I just submitted my first story...

[FreyaGersemi]

Hello, all! To paraphrase a famous phrase, "long time viewer, first time poster." I have an FYI and a couple of questions.

First, if you submit your initial story and make ANY changes to anything, be sure to resubmit it!! Mine sat in "drafts" for seven days before I realized!!! :-(

Now, a few questions (and I did spend almost three hours searching this forum and a few weeks doing independent research, so I'm not just asking someone else to do all my work)...

How do I cash in??

I've been a published author for almost 30 years, have self-published books, written articles for print media, blah-blah-blah... Still have a day job.

I saw a news report of a woman on FansOnly who is earning $90K per month (incidentally, she was found out and lost her "normal" job, but I don't think she's super concerned at this point!). I do not want to pose nude and my beauty years are behind me, so I figured I could write erotica. I spent the last few months writing twenty-five stories (averaging 3,500 words each) about a young lady and her sexual adventures. I'd say it's more "romance," but still plenty of graphic scenes. No ped, non-con, abusive, etcetera.

It seems that trying to sell on an established site can be an issue. Mainly you play by their rules. You could build your profile up and then suddenly get shut down and lose it all. A few years ago, an online algorithm flagged something I wrote as copyright infringement and it took weeks for me to finally prove that the copyright infringement they found was for MY OWN copyright. Ugh!!

I read about someone writing and publishing their material for free (one of the sites they used was this one!) and setting up a way for people to tip them. The downside, I would think, is the lack of a steady income that subscribers would provide.

One way that looked promising was doing it yourself. Simply setting up a way to accept payment and a way to get stories out to subscribers. This would be more work, but possibly more freedom, reliability, and less fees taken out of subscribers' payments (therefore less end money for you).

So, what are your thoughts on this? Any success stories you'd like to share? Any failures you'd like to share? Any advice at all?

Thank you so much and I look forward to becoming a real part of this community!!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hi and welcome,

Congrats on the first story.

Can’t provide any help on cashing in. I just write for fun. I have a job.

Em

 

[geronimo_appleby]

i was put on to a publisher by a 'face' on this site. they spread the publication around a lot of areas, pay royalties every month, and are all-round good people. if i wasn't so lazy, i'd put a book out each month (10k words would be my minimum), and probably get a load more money than i do.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Welcome aboard.

If you've been a published author for 30 years, I think you can expect some people to be reaching out to you with that exact question.

 

[alohadave]

If you can write consistently, a Patreon may be what you are looking for for monetization.

It requires that you offer your patrons either exclusive content, or advance access to content before you post other places like here. But if you find fans that want to read your stuff, you can generate steady, monthly income.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Hi and welcome,

Congrats on the first story.

Can’t provide any help on cashing in. I just write for fun. I have a job.

Em

Thank you!!

I also have a job (that I've been working for decades), but I also love to write and I'm hoping to be able to earn a little money for all the time and effort that I have put into writing over the last 30+ years.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Welcome aboard.

If you've been a published author for 30 years, I think you can expect some people to be reaching out to you with that exact question.

Thank you!! I've been a published author, but... getting articles published for a few bucks (or free), self-publishing books and selling them out of your garage, and the occasional placement in a poetry contest hasn't really earned me a whole lot of money. I'm just hoping to somehow turn something that I enjoy doing into something that can earn a little income.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Welcome, and good luck with your writing. I'll second what @alohadave said, but you need to build up a sizeable readership first and be able to provide new content on a regular basis. It takes some time but it is worth it in the long run, assuming you got what it takes

 

[FreyaGersemi]

i was put on to a publisher by a 'face' on this site. they spread the publication around a lot of areas, pay royalties every month, and are all-round good people. if i wasn't so lazy, i'd put a book out each month (10k words would be my minimum), and probably get a load more money than i do.

Perhaps I've put too much thought into this (although to succeed at anything, I don't believe you can put in too much thought... or effort!), but right now, I have twenty-five stories averaging just over 3K words each stockpiled up. It's a series with consistent characters and development, although each story does stand on its own merit, too. I'm thinking of releasing a story every two weeks, then a book for sale of that year's output (~80K words). Maybe offering perks like writing someone into a story, etcetera...

Still thinking of everything...

