Anyone doing this for a living?

[luckykikker]

Just wondering if anyone here is writing this kind of stuff for a living. I see some people print their writings and sell them on the internet. Other than that, has anyone gotten gigs from writing here, like movie deals or options? Just asking for a friend. Thanks.

 

[SamScribble]

Several years ago, I interviewed a ‘working girl’ for a piece I was writing. We talked about the different ‘markets’ and staying safe and all that sort of thing. And then we got to one of the questions that I really wanted answered: Was it really as profitable as rumour had it?

‘Sadly, no,’ the woman said. ‘There are just too many women out there giving it away for free.’

I think that’s where the smut market is at the moment.

 

[Jada59]

I've tried. Super hard to make a living at writing.

 

[SamScribble]

I've tried. Super hard to make a living at writing.

Oh, I made a living from writing. For more than 50 years. But not from writing smut.

 

[KeithD]

Oh, I made a living from writing. For more than 50 years. But not from writing smut.

Sort of the same here. Writing is dominant in a whole lot of professions.

 

[Javahead]

Sort of the same here. Writing is dominant in a whole lot of professions.

I’m a software guy, so I write code for a living, but the ratio of words written in documents, letters, and email to actual code is ridiculously high - 50:1? Maybe 100:1, or more.

 

[KeithD]

I’m a software guy, so I write code for a living, but the ratio of written written documents, letters, and email to actual code is ridiculously high - 50:1? Maybe 100:1, or more.

The verb you used for "writing code" was "writing." Granted the OP question was about "this stuff." (Of course some of us consider code about as "this stuff" as one can get. )

 

[Bramblethorn]

I’m a software guy, so I write code for a living, but the ratio of written written documents, letters, and email to actual code is ridiculously high - 50:1? Maybe 100:1, or more.

Coding being one of those things where sometimes less is very much more.

I remember a story about one programmer who was asked how many lines of code he'd written that week: "About minus ten thousand".

 

[Javahead]

Coding being one of those things where sometimes less is very much more.

I remember a story about one programmer who was asked how many lines of code he'd written that week: "About minus ten thousand".

I’ve had weeks like that. Productive ones. In code as in prose, verbosity is an affliction.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I’ve had weeks like that. Productive ones. In code as in prose, verbosity is an affliction.

Ayup. Though leaving out comments is another matter...

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Ayup. Though leaving out comments is another matter...

Writing code without comments is like writing smut without referencing any body parts...it can be done but how good is it?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Writing code without comments is like writing smut without referencing any body parts...it can be done but how good is it?

The latter can be pretty good, IME. The former... not so much.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I write for a living, but not this kind of writing.

 

[CJoshua]

Years back, I was greatly inspired by the story of an author who actually writes erotica for a living: Guy New York. I tried with full-time hours and everything - nothing worked. So finally, my decision was to continue ghostwriting for journals and blogs mostly.


Main Literotica Forums >> Authors' Hangout >> Scheduling a Story/Poem publish >> Next topic >> Word Grammar Checker or questions about submissions with custom writing company

 

[CJoshua]

The Beautiful F#cked Up World of Writing Erotica for a Living > Guy New York, Quickies in New York blogger.
Not sure if it's true about a three-month delay on Amazon with payments.

 

[litfan10]

Long career writing, mostly journalism as that paid the bills quicker pre-computer days but some fiction.

Smut came strictly for fun much later.

 

[MattblackUK]

Yes.

I have made a very good living out of writing for the past 30 years.

Not from writing smut, though.

 

[lovecraft68]

The Beautiful F#cked Up World of Writing Erotica for a Living > Guy New York, Quickies in New York blogger.
Not sure if it's true about a three-month delay on Amazon with payments.

Not true, Amazon holds back a month. Example at the end of April I will be paid for February's sales.

If this person is waiting 90 days its possible he has a publisher who pays quarterly.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

One of my twitter friends has several books on Amazon, and she makes about $20 the week the book is released, then sells maybe one or two copies the rest of the year.
ls
She is writing an epic story spanning several novels, and she expects her sales to increase when she completes the series and offers all the books for one price.

I have written 2 pieces for payment, both were well received. I have written 3-4 at someone else's request because they interested me, and they were okay.

