# Oh it's ON! 5 Months of Erotica



## righterman (Jul 27, 2012)

Okay, I've been slacking off for two months now.  I have been debating whether or not to delve into erotica.  

Guess what?  It's ON!  I am stopping all my other genres and commiting to writing and publishing one 6k to 9k erotica short EVERY WEEK for the next 5 months.  No Kindle select, I'm doing both Amazon and Smashwords.  When I am done I'll either have 20 lame-ass erotica books and be no worse off for wear, or I'll be rolling around naked in a California King full of dirty Benjamins baby!

I'll come back and update y'all after each month.

Wish me luck!


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

I wish I could just set aside everything to write erotic romance for a while, but I've already committed to too many projects under my real name. I'm thinking of maybe taking a month or two off to write just erotic romance when I'm done with the book I'm working on right now (should be done by Christmas).

Come back and update us monthly to let us know how it's going.


----------



## Error404 (Sep 6, 2012)

righterman said:


> Wish me luck!


  Good luck!


----------



## Revolution (Sep 17, 2012)

I've been thinking about writing one for some time, but instead of m/f I'm thinking m/f/m/m/f/f/m/f

Almost like a cult that believe in group relationships. Now I just have to work out how sordid I want it


----------



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Revolution said:


> I've been thinking about writing one for some time, but instead of m/f I'm thinking m/f/m/m/f/f/m/f
> 
> Almost like a cult that believe in group relationships. Now I just have to work out how sordid I want it


That's a really BAD idea...might I recommend m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f


----------



## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> That's a really BAD idea...might I recommend m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f


I'd read it if you throw in an extra /m or two.

Good luck, OP. Have lots of fun.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Best of luck!
I'm currently trying to keep to a similar schedule with my erotica writing, although I'm occasionally interrupted by my studies. 
One short story a week is a good goal I think, I'm eager to see where it'll get me six months down the line!


----------



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

smreine said:


> I'd read it if you throw in an extra /m or two.
> 
> Good luck, OP. Have lots of fun.


wait, I can fix this! m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f/Hugh Jackman

Also, to OP, good luck! I wish you much success!


----------



## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> wait, I can fix this! m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f/Hugh Jackman


If you want to REALLY fix it, it should be Hugh Jackman/me/Ewan McGregor. In that order. There! All better.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I just blew my whole production schedule for the next six months by dropping everything and writing erotica that refused to be ignored.

Having the Best. Time. Ever.


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

TexasGirl said:


> I just blew my whole production schedule for the next six months by dropping everything and writing erotica that refused to be ignored.
> 
> Having the Best. Time. Ever.


Two words: Erotica fans.

They are a new breed of fans that I hope never goes extinct.


----------



## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

Hmm Erotica... I think I'll also dabble my pen into that.


----------



## ddblue (Oct 30, 2012)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> wait, I can fix this! m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f/Hugh Jackman


Instant best seller.


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

ddblue said:


> Instant best seller.


Funny thread.

Blue Balls is a terrific title.

[Not one that can be improved upon: . . . Pink Balls? Balls in the Pink of Health? No, won't work.]

(Sorry, couldn't resist . . . )

To those who know this field: does humor blend into erotica, or is it a no-no for this genre?


----------



## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

righterman said:


> Okay, I've been slacking off for two months now. I have been debating whether or not to delve into erotica.
> 
> Guess what? It's ON! I am stopping all my other genres and commiting to writing and publishing one 6k to 9k erotica short EVERY WEEK for the next 5 months. No Kindle select, I'm doing both Amazon and Smashwords. When I am done I'll either have 20 lame-*ss erotica books and be no worse off for wear, or I'll be rolling around naked in a California King full of dirty Benjamins baby!
> 
> ...


Break a leg! I just released my first erotica short; when I finish my current novel, I'll write my next erotica book.


----------



## ddblue (Oct 30, 2012)

Richardcrasta said:


> Funny thread.
> 
> Blue Balls is a terrific title.
> 
> ...


