Getting paid for erotica?

[Knightley]

Longtime lurker registering to ask this question: does anyone have experience with selling their erotic fiction? My beginning research suggests that Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla, but their bestseller lists don't overlap much with my style.

 

[Areala-chan]

@lovecraft68 can probably offer some insight here. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla, but their terms of service can get years of your story output deleted on a whim, as more than one member here has discovered.

No matter what, you'll be entering a market that is packed beyond capacity. Don't expect to make very much, if anything, until you can become a "name" author. Best of luck to you!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

The biggest hurdle is defining what "erotica" is in the marketplace. There isn't a static definition; it remains very dynamic.

There are mainstream publishers, such as Carina Press, that focus on erotic and teasingly erotic content, but not the graphic, hard-core sexual content that many here and elsewhere classify as erotica. You can go to sites such as querytracker dot com and find agents that represent writers of erotica, but once again, the content they seek is generally more tame than many here prefer to write.

Going the self-publishing route, your options are more diverse. Smashwords is probably the best known site that allows harder erotic content to be sold but many of their affiliates won't accept those stories. Credit card processors present some of the most stringent censorship to erotic content, not allowing sites that sell objectionable content to use their brand of credit card for sales.

Amazon is big, but extremely unpredictable and inconsistent with their policies. I have a book there with zero sex and only implied erotic content that they have classified as "erotica" on their own. It hasn't impacted sales yet so I haven't complained, but I still found it strange.

 

[lovecraft68]

Amazon is always worth a go, just be careful with your covers and descriptions and they do not allow 'extreme content' like incest, non con or beastie. The other thing is don't get into their exclusive only unlimited programs that make your book free for a certain amount of time and you get paid pennies per download-and only if the reader goes past a certain point-and then when you can put a price on the book no one cares because you gave the damn thing away while it was new.

Smashwords is now D2D but same rules should apply to that platform and they will allow anything other than underage as long as you are honest when you check the content boxes which calls out taboo NC etc. Its best to not just put your work on one site.

Sales are tough because of how flooded the market is. The best way to get them is to be able to churn out content on a regular basis so when someone sees one of your books and likes it they can go back and buy more.

You can self publish yourself, or find someone who will do it for you for a cut. You have to decide if that cut is worth them doing the work and you just focusing on writing because each site as different rules and formats and can be tedious to list a book across the market.

If you have any specific questions, you can feel free to message me and I'll help as much as I can. I also have a publisher I can recommend if you want someone to do the work.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'd like to give this a try. I have no illusions about breaking into the market and striking it rich but it seems it would be fun to try. A few questions:

1. From my quick perusal of the listings at Amazon it looks like female authors overwhelmingly dominate. Does it make sense to adopt a female pseudonym? Or does it depend on the genre?

2. From what I've read it sounds like shorter is better at Amazon. Like up to 5000 words for short stories. Is that correct?

3. Is creating covers difficult? I see there are websites with guidelines about this topic. I'm curious about where to go to get the best information. I'm sure in a crowded market a good cover would make a difference.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'd like to give this a try. I have no illusions about breaking into the market and striking it rich but it seems it would be fun to try. A few questions:

1. From my quick perusal of the listings at Amazon it looks like female authors overwhelmingly dominate. Does it make sense to adopt a female pseudonym? Or does it depend on the genre?

2. From what I've read it sounds like shorter is better at Amazon. Like up to 5000 words for short stories. Is that correct?

3. Is creating covers difficult? I see there are websites with guidelines about this topic. I'm curious about where to go to get the best information. I'm sure in a crowded market a good cover would make a difference.

There is a guy named Dave Chesson who is recognized as an expert on publishing through Amazon. He has a lot of great guides and tips on how to "tame the beast".

I have thirteen non-erotic stories currently on Amazon, earning an average of $300 - $500 per month with no marketing other than Amazon ads. I used Dave's tips to choose the right categories, find the most effective keywords, and to develop my ad campaigns.

