Tips on publishing (off of Lit)?

[Zenith77]

Hey,

I'm wondering about publishing some of my stuff. I'm aware there's a few places you can do this at zero cost (Amazon, various erotica-related publishers), and would like to hear any tips/experiences/advice from those that have done so. Do feel free to ping me a message (conversation) if you'd rather discuss there.

Apologies if this is a subject Literotica would prefer not to be discussed. I'm sure the mods will let me know

Wondering...

1) is it actually free, or are there hidden costs? Assuming self-editing, Amazon publication, etc.

2) where do you get your cover designs from? Do you need one?

3) how many publications before you begin to see some traction on your name/works?

4) have you made any money?

5) general tips on getting your name 'out there'?

6) recommended length? Or does a 'collection' work also?

7) anything else?

I do have a real job, so I'm not planning on leaving my children to fend for themselves until my published works put food on the table.

Thanks,

Z

 

[onehitwanda]

1. There are no hidden costs. But Amazon in particular is pay-to-win, they have a fair amount of paid-for functionality to "boost" your visibility. I didn't use it.
2. There are a fairly large number of online book-design websites; I found one and used it. I used a royalty-free image as the cover and tarted it up a bit with a nice font face etc. It looked okay. Definitely not professional though.
Questions 3 onwards I can't answer, I gave up at 100 downloads and £1.50 in sales

 

[Zenith77]

1. There are no hidden costs. But Amazon in particular is pay-to-win, they have a fair amount of paid-for functionality to "boost" your visibility. I didn't use it.
2. There are a fairly large number of online book-design websites; I found one and used it. I used a royalty-free image as the cover and tarted it up a bit with a nice font face etc. It looked okay. Definitely not professional though.
Questions 3 onwards I can't answer, I gave up at 100 downloads and £1.50 in sales

congrats on being profitable! You are now officially a professional author

I assume you can set your own price? How do you get 100 downloads with only £1.50 in sales?

 

[onehitwanda]

I assume you can set your own price? How do you get 100 downloads with only £1.50 in sales?

Amazon has a special category for newly published books; Amazon also lets you "sell" the book for free for... a week or two, if I remember correctly? The combination of it being new and free meant that it ranked in the top 100 new arrivals for a week or so. Once the free offer ended it nosedived to well below rank 20k. I was hoping for at least one review but got none so I gave it up as a stupid game and went back to other things

I look back at it now and while I'm glad I did it, on the whole it was a draining process and I wouldn't do it again for a work of fiction.
There are bits of it that I'm intensely proud of, and bits of it that make me cringe into next week.
Oh, and of course, the "publishing house" I set up had a really cool logo:

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I don't market any of my stories with erotic content. I only post those here and on SOL, both free sites.

All my marketed products are suitable for public libraries, hence, I cannot advise on how best to position erotica for profit.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You're the second person In two days to ask this:

Publishing Your Work

 

[lovecraft68]

You're the second person In two days to ask this:

Publishing Your Work

But yet you're replying....and being snarky to a new poster. No surprise.

 

[lovecraft68]

Cover photos can be obtained at sites like Deposit photos(the one I use) Big stock, 123rf and others. If you can use Canva or other programs and have some patience and knowledge of fonts, you can make your own. If not $25 will get you quality work. My advice is stay away from Fiiverr you mostly get what you pay for. If you'd like a name for covers, PM me and I'll send you my person's info.

On Amazon just go straight up, avoid all their exclusive programs that lock you in. A few people make some money, most are the example above where they made pennies on a dollar.

Smashwords-just merging now with Draft2digital is the best site there is for indies, and especially indy erotica.

To address your other question the only costs would be if you're paying for a cover and if you want to pay an editor. Hate to say it but for indy erotica as long as you're grammar isn't atrocious its good enough. Sounds crappy, but I'm dealing fact here, not what its supposed to be,

I've been selling for 12 years at this point and do pretty well, but the trick is-like the trick here-is to be able to have a steady flow of content. Each new work gets sales, but also draws people to your other books. So it takes some time to build a base so don't get discouraged, also don't expect to quit the day job, but many of us make a nice little second income.

