[LSBurton]

When you think about how trends change, or opinions vary, it can get a little dicey. Back in 2013 or so, writers of erotica were making huge sales off of the 50 Shades train. A few years later, they started cracking down on erotica and now it seems a more modest venture.

 

[Alex Anders]

Relying on KDP is very unstable. It can be fine for a while, even a few years, and then they could delete you from their platform without explanation. At the same time, some subgenres only sell in a meaningful way on Amazon. Diversifying is always the most stable strategy, though.

Having said that, I've been making my living with it for years. But I did go through a year of absolute and complete hell. Nightmarish dystopian hell. Do you meditate?

 

[RandioGo]

Frankly speaking, after the replies here I wouldn't recognize it as a decent and, what's important, stable source of revenue. I myself decided to search for other options. By the link here there's an opportunity to find many jobs in many fields. And I will take this opportunity.

 

[jb1111]

When you think about how trends change, or opinions vary, it can get a little dicey. Back in 2013 or so, writers of erotica were making huge sales off of the 50 Shades train. A few years later, they started cracking down on erotica and now it seems a more modest venture.

There are erotica writers on the erotica writer reddit who claim to make a lot of money off erotica on the Zon. But yeah, it's never been a gravy train for most authors, and some who were making a killing in 2013 are barely producing books now. Like has said here on KB a lot, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Alex Anders]

I was one of those people who did quite well with erotica in 2013. But, honestly, I'm making more money now with last year being my best ever. The difference is I got smarter about how and what I published. But I'm pretty sure that my publishing strategy would be unrecognizable to most authors. I very much think outside of the box.

 

[jb1111]

I was one of those people who did quite well with erotica in 2013. But, honestly, I'm making more money now with last year being my best ever. The difference is I got smarter about how and what I published. But I'm pretty sure that my publishing strategy would be unrecognizable to most authors. I very much think outside of the box.

I've looked over your website, and you appear to be 'wide' with most of your books, and publish under several, seemingly related pen names, in multiple genres and subgenres. You're juggling a lot of genre hats but if you're doing well that's definitely a credit to your writing and marketing ability. Most of us probably stick to a couple genres and maybe two pen names, if that.

 

[Alex Anders]

I've looked over your website, and you appear to be 'wide' with most of your books, and publish under several, seemingly related pen names, in multiple genres and subgenres. You're juggling a lot of genre hats but if you're doing well that's definitely a credit to your writing and marketing ability. Most of us probably stick to a couple genres and maybe two pen names, if that.

I've been publishing since 2009 so they've added up. Currently I'm publishing concurrently in four sub genres of romance. That would be the experiential benefit of 12 years of genre hopping. Haha.

But, all of my most recent books are KU... except my most, most recent. They are wide until the audiobooks are completed. Then they will go KU.

 

[Joe Vasicek]

I was one of those people who did quite well with erotica in 2013. But, honestly, I'm making more money now with last year being my best ever. The difference is I got smarter about how and what I published. But I'm pretty sure that my publishing strategy would be unrecognizable to most authors. I very much think outside of the box.

Out of curiosity, what are some of the more innovative and out-of-the-box things you're doing? I also do a lot of things that most indies aren't really doing, like keeping a detailed (about 50 pages) business plan and updating it every year, or pricing all my short story singles at free and regularly sharing them on Reddit and the free promo sites. Lately, I've been building an online author bookstore to sell direct, and plan to offer a discount on paperbacks if the customer has already bought the ebook (or offer the ebook free with purchase of paperback). Don't see a lot of other authors trying this kind of stuff.

 

[Alex Anders]

Out of curiosity, what are some of the more innovative and out-of-the-box things you're doing? I also do a lot of things that most indies aren't really doing, like keeping a detailed (about 50 pages) business plan and updating it every year, or pricing all my short story singles at free and regularly sharing them on Reddit and the free promo sites. Lately, I've been building an online author bookstore to sell direct, and plan to offer a discount on paperbacks if the customer has already bought the ebook (or offer the ebook free with purchase of paperback). Don't see a lot of other authors trying this kind of stuff.

I had to really think about whether I was going to share this. So, before I do, I'll say, if anyone who reads this has published less than five books and after reading this feels the impulse to tell me I'm doing it wrong, please keep your opinion to yourself. After the last time I shared something strategic, someone with one book posted multiple replies insisting that what I was doing was "b***" and that I was doing it wrong. At that time I decided that sharing anything outside the box wasn't worth it.

But, here is what I'm doing now. I am only creating stories that I can adapt into multiple subgenres. I am then creating audiobooks out of them as well as translating all of the adaptations into four languages.

