Some Publishing Advice

[writerannabelle]

Hey all!

I am looking into publishing my stories on the Kindle, and after a few hours of research, I was wondering if some of you would be willing to chime in (if you have published before) with some of your own advice. I’m kind of overwhelmed right now and just need some directions/leads to follow.

Thanks!

 

[LukasGrey]

I publish with Kindle through KDP.

My best advice is, be patient and don't expect too much, too fast.

Personally, I suck at self-promotion so driving people to see your stuff will be a challenge. Other than that, it isn't rocket surgery and you can figure it out. Polish your work as much as possible, find a decent editor that can help you in your price range and work on your graphic design skills. My first cover was TERRIBLE and my other two got better. The three books are part of a three part series and people have bought more from #2 than number one, which makes no sense to me... who starts in the middle of a series?

The only explanation I can think of is that the cover is better for #2 than #1...

There are a lot of things to wrap your brain around. You have to write well, but the presentation is everything! You need to grab a potential customer's attention early and the cover is how you are going to do that!

 

[Soma99]

I publish with Kindle through KDP.

My best advice is, be patient and don't expect too much, too fast.

Personally, I suck at self-promotion so driving people to see your stuff will be a challenge. Other than that, it isn't rocket surgery and you can figure it out. Polish your work as much as possible, find a decent editor that can help you in your price range and work on your graphic design skills. My first cover was TERRIBLE and my other two got better. The three books are part of a three part series and people have bought more from #2 than number one, which makes no sense to me... who starts in the middle of a series?

The only explanation I can think of is that the cover is better for #2 than #1...

There are a lot of things to wrap your brain around. You have to write well, but the presentation is everything! You need to grab a potential customer's attention early and the cover is how you are going to do that!

The cover art was the main thing that brought me to lit when I decided to try writing, it seemed like such a hassle. Do you take the pictures yourself? If you pay for them doesn't that pretty much eliminate all profit for the first few stories?

 

[Blind_Justice]

There are several so-called "stock photo services" which will sell you pictures plus any rights to them for relatively fair prices. Before going on a shopping spree, you should check the cover content guides for your soon-to-be outlet, most if not all have limits like "no full frontal" and the like.

Don't be afraid to do something else besides skimpily clad model plus bold typeface though. Seemingly EVERY erotica author does these. So much for standing out.

 

[sr71plt]

Don't be afraid to do something else besides skimpily clad model plus bold typeface though. Seemingly EVERY erotica author does these. So much for standing out.

Conversely, this is a standard marketing ploy--making the market niche readily identifiable to the buyer, who is likely to react badly when the cover doesn't match the product. I have a few nonerotic covers for erotica books. They haven't sold well.

 

[ChloeTzang]

There are several so-called "stock photo services" which will sell you pictures plus any rights to them for relatively fair prices. Before going on a shopping spree, you should check the cover content guides for your soon-to-be outlet, most if not all have limits like "no full frontal" and the like.

Don't be afraid to do something else besides skimpily clad model plus bold typeface though. Seemingly EVERY erotica author does these. So much for standing out.

Use a stock photo / image service and I won't cost much. Or you could go to deviantart and see what you could get from someone there. Has anyone here done that.

And canva is a good free site for doing book covers. I've been playing around there.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There are also a huge number of public domain images.

 

[rjordan]

Conversely, this is a standard marketing ploy--making the market niche readily identifiable to the buyer, who is likely to react badly when the cover doesn't match the product. I have a few nonerotic covers for erotica books. They haven't sold well.

For the same reason, you'll often find all the furniture stores, or all the tile stores together in the same few blocks of a town. It draws a larger pool of customers. You don't want to be the store cross-town wondering where everyone is.

rj

 

[ChloeTzang]

There are also a huge number of public domain images.

You have to be careful with public domain. There have been one or two court cases over public domain photos. Look up Alison Chang and Australian Virgin Mobile. It was back in 2007 and I came across it when I was looking for photos to use. I'd play it safe myself.

 

[LukasGrey]

The cover art was the main thing that brought me to lit when I decided to try writing, it seemed like such a hassle. Do you take the pictures yourself? If you pay for them doesn't that pretty much eliminate all profit for the first few stories?

For me, I'm lucky that my wife is a photographer so uh... I may have "borrowed" a few pictures from her. Truth is, she supports me and my writing so she helps.