Thank you! And I ROFL'd at your 'better title' suggestions. As for humour in erotica, why not? Sex is kind of a funny thing when you think about it. Not so much just the act itself, but also all of the nonsense that surrounds it. Who hasn't acted a fool in the name of lust? I try to get at least one laugh-out-loud moment into each story. As to whether it works, well...I guess only time will tell. 

T the OP, good luck and don't forget to have fun with it (although I think that's a little hard to do in this genre).


----------



## BlankPage (Sep 23, 2012)

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


----------



## Revolution (Sep 17, 2012)

smreine said:


> If you want to REALLY fix it, it should be Hugh Jackman/me/Ewan McGregor. In that order. There! All better.


You got it, I won't use their names but I'll sure use their bodies, and yes that statement means what it means at every level >:]


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

My favorite kind of erotica:  f/f/f/f/f/swolf/f/f/f/f/f

By the way, there is a difference between MMF, and MFM.  (Learned that one the hard way.)


----------



## maritafowler (Nov 27, 2011)

sigh. Channing Tatum/me/Hugh Jackman

This is a very delicious distracting thread 



MalloryMoutinho said:


> wait, I can fix this! m/f/f/m/m/f/m/f/Hugh Jackman


----------



## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

Curious if you would lay out a bit of your process righterman.  A short story of 6-9k published every single week for 5 months is very awe inspiring.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Richardcrasta said:


> To those who know this field: does humor blend into erotica, or is it a no-no for this genre?


Absolutely, but as always it has to work well in the context. 
You can easily ruin a totally steamy scene by throwing in some goofball moment in the middle that completely shatters the sexy tone. I find if you're going to sprinkle in humour it works best at the setup/conclusion of an erotic short, with maybe a few cheeky references during the erotic part. All-out comedy erotica isn't something I imagine many people can pull off well, as it's a huge clash of tones if a piece tries to be hilarious and intensely hot at the same time.

But yes, a bit of humour is good! The stories I've enjoyed writing the most recently have all had their lighthearted moments. There's a lot of awkward situations that arise from one of my protagonists trying to balance her day to day life with being her husband's full time sex slave.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Richardcrasta said:


> To those who know this field: does humor blend into erotica, or is it a no-no for this genre?


I think it depends. If it's a sex story without a lot of plot, then the humor may be out of place. But if you have plot, then the humor can definitely fit. My Amulet and Sex Zombies have moments of humor, and I also wrote an erotic short-story take off on the Brady Bunch.


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

I took a stab at erotica earlier in the summer and had several ppl say - _There's too much sex_. lol.


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

H.M. Ward said:


> I took a stab at erotica earlier in the summer and had several ppl say - _There's too much sex_. lol.


Where can I find your books?


----------



## summerdaniels71 (Jul 23, 2011)

swolf said:


> My favorite kind of erotica: f/f/f/f/f/swolf/f/f/f/f/f
> 
> By the way, there is a difference between MMF, and MFM. (Learned that one the hard way.)


"Learned that one the *hard* way."

Oh no. Did you cross swords? That is considered a blunder of "cocked" up proportions. ;-)~


----------



## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

smreine said:


> If you want to REALLY fix it, it should be Hugh Jackman/me/Ewan McGregor. In that order. There! All better.


I've met Hugh Jackman....total dream boat.

Hmmm maybe I should write some loosely disguised fan fic.

M


----------



## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

mrv01d said:


> I've met Hugh Jackman....total dream boat.
> 
> Hmmm maybe I should write some loosely disguised fan fic.
> 
> M


Whoa whoa whoa, wait. Really? How did that happen?


----------



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

mrv01d said:


> I've met Hugh Jackman....total dream boat.
> 
> Hmmm maybe I should write some loosely disguised fan fic.
> 
> M





smreine said:


> Whoa whoa whoa, wait. Really? How did that happen?


yeah seriously!!!!...Details!


----------



## righterman (Jul 27, 2012)

merryxmas said:


> Curious if you would lay out a bit of your process righterman. A short story of 6-9k published every single week for 5 months is very awe inspiring.


