Zane (not her real name) is the best-selling author of a plethora of African-American-oriented erotica, including “Dear G Spot,” “Afterburn,” “Getting’ Buck Wild,” “The Heat Seekers,” “Addicted” and “The Sex Chronicles.” This iconoclastic phenom has also edited and/or contributed to numerous other books with provocative titles. Besides writing, Zane is the publisher of Strebor Books International for which she is responsible for acquiring dozens of titles per year and currently has nearly 50 authors signed to her imprint.

She serves as the moderator of PlanetZane.net, where thousands of her fans – who call themselves “Zaniacs” – converge on a daily basis to discuss her work, as well as love and relationships. Here, she talks about “Zane’s Sex Chronicles.” The daring Cinemax television series loosely based on her own real life sexploits premiered on Cinemax in October of 2008, with the first season recently released on DVD.

Kam Williams: Thanks for the interview. You are one of the most ambitious people around. Where does that drive come from?

Zane

Zane: I have always had it. I guess I got it naturally, from my parents. (Chuckles)

KW: You have so many projects in the pipeline besides your erotica, like a line of cosmetics. How’s that coming?

Z: I actually have it all laid out. I have the logos done and am getting ready to place the first order. So, that’s pretty much done.

KW: What about your plans to launch a line of sexual devices?

Z: With anything I do, I feel that if I’m going to be a bear, I want to be a Grizzly. (Laughs) So, while I definitely could launch that today, I want to make sure it’s branded as my line of toys, and that takes a little bit longer. I don’t want to just jump out and start selling adult toys. There’s no challenge in that, honestly.

KW: I read that you’re also planning to produce several movies.

Z: That, I’m definitely working on. I already have the script for “Addicted” done, and it’s being line-budgeted. I’m working on another script now, and also on some more television series.

KW: Congratulations on the release of the first season of “Zane’s Sex Chronicles” on DVD. Did you like the way the book was adapted to the screen?

Z: I was very, very happy with it. From the beginning, my goal was to have the highest-rated show in Cinemax history. We laugh about that now because it was kind of bold when I said it, but we actually achieved it.

KW: Is the show presently on hiatus?

Z: The second season will start airing on Cinemax on March 5th. But there will be a sneak preview of the first episode on February 13th for Valentine’s Day.

KW: What was the source of our inspiration for this steamy series?    

Z: I had led a double-life for more than five years. So, it’s really about me and how I led a double-life that my friends and family knew nothing about.

KW: With your father being a minister and your mother being a schoolmarm, how did they react to learning the truth that you were the best-selling author of all this popular, graphic erotica?

Z: Their reaction was nothing like I expected. More than anything else, they were interested in understanding why I felt like I couldn’t talk to them about it. They really had raised us to self-explore and to do anything we wanted to do, so they were very open about it. My father understood how he had raised me and, in his opinion, sex is a very natural part of life, and how everybody got here. And he definitely understands the basic purpose behind what I do. It’s not just writing about sex.   

KW: Do you take credit for creating this whole movement of black erotica?

Z: There was already an underground movement of black erotica. And I didn’t start out to write erotica. This wasn’t anything that was planned. I just started writing short stories for self-entertainment when I was living in this little hick town in North Carolina. One night, one of my friends handed me a story to read that was being circulated around at the factory where she worked. It turned out to be one of mine somehow. That was when I realized I was kinda on to something….

KW: How would you describe your books? As erotica? As romance? Are they aimed at a specific audience?

Z: A common misconception is that my books are about sex. I think my books are really about life. The sex is literally the last thing I write when composing a book. I write the rest of it first, and then go back and fill in the sex scenes. Even with the TV series, I believe my readers appreciate and really get into the character development. So, my stories are really about life and different issues people are dealing with. And they aren’t aimed at a specific audience.

KW: You’re a single woman, I suppose that when you’re dating a guy who knows you’re Zane, he must feel a certain amount of performance anxiety.

Z: Frankly, yes. (Laughs)

KW: Children’s book author, Irene Smalls…asks…where do you want to go next as an entrepreneur?

Z: My goal for this year is to delve deeper into movies and television. In addition to that, I’ll be starting a Zane-branded music label, because music has always been an important part of my life, and I like to do things I’m passionate about. Music in many ways defines who I am today. Prince is almost single-handedly responsible for my being sexually uninhibited. (LOL) And I write to music. So, music, in many ways, has defined me….

KW: How old are your children, and do they know that you’re Zane?  

Z: Yes, they do. They’re 6, 15 and 22….And until recently, when I did “The Mo’Nique Show,” nobody at my daughter’s school knew. But a secretary recognized me…

KW: How do you want to be remembered?

Z: As someone who made her own path in life, and left her own trail.