 

[FreyaGersemi]

If you can write consistently, a Patreon may be what you are looking for for monetization.

It requires that you offer your patrons either exclusive content, or advance access to content before you post other places like here. But if you find fans that want to read your stuff, you can generate steady, monthly income.

Thank you. I've never does Patreon, but I've heard that they have some odd rules regarding anything R-rated and above. With that being said, do you think a 3-4K-word story released every two weeks be considered steady?

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Welcome, and good luck with your writing. I'll second what @alohadave said, but you need to build up a sizeable readership first and be able to provide new content on a regular basis. It takes some time but it is worth it in the long run, assuming you got what it takes

I'm hoping I have what it takes!! I'm just not sure where to start (besides writing the stories -- that's the easy part!!).

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not to throw darts at your ballons, but 91K a year is a lofty goal for any writer. Most full-time professional writers are lucky to earn a modest living from their endeavors. Many don't do that. Self-publishing for the mass market has its ups and downs. There are sites you can earn money from reads, one of which you can link to here. You can choose to link to one site where you sell your work. My link goes to Amazon. I sell at three locations, (I do have a small-time publisher/editor/cover-creator) Smashwords, BookApy (you'll sell more there if you post some stories at their other sites for free or behind their paywall), and, as I said before, Amazon.

If you're looking to get rich, writing probably won't do it. If, like me, you want to supplement the household income, have at it.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Not to throw darts at your ballons, but 91K a year is a lofty goal for any writer. Most full-time professional writers are lucky to earn a modest living from their endeavors. Many don't do that. Self-publishing for the mass market has its ups and downs. There are sites you can earn money from reads, one of which you can link to here. You can choose to link to one site where you sell your work. My link goes to Amazon. I sell at three locations, (I do have a small-time publisher/editor/cover-creator) Smashwords, BookApy (you'll sell more there if you post some stories at their other sites for free or behind their paywall), and, as I said before, Amazon.

If you're looking to get rich, writing probably won't do it. If, like me, you want to supplement the household income, have at it.

Thank you!! I'm not looking to get rich at all!!!! I'm just wondering if I could somehow make a few bucks out of something that I love to do (writing). I would very happily settle for minimum wage on my time!!! As of now, I've been writing for much less my entire life!!!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thank you!! I'm not looking to get rich at all!!!! I'm just wondering if I could somehow make a few bucks out of something that I love to do (writing). I would very happily settle for minimum wage on my time!!! As of now, I've been writing for much less my entire life!!!

Consider it coffee money only. Unless you get on the hamster wheel and churn out content content content constantly, you won't make much money from erotica. With so much free content, people rarely pay. There are a few people around who have monetized their content, but they'll rarely tell you exactly how much they earn.

I did several books a few years ago (there's a link in my Sig-block), and I might have sold a dozen. It was fun, I got some nice covers, but I'm still in the red, dollars-wise.

I doubt you'd ever make minimum wage from erotica, that's a bit naive.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Consider it coffee money only. Unless you get on the hamster wheel and churn out content content content constantly, you won't make much money from erotica. With so much free content, people rarely pay. There are a few people around who have monetized their content, but they'll rarely tell you exactly how much they earn.

From what I've seen, the most successful approach is to create a good but really long series, build some decent readership, and then start releasing new chapters on Patreon for patrons only. You still release new chapters for free on Lit, but slower than before and with a couple of months delay compared to Patreon content. There are a couple of authors here who were really successful with that model. It takes time to build the readership and it takes good storytelling skills to keep the story alive for so long without dropping the quality (much)

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I get requests from my readers for anthologies. Does anyone have experience with publishing those on Patreon or otherwise?

