Satire 'Sexy Life, Hello' predicted inevitable outing of adult stars' ghost sexters

Did the novella predict this? Maybe.

News hit this morning that two men are suing OnlyFans after realizing that the person they’re talking to on the other end might not be who they think it is.

The novella Sexy Life, Hello, which came out on March 6 on Banana Pitch Press, offers just such a scenario. When a school teacher-turned nanny takes on a ghost sexter-for-hire position (which she navigates while nannying for twin toddlers named Franny and Zooey), she starts raking in the dough.

“Sexy sells, baby!” Jane tells a friend, whose jaw just dropped when she realized how much money Jane was making as a ghost sexter.

So, what is this term, “ghost sexting?”

As a former ghostwriter of memoirs and nonfiction books, I was always looking for new and interesting ghost writing opportunities. When I came across an add for a ghostsexter, I could not help but apply.

The book details how it all works. In my fictional version, Lola, the porn star, interviews Jane to be one of her many sexters. In recent years, Lola has become quite famous. She is a darling of the adult entertainment industry, and as a mother to two young children, Lola realizes that she might be aging out of the online sextertainment industry soon.

So, Lola starts dipping her toes in new possibilities. And, since she can’t be locked to her computer all the time chatting with her ever-growing fan base, Lola starts hiring people to do it for her.

Ghost sexters like Jane pull from Lola’s massive library of photos and videos and through lengthy and elaborate chats, convince Lola’s customers to fork over extra tips for “custom” content. Jane is able to steer the conversation in just such the right way to get these customers thinking these photos and videos were made just for them.

Only, the content she’s sending over isn’t really custom, and they’re not actually talking to Lola.

According to 404 Media, one of the plaintiffs in the OnlyFans lawsuit became suspicious of who he was talking to when he started seeing discrepancies in his chat correspondences — and, he realized that realistically: how could one woman really be interacting with her thousands of fans all the time?

Part of the tension in the novella is if and how Jane will get caught fraud sexting. Like the dudes in this lawsuit, someone, it seems, may be catching onto Jane. It brings up the question: is it wrong, what Lola’s sexting crew is doing? Is it fraud? If you’re still talking to a real person and still seeing real images (and face it, still getting off), is it so bad?

You can read how the Sexy Life, Hello story unfolds by snagging it through all the main book places (Powell’s, Amazon, a small bookstore of your choosing) or you can listen to the audiobook on Apple or Audible or at the library, narrated by yours truly.

I’d love to hear what you think, and I’m intrigued to learn where this lawsuit will go.