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dennisreynolds

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This is an ironic topic for me to be posting, considering I just asked people what they've learned writing erotica. This is not in relation to that post.

My goal with writing erotica for amazon is to make $200+ a month for my stories, hopefully at that level within the next couple of months. More is great, but I got a lot of other irons in the fire.

My issue is there's 101 things people say online about this stuff. I've gleaned a lot of information, and now it comes to finishing my story and getting a cover, but sometimes it's so much I feel like giving up before publishing my book. Maybe that sounds kind of silly, but it's true.

For example, I don't know how many words my story should be. Some say 3000 so I can produce more, some say 6000, others 10. Right now mine is 4.


Anyways point is, does anyone else deal with this? Or did they deal with it starting out?

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Mildly anxious
 

Maryn

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Dennis, I'm not the boss of how you go about your writing business, but I'm telling you that you really have to slow down. You seem to view this as a make-money-quick operation--which it can be for some--but haven't yet taken the time needed to learn the craft or the business. From what I gather, this is your first foray into erotic fiction. The expectation of making $200 a month from the first thing you write in the genre is not realistic, and you are most likely setting yourself up for disappointment.

What we'd much rather see is your success. That entails taking the time and making the effort to master the craft and learn how the business works.

For instance, word count. Your post mentions "publishing my book" but you don't know how long a book is. (The "rule" is 50K, but in reality even short books more often clock in around 65K.) And you mention stories but don't know how long they are. (They range from 1000 words to perhaps 10K.) The thing is, you need to make sure your buyers never feel they got ripped off. You want to give them both quality and quantity commensurate with the price they paid, or they won't buy another from you.

I think you'd be wise to research the online market more thoroughly. How long is the erotica you're buying? What did it cost? Was it worth the price? Would you buy that author's next story or book?

Maryn, mother-henning yet again
 

dennisreynolds

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Ah yes. Thank you all that info makes sense. Haha I wrote this right before bed so I should clarify something I said that may look weird - I meant $200 a month with more than one story. With many stories. Haha it would be silly to imagine I could make that much with one - if that was the case, literally everyone would do this because then it would be a get rich quick.

But yes, research seems to be the name of the game. And I should have also clarified I mean erotic short stories. I have no plans to write a long book in this genre - maybe in another like creativity or self help etc.

Sincerely,
Half Asleep
 

c.m.n.

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Before I chime in, keep in mind that I have "somewhat" done what you're trying last year. I only had a few stories, so my experience spans about a 4 month timeline, but I've also hung around a lot of people who do publish short erotica stories and have learned a lot of tips and tricks from them over the last year. YMMV

For example, I don't know how many words my story should be.
(Bolding mine)

How many stories do you have written so far? If you're wanting to hit $200+ per month, you need to release a short story every week. So, therefore you need to have 4 short stories written, edited, covered, and ready to go (preferrably more) before you even consider hitting publish.

For me and several others I've talked to online, one story a month wouldn't pull in too much depending on your pricing. If you go exclusively KU, advertise, and build your mailing list, your royalties will go up, but that takes time. So for publishing short erotica, the consensus is to go for at least 4 shorts per month.

For example, I don't know how many words my story should be. Some say 3000 so I can produce more, some say 6000, others 10. Right now mine is 4.

4k is a decent word count for a short erotica story. Really, you don't have to conform to any amount as long as the story is well written. I wouldn't worry about this much. Maybe just give yourself a limit: say 3k-6k per story. 8k as the limit.

My issue is there's 101 things people say online about this stuff. I've gleaned a lot of information, and now it comes to finishing my story and getting a cover, but sometimes it's so much I feel like giving up before publishing my book. Maybe that sounds kind of silly, but it's true.


Anyways point is, does anyone else deal with this? Or did they deal with it starting out?

You're going to run into a million (maybe not that many) people online, like myself, all with different experiences and differing opinions on what you should do. The biggest thing that counts is to try some of their suggestions. If they work, keep notes. If they don't work, toss it.

Writing erotica for market is difficult, but it can be done. I'd like to suggest you check out the forum Dirty Discourse. It's exclusively for erotic authors and you can find a lot of great tips there from people who do this on a daily. There is at least a $5 monthly fee, but it's worth it for at least one month.

Good luck!
 

Maryn

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Oh, good, someone with actual experience weighed in. Thanks, c.m.n.
 

c.m.n.

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Oh, good, someone with actual experience weighed in. Thanks, c.m.n.

I wouldn't call it "experience". More like a feeble attempt. It helps to hang around a group of like-minded erotica authors for 4 months out of the year, though. :)
 

Seaclusion

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I have been writing in this genre for about 18 months. My stories vary from 3500 wds to 8500wds and I now have 20 published.

It took me many attempts to find what kinks my readers wanted the most, and now I try to stick to writing to those. You will have to find what your readers really want and what your style is best suited for. Once you do, they will buy. But be realistic. You cannot charge much for a short story and therefore will not get much royalty and it takes a long time to build a loyal readership. Once you have built one though, they will gobble up your new releases instantly. Then the sales will slide to a slow, but steady drip, and you will need to release another story.

In my experience, a well-thought-out, subtly provocative title is more important than the cover. Especially given that the covers must be PG for Amazon.

BTW, I am nowhere near $200/mo net.
 
