I'm not a virgin anymore. *sigh*

[SandraMustard]

I took the plunge and published my first novel as an ebook on Smashwords. What can I do now? (Other than listing it in the sticky topic above). What are the politically correct actions I can use here on this site to promote it? Any help would be nice. I seem to be so nervous, I'm drawing a blank.

 

[lovecraft68]

Congratulations, I wish you luck with it.

You can put a link to it in your signature.

Maybe if there's another author here you're "friends" with you can do a review swap to help it on SW.

Also in general why stop at SW? You can put it on amazon and reading through your blurb I think it would do well on all romance e-books.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Review other people's stories on Smash, they will often come back and review yours. Drop comments to writers whose stories you like, read their blogs and send them emails. They may bump your work round their friends and fans and give you tips for groups you can join and things you can do to promote your work.

And even better - you may make some really good friends! I met my favourite DOM on Smash. (I must go and email him and see if he's got any more of those ladies too poor to afford clothes whom he kindly supports )

AboutMe do very nice little pages for promoting your work.

Congratulations on publishing on Smash!

 

[PennLady]

There's a permanent thread at the top of this forum, I think, devoted to promoting books by Lit authors. I guess the catch is whether you've had something published here.

LC, part of the problem with Sandra's book on Amazon is that the main character, the narrator, is about fourteen when the story starts. The character doesn't have sex but it is the story of her growth both as a person and sexually.

 

[lovecraft68]

There's a permanent thread at the top of this forum, I think, devoted to promoting books by Lit authors. I guess the catch is whether you've had something published here.

LC, part of the problem with Sandra's book on Amazon is that the main character, the narrator, is about fourteen when the story starts. The character doesn't have sex but it is the story of her growth both as a person and sexually.

Hmmm, actually as long as there is not actual sex Amazon is less anal than lit iss, especially if this were to go into romance rather than erotica.

Remember everything in erotica is taken in a different context,

 

[SandraMustard]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

PL: I did the permanent topic first. I knew about that one.

LC: I added a link in my signature, thanks. Trouble is, most people hide that stuff (like I used to).

I think there's a way to add links to my submission page but I didn't see it yesterday. Today, XFinity is having problems in my area and I can't get to certain sites, so I'll have to wait. (It's strange. I can get to yahoo.com but not my yahoo email, Lit's forums but not Lit's stories).

 

[Handley_Page]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I added a link in my signature, thanks. Trouble is, most people hide that stuff (like I used to).

I still do.
Whilst I appreciate the information, some authors were taking an entire page to illustrate their signature. To my mind, it took up too much space; and time to send.

 

[vgrey]

I just happened to see your book show up on SW

I just happened to be browsing SW new books when your title showed up and a couple of days later I saw this post on Literotica. So I guess you can assume there is some cross traffic between the sites.

I'm pretty sure that your title would be fine on Amazon as well and that is a huge share of the e-book market.

Good Luck!

 

[ktmccoll]

Congrats on taking the plunge. I'm in the same boat, having also posted my first novel to SW and Amazon this month. I'm realizing that what I've read is true -- the real work starts post-publication. For what it's worth, Yahoo has a "Love Romances Cafe" that enables you to promo your book. Not sure how effective this is, but it's a start.

 

[SandraMustard]

I've gone thru my Literotica feedback emails, sending each person a note (and a link) about the book since they liked my story writing. Two responded (so far) and two more books were sold today. I take that as a good return on such a limited fan base.

 

[ktmccoll]

That's a good idea. What I was planning to do with this novel was to post it simultaneously on Lit. The preamble to the first chapter mentioned where the ebook version could be found. Unfortunately, the posting was rejected because it contained URLs. I think I'll still post the novel on Lit in its entirety in the hopes that some readers might want to get the whole thing in a nice package. We'll see.

 

[SandraMustard]

Who will buy a cow when they get milk for free? Limiting your Lit post to a teaser might help but I think there is a Lit rule about posting published works.

My story is too long for Lit (130K words) anyways and uh, has content issues. Since I wrote stories that did well in contests, I have a few followers. Ten of them sent feedback. Even though it was almost a year ago, I still had their addys.