 

[FreyaGersemi]

From what I've seen, the most successful approach is to create a good but really long series, build some decent readership, and then start releasing new chapters on Patreon for patrons only. You still release new chapters for free on Lit, but slower than before and with a couple of months delay compared to Patreon content. There are a couple of authors here who were really successful with that model. It takes time to build the readership and it takes good storytelling skills to keep the story alive for so long without dropping the quality (much)

Okay. Someone above also mentioned that stories on Literotica that get a lot of positive responses may get noticed by an agent. So, maybe I'll just post for free and see if anything happens. I didn't just wake up one day and think I had a "make it rich quick" scheme or anything. I just figured I would see where this may lead.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Okay. Someone above also mentioned that stories on Literotica that get a lot of positive responses may get noticed by an agent. So, maybe I'll just post for free and see if anything happens. I didn't just wake up one day and think I had a "make it rich quick" scheme or anything. I just figured I would see where this may lead.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=2967464&page=bio

Check this author out for reference. You can see his Patreon page in his bio. Keep in mind that this guy has written millions of words already and it took him a lot of time to build up the interest and readership.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I get requests from my readers for anthologies. Does anyone have experience with publishing those on Patreon or otherwise?

Hey! Are you hijacking my thread!! ;-)
I did look into this, too, and there are print-on-demand places (internet search) that allow you to self-publish and they will only print a book when someone orders a book. This is costly, though, and you would earn less per sale. The other option is to print up some yourself. Paperbacks can be done for under $10.00 each (100 or more copies ordered) and hardcovers for about $13.00 each. The downside is the initial outlay of money. The upside is you can sign copies and probably sell them for more. Especially if you have readers that are asking for books. That's great!! Congratulations!!!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=2967464&page=bio

Check this author out for reference. You can see his Patreon page in his bio. Keep in mind that this guy has written millions of words already and it took him a lot of time to build up the interest and readership.

Thank you! That is very helpful!!

 

[Devinter]

From personal experience, unless you manage to build a large following over time, the best approach is doing commission work. You can set the boundaries for what that means for you. Personally, I wouldn't want anyone else to dictate what the story should truly be about, but I do allow them to pick the fetishes and kinks they want the sexual stuff to be focused on, and the general feel of the story. (Romance, graphic sex, horror, etc)

Sometimes they also want you to add a specific character in there. As in "Female, blonde, this and that tall, these interests.." - I assume they either want to self-insert or add their wife or something. I don't usually ask.

But if you do commissions, make sure you make it clear that you still want to keep ownership of the material, and that after you've written it for them, you can still upload it here or elsewhere - for free or for sale. Most people don't mind that one bit. They just want to read the story and don't care what you do with it afterwards.

Best of luck! And be warned; Commission work is usually less fun than writing what you're really in the mood for, and to adapt to someone else's fetishes, you have to do a fair bit of research in order to get it just right. Furthermore, the more niche fetishes you target, the more likely that someone's willing to pay, as they can't find much of that for free anywhere. So expect some really weird requests. I mean, really weird sometimes. Brace yourself.

 

[Gamblnluck]

How do I cash in??

You go to Laurel's home and she will issue a check.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Thread hijacking is a favorite pastime here.

Hey! Are you hijacking my thread!! ;-)
I did look into this, too, and there are print-on-demand places (internet search) that allow you to self-publish and they will only print a book when someone orders a book. This is costly, though, and you would earn less per sale. The other option is to print up some yourself. Paperbacks can be done for under $10.00 each (100 or more copies ordered) and hardcovers for about $13.00 each. The downside is the initial outlay of money. The upside is you can sign copies and probably sell them for more. Especially if you have readers that are asking for books. That's great!! Congratulations!!!

 

[Gamblnluck]

Consider it coffee money only.

Coffee money?!! That is high dollar stuff. Been to a Starbucks lately? I'd love to pay for the beer I drink while I write and that is a bunch but still cheaper than coffee.

I would love to make a few bucks for my efforts. One of my stories here is around the size of a novel, 350k plus. Did not earn a penny. Situation was good but would need to be edited heavily.

I consider this a hobby. I like to tell stories. I know full well somebody could take my ideas and use them elsewhere. Yeah, some people put their copyright bullshit at the beginning of their stories but good luck if somebody stole your story and posted it elsewhere. We have sort of a 'code' to not steal each other's characters or bounce off their story without permission.

 

[Gamblnluck]

Okay. Someone above also mentioned that stories on Literotica that get a lot of positive responses may get noticed by an agent. So, maybe I'll just post for free and see if anything happens. I didn't just wake up one day and think I had a "make it rich quick" scheme or anything. I just figured I would see where this may lead.

I got sent an email (and still get them for writing stories) but they are trying to collect money.