I actually outline the story, which usually wont take too many plot turns in a 7 k short. Then I speak the story into the notepad on my android, which actually has MUCH better speech recognition than the old Dragon Naturally Speaking software I used to use. I speak the story in first person, female POV (even thought I'm a guy!) and I speak it mixing storytelling elements with a form of natural conversation - as if you were telling a friend. Then I save the note file on my phone and email it to myself, then I cut the text and paste into word. Next I go through and find all the errors and make adjustments. Then I go through again and check for errors. Then I simply "read" it. After all that, I drop the text into a pre formatted file for Smashwords and one for Amazon.

Claudia King if that is your real photo, I can use that for future "material"


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

righterman said:


> I actually outline the story, which usually wont take too many plot turns in a 7 k short. Then I speak the story into the notepad on my android, which actually has MUCH better speech recognition than the old Dragon Naturally Speaking software I used to use. I speak the story in first person, female POV (even thought I'm a guy!) and I speak it mixing storytelling elements with a form of natural conversation - as if you were telling a friend. Then I save the note file on my phone and email it to myself, then I cut the text and paste into word. Next I go through and find all the errors and make adjustments. Then I go through again and check for errors. Then I simply "read" it. After all that, I drop the text into a pre formatted file for Smashwords and one for Amazon.
> 
> Claudia King if that is your real photo, I can use that for future "material"


Stock photo I'm afraid, actually it's one I used for the cover of my latest short over on Smashwords, I figured it gave off the right image for the avatar of an erotic author. 
That's definitely an interesting process you have there though, there's no way I'd ever be comfortable enough to sit there dictating some of the smut I write out loud! What if the neighbours had an ear to the wall?

My stories are usually between 4-5k words (sometimes a bit over, sometimes a bit under), but for me the big part of getting a story done in a week is making sure I have a really solid, really kinky premise to work with. If the idea's only half there I can barely get 500 words done a night, but if it's something that has me thinking _yeah, this is totally hot_ I find myself easily able to pound out 2000 words in a sitting. I definitely try to stick to writing the sort of thing I'd want to read. Sex scenes can get very, very tedious and formulaic if there's not some sort of spice to drive them. If the motivation's there, writing erotica is pretty much pure leisure time for me. 

So I guess my process isn't anywhere near as interesting. I just sit down and write erotica. And if it turns out to be mega-hot, I write a lot of it.


----------



## JRLeckman (Dec 22, 2010)

smreine said:


> If you want to REALLY fix it, it should be Hugh Jackman/me/Ewan McGregor. In that order. There! All better.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Writing erotica can be a very lucrative venture, or it can be a frustrating one. It takes a little while to find out what works and what doesn't. I found that my humorous stories hardly move. My serious, "down to business" shorts sell the best. I usually write one 3000 - 5500-word short story each week that school isn't killing me. I can write an entire piece in one 5-hour session if I'm in the mood to work. I have a few stories that I have been working on for a few days because I'm just not feeling them.

Just make sure that you write good material. Writing decent / good erotica can be just as challenging (sometimes more challenging) as crafting any other kind of story. I am continuously checking out new trends, seeing what's selling the most and researching proper ways to write steamy scenes. I must be doing something sort of right, because I made $142 in October from 4 erotic shorts. Only a few bucks of that came from my "real" name. I now have 8 shorts, 2 bundles and more on the way. It has been extremely fun so far.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Well, I finished my first 7K story and already have the idea for the next one in the series, so my NaNoWriMo has seriously been hijacked.

Just gonna roll with it.


----------



## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

How I Met Hugh Jackman...for the curious.

I went to NYC and saw one of his Broadway plays. Can't remember the title BUT he did a little striptease onstage, everything off except undies. *faints*

Then I waited for him with a bunch of other fans outside the theater door.

He is the NICEST guy. And tall and just as hunky as he looks on screen. *dies*

So then my friend and I followed him all over NYC for two days...politely stalking (if that's possible). I got his autograph 4 times.

Total sweetheart.