Another decent option is to work up something graphically. My wife took a straight cat picture one time and worked it over in Photoshop to the point that you could no longer recognize it!

In short, that is the main pitfall of self publishing. You aren't just writing good stuff, you also have to act as editor, graphic designer, website designer, social media guru, and marketer! For me, that's not a huge deal as I either have the necessary skills or really good friends that help out.

Another pretty good option is to look for people that enjoy your work and just want to help out! There are a lot of people in the world that have marketable skills and that would love the work you put out. Many of them can't help you out financially, but are more than willing to give you some of their sweat in order to support you!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You have to be careful with public domain. There have been one or two court cases over public domain photos. Look up Alison Chang and Australian Virgin Mobile. It was back in 2007 and I came across it when I was looking for photos to use. I'd play it safe myself.

Unless you become a big New York Best Seller you probably don't have to worry about someone suing you, unless your rich already. If you aren't rich all they can really do is ask you to remove it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You have to be careful with public domain. There have been one or two court cases over public domain photos. Look up Alison Chang and Australian Virgin Mobile. It was back in 2007 and I came across it when I was looking for photos to use. I'd play it safe myself.

Legalities aside, I wouldn't want to put a real person on the cover of an erotica book unless I knew they were OK with it. Just seems like basic courtesy. (A paid shoot with a signed release probably satisfies that requirement.)

 

[sr71plt]

It's a little hard not to use real people on erotica covers as the use of actual photos (in various states of undress) on the cover is the major marketing signal of an erotica book. My covers use only purchased images that don't ban use for erotica (it's a negative declaration thing) or are original models giving permission in writing.

My latest book cover is a "real" real person, photographed and contracted for this particular use. Such uses have to be pretty subtle, though, or the distributors won't accept them.


https://dwtr67e3ikfml.cloudfront.net/bookCovers/547fb4449a7bda8e12c6f4ba409ec55563b1814e-thumb

 

[writerannabelle]

I just want everybody who has posted so far to know that I am reading your responses, and that I appreciate them. Your dialogue right now is more useful than any questions I can think of.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's a little hard not to use real people on erotica covers as the use of actual photos (in various states of undress) on the cover is the major marketing signal of an erotica book. My covers use only purchased images that don't ban use for erotica (it's a negative declaration thing) or are original models giving permission in writing.

That would fall under my "model is (presumably) OK with it" clause. If a grown adult signs a release for a cheesecake/beefcake photo, I'd presume that they understand it's likely to be sold on for that sort of use, and that they've consented to this.

I was thinking more of the sort of example Chloe suggested, where a teenager was photographed by her youth counsellor and then the photograph was used in a "Virgin to Virgin" advertising campaign that poked fun at her. Pretty clear that she didn't foresee that kind of use, and wouldn't have consented if she had. Even if it'd been legal, I'd consider that a creepy thing to do.

 

[sr71plt]

That would fall under my "model is (presumably) OK with it" clause. If a grown adult signs a release for a cheesecake/beefcake photo, I'd presume that they understand it's likely to be sold on for that sort of use, and that they've consented to this.

Can't imagine how the image described in the second paragraph would be legal under any circumstances.

To what is quoted here, as I tried to note, the image use contracts aren't set of specifying that cheesecake/beefcake photos would include an adult covers use clause isn't the way it works. They contain clauses that they aren't permitted use if that is being invoked; nonmention is taken as a green light.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Can't imagine how the image described in the second paragraph would be legal under any circumstances.

The problem was it was more or less legal. It went to court in Texas and was dismissed. Ruling was that Virgin was entitled to use photo of her and any lawsuit should be against the photographer who put it on Flickr with the Creative Commons license. I think in using images like that you have to be careful. To me it's not just legal but ethical. I would hate to use an image of someone that they hadn't knowingly agreed to have used. If you do a model release or whatever it is, that's a lot different. That's sort of why I said use a stock image service. Hey if I could afford custom art I'd do that instead

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Hey all!

I am looking into publishing my stories on the Kindle, and after a few hours of research, I was wondering if some of you would be willing to chime in (if you have published before) with some of your own advice. I’m kind of overwhelmed right now and just need some directions/leads to follow.

Thanks!

you should have a PM.