Advice on marketing via Amazon KDP

[Brutal_One]

I finally took the plunge to taking my Literotica series and created a novel for it. This was a learning process in itself, but a useful one. For those authors who do publish on Amazon is there any advice. Would be useful to know. It has also been satisfying to get it just simply published so it is out there.

They say everyone has a good book in them!

At least mine is written and out there beyond the confines of Literotica.

No illusions of course but if there is any useful advice it would be appreciated.

Brutal One

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

Haven’t published on Amazon myself, but r/eroticauthors over on Reddit is a really good gateway to information that you may find useful.

Good luck!

 

[lovecraft68]

My advice is don't just publish there. Don't get into one of their scam exclusive programs where you give your book away to earn a pennies per download. Put it straight up for sale, and also publish it on smashwords and other venues, put it as many places as possible yourself or look into a publisher who will do the work of putting you everywhere for a small cut.

If you're interested in the latter, send me a PM and I can put you in touch with someone. Or if you have any other questions feel free to ask. I've been doing this for ten years so have learned my way around.

 

[KeithD]

If you want a printed book and you aren't going with a publisher (who may use Amazon to print themselves), Amazon is probably the best option. Otherwise, no, if you're sticking with e-book, get it distributed through as many outlets as you can.

 

[Wifetheif]

I finally took the plunge to taking my Literotica series and created a novel for it. This was a learning process in itself, but a useful one. For those authors who do publish on Amazon is there any advice. Would be useful to know. It has also been satisfying to get it just simply published so it is out there.

They say everyone has a good book in them!

At least mine is written and out there beyond the confines of Literotica.

No illusions of course but if there is any useful advice it would be appreciated.

Brutal One

I have like seventy-three books on Amazon. Nothing brings in huge amounts of money but I sell something virtually every day. My fiancee is a whiz with photoshop and she provides me with outstanding covers for nothing. Most authors have to pay about a hundred bucks a cover. Make no mistake, whatever the platform -- covers are what sell books! Cheap covers turn off readers no matter where the book is published. Half-assing it means that no one sees your book even when it is visible. Keywords are also a major factor. Good keywords lead to more hits in searches and more sales. There are various online tutorials to show you how to do that.
Many of my readers like the option of physical books, something that is easy with Amazon print on demand. One thing I like is that my stories are no longer pirated from here and posted on other sites.
One of the reasons I post far fewer stories on Lit.com is because, despite stories being read thousands of times, I earn nothing usable from it aside from praise. Even two cents from four pages being read is better for my bottom line than a disparaging remark from "anonymous." I know I'm a capable and good writer. A Pulitzer Prize winner, commenting on my commercially published academic history that I was a "fantastic" writer. I'd like to crack the commercial fiction market and am working towards that now, so I am also taking a break from Amazon self-publishing as well. At one point, I was adding a book a month.
There are videos all over the internet that can give you a better sense of the ins and outs of self-publishing. The other thing to remember is EDIT your work and then EDIT again. Nothing turns of a reader faster than bad grammar and misspellings.

 

[Ian_Snow]

I very much agree with the advice on a good cover, and I'll add that you'll want to get as many eyes as possible on your blurb. Those are your handshakes with your customers, so be prepared to take criticism for them and learn what you can. Blurbs and covers will make or break you.

Join some writers' groups if you can. Don't be a salesman about it. Learn, ask questions, study what works for people.

And beware of writing scams like indie writing awards with a fee for consideration or any anthology that requires you to pay to be included. Those are bullshit and won't net you the kind of readers you're hoping for. Pay for good covers, good editing (if you can, it's damned expensive), and if you're on social media, some good graphics. A mailing list does wonders for some people. I had one for a while and it was deader than dead, but definitely be thinking about one.

Anyways, good luck! It's a fun experience. Harrowing, but hey, it's money in your pocket.

 

[lovecraft68]

I very much agree with the advice on a good cover, and I'll add that you'll want to get as many eyes as possible on your blurb. Those will make or break you. Get as many eyes on your blurb as you can and be prepared to take criticism on it. Those are your handshakes with your readers.

Join some writers' groups if you can. Don't be a salesman about it. Learn, ask questions, study what works for people.

And beware of writing scams like indie writing awards with a fee for consideration or any anthology that requires you to pay to be included. Those are bullshit and won't net you the kind of readers you're hoping for. Pay for good covers, good editing (if you can, it's damned expensive), and if you're on social media, some good graphics. A mailing list does wonders for some people. I had one for a while and it was deader than dead, but definitely be thinking about one.

Anyways, good luck! It's a fun experience. Harrowing, but hey, it's money in your pocket.

