[Retired]

My other identity writes in another genre, and her sales aren't anywhere near what mine are (not that mine are through the roof, though), but in the first month, with one title out each, we were about even.

 

[MichMasoch]

This thread has made me so excited, I may have to whip out a WiP and let my pulse race a while.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your experiences with selling erotica shorts. I have 5 or 6 stories I banged out for one of our websites, mainly as inspiration for the models and companions for photo sets, that I'm expanding and polishing up to publish before I start work on the book rattling around my head. It's certainly inspiring to know that, if all goes well, the rewards will be worth the effort. Hopefully, they can fund the time I'l spend writing the novel ... a girl can hope, at least.

 

[imogen]

Hi Everyone

Lurking on this thread inspired me to finally get off my behind and get writing! It's really great that so many of you take the time and make the effort to provide such good information and support.

It's early days for me - I've just put my first short story up on Smashwords (still waiting for Amazon to approve it for KDP), but I've had a few sales already, which is a good start.

Thanks so much, to all of you.

-- Im

 

[Guest]

I'm doing pretty well for a gal who writes too slow. LOL.

I have seven books out. Four short stories in the 5K range. One collection in the 20K range. Then two longer stories in the 10K range.

I'm about to release my next longish short story, just under 9K long. And a second collection, around 29-30K long.

So that'll bump my titles total to nine. Hoping to get a couple more out this month after that, and one in February, at least. Plus a collection in February. Which will bring me to 13 titles, hopefully, by the end of February.

I must be doing something right, though; I am hauling in $120 so far this month, so I'm looking at my first $200 month, at worst. I hope....


Sarah

 

[Boris Brannigan]

I don't advertise my erotica here. Two reasons for that:
- I don't think people are going to want to buy erotic short sories from me/my pen name just because they see me posting. It's different in other genres, but the whole "trust/connection = sales" dynamic sems weird when it comes to sex. I know I certainly don't want to know who the author is when reading it.
- If it's on the internet, it stays on the internet forever. Someone at some point in the future could use it against me. As long as there are people who have a problem with erotica, it's just an unnecesary risk.

Then how do you get the word out?

Any suggestions for gay erotica?

 

[MichaelEgon]

Just because you write an "erotica" story doesn't mean it's going to sell. But go ahead, anyway. Indulge your hubris. Take your idea for a story and sprinkle in a bit of sex and voila, erotica, and you can get rich quick.

After all, every Tom, Dick, and hussey with a poorly selling sci fi/fantasy/vampire/paranormal/urban/zombie/mystery/romance is jumping on the erotica bandwagon, so join them.

Writing erotica is the panacea for all writing ills and you can retire in six months. Go for it.

 

[Guest]

Hostility much?

Erotica's not "easy money" by any means. But there is a dedicated audience that's hungry for it, so if you can do a good job at it, you can start making some money if you work your tail off for a year or two.

Last month (January) I passed $250 in sales on Amazon for the first time. With nine books out. My tenth is about to go up. My goal is to have about 30 titles out there by the end of the year.

If I meet my goal, I'll have written close to 240,000 words in about a year's time. That's two lengthy novels' worth of writing; that's no small feat.

One good side of erotica is that if you write it well, you can write short stories and novelettes and get a bunch of titles out, and the larger your shelf of titles, the better you do. And erotica readers don't complain as much about ebook prices, so that can be a plus.

But they'll complain just like anyone else about bad writing, poor editing and the like; but not so much via reviews. They just decide not to buy your other stuff. Which is just as bad.

But anyone who thinks writing erotica is easy hasn't tried writing it and writing it well.

And anyone who thinks it's a get-rich-quick scheme, get over yourselves. There's no such thing.

Like most writers, those who do well in erotica work their tails off for a few years before they become "overnight successes."

 

[Shelley K]

Hostility much?

Erotica's not "easy money" by any means. But anyone who thinks writing erotica is easy hasn't tried writing it and writing it well. And anyone who thinks it's a get-rich-quick scheme, get over yourselves. There's no such thing.

Sarah, I'm almost positive Michael's sarcasm was intended for the people who think it's easy money, not the people who take it a bit more seriously. He's saying the same thing you are.

 

[Lady TL Jennings]

A question for those who have experience with bundling their stories...Do you ever have readers who are upset that they brought the stories singly only to see that you later released a bundle that was a little cheaper per story? I did see someone get upset over this (in a collection in another genre), but I wonder if it was because the author included a new story in the bundle that had never been released separately (and people who'd already bought the single stories had to buy the bundle just to get the one new story).

I release my stories one by one and then gather them to a collection. That way my readers can always look forward to a new story about every second week or so. I suppose some people wait until the collection is fininshed, while other like to have the stories as single stories. I write historical romance and erotica with a gothic touch and I think some readers like to hand pick their stories, like chocolate in a sweet shop...

My first collection "Lust and Lace" contains eight short stories (about 2500 words each) and my second collection "Corsets and Cravings" contains five stories (about 4500-5500 words). They both tend to sell overall similar. So far no one has ever complained, but I write out "short story" already in the title and write the word count clearly and generally my returns are lower than average, which I take as a good sign.

I am ridicoulous happy that anyone reads my stories and almost giddy over the fact that people would acctually pay for them, which for you more experienced writer out there may perhaps sound silly...

Good luck with your writing!

/ Lady T. L. Jennings

 

[Peter Rex]

May I ask a question?