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Maryn

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Seaclusion, please feel free to say, "No way," but would you be willing to share what price you charge and how many sales you make in a typical month? It could be helpful not just for the OP but for the lurkers following along.

Or--listen up, other lurkers--anyone who self-publishes short stories or erotica of other lengths on Amazon and/or other platforms, we'd love to have some numbers to help us have realistic expectations. If you are not willing to have your sales numbers connected to your user name, if you are willing to share them with me (and yes, I can keep a secret), I would be happy to post figures anonymously. What I'm after is the average price you charge, whether it's stories, novellas, or novels, and how many units you sell in a typical month.

Maryn, thanking you all in advance
 

Seaclusion

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Here's what I can say. In the beginning I started out pricing at $2.99 (For the 70% royalty rate), running at that price for about 4 weeks, then running a countdown for the 5 day max, then lowering to .99 and finally enrolling the story in Kindle Unlimited.

The results were less than satisfactory. I would only get a few sales at $2.99, a few more at the countdown price, then a few more at the final price of $.99. By the time my book reached the .99 price, the thirty day new book listing would be over and sales were few and far between.

Since I always eventually wound up pricing at .99, I now start each new release at .99. I get a rash of sales for the first two weeks, (Probably more from my followers than the new release listing), that tapers off to under 5 per week for each title and seems to remain at that level for a long time. Although to be honest, this week has been atrocious as far as sales are concerned.

YMMV, but this is after 18 months. Get rich quick, ha, ha, h&*%#, sorry, choked for a minute, 'NO WAY'. Having fun being creative and doing something I enjoy, priceless.
 
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Maryn

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Thank you so much for your honesty. I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates your candor.

Anybody else want to share some of their stats?
 

c.m.n.

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(Keep in mind, this information I gathered from 2016. The market changes so rapidly, I don't know if it's even prevalent anymore.)

I always priced my erotic shorts at 2.99 based on recommendations from other authors. Pretty much, the consensus was: always start short stories at 2.99 no matter the length and save .99 for discounts only. I was exclusively using Kindle Unlimited, and the only promo I ever did was send out ARCs through the FB ARC reader group.

Between June and July 2016 was the best two months I had during this experiment. I'd released a new book with lots of great reviews coming in. But I only earned around $40 from Amazon.com (not counting other areas) over those two months. So as you can see, yes it's rough. That's only about $20 a month, even with the good reviews coming in.

I'd sold 25 books in June, and 22 books in July.

What's strange is that book sales dropped horrendously in August. I sold one book, had 3 page views, and made 2 cents. :Shrug: Oh, wait. This is the time when Amazon page views went kooky and everyone noticed their views had dropped (it's still happening, btw). This also marks the time when a lot of authors said "to hell with Amazon KU" and went wide.

Oh, this is what the suggestions for pricing was for erotica:

.99 discounts or sales (only)
2.99 for any story up to 30k
3.99 for any story above 40k

For erotic romance, it's just a tad different. Start at $2.99 for stories up to 30k. Then, a lot lot of authors are meeting current epub pricing at 3.99 - 4.99 for any story 30k+. But never go to 6.99 unless you've written a long-ass masterpiece.

Never price at $1.99. It's always been "a trap" number, and no one buys. I've seen this with my own stories.
 
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thethinker42

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I don't make much from shorts. I publish them now and then in between my longer works, but rarely see even $10-20/month from a single short.

I either price mine at $0.99 or $2.99 (and pretty much always in KU). Like CMN said, $1.99 is a black hole price - nothing sells at that price. $2.99 is the threshold for 70% royalties on Amazon, so I aim for a word count where I can justify charging that much. If it's super short (under 10K) or it's a little longer but just isn't moving, I'll put it at $0.99.

You might try selling a few to anthologies to help get your name out there. That way you can rely on a publisher's marketing and pull in readers of other authors in the collection. Don't expect to make a ton of money, but if it's a decent publisher and a solid antho, they can do all right. My short stories in anthologies have, over the course of 3-4 years, pulled in between $100-350. It's not a lot, but it doesn't hurt either.

If you're serious about trying to make money, I would highly recommend aiming for longer fiction. Not necessarily novel length, but at least novellas. People's book budgets are tight these days. If they can get a novella for $2.99, they might be reluctant to spend the same for a short story. Your mileage may vary, but I see a lot more movement on my novels/novellas than short stories, regardless of genre or heat level.

The biggest factor, IMHO, is getting your name out there as someone writing what people want to read. Which means figure out your brand (paranormal BDSM? contemporary office? a little of everything?), make sure your quality is consistent (well-edited, attractive covers, solid stories), and get yourself in people's faces (get reviewed, do some blog tours, etc - marketing in general). Some people have started out with doing free fiction on their blogs, Wattpad, or Literotica, and then moved into paid fiction once they had a fanbase, and this seems to be a pretty effective strategy. Once readers trust you to consistently produce what they want to read, they'll stick with you and rec you to other readers.

As with everything, your mileage may vary, but the above has been my experience.
 

dennisreynolds

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This is great information! I've read a lot about the $2.99 price point as well. I guess everyone feels and reaches success different ways, at different times.
 

Maryn

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However, over in Office Party there's a thread to Ruin Thanksgiving in Four Words. It's not that hard.