----------



## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

righterman said:


> I actually outline the story, which usually wont take too many plot turns in a 7 k short. Then I speak the story into the notepad on my android, which actually has MUCH better speech recognition than the old Dragon Naturally Speaking software I used to use. I speak the story in first person, female POV (even thought I'm a guy!) and I speak it mixing storytelling elements with a form of natural conversation - as if you were telling a friend. Then I save the note file on my phone and email it to myself, then I cut the text and paste into word. Next I go through and find all the errors and make adjustments. Then I go through again and check for errors. Then I simply "read" it. After all that, I drop the text into a pre formatted file for Smashwords and one for Amazon.
> 
> Claudia King if that is your real photo, I can use that for future "material"


I like it. You feel that you get more of a word count out by just speaking your narrative than by writing it? Less of an editing mind ticking away while you're dictating?


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

Writing erotica is a nice process. It more often than not won't have you 'Umming' and 'Arrring' over whether your plotline should go this way or that way... which usually leads to some kind of block in other genres. Instead, you know which way it's going, horizontal usually (OK, there are a fair few other 'possibilities' too).

The nice thing is you can really play with your imagination without worrying about using the next three/six month of your life to write a full novel that may or may not take off. There are some interesting angles you can take regarding perhaps more daring of storylines, and I don't just mean the sex either. I think erotica readers accept quite a bit of tongue-in-cheek situations and dialogue that some other genre's readers wouldn't.

So anyway, good luck to the OP, and enjoy!


----------



## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Curious how you landed on 5 months? Was it random or is there a reason?

Sorry if it was detailed and I didn't see it.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

So erotic writers extraordinaire: a question.

I'm noticing that most covers have women on them. Some have couples. The ones with men seem to be M/M.

Been trying to figure out if my straight up hetero story should feature a cover of the hero (the object of desire) or the heroine (her POV.) I don't want a couple--the two skin tones/looks would be super hard to find in stock, I think.

I have a super cool hero cover, but not sure if I'm breaking a convention, and if I should switch it to the girl.


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

TexasGirl said:


> So erotic writers extraordinaire: a question.
> 
> I'm noticing that most covers have women on them. Some have couples. The ones with men seem to be M/M.
> 
> ...


I think I posted about this last week or something.

Different people have different opinions, but it's a fact that women like to see other beautiful women, whereas men want to see beautiful women too. Just look at any women's magazines for confirmation in the ads.

I prefer more women on mine unless there is an M/m M/M or M/M/M/M/M/M/M/m focus. 

Still, I think you'll find many erotica authors have different opinions. So don't take my word for it.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

I write (and read) only hetero, and in my opinion, there should be a woman on the cover, whether she's alone or with a guy.   A single guy alone on the cover signals m/m to me.

In my two Amulet books, it's the male lead who wears the amulet most of the time, but if I showed that on the cover, I think most would assume it was a gay-themed story.  I haven't had any complaints about misleading covers in those two instances.

Just my opinion though.


----------



## tsharp (Jul 14, 2011)

Claudia King said:


> Stock photo I'm afraid, actually it's one I used for the cover of my latest short over on Smashwords, I figured it gave off the right image for the avatar of an erotic author.
> That's definitely an interesting process you have there though, there's no way I'd ever be comfortable enough to sit there dictating some of the smut I write out loud! What if the neighbours had an ear to the wall?
> 
> My stories are usually between 4-5k words (sometimes a bit over, sometimes a bit under), but for me the big part of getting a story done in a week is making sure I have a really solid, really kinky premise to work with. If the idea's only half there I can barely get 500 words done a night, but if it's something that has me thinking _yeah, this is totally hot_ I find myself easily able to pound out 2000 words in a sitting. I definitely try to stick to writing the sort of thing I'd want to read. Sex scenes can get very, very tedious and formulaic if there's not some sort of spice to drive them. If the motivation's there, writing erotica is pretty much pure leisure time for me.
> ...


Claudia,
I see that your books are listed on SW at $2.99. I've got an erotica short published on there in my pen name, but it's about half the word count, about 2500 words. I priced it at $0.99 and it seems to be selling better than I thought (as in I thought it wouldn't sell at all). Maybe I should put my price up and see how it affects sales?


