonic assistant Myssandra, his uncle's horny ghost, and the secret society of Dungeon Lords. Alfie is a bit of a Caldric type character, ending up watching when he'd rather be doing, although not nearly as cucked as poor Caldric, but also not as physically tough as Caldric. 

CYOAs in 2023

I spent 2022 without a CYOA release and it's definitely time to change that. I have two in the works. My superheroine CYOA series and the free use dystopian series that I have not mentioned in a long time. I also have my mega CYOA and want to get back to it, but even if I made that my top priority I doubt I could finish it in 2023. 

I also constantly (unhelpfully) have other ideas for CYOAs including one where the reader is a hacker guiding a gorgeous sex android through a mutant and cyberhorror nightmare zone to get her to freedom...

A Twin Peaks inspired mystery CYOA that has been percolating in my mind for like five years...

a military action/scifi CYOA inspired by GI Joe but more serious...

and a very dark one where the reader is a total creep blackmailing women at the office into sex...

The last possibilities would be a Wasteland Bombshell CYOA (that might act as a sequel or prequel) or a Cheating Elf CYOA that would let readers be Caldric and decide whether they want him to end up cucked (or as Cally) or be the hero he could have been and keep Faylana all for himself. 

Other Projects for 2023

I have countless other small or one-off projects in the works for this year. Many of these will fall under the banner of the Library of Forbidden Pleasures, which largely takes commissions and collects them as books. You can expect almost one of these a month for 2023.

AI Cover Artwork

Since AI art is pretty controversial, I wanted to comment on my stance on this and my feelings on it. Personally, I don't like it for what it does to artists (and writers eventually) and what it does to art in general. I am VERY loyal to artists. I consider them allies in the creative hustle and I will continue to use real actual human artwork on my covers. Yes, it is a lot more expensive. But I don't think any cover an AI could produce would hold a candle to most of my art covers.

Having said all that, I have to face reality. AI art is heading towards inevitable. It is too exciting and fun to use for amateurs like me to not catch on. I see it all over Amazon including on major releases. I have already used some on Library of Forbidden Pleasures books, which might not have been viable books otherwise, and I have used lots of it on patreon where I would have just borrowed art that I didn't own or reused random old artwork I do own. 

I consider AI a good solution for these "throwaway" purposes and I hope restricting it to these uses minimizes the damage it does to real artists. My plan is to use AI artwork in 2023 for Patreon adjacent books. I also am considering doing re-edits and re-issues of old books where I used photo artwork and use AI artwork. I'm not in any hurry to do this, but I would like to hear your feelings on this in the comments. 

What do you think about AI art? Should I keep the old covers using photos or refresh with these AI art covers? Should I use AI art at all? 

I want to navigate this issue and do the right thing and I want to succeed financially. Doing both would be the best possible outcome.