Who would have suspected that a few erotic tales written strictly for personal enjoyment could become a gold mine? Certainly not the author popularly known as Zane. But however unpremeditated her path to commercial success has been, the rise of the fast-selling author of Addicted and The Heat Seekers shows how a savvy writer can build a career out of a few good breaks.

After sending some sexy stories to friends on a lark in 1997, Zane was astonished to receive e-mails from friends of friends demanding more. When she posted her work on her Web site (www.eroticanoir.com) and attracted more than 8,000 hits in three weeks, her entrepreneurial instincts were aroused as intensely as her desire to keep writing. So Zane began an e-mail newsletter that featured more stories and helped widen the primarily African-American readership that was growing out of her social network in Bowie, Md.

She didn't stop there. Wanting to test the waters for book publication, she began offering her readers the chance to buy 50 photocopied pages of her fiction for $10, and found a ready audience. Among her fans were several authors published by major houses, who tipped off their editors about Zane. But she turned down the book deals the editors proffered as soon as she discovered that they wanted to "tame down" her explicit stories.

In 1999, while she was employed as a sales rep for a paper company, Zane established Strebor Books International. The next May, she self-published her first book, a compilation of 40 stories called The Sex Chronicles. The book took off quickly from an initial printing of 3,000 copies, selling approximately 50,000 copies in the first year purely through word-of-mouth. Two other Zane titles followed from Strebor: Addicted in September 2000 and Shame on It All in June 2001.

Addicted, a suspense novel about a married woman with a secret sex life, sold 50,000 copies in its first year. Black wholesalers and urban street vendors initially picked it up, followed by general wholesalers and, eventually, Barnes & Noble and Borders, which began stocking it after customers repeatedly asked for it.

Zane readily acknowledges that "if there was no Internet, it would be totally different." From the beginning, her Web site has been the key to her large and loyal fan base. The sense that her work was an underground commodity, combined with Zane's decision to remain anonymous due to the explicit nature of her work, also contributed to the books' early success.

In April 2001, at age 34, Zane quit her job and dedicated herself to her writing career and to Strebor. Shortly after that, her agent, Sara Camili, struck a deal with editor Tracy Sherrod at Pocket Books for new trade paperback editions of Addicted (October 2001) and The Sex Chronicles (May). Republished without major editorial changes, the new edition of Addicted is currently #1 on the Essence magazine paperback fiction bestseller list, while The Sex Chronicles is at #4; Pocket has printed 125,000 copies of each.

With seven more books under contract, Pocket plans to publish two new Zane titles a year. The first is The Heat Seekers (Atria Books, June, 75,000 in print), which has so far remained on the Washington Post hardcover fiction bestseller list for three weeks. It will be followed in December by Gettin' Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles II. Next spring, the house plans to launch a new series about a group of sorority sisters.

At Borders, Addicted sells as fast as the chain can stock it. According to public relations manager Jennie Carlen, "The Sex Chronicles has been the top-selling African-American fiction title for us for the past several weeks, and has been a strong-selling title since its release in May. The Heat Seekers has also been selling well for a hardcover." Borders has chosen Addicted and The Heat Seekers for front-of-store beach reading displays, while The Sex Chronicles is featured in displays and in the current edition of Inside Borders, the chain's free customer magazine.

Practical Appeal

How has Zane managed to make hardcore erotic fiction mainstream? According to her editor, Malaika Adero, who began working with Zane after Sherrod left Pocket last year, it's because Zane's characters are ordinary people readers can identify with. "Some stories are open-ended, some are cautionary tales, some have happy endings. A good number of the stories are about married or monogamous couples being [sexually] inventive; so in a way, they're a primer on spicing up our intimate lives."

Customers at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles have told co-owner James Fugate that they have experienced many of the situations in Zane's books. "Maybe that's what Zane has hit on," he mused. "Women don't usually have graphic sex stories written for them. Zane's books remind me of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, published almost 30 years ago. They've certainly touched a nerve."

Desiree Sanders, president of Afrocentric Bookstore in downtown Chicago, sees a practical side to Zane's appeal: "I think the mystery factor adds to it—people have never seen her. The fact that she comes out with a book every year keeps her name out there. And the one-word name is a plus, too—people can remember it!" She also thinks Zane's books are in tune with the zeitgeist: "In this age of [sexually transmitted diseases], people are being more cautious—and what better safe sex than an erotic book?"

According to Sanders, Zane's audience is "98% women, 18 to 55 years old. They're from all socioeconomic backgrounds—from high schoolers to secretaries to housewives to professionals." Although Sanders's customers are mostly African American, Zane's audience has widened, according to Malaika Adero. "From what I'm hearing from [the Pocket Books sales] reps, her readers are not just black anymore."

Still, there are some who wish Zane's work had a higher literary tone. "I absolutely love the sales Zane generates," Fugate said. "I just wish that they were better books. I don't think they're well written, grammatically. But that's just my take. If I wanted everyone to read what I think they should read, I wouldn't have a bookstore!" Another bookseller, who asked not to be identified, noted, "My serious readers aren't reading it. Anyone with an ear for good language and with a taste for literature is not going to be pleased with her books."

But Malaika Adero has found a way to keep Zane's work in perspective. "As an editor who works with literary fiction, I had to approach this with a clean mind, so to speak. Zane is committed to the vernacular, so I tried to keep it as consistent as possible. And you know what? I had fun! The stories made me laugh. Yes, you can read Toni Morrison. But when you and your husband have been looking at each other the same way for the last five years, you read Zane."