 

[KeithD]

If you are going to do the writing anyway for your own pleasure, whatever you make off it if you put it in the marketplace is gravy. What you need to keep in mind, though, is that what you actually have made off it is whatever is over and above what you spent (and time/effort you took) to put it and keep it in the marketplace. Even there, the pleasure of seeing it under cover and on offer goes in the profit field.

 

[lovecraft68]

To add to above the positive of E-books is once there, they're always there(short of you pulling them or the site closing etc) so whatever your one time investment is these things will get a sale here and there for a long time to come.

I recently picked up a sale on a few of my books from 2011

Which brings up the point that having a large library and reasonably steady flow of new releases will keep those older books selling as each new title picks up new eyes on your work.

Think of it as the way it works on lit, the way up the fav lists and building a following is....a good steady body of work.

 

[litfan10]

To add to above the positive of E-books is once there, they're always there(short of you pulling them or the site closing etc) so whatever your one time investment is these things will get a sale here and there for a long time to come.

I recently picked up a sale on a few of my books from 2011

Which brings up the point that having a large library and reasonably steady flow of new releases will keep those older books selling as each new title picks up new eyes on your work.

Think of it as the way it works on lit, the way up the fav lists and building a following is....a good steady body of work.

This is a pretty good summary of Dean Wesley Smith's book on writing called The Magic Bakeshop.

With the analogy of a magic bakeshop your writing is the pie. Each time you sell one another one magically appears. How well you do depends on how good a baker (writer) you are and how many pies you have to offer as well as bringing in new pies to entice new customers.

It's actually a pretty solid, good book on the business of writing in the digital age.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is a pretty good summary of Dean Wesley Smith's book on writing called The Magic Bakeshop.

With the analogy of a magic bakeshop your writing is the pie. Each time you sell one another one magically appears. How well you do depends on how good a baker (writer) you are and how many pies you have to offer as well as bringing in new pies to entice new customers.

It's actually a pretty solid, good book on the business of writing in the digital age.

Thanks, I'm going to go check that out.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

To add to above the positive of E-books is once there, they're always there(short of you pulling them or the site closing etc) so whatever your one time investment is these things will get a sale here and there for a long time to come.

I recently picked up a sale on a few of my books from 2011

Which brings up the point that having a large library and reasonably steady flow of new releases will keep those older books selling as each new title picks up new eyes on your work.

Think of it as the way it works on lit, the way up the fav lists and building a following is....a good steady body of work.

True, but one of my favorite authors (I think it was Clive Cussler, but may have been Spider Robinson) said they couldn't quit their day job until their 6th novel was published.

They still had to do book tours etc.. for the first several books, despite also working a full-time job and having family obligations.

That was with having a major publisher (Random House or Pocket Books) doing marketing, editing, etc...

Doing it yourself requires a much bigger investment in time and cash, and of course, the return is a lot lower. Unless you become a celebrity author like George RR Martin or JK Rowling you probably will never be able to make a living writing fiction...unless you ghostwrite celebrity and politician autobiographies.

 

[lovecraft68]

True, but one of my favorite authors (I think it was Clive Cussler, but may have been Spider Robinson) said they couldn't quit their day job until their 6th novel was published.

They still had to do book tours etc.. for the first several books, despite also working a full-time job and having family obligations.

That was with having a major publisher (Random House or Pocket Books) doing marketing, editing, etc...

Doing it yourself requires a much bigger investment in time and cash, and of course, the return is a lot lower. Unless you become a celebrity author like George RR Martin or JK Rowling you probably will never be able to make a living writing fiction...unless you ghostwrite celebrity and politician autobiographies.

I'm only speaking to doing it yourself which is what most erotica authors do. Even a lot of 'publishers' who handle erotica started as authors themselves and are simply self pubbed authors who learned the ropes and are publishing others making a percentage off each authors sales.

Mainstream authors are a different story, and its an industry that has less to do with talent and more to do these days with either knowing someone(EL James had a lot of connections, she wasn't an unknown who got lucky) or just getting lucky.

On the other extreme, look at how many times Stephen King was rejected.

I've heard of successful authors actually choosing the self publshing route because you give up far less control and money, but of course lose the name brand and marketing.

But for the purposes of the thread, I'm dealing with erotica and how it works.