How do people monetize their writing?

[TheAlphabetGirl]

I guess everyone dreams of getting a publisher and writing a best selling novel right?! Just wondering how people go about doing this. Publishing on Amazon must be like the biggest haystack where you need a followership to gain any serious sales traction.

Competitions in magazines - get a publisher. How often does theat work out for erotica based authors?

Making the jump into TV scripts? seems a harder market to get into and sex content would be less graphic (which is quite a lot of the fun in the writing for me)

Any other routes in to making some money?!

ps - Ive only just published my first story (3 parts) so trying to not get ahead of myself. but its so exciting!!!!! would appreciate any comments from all you lovely fellow readers/writer.

https://literotica.com/s/tall-young-and-well-hung-pt-01

 

[alohadave]

I guess everyone dreams of getting a publisher and writing a best selling novel right?!

Nope. This is strictly a hobby, and novel length writing is not for me.

 

[StillStunned]

Any other routes in to making some money?!

Direct marketing: sidle up to people and whisper, "Wanna buy some smut?"

Street artist: "Will write smut for cash!"

Blackmail: "I've written this story about you. Give me money or I'll send it to your grandmother."

I've not tried any of these, to be honest, or any other methods. I think there are sites like Smashwords and Patreon where people also sell their stories, but I have no first-hand experience.

In the meantime, welcome, and enjoy the Lit experience!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Oh my StillStunned - you could make a fortune!!! you are very funny too. Thanks for the tips :0)

+ Fun with Fingers - 5 Stars!!

 

[lovecraft68]

I guess everyone dreams of getting a publisher and writing a best selling novel right?! Just wondering how people go about doing this. Publishing on Amazon must be like the biggest haystack where you need a followership to gain any serious sales traction.

Competitions in magazines - get a publisher. How often does theat work out for erotica based authors?

Making the jump into TV scripts? seems a harder market to get into and sex content would be less graphic (which is quite a lot of the fun in the writing for me)

Any other routes in to making some money?!

ps - Ive only just published my first story (3 parts) so trying to not get ahead of myself. but its so exciting!!!!! would appreciate any comments from all you lovely fellow readers/writer.

https://literotica.com/s/tall-young-and-well-hung-pt-01

Welcome, and good luck with your stories.

Be aware this forum is where people talk about themselves and their stories.

If you want some feedback start a thread in the feedback forum. People there will give you some insight.

https://forum.literotica.com/forums/story-feedback.1/

As for selling, I've been doing so on various platforms since 2011, but this is a difficult place to have a serious conversation so If you want serious answers and advice feel free to PM me with any questions you have, and I'll do my best to help you out.

 

[StillStunned]

+ Fun with Fingers - 5 Stars!!

Thanks, glad you liked it!

 

[Bamagan]

I guess everyone dreams of getting a publisher and writing a best selling novel right?! Just wondering how people go about doing this. Publishing on Amazon must be like the biggest haystack where you need a followership to gain any serious sales traction.

Competitions in magazines - get a publisher. How often does theat work out for erotica based authors?

Making the jump into TV scripts? seems a harder market to get into and sex content would be less graphic (which is quite a lot of the fun in the writing for me)

Any other routes in to making some money?!

ps - Ive only just published my first story (3 parts) so trying to not get ahead of myself. but its so exciting!!!!! would appreciate any comments from all you lovely fellow readers/writer.

https://literotica.com/s/tall-young-and-well-hung-pt-01

The site supports links to Patreon, Smashwords, and various branches of Amazon (although some people seem to have trouble getting the links to work sometimes). You'll need to research whether or not any of those are suitable for you, as there are limits to what type of erotica they publish, and Literotica also has some restrictions about posting partial works or teasers here that are only available in full behind a paywall of some kind. You'll probably want to wait until you have a more extensive catalogue of works before attempting to make money on Patreon, unless you're a fairly prolific writer and can churn out content on a pretty regular basis.
There are also various sites that allow for tips to be given, but you can only mention those on your bio page, not in any of your stories here, so they may not get much notice.
Good luck!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Oh thank you! Yes bigger catalogue and refinement on style is a good starting place for a newbie then build toward the dream!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Welcome, and good luck with your stories.

