Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?

[Headless123]

Hi everyone

Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?
I am a new writer who wishes eventully to sell my novels and short stories.
Any advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

 

[KeithD]

Nope. Not even my own.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've bought a few, but not many.

My impression is that the prospect of making meaningful money selling erotic novels is rather small. The market is saturated, and people offer their works on multiple platforms either for free or for very low prices.

I've been thinking about how to do this, and the only thing I can think is to try to make it as a genre fiction novelist in an area like crime thriller, detective, romance, sci fi, or horror and incorporate erotic elements of interest. There are exceptions, like 50 shades, but that's an exception.

 

[KeithD]

Anything you make in the marketplace after covering expenses is gravy if you were going to write it anyway. On top of that, I consider writing as a way to keep my mind sharp into old age. That's better profit than dollar bills.

 

[lovecraft68]

Its hard to tell because unless someone contacts you and says "Hey, I'm from lit and I bought one of your e-books" you don't know where your sales come from.

But the way I see it is the majority of people soaking up countless free erotic stories in every kink here on lit aren't going to part with the bank breaking $2.99-5.99 or whatever to support an author they claim they love and care about so much.

After all, going by stats most of these vultures can't be bothered to vote or comment, you think they'll buy something?

There are exceptions, I have had people ask me from lit where they can find all the stuff I've written the last few years that's not on here.

Personally I've bought a bunch of e-books from authors here to show support and if its their first book give them the thrill of the sale. I don't tell them I did it, and my PC is full of PDF's I honestly will never read, I bought the books for support

Because unlike many here I don't consider spending $3.99 to make someone feel good a major financial undertaking.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I have paid for erotic books in the past. Not many, but a few. There is so much out there that is free, why anyone pays for it is a mystery to me. However, they do, but as KeithD stated, their a kalliziaon authors writing in every kink there is. It is difficult to advertise on Amazon (if you can at all) for erotica. Even more difficult to organize an effect, affordable campaign to drive people to your stories.

I don't think I have put anything up new for sales in two years. I'd rather write it for here or a handful of other sites, and have it read in mass by those who like what I write, and satisfy my modest needs for income from writing with ghost-work. I stay busy enough, make enough, and have more than enough of writing other peoples stories for my needs.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Its hard to tell because unless someone contacts you and says "Hey, I'm from lit and I bought one of your e-books" you don't know where your sales come from.

But the way I see it is the majority of people soaking up countless free erotic stories in every kink here on lit aren't going to part with the bank breaking $2.99-5.99 or whatever to support an author they claim they love and care about so much.

After all, going by stats most of these vultures can't be bothered to vote or comment, you think they'll buy something?

There are exceptions, I have had people ask me from lit where they can find all the stuff I've written the last few years that's not on here.

Personally I've bought a bunch of e-books from authors here to show support and if its their first book give them the thrill of the sale. I don't tell them I did it, and my PC is full of PDF's I honestly will never read, I bought the books for support

Because unlike many here I don't consider spending $3.99 to make someone feel good a major financial undertaking.

And I, for one, thank you for your generosity. Even knowing I'm not one of the writers you bought the work from.

I have had a few works that did well for a few months after publication, only to languish in the fall from grace for weeks and then see almost no sales for years on end. Well for a few years at least.

The only person I know has read everything I've written and bought everything I have for sale, is my Father. But, hey he has to, right?

 

[Headless123]

Nope. Not even my own.

oh dear lol

 

[Headless123]

I've bought a few, but not many.

My impression is that the prospect of making meaningful money selling erotic novels is rather small. The market is saturated, and people offer their works on multiple platforms either for free or for very low prices.

I've been thinking about how to do this, and the only thing I can think is to try to make it as a genre fiction novelist in an area like crime thriller, detective, romance, sci fi, or horror and incorporate erotic elements of interest. There are exceptions, like 50 shades, but that's an exception.

hi thanks for the advice i think i might start with a romance erotic combo.

 

[Headless123]

Thanks for replying everone

 

[lovecraft68]

oh dear lol

It would be kind of tacky to buy your own

Also, I think-may be wrong-that if you had a book on amazon and bought it from the same account you can get in trouble because sales help ranking, rankings help sales. Its like if Ebay catches you bidding on your own auction from another account with the same ISP, they'll revoke selling privileges for a period of time, they call it schilling

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hi everyone

Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?
I am a new writer who wishes eventully to sell my novels and short stories.
Any advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

If you want to write erotica, start writing and publishing here. If you're just starting out, I like the chutzpah, but forget the lure of the non-existent dollars, ain't going to happen.

I've got some nice covers, but that's all.

 

[MillieDynamite]

If you want to write erotica, start writing and publishing here. If you're just starting out, I like the chutzpah, but forget the lure of the non-existent dollars, ain't going to happen.

I've got some nice covers, but that's all.

I'm not sure what the secret is for sales on Erotica.

I know it's advertising on main stream stuff. Not good writing, wonderful covers, or a killer catch phrase. They help, but advertising is the key component. When my pops advertises he moves up the charts on Amazon. He was number one for weeks in Westerns in England, in the top ten for six months, USA Amazon. Stopped advertising, the raking disappears faster than fudge cookies with my mum around.

Please don't rat me out on the cookie thing.

Name recognition is important, but we can't all be Stephen King or James Patterson, people would catch on we were stealing the glamor if we used, Steven King or Jim Patterson, right fast. Beside when would they write anything erotic?