And knowing that I have historically earned 70+% of my income from KU reads, every book in a series past book one will be an anthology including all the previous books. That removes the barrier of the reader having to decide to go get the previous book. Instead they could just keep reading guaranteeing me a high read through.

I also increase the cost of each book in a series by a dollar. So, book six would be $7.99 which is a lot easier to turn a profit with with ads.

So, in summary, I'm turning one story into 24 books with the majority being additive anthologies with increasing prices.

 

[Rick Partlow]

I had to really think about whether I was going to share this. So, before I do, I'll say, if anyone who reads this has published less than five books and after reading this feels the impulse to tell me I'm doing it wrong, please keep your opinion to yourself. After the last time I shared something strategic, someone with one book posted multiple replies insisting that what I was doing was "b***" and that I was doing it wrong. At that time I decided that sharing anything outside the box wasn't worth it.

But, here is what I'm doing now. I am only creating stories that I can adapt into multiple subgenres. I am then creating audiobooks out of them as well as translating all of the adaptations into four languages.

And knowing that I have historically earned 70+% of my income from KU reads, every book in a series past book one will be an anthology including all the previous books. That removes the barrier of the reader having to decide to go get the previous book. Instead they could just keep reading guaranteeing me a high read through.

I also increase the cost of each book in a series by a dollar. So, book six would be $7.99 which is a lot easier to turn a profit with with ads.

So, in summary, I'm turning one story into 24 books with the majority being additive anthologies with increasing prices.

That's very innovative! Do you find that that approach brings in more new readers than your experience on KU? How does your income prior to this compare to now?

 

[Alex Anders]

That's very innovative! Do you find that that approach brings in more new readers than your experience on KU? How does your income prior to this compare to now?

The adaption idea is new and none of the English adaptations are in KU yet so I don't really have financial info on it. I am also adapting into more popular genres that I haven't published in for years. So, I will never have an apples to apples comparison.

Having said that, yes. On Apple, I think I'm reaching new readers. Also, in Italian, my also-boughts on the pre-orders don't overlap with each other. So, my past readers are pre-ordering one of my adaptions and not another, but other readers are.

However, one of my marketing pushes will be to encourage people to consider reading one of the other adaptations if they do plan on rereading the book. So, I will probably never know for sure how distinct the audiences are.

 

[Silly Writer]

I had to really think about whether I was going to share this. So, before I do, I'll say, if anyone who reads this has published less than five books and after reading this feels the impulse to tell me I'm doing it wrong, please keep your opinion to yourself. After the last time I shared something strategic, someone with one book posted multiple replies insisting that what I was doing was "b***" and that I was doing it wrong. At that time I decided that sharing anything outside the box wasn't worth it.

But, here is what I'm doing now. I am only creating stories that I can adapt into multiple subgenres. I am then creating audiobooks out of them as well as translating all of the adaptations into four languages.

And knowing that I have historically earned 70+% of my income from KU reads, every book in a series past book one will be an anthology including all the previous books. That removes the barrier of the reader having to decide to go get the previous book. Instead they could just keep reading guaranteeing me a high read through.

I also increase the cost of each book in a series by a dollar. So, book six would be $7.99 which is a lot easier to turn a profit with with ads.

So, in summary, I'm turning one story into 24 books with the majority being additive anthologies with increasing prices.

So if I understand it correctly:
You publish Book 1 at say.... 3.99
Then... when book 2 comes out, you add it to the back of Book 1--so it has Book 1 & 2, and sell it for 4.99
Then... when book 3 comes out, you add it to the back of Book 2--so it has Book 1,2, and 3, sell for 5.99

So do you take down each of these boxsets when the next book publishes? So there's only every 1 copy of that series?

...if that's what you're doing, interesting. How's it working out so far?

 

[Alex Anders]

So if I understand it correctly:
You publish Book 1 at say.... 3.99
Then... when book 2 comes out, you add it to the back of Book 1--so it has Book 1 & 2, and sell it for 4.99
Then... when book 3 comes out, you add it to the back of Book 2--so it has Book 1,2, and 3, sell for 5.99

You have described it correctly.

And, I leave the old ones up as incomplete series anthologies.

But, I should note that I put the next book up as pre-orders that cost the price of a single release. And I put a note at the end of the most recently released book for the readers to "get the next book in the series now for a special pre-order discount because the price will go up the day after release."

How's it working for me? Good question. I am constantly looking for evidence that this is harming my income or sales in some way. After all, if it's working so well, wouldn't everyone be doing it? I couldn't be the only one to have thought of this, right? Why aren't more people doing it?

But after a year of doing it, I had my best year ever last year while writing books in a subgenre that has devolved into near obscurity. I have to assume that my good year was in large part because of this strategy. But, who can be certain?