Be aware this forum is where people talk about themselves and their stories.

If you want some feedback start a thread in the feedback forum. People there will give you some insight.

https://forum.literotica.com/forums/story-feedback.1/

As for selling, I've been doing so on various platforms since 2011, but this is a difficult place to have a serious conversation so If you want serious answers and advice feel free to PM me with any questions you have, and I'll do my best to help you out.

Oh fabulous - thank you LoveCraft68! There is quite a lot to look and understand with the way the site algorithm & forum works. Would love to swing back round to you on DM once I've found my feet :0)

 

[KeithD]

I monetize my writing by putting it in the marketplace first, using a publisher who will do all of the work except the writing.

As you rightly note, though, it's hard to get established in the marketplace enough to profit from it. It helps, as I did, to get in early in the erotica boom in e-booking.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh thank you! Yes bigger catalogue and refinement on style is a good starting place for a newbie then build toward the dream!

Write first, dream later. If you want to make a buck, be prepared to get on a hamster wheel and churn out endless content. There are a few writers here who have monetized their work, but not many. I gave it a shot several years ago, bought a few coffees and a pizza, got me some nice book covers; but I make more money in an hour in my paying job than I've made in total, selling books.

People do sell erotica, certainly, but you'll find they also give a lot of it away for nothing.

Do your homework, be realistic, but don't quit your day job .

 

[lovecraft68]

Oh fabulous - thank you LoveCraft68! There is quite a lot to look and understand with the way the site algorithm & forum works. Would love to swing back round to you on DM once I've found my feet :0)

It's not the easiest site to navigate, and there's a lot of intricacies involved in posting stories for max effect that it takes some time to learn.

Forum is a bit tricky too, seems easy, and there's some good people here happy to help with some of those things you need to master when it comes to posting stories, but like any forum it has its perceived hierarchy and cliques. Just be you, and you'll be fine.

You can message me whenever. Even if I take some time off on posting I always check my PMs.

 

[12oclocktales]

Direct marketing: sidle up to people and whisper, "Wanna buy some smut?"

Street artist: "Will write smut for cash!"

Blackmail: "I've written this story about you. Give me money or I'll send it to your grandmother."

I've not tried any of these, to be honest, or any other methods.

Not tried any of this? Who are you kidding? I’m the guy in Joe’s Bar you took my money from after threatening to publish that story about what I did with my grandmother, speaking of grandmothers, and her 20-year-old boyfriend at the Starlight Motel. She’s still pissed off at me for giving you the money: “you ruined my chances for fame and glory,” she insists, “that StillStunned guy rights good shit!”

 

[StillStunned]

Not tried any of this? Who are you kidding? I’m the guy in Joe’s Bar you took my money from after threatening to publish that story about what I did with my grandmother, speaking of grandmothers, and her 20-year-old boyfriend at the Starlight Motel. She’s still pissed off at me for giving you the money: “you ruined my chances for fame and glory,” she insists, “that StillStunned guy rights good shit!”

Wasn't me, guv, honest, and I have two mates who'll swear I was somewhere else, whenever it happened!

Oh, and say hi to your grandmother for me.

 

[12oclocktales]

Wasn't me, guv, honest, and I have two mates who'll swear I was somewhere else, whenever it happened!

Oh, and say hi to your grandmother for me.

Okay, maybe you’re right; it might’ve been Joe’s Saloon and Dive I was in when that happened; you don’t hang out there sometimes, do you?

Granny says she’s willing to give you another shot with a story about her and a whole gang of people she knows, including pictures, that makes that other story I mentioned sound like a Sunday School lesson. Let me know and I can drop it off. Better yet, she says come by yourself and pick it up, any night but Tuesday is fine, and she might have a few other things to whet your interest, wink, wink. She’s really not too bad looking and makes up for any lack of visual appeal with tremendous enthusiasm. Would definitely be worth your while.