I create the images for all my books' covers. I have used photos of my wife for some, gave acknowledgement to an image creator for the free use of their work, used AI images and my imagination for others. I'm not an artist, but I think that my covers have all turned out well, and frequently get compliments on them (especially the ones with my wife on them). One recently won a Literary Titan award and another was given honorable mention at the 2025 Los Angeles Book Festival.

 

[SimonDoom]

There is a guy named Dave Chesson who is recognized as an expert on publishing through Amazon. He has a lot of great guides and tips on how to "tame the beast".

I have thirteen non-erotic stories currently on Amazon, earning an average of $300 - $500 per month with no marketing other than Amazon ads. I used Dave's tips to choose the right categories, find the most effective keywords, and to develop my ad campaigns.

I create the images for all my books' covers. I have used photos of my wife for some, gave acknowledgement to an image creator for the free use of their work, used AI images and my imagination for others. I'm not an artist, but I think that my covers have all turned out well, and frequently get compliments on them (especially the ones with my wife on them). One recently won a Literary Titan award and another was given honorable mention at the 2025 Los Angeles Book Festival.

This is useful. Thanks!

 

[JackTheStoryteller]

I must admit, that I have thought about this, as a voice actor with deep and erotic voice. And yes, I've been told that it can be very lucrative as a voice performer, although I think the worlds between the writers and the voices is probably very different when it comes to getting paid for our work.

 

[lovecraft68]

1. From my quick perusal of the listings at Amazon it looks like female authors overwhelmingly dominate. Does it make sense to adopt a female pseudonym? Or does it depend on the genre?

Yes. I have multiple pen names and the female name outsells the others combined.

Two reasons
1-Guys think its sexier when a woman writes it, just look at all the shmucks who come here only wanting to write with a woman
2- Although we have come a long way as a society with a lot of social stigmas, fact is there are still a lot of men out there who would not be okay with the idea something a man wrote got them off. You know, it might make them gay or something. Sounds bad, but its true.

If you need proof look at the reaction scores of female posters in the various sex forums and threads compared to guys "Hi I'm Jessie and I like sex" will blow up every forum stat there is. "Hi, I'm Simon I like sex" is kind of crickets.

 

[lovecraft68]

I must admit, that I have thought about this, as a voice actor with deep and erotic voice. And yes, I've been told that it can be very lucrative as a voice performer, although I think the worlds between the writers and the voices is probably very different when it comes to getting paid for our work.

Publishing audio works of writers is a tough slope to get paid, you usually have to settle on a percentage because most indy authors can't afford to pay a lot up front.

To this day I've only had one of my e-books put into audio and its because she was a friend and did it on the cuff as a thank you for some things I helped her with in her publishing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes. I have multiple pen names and the female name outsells the others combined.

Two reasons
1-Guys think its sexier when a woman writes it, just look at all the shmucks who come here only wanting to write with a woman
2- Although we have come a long way as a society with a lot of social stigmas, fact is there are still a lot of men out there who would not be okay with the idea something a man wrote got them off. You know, it might make them gay or something. Sounds bad, but its true.

If you need proof look at the reaction scores of female posters in the various sex forums and threads compared to guys "Hi I'm Jessie and I like sex" will blow up every forum stat there is. "Hi, I'm Simon I like sex" is kind of crickets.

Since you've been doing this for a while, I'm curious: do you write the same kinds of things for Amazon that you do here? Or are you targeting a different market? I understand they don't allow some content that is allowed here, so I'm not talking about incest.

 

[SPARTAN047]

I've done this.

If you mean Amazon then I've no idea, but I've sold my writing individually as commissions, some of which are here too. I wrote for free first and I got offers for custom stories by a surprising number of people (still do). I didn't have time to do any free ones anymore so I decided to take up commissions.

 

[lovecraft68]

Since you've been doing this for a while, I'm curious: do you write the same kinds of things for Amazon that you do here? Or are you targeting a different market? I understand they don't allow some content that is allowed here, so I'm not talking about incest.