Good point on the scams, including the ones who e-mail you with the "read your book and I'd like to publish it, then either want you to pay or ask for your banking info so they can 'pay' you

Writers groups are hit and miss. Many of them turn into circle jerks of look at my book, no look at my book. To get some publishing pointers they're good, but not for much else unless-kind of like here-you find someone willing to help you outside of the group without all the clashing and yammering

 

[Brutal_One]

Thanks all

Find points all. Thanks. I found AH here very helpful and supportive so a big overall thanks. But yes writing and publishing is its on reward in a way. At least you end up with something unique you created. I spent a decent amount of time on final edit but still pick up the odd mistake but no huge errors. Consistency and conclusion are good so for now can just await reactions.

Cheers all.

Brutal One

 

[windar]

Yes cover and blurb are what sells. I work through a site (Fiction4All) that makes the covers and charges the same 30% of sales as Amazon and all the others. They put them under their imprint on Amazon (though many of mine don't fit Amazon's rules), Smashwords, Apple B&N, etc. Yeah, they take a cut out of that, but it's worth it in my view not to have to deal with multiple rules and formatting requirements. Most of my sales are directly on their site anyway.

Editing? I think given the costs vs likely sales it's probably a losing proposition. Erotica readers tend to not care that much about the odd typo here and there if the story is good. Not saying there isn't a problem if you have a half dozen on every page, but an occasional one won't bother the vast majority of readers.

Best of luck! It's a real thrill when you see a first sale. Someone paid money for my book??? Wow!!!

 

[lovecraft68]

Yes cover and blurb are what sells. I work through a site (Fiction4All) that makes the covers and charges the same 30% of sales as Amazon and all the others. They put them under their imprint on Amazon (though many of mine don't fit Amazon's rules), Smashwords, Apple B&N, etc. Yeah, they take a cut out of that, but it's worth it in my view not to have to deal with multiple rules and formatting requirements. Most of my sales are directly on their site anyway.

Editing? I think given the costs vs likely sales it's probably a losing proposition. Erotica readers tend to not care that much about the odd typo here and there if the story is good. Not saying there isn't a problem if you have a half dozen on every page, but an occasional one won't bother the vast majority of readers.

Best of luck! It's a real thrill when you see a first sale. Someone paid money for my book??? Wow!!!

I wasn't aware F4A makes covers. Do they charge? I used to upload there directly, and Stuart is a good guy, very helpful, but I have someone else put my work there now, just gets to be too much work to upload a book across the board to all the sites.

FWIW Smashwords only takes 15% on sales on its main site, if its on an affiliate then of course its that platform plus the 15%

 

[lovecraft68]

Oh...I just checked out your book page and you have an issue, that woman is completely topless. It won't get through Smashwords premium catalog because no way, B/N Apple or anyone else will accept it.

Do you have this live on amazon? If you do it shows how closely they screen books, but I think at some point it will be reported. There's a lot of erotica hating Karens on there. I know you put work and money into it, but I'd change it.

 

[windar]

I wasn't aware F4A makes covers. Do they charge? I used to upload there directly, and Stuart is a good guy, very helpful, but I have someone else put my work there now, just gets to be too much work to upload a book across the board to all the sites.

FWIW Smashwords only takes 15% on sales on its main site, if its on an affiliate then of course its that platform plus the 15%

They make the covers for their listings which they publish under one of their imprints, for which they get 3 years of exclusivity. Or you can self-publish, in which case you make your own cover, but you are free to put it elsewhere. They get the same 30% either way.

I've done both. The story I posted here, "Trabbian Justice", I did my own cover there (under the pen name James Darwin) and you can see it's fairly amateurish compared to the ones they make. I'm curious what name you published under there.

And yes, Stuart is very helpful. He responds to emails within an hour if it's during UK business hours.

 

[windar]

Oh...I just checked out your book page and you have an issue, that woman is completely topless. It won't get through Smashwords premium catalog because no way, B/N Apple or anyone else will accept it.

Do you have this live on amazon? If you do it shows how closely they screen books, but I think at some point it will be reported. There's a lot of erotica hating Karens on there. I know you put work and money into it, but I'd change it.

Most of my stories are off Amazon, because of the content, not the covers. Even when they were on there the % of sales was fairly minor. For me, by far the majority of sales are on the a1 site directly.

Besides, I happy not giving Bezos any more money than is absolutely necessary.

 

[Brutal_One]

Good call

Oh...I just checked out your book page and you have an issue, that woman is completely topless. It won't get through Smashwords premium catalog because no way, B/N Apple or anyone else will accept it.

Do you have this live on amazon? If you do it shows how closely they screen books, but I think at some point it will be reported. There's a lot of erotica hating Karens on there. I know you put work and money into it, but I'd change it.

Thanks HP changed to hopefully a more respectful cover - still erotic. I guess there will always be haters. Amazon I just changed to a non image cover. I may update to the smashwords one but smashwords was still in review so it was a timely change. Thanks.

Brutal One

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks HP changed to hopefully a more respectful cover - still erotic. I guess there will always be haters. Amazon I just changed to a non image cover. I may update to the smashwords one but smashwords was still in review so it was a timely change. Thanks.

Brutal One

No worries, I hate to see someone get in trouble there. Once an amazon account is blocked its extremely difficult to get another.