What started as story swapping to pass the time and a codename to enter a chat room has become a sexually liberating literary revolution that has reached as far as the NY Times Bestseller List.

A series of African-American written tales of erotica has taken the publishing world by storm with over 2.7 million books of sexual freedom sold. Over 10 titles have been released in a variety of languages including Japanese, Swedish and Greek.

The startling force behind these works of passionate erotica is known only as Zane. The nom de plume is thought to be part of what has stirred such interest in the series. The mystery of ‘who is Zane’ was solved in 2004 after years of writing and publishing without revealing the identity.

The unveiling of the woman responsible for titles such as Addicted, Afterburn, Gettin’ Buck Wild, and The Heat Seekers was prompted by staged book signings where stand-ins attempted to take credit as the famed Zane.

The author turns out to be a 40-year-old, Washington D.C.-based mother of three with a publishing business of her own. Zane came into existence in the late 90s for the simple use of a chat room sign on. The wandering interests of the woman behind Zane led her back to a familiar talent: writing. Zane, while living in North Carolina and working as a sales representative, began passing the time by writing. The stories she produced gained popularity on the Internet until the popularity of the innocently picked name took hold.

Now Zane continues writing the straightforward stories about sex that have fans singing her praises. She also continues work with her publishing business, Strebor Books, and uses some of her fame and exposure to help find new authors.