I have some content there that's in other places, milf, lesbian, hot wife etc nothing taboo. I also have my erotic horror there under another name and another name for some more straight up horror material (all short story collections)

Smashwords allows everything except underage, providing you click the right boxes (incest, non con) if you don't and try to push those books through to affiliates that don't allow it, that's the end of your account.

I suggest starting at Smashwords to get comfortable with everything and not have to deal with the paranoia Amazon is known to instill

 

[lovecraft68]

Just thinking that these publishing question threads are really where I notice the absence of KeithD, he really knew the market.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Trying to make a living by writing is always a tough road to hoe for most people. Without my ghost work, I wouldn't be able to publish my own work. If I needed my stories to be the primary source of contributions to Jo and my bills, I'd be a kept woman, and Jo would foot all the bills. I'm not going to be a housewife and mother alone. I have to help carry the freight, so I'll keep doing other people's stories, podcast scripts, blogs, and whatever else, and hope someday I produce the great American novel under my pen name.

Perhaps if I wrote in one genre, I'd do better. But I like doing stories in varied ones better.

 

[Baztrachian]

I've written one screenplay and got paid decently for it when it was picked up and optioned by New Line Cinema. They haven't done jack shit with it to my knowledge but I get sporadic royalty checks indicating that they've borrowed from it for other projects.

My other screenplays haven't done shit.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Longtime lurker registering to ask this question: does anyone have experience with selling their erotic fiction? My beginning research suggests that Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla, but their bestseller lists don't overlap much with my style.

Amazon has an outsized presence that's begging for a beatdown from antitrust enforcement, and their content review process is literally kafkaesque. You can give KDP a try if you're extra cautious about what you put in your covers and stories, but I'd recommend Draft2Digital. Unlike Amazon, their content rules are clear and unambiguous, and if they reject your cover or story for some reason, they'll always tell you why so you can rectify it (not a courtesy Amazon ever extends to authors).

 

[NotWise]

Just thinking that these publishing question threads are really where I notice the absence of KeithD, he really knew the market.

TxRad, as well. His background may not have been as broad as KeithD's but he knew what he was doing well enough that his publisher had him leading workshops for new writers.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My father recently got a new payment from a screenwriter he'd done a lot of ghostwork for in the 90s. It was for several thousand dollars, and a note was included that he'd used scenes Dad had written for him on one project that were never used. He recycled them into a new screenplay and felt he owed him for reusing them.

I've written one screenplay and got paid decently for it when it was picked up and optioned by New Line Cinema. They haven't done jack shit with it to my knowledge but I get sporadic royalty checks indicating that they've borrowed from it for other projects.

My other screenplays haven't done shit.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Publishing audio works of writers is a tough slope to get paid, you usually have to settle on a percentage because most indy authors can't afford to pay a lot up front.

To this day I've only had one of my e-books put into audio and its because she was a friend and did it on the cuff as a thank you for some things I helped her with in her publishing.

I was offered the opportunity to be a beta tester for KDP's "Virtual Voice" program and used it to convert some of my e-books into audio books on their site and on Audible.

I had played around with Amazon Polly, which is the foundation AI for this test program, so I wanted to see how robust it was. It definitely isn't ready for prime time, and even my best selling titles in other formats haven't seen any audio book traction.

An interesting note is that the one story of mine that Amazon has categorized as "erotica" sailed through the program as an audio book.

 

[ChloeTzang]

......I'd recommend Draft2Digital. Unlike Amazon, their content rules are clear and unambiguous, and if they reject your cover or story for some reason, they'll always tell you why so you can rectify it (not a courtesy Amazon ever extends to authors).

Yes, I've just set myself up with a Draft2Digital account and that's the route i'm planning to go. Nice thing is they seem to hit ALL the platforms, which gives you scope beyond Amazon.

As for covers, I've primarily used BookCoverZone - they're around $89--$99 a shot, but way easier than trying to do it yourself if you have no flair for it

 

[TheLobster]

As for covers, I've primarily used BookCoverZone

I know you didn't post the link for this reason, but this is an absolute treasure trove of campy titles that I might totally reach for the next time I need to come up with those 35 characters to describe another cliche story I've written.