E publishing

[myrionomos]

I just completed a fairly long piece, about 90,000 words and someone whose opinion I have a degree of respect for suggested it was good enough for E publishing. I disagreed with her as it contains a number of significant errors and I won't be trying to publish this particular story. There is another in progress which I think will turn out much better. However, it set me thinking, I know almost nothing about E puplishing and there is not much help in the "How to" section.

Is there a useful guide anywhere and if not can any guidance be given?

My first attempts to find anything out seem to indicate that the hardest thing is to get anyone to look at the work, is that so?

Major pitfalls?

Thanks

M

 

[past_perfect]

Gauchecritic started a thread once you might find helpful:

For those who keep asking about publishing

Here is a list of publishers (no idea how current):

http://pred-ed.com/pebp.htm

In this thread you find Lit authors that have recent publications.

Literoticas authors and their books

Following some of the links might lead their publishers sites, which often include information about criteria for accepting submissions of new authors. Make sure you follow format requirements and, if at all possible, get someone to look over you piece before.

It would of course also be a good idea to post the story on Literotica first to get a feel of how it is received, which might also give you some perspective as to how likely it is that it will be accepted by a publisher. You can withdraw submissions at any time here.

 

[Bebeslut]

You might try self-publishing on Amazon Kindle. Amazon wants a little too much, but it will get published, nonetheless.

 

[Weird Harold]

It would of course also be a good idea to post the story on Literotica first ...

Not necessarily.

Some publishers won't even consider anything that has been previously 'published' on the internet; some will require it be removed from Lit before considering it; and some won't care.

It would be best to determine what potential publishers requirements are as to previous publication before submitting a story to Lit if you aspire to getting it published. Submit it to those publishers who want only "unpublished works" first and then submit it to Lit for some public exposure if you want to go that route.

 

[sr71plt]

Is there a useful guide anywhere and if not can any guidance be given?

Good idea. I've written and submitted a "How To" essay on the subject. Its title will be "Some Whys and Hows of E-Publishing Erotica" and should post to the New story file sometime between next Monday and Wednesday.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Good idea. I've written and submitted a "How To" essay on the subject. Its title will be "Some Whys and Hows of E-Publishing Erotica" and should post to the New story file sometime between next Monday and Wednesday.

Nice, SR, thx

 

[myrionomos]

Perplexed?

Thank you for the responses. I was a bit perplexed when there were 59 views and only a response from past_perfect. Surely I thought there are authors here who want to know more about getting published or maybe those that do already know how to?

SR71plt's commitment is brilliant and I look forward to seeing it. My only experience of publishing is very technical content and I am pretty certain that experience has little relevance.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

You might try self-publishing on Amazon Kindle. Amazon wants a little too much, but it will get published, nonetheless.

Amazon is giving 70% to authors now (instead of the other way around... they used to give 35%).

If your book fits one of the indie pub categories (i.e. romance) you might want to go with a large outfit like Samhain Publishing or Ellora's Cave. They do more marketing and have a big name, so it helps garner sales.

If you have a large Lit following, self-publishing is an option. Smashwords.com distributes to a lot of the biggies - Apple, Sony, Barnes and Noble, etc. And you can publish on Amazon as well. That's the biggest venue at the moment, although you can find yourself a small fish in a very big pond over there.

 

[sr71plt]

I think the secret to doing well in e-publishing . . . shhh . . . come closer and don't whisper a word of this to anyone . . . is volume--not in wordage, but in titles. You get a synergistic effect by launching new titles fairly often. Of course you'll find you'll do better in certain genres ,and so those are good ones to feed titles to frequently--and what you write needs to be better than average in the story and the storytelling (and, frankly, in the sex) for the erotica market to entice people to come back. (And the cover--if you write erotica, erotic covers attract the most buyers.)

But . . . shhh. Keep it under your hat. Wouldn't want to flood the market, would we?

 

[sr71plt]

Is there a useful guide anywhere and if not can any guidance be given?

Some discussion is provided in this essay, which posted on the "New Story" list at Literotica today (7 September):

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=494107

 

[Darkniciad]

Some discussion is provided in this essay, which posted on the "New Story" list at Literotica today (7 September):

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=494107

Which he modestly fails to mention received a rare green E from the Lit moderators

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Which he modestly fails to mention received a rare green E from the Lit moderators

And he mentions ME in the same sentence with Stephen King. (Oh, and Oscar Wilde)

Congrats, Sr. Nice essay!