 

[gordo12]

Hi everyone

Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?
I am a new writer who wishes eventully to sell my novels and short stories.
Any advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

Nobody here can speak for all Lit users, but personally, I do buy erotic novels to study what other authors are doing, including some of the authors here.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you want to write erotica, start writing and publishing here. If you're just starting out, I like the chutzpah, but forget the lure of the non-existent dollars, ain't going to happen.

I've got some nice covers, but that's all.

Stop tying to talk people out of it, some people do make money, and if nothing else, they should still try if that's what they want to do.

You went with Lulu, big part of your issue right there.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

Personally I've bought a bunch of e-books from authors here to show support and if its their first book give them the thrill of the sale. I don't tell them I did it, and my PC is full of PDF's I honestly will never read, I bought the books for support

I've bought a few "support" books on Amazon, though they weren't erotica. I agree, it's not expensive and you're helping a friend realize a dream.

Other than buying a book as support, though - there's just so much excellent stuff out there for free why would you pay?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Other than buying a book as support, though - there's just so much excellent stuff out there for free why would you pay?

And therein is the problem with trying to sell books!

 

[KeithD]

Somebody's buying them. I'm selling some. Most likely there are those who don't know they can get it for free--or assume it's better if they have to pay for it. I'm not rocking that boat.

I'll admit that I've had comments on another site that they are buying my books both to get them years before I release them for free and to show appreciation that I'm writing and giving stories for free.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I buy one every now and then, but it has to be pretty good. I always read the excerpts online on Amazon to see if I like the writing style to start with. I don't buy many, I'm pretty picky, and there's so much that I find rubbishy that I'm rather careful about what I actually buy. For erotica, I mostly buy kindle, but there's the odd paperback I've picked up, usually from an author I've read and enjoyed.

The one book I do have published sold quite well over the first few months, and it's seen a steady trickle of ongoing sales since it was published. It'll be interesting to see how the second one goes.

 

[Emirus]

Hi everyone

Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?
I am a new writer who wishes eventully to sell my novels and short stories.
Any advice would be appreciated

No. Never have done and never will. I would think most writers on here would say the same. For me personally my enjoyment is in the writing of a story others will, hopefully, enjoy.

I would think your question would be better addressed to those who read the stories and find out why they enjoyed a particular story but didn’t enjoy a similar one.

 

[TadOverdon]

I've bought a few in the last year, mostly from literotica writers at Smashwords.

Watching the graph, I'm pretty sure I see a tick upward in our sales when I publish the first couple of chapters of something here. Not going to pay for the villa in Tuscany.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Hi everyone

Does anyone on literotica buy erotic novels?
I am a new writer who wishes eventully to sell my novels and short stories.
Any advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

Yes, they do buy erotic novels.

Whenever I participate in one of the contests here on Literotica, I see an increase in sales on other sites. A few of the readers reach out and tell me they read all my free stories on both Literotica and Wattpad, and then go on to buy some of the published ones.

If you plan to publish, you can do well by posting stories here on Literotica. First of all, because the readers are good at giving useful comments (if you ask them to) so that you can improve your writing skills.

But also because the readers can get to know you. If they like what you write, they will be more willing to pay for it later.

In order to publish for money, you need to learn what readers like to read, so I would suggest you check the bestseller lists and see what kind of books are popular and how they are presented (cover/short description/category/etc). There are a lot of free books available on both Amazon and Smashwords and those can give you an idea about what quality is needed to start publishing (you might be surprised since the quality isn't always high).

That said, in order to make money from it, you need a lot of titles, publish regularly, have the right wrapping (cover/title) and develop a few marketing skills you didn't know you had, lol. So, there are easier ways to earn money. But as long as you minimize your expenses you can keep on writing and learning by doing.

Still, I should mention that some categories sell more titles than others. F.ex Dubcon sells more than Romance, and reverse harem sell way better than Dubcon. So, it's useful to experiment by publishing shorter stories in several different genres to see what works or not.

Anyway, it's a lot easier to start publishing than I imagined so my best advice would be to just give it a try and start learning

 

[KeithD]

In order to publish for money, you need to learn what readers like to read,

I've found a better approach is to find out what niches are underserved and help fill them.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I've found a better approach is to find out what niches are underserved and help fill them.

how right you are. That holds true in mainstream as well. When my father turned to westerns, he did so for several reason. He'd written but not published quite a few already, the market for westerns dried up and was born again, and only a few were writing them, and he loved to write westerns.

He did well, for years and years. Recently he has pulled down almost all his work, westerns, horror, mysteries, and thrillers. He has shut down all his pennames but one and he puts any old work back up, it will be under his final penname which is his first and middle names leaving off his last name.

He was recently contacted by a screen writer he worked for as a ghostwriter asking if he wanted to do some screen treatments of novels for him again. He said no, I find it hard to have people talk about a movie they love which I wrote the treatment for, did half the script of, and can't say, Yeah, "I did that."

Then again, if the guy adds another 0 to the offer, I'd bet he jump at the deal. Credit is nice, but money matters!

 

[SimonDoom]

If you are looking for a good erotic book, I recommend Catherine Millet's The Sexual Life of Catherine M. It's a memoir, not a novel. She's a highly intelligent and educated writer and art critic from France who also is, or was for a while, a nymphomaniac, and she recounts her many sexual adventures. Her book was a bestseller. I found it more erotic than most erotic novels I've read.

I also found it useful as a resource as a male author who likes to write about women.