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Erotica and... money?

Smashwords.com

kdp.amazon.com

Those are the two I use...there are others...someone else will be along and post those.
 
Zeb_Carter said:
Smashwords.com

kdp.amazon.com

Those are the two I use...there are others...someone else will be along and post those.
Click to expand...

I'm still waiting for the link to "SellmystoriestoBillGatescausemyassisbroke.com"
 
Erotica provides the foundation of the e-book world, which, though it's plateauing out, is quite lucrative, yes. You can either self-publish your work (Amazon.com, Smashwords, etc.) or try to get a publisher to publish for you. There are a ton of e-publishers. They will be identified with books like you want to publish on on-line distributors and you can just go to their Web sites to check out their submissions requirements.
 
MSTarot said:
I'm still waiting for the link to "SellmystoriestoBillGatescausemyassisbroke.com"
Click to expand...

Well if it makes you feel better amazon is getting close to

"heyindyauthorspostyourstorieshereandmakememoneyandthenIwilltrytodoeverythingIcantosuckthecocksofthebigsixandforceyouoffthesitecom."
 
I certainly hope it can be done. I leave Wednesday for Florida and the Caribbean and expect my fourth quarter 2013 royalties to cover the costs.
 
DoodlyDo said:
You guys crack me up! If you are serious (I suspect you are), rad!

Any thoughts on Amazon vs Smashmouth regarding erotica. At first blush, it appears erotica is much less disguised on Smashmouth. If you publish the same work on both, which do you experience better results on? I'm guessing KDP brings a much larger audience... but I can't seem to find their rules regarding what will be censored.

Is there a trick to publishing taboo works on Amazon?

50 Shades is to erotica writers what Wool is to sci-fi. But I believe there is money out there, just waiting to be parted from horny little fingers. :D

Any of you guys successfully quit your day job to write erotica?
Click to expand...

Smashwords had pretty much no limits except underage. Amazon is pretty much the same, but also will not accept real incest.

They will accept "step or pseudo incest" but they did a big clean up on that and certain words are not allowed in titles or descriptions anymore. You also have to be more careful with covers over there as well.

Amazon is the biggest market, but whatever price you sell for there you cannot sell lower anywhere else.

One word of advice NEVER lock into kindle select. That means you sell exclusively there and that's not wise, why lock yourself into one market?
 
DoodlyDo said:
You guys crack me up! If you are serious (I suspect you are), rad!

Any thoughts on Amazon vs Smashmouth regarding erotica. At first blush, it appears erotica is much less disguised on Smashmouth. If you publish the same work on both, which do you experience better results on? I'm guessing KDP brings a much larger audience... but I can't seem to find their rules regarding what will be censored.

Is there a trick to publishing taboo works on Amazon?

50 Shades is to erotica writers what Wool is to sci-fi. But I believe there is money out there, just waiting to be parted from horny little fingers. :D

Any of you guys successfully quit your day job to write erotica?
Click to expand...

Thoughts on Amazon vs Smashwords? Yes. Both. Plus any other distribution sites you can get it on. I think mine go on seven sites now (But Sony E-books is going out of business on 20 March). E-books aren't any different in sales points than print books--get them on as many points of sale as you can.

I don't know what taboo categories you would be talking about. I've had a book or three taken down from Amazon (and two go back up). But I have so many books up that one or two don't make much difference.

My day job now IS writing and editing (but I've got a great annuity and some nice stocks too). Not just erotica, but I hide the erotica inside my overall work, so I don't bother to break it out.

And, yes, there's money out there, but you'd be coming late to the party. The cleanup time peak was at least two years ago before the offerings were up and people hadn't gotten their Kindles stuffed with 40 years of reading yet. Most of the money now is for those of us who have established a buyer base.
 
Don't let the previous comment dissuade you. There is money out there. What is making it difficult is amazon which is the biggest market is constantly trying to find ways to hide indy books and try to make people buy only major published stuff.

But I do pretty well there and so do many others. But you won't hit it on one book(odds are) putting an e-book up is like tossing a rock in the ocean. A lot of luck is involved and you never really know what will sell.

