by Randall S. Frederick

Q: Where can I find quality erotica online? Preferably for free.

A: Your question gets straight to the point. I like that. My answer will try to do the same.

“Quality” and “Free” do not often go in the same sentence, and nothing in this world is ever free. One of the things I love about the Internet is that necessity is the mother of invention. Some kinks are too kinky (or specific) for reputable sites (ex: Amazon or Barnes and Noble) or publishing companies to – echem – get behind. My personal favorite pieces of erotica online are, as it happens, entirely free but to be open and honest here, I love “quality” more than affordability, and I’m a big believer that if you’re good at what you do, you should never do it for free. Here we go:

Kara’s Porn for Women
Targeted to heterosexual women, this site has a small collection of stories, primarily involving consensual, one-on-one intercourse and oral sex. A collection of links will point you to stories with more slightly more diversity, but still with hetero women in mind. It also has articles, book reviews and pictures. A good place to get started.

Free Best Sex Stories
This site has a large collection of stories with a range of themes and an intuitive interface, which is great if you’re searching for something specific. Most “free” sites invite readers to rate each story, which you should do here. Rating a story helps bump it up in the search feature and helps other users find good material.

Literotica
The first (well… second) erotica site I ever found, Literotica is an amazing community site because they have a team of editors to help polish stories into something readable. Nothing is self-loading – that cuts down on spelling and grammar errors, “stories” that are really just psychotic episodes or political rants, and stories so kinky they might just be illegal (ex: no stories with people under 18). I can’t speak highly enough of this site. Although they have accumulated thousands of stories since I first found them, and their design isn’t flashy but what they lack in style, they make up for in substance. Their navigation, ratings, and intuitive pairings make this a testament to “good word word porn” and a wonderland for bibliophiles. However, the trade off for “free” content and a team of editors is that there are ads everywhere. No pop-ups, but you’re going to need to focus.

Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository
AASTR is one of the oldest and largest collections of sex stories on the web and is ad-free, so you won’t get 45 browser windows full of porn popping up. However, unlike Literotica, it’s unmoderated, which means anyone can post anything they want. No editors. No filters. And it’s the Wild West, really; content is unmoderated and uncensored, so many of the stories you will find here are extremely subversive (i.e. can involve some really dark sexual acts). I’m not one to judge though, and because their library is ginormous, you’ll absolutely find some amazing, high-quality stories once you know what you’re looking for and become familiar with the layout and organization of the site. Hint #1: pay attention to the abbreviations in the summaries. Hint #2: click on “Collections,” where you can browse stories culled by erotica aficionados. 

Nifty.org
This site caters to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people. Their site is so popular and so niche that you will find a “mirror” site on Alt.Sex.Stories, but unlike the “mirror”, this original site is ad-free and not-for-profit. It also doesn’t collect your personal information or use “cookies,” so you are free to browse discreetly within their collection of tales, including by author.

Readerotica.com
This site is for aspiring authors who want to grab your attention and redirect you to their larger titles, but suffice to say, Readerotica gives you bundles of short stories for your e-reader/tablet and comes highly recommended. You can also catch a free copy of all the bundles on Amazon.com, which brings me to…

Amazon.com
As a powerhouse in Internet sales, Amazon has a very strict policy towards questionable material (ex: no incest, no stories of erotic rape, etc.) and if something slips through their filters, they are quick to remove the item and block your account. What this means for you as a reader is that because you are paying for a story, you will typically find longer stories or series that have been through a vetting process and won’t give you anxiety that Johnny Law might show up at your door for reading it. You will also find “classics” of erotica for sale here at an affordable price, and digital downloads to your Kindle or tablet make developing a large porn-story collection not only easy but portable and hideable. If you have ever purchased a printed book of erotica, say for example Anais Nin’s Delta of Venus or Little Birds, this is probably the best place to find it. I’ve bought and downloaded a couple of erotic stories through Amazon and 9 times out of 10, been satisfied. (phrasing!)

Private Vendors

I strongly discourage this option because you are practically paying someone for what you could get for free elsewhere, it probably hasn’t been vetted, you would be giving your financial information to a non-secure site, and private vendor sites too often take a “too bad” approach to your concerns and customer complaints. Paid for a title and it was only 3 pages long? Too bad. Didn’t like the story? Too bad and you get a nasty reply from the author who – whoops – now has your e-mail address and your credit card info. Although I love being a patron of rising artists, unless you know this person face-to-face, just avoid private vendors altogether.

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