I see that a lot of covers are made from/with stockphotos, is there a reason why nobody uses "hand tailored" computer graphics (by using Poser or DAZ-Studio) to create a cover that really shows a scene from the story inside?

Just curious!

 

[Jorja Tabu]

I. Love. This. Thread.

Thank you so much to everyone who posted in it--where did you go?  Did you try select?  Are you smoking in the boy's room?  Can I come? 

 

[Spirit Flame]

First of all Carl246 you are my role model! If I can emulate just a small fraction of the inspiring results you have achieved, I will be a happy man!

I am just a few small weeks away from releasing my first erotic short. It's thanks to KB and threads like this that I have found the inspiration to write and publish.

My first short is going to be slightly over 5k (half of that devoted to one big scene). I'm aiming at $1.99 or there abouts, but I might go slightly higher.
I will have to re-introduce myself as the my erotica titles will be under a pen name.

I'm aiming for upwards of 30 shorts and I know it will be a challenge. However I'm hoping that with each book it will be a shorter development process. This debut title is a learning curve which I am documenting at increments to for future reference.

What do I want to achieve?

Success. I'm hoping to write the most erotic sexually charged stories I can muster! I've researched erotic writing across the internet and continue to learn and find new inspiration all the time.
I am choosing initially a plain vanila but fully descriptive approach from one perspective.

Writing erotica is challenging because (optional story aside) you have to choreograph something that engages/arouses the audience without falling flat and at the same time being plausible.
I hate it when I read other authors scoffing at Erotic writers and proclaiming that anybody can write erotica.

Anybody can attempt any kind of writing period! But where erotica writers differ is that we have to transcend from the "Story" level to that other level that is inherent in all adult people. We don't do fade to black, It's inside that black that our creativity breaks through the concience. Adding sexuality, desire and motivation to character development? Staying within boundaries or branching out?
I would dare say that writing good erotica is therefore more challenging than describing mundane locomotion for descriptions sake.

The fact that erotica attracts a premium price and has a more unique marketing environment compensates the boldness and creativity it takes for people to write in that genre.

Anyway, I intend to be a prolific erotic short writer and I treasure gatherings in threads like this for inspirations!

Success to all!

 

[SwordJazz]

I am finishing the third story in the series I have up on amazon.

I am not selling hundreds a month like many erotica writers, but being April my first full month I am satisfied with 8 sales between both since I got out of the 2days-free kindle select promotion.

I get inspired reading other erotica writers comments.

 

[nathangrant]

This truly is a great thread; my books are doing well and on top of that, they are fun to write!

Nathan

 

[Lily Mia]

I've recently published my first erotica short and look forward to learning lots from here! 

 

[Testimony]

I'm looking at getting started in this genre, and I have a few questions that might be relevant.

Which seems to sell more, male viewpoint or female viewpoint or 3rd person?  Has anyone experimented with 2 out of 3 or all of these viewpoints?

Say I want to publish a set about an open/cuckold type relationship, but then turn around and write another set about BDSM, then another set in another fetish genre...would it be better to keep the same pen name or to publish each under a different one?

 

[swolf]

Which seems to sell more, male viewpoint or female viewpoint or 3rd person? Has anyone experimented with 2 out of 3 or all of these viewpoints?

I see consistent sales across both male and female viewpoints, and almost all of my short stories are told in first person. In my opinion, it gives the reader a more intimate perspective. Then again, I've heard some readers claim they stop reading when they see it's first person.

Say I want to publish a set about an open/cuckold type relationship, but then turn around and write another set about BDSM, then another set in another fetish genre...would it be better to keep the same pen name or to publish each under a different one?

There are advantages and drawbacks to both. The best way to make money in erotica is to write a lot of (good) stories. The more stories you have out there, the more visible you become, and it will drive the sale of your other books.

If you publish under multiple pen names, and spread the stories around, then it's going to be that much harder to reach that point of visibility with the number of titles.

However, if you publish various genres under the same pen name, you risk alienating your readers, because someone who likes one genre may despise another one. If you do decide to use the same pen name, I would strongly suggest branding your different genres differently, so your readers have a visual clue to what's inside.

 

[Speaker-To-Animals]

Publish with the same pen name. The best advertising is the weird critical mass you get from the bought/also bought and also by author lists.

I think the only exception I'd make to that is if you have something that's really close to erotic romance and you want to break into that genre with a publisher. Then it might make sense to use a different pen name if you're writing really out there stuff.

BTW cranking out 3-7k erotica shorts sounds a whole lot easier than it is.

 

[Paranormal Piper]

I'm totally excited to see how well other erotica writers are doing. I'll be thrilled if I can do as half as well as some of you.

Oh *waves*, I'm MJ, a longtime KB lurker that finally decided to step out of the shadows. I figured if I'm going to publish stories about people banging other people, then being brave enough to introduce myself on the forum should be a piece of cake 

 

[DelilahFawkes]

*waves*  Hi, MJ!

And Michael's right, it's not a get rich quick genre that will allow you to retire in 6 months. After all, it took me 9 months to retire .

The beauty of this genre is that if you have a lot of stories and write reasonably well, you can make some nice money per month. Enough to pay some bills, certainly, if nothing blows up and becomes super popular. I've seen lots of folks who started writing erotica this past Spring quit their day jobs or at least brag about making their car payments through smut money. It's awesome!

It's not easy, but if you have the knack for it and are prolific, you can see very nice sales. It's hard work (*snicker*), but it's a living!