I have books I've all but bled over and they sell meh. On the other hand I have had mindless step mother stories make me as much as $700 in one month.

One thing that helps is to keep putting stuff up there. That way if people buy one thing they like they will come back for more. Anytime I put up something new my older stuff gets a little life breathed back into them.
 
My stories appear in marketplace e-book anthologies first. Then, at least three months after those anthologies launch, I start posting the stories separately here at Literotica (and elsewhere as well). They then exist both here and in anthologies in the marketplace that continue to sell (a phenomenon that no one saw coming--that buyers would buy something in an e-book that they could get for free if they just looked for it).

I also write novellas and novels to the marketplace. I've gone two ways in relationship with Literotica on these. For years I published with a publisher without taking profit from the books (helping the publisher start up and also because I hadn't figured out how to hide taking money for the books while still being square with the taxman). Eight months to a year after those books entered the marketplace, I posted them here as well. Now, having figured out the "taking money" cut-out system, I publish with publishers I take royalties from. Whereas I do post stories published with them in anthologies here on Literotica, I don't post novellas and novels I've published with them here on Literotica.

The idea that you can't post here and also publish the same material to the marketplace is a myth. I've been doing it for nearly a decade.

As far as cover images, my publishers use 123rf, depositphotos, and a couple of other services. Yes, they say the images can't be used for smut. But you sort of have to know how to read the business world. There are some things that need to be said for one reason or another but that doesn't mean they have to trump money-making transactions. As long as no one is screaming about it, a whole lot is possible. It also helps not to ask a lot of questions about what is working fine without highlighting it.
 
Very helpful. TY!

sr71plt said:
Thoughts on Amazon vs Smashwords? Yes. Both. Plus any other distribution sites you can get it on. I think mine go on seven sites now (But Sony E-books is going out of business on 20 March). E-books aren't any different in sales points than print books--get them on as many points of sale as you can.

I don't know what taboo categories you would be talking about. I've had a book or three taken down from Amazon (and two go back up). But I have so many books up that one or two don't make much difference.

My day job now IS writing and editing (but I've got a great annuity and some nice stocks too). Not just erotica, but I hide the erotica inside my overall work, so I don't bother to break it out.

And, yes, there's money out there, but you'd be coming late to the party. The cleanup time peak was at least two years ago before the offerings were up and people hadn't gotten their Kindles stuffed with 40 years of reading yet. Most of the money now is for those of us who have established a buyer base.
Click to expand...

lovecraft68 said:
Don't let the previous comment dissuade you. There is money out there. What is making it difficult is amazon which is the biggest market is constantly trying to find ways to hide indy books and try to make people buy only major published stuff.

But I do pretty well there and so do many others. But you won't hit it on one book(odds are) putting an e-book up is like tossing a rock in the ocean. A lot of luck is involved and you never really know what will sell.

I have books I've all but bled over and they sell meh. On the other hand I have had mindless step mother stories make me as much as $700 in one month.

One thing that helps is to keep putting stuff up there. That way if people buy one thing they like they will come back for more. Anytime I put up something new my older stuff gets a little life breathed back into them.
Click to expand...

Thank you both for putting a positive spin on this!
 
DoodlyDo said:
So, I posted a couple hours ago on smashwords, then went off to run some errands.

I logged back in see if the file had been rejected or if there were any other things I needed to do.

Guess what?

I got my first sale!!!

Hot dang! Amazing!

This is so much fun! Yipee! I haven't been this fired up to write in ages!

Man, I sure hope that's not my only sale, haha. Funny, the Premium Status still says "Pending Review". I thought that meant it wasn't being sold yet.

Anyway, thanks you guys for pointing me in the right direction. Perhaps one day I will be able to afford "Florida and the Caribbean", too. I'll settle for Florida, though!

.
Click to expand...

It gets published immediately on the Smashwords website, Premium submission needs review that the meatgrinder won't catch.

In about 24-48 hours if it meets the criteria it will go out to a bunch of different outlets.

ETA: You will probably be rejected by Apple...they don't like smut.
 
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