Also for expense, if you're going to all the work, you get the money, other than the percentage the site takes. Amazon takes 35% Smashwords only 15%. But if you want a publisher they will take a cut too. So you decide if their cut is worth them uploading, helping with covers etc...or you want to do it all.

You can feel free to PM me if you have specific questions. I can also hook you up with a great publisher who is also the person who does my covers. I do some sites myself, they do others for me because the more you're on the more work.

Good luck

 

[Zenith77]

@lovecraft68 really helpful, thanks.

Most of my work is non-con themed, to a greater or lesser extent. I've seen a couple of times now that Amazon won't like that. Is that the case, d'ya know?

My gramer is good prety. I don't need no editor not. Well, I probably do, but I'm happy to self-edit for now.

Good tip on the cover art - I bet that's key in getting reads.

 

[lovecraft68]

@lovecraft68 really helpful, thanks.

Most of my work is non-con themed, to a greater or lesser extent. I've seen a couple of times now that Amazon won't like that. Is that the case, d'ya know?

My gramer is good prety. I don't need no editor not. Well, I probably do, but I'm happy to self-edit for now.

Good tip on the cover art - I bet that's key in getting reads.

Amazon has a bunch of 'rules' that they've been ignoring for some time now. You're not supposed to use "mommy/daddy etc' in erotic titles, go look up those words.
The game with them is wrap up your nasty content nice and pretty like. Don't have an overly violent or lurid cover and keep your description tame. You may not get the sales the rule breakers are getting, but when amazon goes on its next witch hunt which they do every so many years, you'll be safe and they'll be losing their account, Play the long game

As for Smashwords they have boxes to click if your book has incest. NC beastie or other themes they deem extreme. You can sell it all there, but they make sure people not into it don't see it. Its all amazon has to do, but they like to play games and randomly ban people for books they let through in the first place(kind of like here, same model)

 

[Ada Stuart]

1) is it actually free, or are there hidden costs? Assuming self-editing, Amazon publication, etc.

2) where do you get your cover designs from? Do you need one?

3) how many publications before you begin to see some traction on your name/works?

4) have you made any money?

5) general tips on getting your name 'out there'?

6) recommended length? Or does a 'collection' work also?

7) anything else?

I do have a real job, so I'm not planning on leaving my children to fend for themselves until my published works put food on the table.

1. Yes, it's free, although there are plenty of people that will tell you that you need to pay for advertising etc, but you don't have to. Still, I would have paid for Grammarly since it saves you a ton of time when editing.
2. I make them myself. I started using a free tool called Canva and free photos from Freepik. These days, I have invested a bit more time and money (Affinity Publisher and photos from Depositphotos). And yes, you do need a cover because the cover is your primary selling point
3. 10 ebooks, that's usually the point where it starts working. The more, the better, but they don't have to be long stories. I prefer writing short stories, or split a longer story into several parts which are published separately
4. Absolutely, but I'm keeping the dayjob no matter what . The more titles you publish, the bigger the income. Currently, I have about 60 published titles
5. Offer a free title. My income doubled after I started doing that. And offer the free title on Google and Smashwords, and watch Amazon follow afterwards. That's the trick that works best
6. 5 -25 k. The 5k book, you can sell for $0.99, while the 25k, you sell for $2.99. It's a waste of time to write stories longer than 70k. Also, stick with ebooks only. No paperbacks or Hardcover. They are just a waste of time. Collections (usually) don't sell well so I avoid them
7. Check the Kindle bestseller lists to see what genres sell. Try to write a book in one of those genres. Don't choose a genre that you hate; the readers won't like it either

And likewise. I, too, have a dayjob, kids and plenty of other hobbies. But it's amazing what you can achieve when you skip watching TV and Netflix, lol. Still, the best thing about publishing is to see your stories reaching new readers and new platforms - you never get tired of that

 

[MillieDynamite]

From Smashwords and Amazon sales, I can buy new shoes, a dress, and nice underwear once or twice a year. Not getting rich, don't put money into it other than a nice cover.