 

[StillStunned]

Everyone's Granny was young and wild once. Or twice.

 

[lustychimera]

For web novels, a very common system is for people to offer "advance" chapters on their Patreon. Normally like $1/5 Chapters. $5/20 Chapters--something like that. A chapter being 2-4 thousand words. It's the best of all worlds: People still get their free content--they don't feel as though anything's taken away from them as if you're putting your stuff behind a paywall, but they're also inclined to want to continue the story. That's a really enticing offer.

And a lot of the big ones are making several thousand dollars a month. The really big ones are making even more. But that seems to work best when they're writing a very long 100+ chapter story. You have people hooked and they naturally want to continue. Honestly, from all that I've seen, that's the easiest way to make money writing these days.

Erotica isn't really long form like that, so you'd need to sell them on other stories rather than the one they were invested in. More selling a brand, which is harder. (Though I have read quite a few erotica web novels, like with 100+ chapters. They do exist, and they make money)

The alternative, of course, is all the self-pub sites. But from what I've seen, unless you're very lucky, profitability comes from volume rather than quality. You can invest a ton to advertise a single story, or you can churn out a bunch of okayish novels that hit on popular tropes and flood the new list as often as you can. I've see a lot written about it on self-pub sites, but this is often their conclusion one way or another.

And there's companies that you can pay to market your story for you. But to sell your work, you are really treading water in a sea of people who are all yelling out ads for their own work.

For trad publishing, what they look for is precedent. (And a very good hook--they're reading a hundred submissions a day) You'll have a huge leg up if you've already been previously published. It's a well-known paradox: You gotta be published to get published. What a lot of people do is write short stories then send them out to a bunch of magazines and websites to get those publishing credentials. It opens a lot more doors than if you start out by trying to query your 90k word novel right off the bat.

I can't speak to other genres, but I know to join the SWFA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) you have to have earned at least $1000 from publishing your writing (they'll ask for proof), and that's yet another credential that opens a door as well as all the networking.

The hardest part is getting that initial story published. (Make sure to understand 1st publishing rights)

Edit: Also, also the best way to get your writing up to snuff is to find a critique group. It's important to find a consistent group of people who understand your goals and can give you their impressions (not prescriptions) on how to improve. 4-6 really seems to be the sweet spot. You can ask randos, but that's very hit and miss.

 

[CockSparrow]

I am old. When I first started selling stories, many, many years ago, publishers – magazines, newspapers, radio stations – paid good money. Today, not so much.

Writing is a craft. If you are a master of the craft there are still people who will pay for your skills, but it tends to be for non-fiction. My advice to you would be the same advice that I have given to numerous other writers who are looking to get started: write fiction for your own entertainment; pay the butcher and the baker (and the wine merchant) with the proceeds of your non-fiction writing.

Good luck.

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Write first, dream later. If you want to make a buck, be prepared to get on a hamster wheel and churn out endless content. There are a few writers here who have monetized their work, but not many. I gave it a shot several years ago, bought a few coffees and a pizza, got me some nice book covers; but I make more money in an hour in my paying job than I've made in total, selling books.

People do sell erotica, certainly, but you'll find they also give a lot of it away for nothing.

Do your homework, be realistic, but don't quit your day job .

Love this advice @ElectricBlue

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

I monetize my writing by putting it in the marketplace first, using a publisher who will do all of the work except the writing.

As you rightly note, though, it's hard to get established in the marketplace enough to profit from it. It helps, as I did, to get in early in the erotica boom in e-booking.

Thank-you! take it I've missed the boom then ;0)

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

I am old. When I first started selling stories, many, many years ago, publishers – magazines, newspapers, radio stations – paid good money. Today, not so much.

Writing is a craft. If you are a master of the craft there are still people who will pay for your skills, but it tends to be for non-fiction. My advice to you would be the same advice that I have given to numerous other writers who are looking to get started: write fiction for your own entertainment; pay the butcher and the baker (and the wine merchant) with the proceeds of your non-fiction writing.

