Honestly, my biggest gripe is when people just point to Amazon and call it a day. The curated stuff on there is hit-or-miss, and the algorithm pushes the same ten popular tropes. I’ve had way better luck on smaller sites that feel like they’re run by people who actually read the genre. One place I keep going back to is the Nifty Erotic Story Archive. The interface is straight out of 1999, but the sheer volume and variety are wild—you can find anything from sweet first-time stories to seriously out-there kink, all sorted by category.
It’s not polished, and you’ll definitely wade through some badly written stuff, but that’s part of the charm for me. It feels authentic, like a community archive. I found this one story about two rival mechanics that was so specific and grimy and perfect, something I’d never see on a commercial platform. For more modern, edited work, I browse the 'Quickies' section on the Gay Authors website. The quality is generally higher, and they have writing contests that bring in some really creative pieces.