 

[ktmccoll]

I considered that too -- the cow thing -- but it was more important to me to get the milk out there in whatever way I could. I was hoping that the Lit posting would serve the same purpose as the 25% SW preview. And I didn't want to leave anyone hanging if they weren't going to go the ebook route anyway.
At any rate, you have piqued my curiosity with your content issues. I'll have to check it out...
Thanks for the tip about reconnecting with previous commenters. I was able to reconnect with a few of them as well.

 

[sr71plt]

Who will buy a cow when they get milk for free? Limiting your Lit post to a teaser might help but I think there is a Lit rule about posting published works.

One would think, yes, but it doesn't work that way. Nearly everything I have in Lit. is also in the marketplace in some form--and making money. A lot of it is also duplicated on other story sites. There's no Lit. rule against any of this.

 

[SandraMustard]

... you have piqued my curiosity with your content issues. I'll have to check it out...

My story essentially starts when I am 14 and I see "Woody" for the first time. I was 19 when I lost my virginity to him but there are real life experiences in between that can't be written about here. You won't see much of anything sexual in the first 10% preview, so maybe you'll be piqued into buying it.

 

[SandraMustard]

...There's no Lit. rule against any of this.

Really? I thought I had a story rejected because it was a verbatim excerpt from my novel. I did admit to that in the prologue so maybe the key is not shining a spotlight on what you're doing.

 

[sr71plt]

Really? I thought I had a story rejected because it was a verbatim excerpt from my novel. I did admit to that in the prologue so maybe the key is not shining a spotlight on what you're doing.

That would surprise the hell out of me. I recently dropped three published novellas on Lit., with covers and all given in the new-story announcements.

I don't think this Web site cares a bit or that you have to try and hide anything from them on anywhere else it's published and in any form. They state they are exercising nonexclusive use rights. That means you can do anything else with it that you want. I see no reason to have a single thought that it isn't permitted.

I think you might have it ass backwards. Amazon doesn't want it published anywhere else--but they don't really check either. Someone has to complain to them.

 

[ktmccoll]

I had mine rejected because I referenced the ebook (with URLs, which is a no-no). I have since removed this reference and am waiting to see whether it goes through. I checked the Lit guidelines and there is no prohibition that I could find about having the same work published elsewhere (I guess in the same spirit that Amazon will let you publish a Kindle version even though you have a SW version of the same ebook).

 

[sr71plt]

You won't find anything in the Lit. documentation against it, because that Lit. is only asking for nonexclusive rights is explicitly stated in the Web site FAQs:

If I submit a story to Literotica, do I still own the copyright?

Absolutely. You are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com . . .

 

[SandraMustard]

I don't have specific evidence to support my contention, just a recollection of something over two years ago, so I will defer to the more experienced pilot's opinion.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't have specific evidence to support my contention, just a recollection of something over two years ago, so I will defer to the more experienced pilot's opinion.

It's not an opinion, Sandra. It's happening. Point to any story on my list and I can probably point to where it's available in the marketplace. And I've cited the Web site FAQ on this. What's left to contend?

 

[SandraMustard]

Whatever, Pilot. I was rejected, you weren't witness to the reason. I can't contend that? I conceded this debate to the points you made and you think my concession was invalid on semantics? What more do you want?

 

[sr71plt]

You shouldn't contend what exists, no. It confuses other writers. And I can certainly doubt that that rejection, for that reason, happened to you--because it's just not what happens at Literotica. I only am repeating what "is" here because it's not something that story contributors have to worry about in the least. The "problem" simply does not exist here.

 

[SandraMustard]

So you're calling me a liar? Are you so omnipotent on Lit rules that a rejection could not have occurred? What arrogance. I would appreciate it if you never said another word to me.

 

[sr71plt]

So you're calling me a liar? Are you so omnipotent on Lit rules that a rejection could not have occurred? What arrogance. I would appreciate it if you never said another word to me.

No, I think you are confused about what happened where--and maybe more than a little dense. There certainly isn't room for you to be correct on Literotica policy on this issue. And other writers here shouldn't be misled about that.

And if I think you're leading the other writers down a blind alley in the future, I'll certainly mention it. And, I'm sure, get my hand bitten for it as well.

And it's not arrogance. It's using common sense and trying to keep writers here from having unnecessary concerns. But if they don't "get this" now and choose to walk down this blind alley with you, they're welcome to the unnecessary worry.