Good luck.

Sage words @CockSparrow ! thank you. And yes - I ghost write professionally but it's just not as much fun as on here though!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

For web novels, a very common system is for people to offer "advance" chapters on their Patreon. Normally like $1/5 Chapters. $5/20 Chapters--something like that. A chapter being 2-4 thousand words. It's the best of all worlds: People still get their free content--they don't feel as though anything's taken away from them as if you're putting your stuff behind a paywall, but they're also inclined to want to continue the story. That's a really enticing offer.

And a lot of the big ones are making several thousand dollars a month. The really big ones are making even more. But that seems to work best when they're writing a very long 100+ chapter story. You have people hooked and they naturally want to continue. Honestly, from all that I've seen, that's the easiest way to make money writing these days.

Erotica isn't really long form like that, so you'd need to sell them on other stories rather than the one they were invested in. More selling a brand, which is harder. (Though I have read quite a few erotica web novels, like with 100+ chapters. They do exist, and they make money)

The alternative, of course, is all the self-pub sites. But from what I've seen, unless you're very lucky, profitability comes from volume rather than quality. You can invest a ton to advertise a single story, or you can churn out a bunch of okayish novels that hit on popular tropes and flood the new list as often as you can. I've see a lot written about it on self-pub sites, but this is often their conclusion one way or another.

And there's companies that you can pay to market your story for you. But to sell your work, you are really treading water in a sea of people who are all yelling out ads for their own work.

For trad publishing, what they look for is precedent. (And a very good hook--they're reading a hundred submissions a day) You'll have a huge leg up if you've already been previously published. It's a well-known paradox: You gotta be published to get published. What a lot of people do is write short stories then send them out to a bunch of magazines and websites to get those publishing credentials. It opens a lot more doors than if you start out by trying to query your 90k word novel right off the bat.

I can't speak to other genres, but I know to join the SWFA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) you have to have earned at least $1000 from publishing your writing (they'll ask for proof), and that's yet another credential that opens a door as well as all the networking.

The hardest part is getting that initial story published. (Make sure to understand 1st publishing rights)

Edit: Also, also the best way to get your writing up to snuff is to find a critique group. It's important to find a consistent group of people who understand your goals and can give you their impressions (not prescriptions) on how to improve. 4-6 really seems to be the sweet spot. You can ask randos, but that's very hit and miss.

Amazing feedback @lustychimera! Really insightful - thank-you!!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Sage words @CockSparrow ! thank you. And yes - I ghost write professionally but it's just not as much fun as on here though!

I'm guessing then, that you know how hard it is to make a living from writing, and you also know the publishing ropes. I'm also guessing that you can write - the question is, can you write good erotica? Only one way to find out, huh?

Sounds like you might want to talk to @MillieDynamite - she ghost writes too, I believe.

 

[KeithD]

Thank-you! take it I've missed the boom then ;0)

Unless you can find an underserved genre. The thing with the Amazon world is that the offerings don't go away. They just pile on top of each other. And most genres have a lot, and building, offerings. That's not a reason not to do it. It's a reason why you'd make less and less from it over time, though--unless you can find a fresh angle.

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

I'm guessing then, that you know how hard it is to make a living from writing, and you also know the publishing ropes. I'm also guessing that you can write - the question is, can you write good erotica? Only one way to find out, huh?

Sounds like you might want to talk to @MillieDynamite - she ghost writes too, I believe.

I wouldn't say I know the publishing ropes for this genre :0) and had lots of good advice on this thread.

And can I write arousing erotica, the kind that teases readers to tingle and twitch in their pants?! Well - I'll let the ratings system be the judge of that!

Currently at 3k views - for yesterdays first foray & 4.44 rating & todays part 2 is 1.4k + 4.5 star.

I have no clue if that is good or not but it's exciting when you get a Hot symbol next to the story! The 3rd and final part tmrw is the best/hottest in my (humble) opinion.