Short stories?

I did a short experiment with writing short erotic stories a year or two back. The theme was gay cyborg erotica (seems niche, but niche is how you get noticed) and the stories were between 5-8k words. I put them 4 of them out on Amazon for .99c, with no real advertising. I did get sales--about 100 sales in the month while I was releasing one a week. But the sales dropped off pretty quick once I stopped putting them out, and at 99c each, it didn't really amount to much. I didn't even make the money back that I paid for the cover. Also, almost no one reviewed or rated them. I ultimately decided to collect them all into an anthology and go the publisher route.

That said, I definitely felt like there was potential there. I got the sense that if I had kept with it, putting out a story a week or every two weeks for months and months, that I could have made more of a name for myself or at least gotten quite a few more sales. But at 99c and with the costs of covers, I don't feel like it would have been sustainable for me in the long haul. Your mileage may vary.

The probably mean to sell on Amazon as 99c stories. However this money making option was widely promoted over the last five years and Amazon is loaded up with erotic stories. So unless you write for one of the few remaining under-served niches, generally more obscure or extreme fetishes, that is not really a good option any more.

I don't know if this method is working, because the actual interrelationship between amazon and the various sites I use is murky at best...BUT...

I write a short story a week and put it up for free on as many websites as I can, with a tiny note at the bottom saying: "Hey, you like this? Check my amazon out!"

Then on amazon, I put up collections of my short stories (edited, improved and with an extra story or two to sweeten the pot) and novellas that aren't avaliable elsewhere (my Purgatory Wars series.) I work with an editor and publisher for those novellas.

I have no direct data that implies causation between my short stories and my novella's successes, but I have noticed repeated bumps in sales happening at the same time my new short stories go up.

So...that's one way to do it?

That sounds like a good idea.

I write erotica, and though I never go down as low as 3,000 words, I have gone as low as 3,500 and the story still sold. One of my best sellers is only 5,000 words, and while not shooting the moon, has raked in over 500 sales. Though with only 35 cents royalty, it isn't breaking any ground. If you can go to 10k, do it, but it's not the new 3k. Readers will buy what they want, but few will spend $3 on one that short.

Self publishing isn't that difficult, once you get the hang of it. The thought of the complexity kept me from doing so, and only eight years after I had wanted to publish, did I manage to force myself. If I hadn't, I'd still be waffling about it! Even now, I'm here instead of blazing the trail writing new stories. I have the green light to write, so why am I still hesitating to do so? I wish to know more than the next person! lol