----------



## Scott Daniel (Feb 1, 2011)

Okay, someone needs to play devil's advocate on this here thread. Should you really be writing erotica just because it's selling? It's one thing if you have a true interest in it and have always dreamed of writing it, but just to try to hustle a couple of dollars?

Believe me, I've thought about it, too. But I decided that I want use what little writing time I have to do what I'm truly interested in. I suppose everyone's circumstance is different and some of us need to make money at this; if not, I have to wonder how attainable this goal will be after the novelty (pun intended) wares off.


----------



## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Scott Daniel said:


> Okay, someone needs to play devil's advocate on this here thread. Should you really be writing erotica just because it's selling? It's one thing if you have a true interest in it and have always dreamed of writing it, but just to try to hustle a couple of dollars?
> 
> Believe me, I've thought about it, too. But I decided that I want use what little writing time I have to do what I'm truly interested in. I suppose everyone's circumstance is different and some of us need to make money at this; if not, I have to wonder how attainable this goal will be after the novelty (pun intended) wares off.


Can you not be both interested in writing it but also have the drive to make money? Does it have to be one or the other?


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

Scott Daniel said:


> Believe me, I've thought about it, too. But I decided that I want use what little writing time I have to do what I'm truly interested in. I suppose everyone's circumstance is different and some of us need to make money at this; if not, I have to wonder how attainable this goal will be after the novelty (pun intended) wares off.


That book cover of yours in your sig called 'The Eden Effect' looks a bit erotic if you ask me.

Actually the Adam and Eve fall from grace is quite a good beginning starting premise... in fact the first EVER erotic premise.

I say go for it Scott. You've got nothing to lose.


----------



## Diane Patterson (Jun 17, 2012)

TexasGirl said:


> I just blew my whole production schedule for the next six months


Pretty sure TexasGirl just won this entire thread.


----------



## Scott Daniel (Feb 1, 2011)

AnitaDobs said:


> That book cover of yours in your sig called 'The Eden Effect' looks a bit erotic if you ask me.
> 
> Actually the Adam and Eve fall from grace is quite a good beginning starting premise... in fact the first EVER erotic premise.
> 
> I say go for it Scott. You've got nothing to lose.


It's not _that_ kind of Adam and Eve story...


----------



## Scott Daniel (Feb 1, 2011)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> Can you not be both interested in writing it but also have the drive to make money? Does it have to be one or the other?


Not at all. That's the best of both worlds


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

Scott Daniel said:


> It's not _that_ kind of Adam and Eve story...


  You might say that Scott, but even I as an erotica author don't have an image of a man grabbing a woman's breast happily on my covers...

At least I don't think I do, but my memory is not what it used to be.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

> Quote from: TexasGirl on November 04, 2012, 08:56:49 PM
> 
> I just blew my whole production schedule for the next six months
> 
> Pretty sure TexasGirl just won this entire thread


.

Ha ha ha ha. Speaking of blowing...I just got married in June, about the time I FINALLY started finding some indie erotica worth reading (yay Kindle Boarders.) It had been a slog through samples to get there, but clicking on siggies here meant I was MUCH more likely to find good stuff. Cuz you know there is nothing worse than bad erotica. You go in for one thing, you come out... well, anyway...

Back when I was subbing to agents, pre-indie-revolution, I got many comments to minimize the stories and keep the sex scenes and do erotica. I just hadn't done it until these last few weeks. My husband became my husband just as all this was happening, and now he is thinking he should have gotten married years ago!!!

Don't tell him it's the erotica. 

THANK YOU for all the cover advice! I shoot boudoir and I'm pretty sure a couple of my clients would be thrilled to end up on covers. Going to check with them and see if I can get them to sign some rights over in exchange for some prints.

HumbleNations, I'll let you know if I get stuck. I give myself exactly two tries to get a cover right, then I chuck it and hire someone.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Scott Daniel said:


> Okay, someone needs to play devil's advocate on this here thread. Should you really be writing erotica just because it's selling? It's one thing if you have a true interest in it and have always dreamed of writing it, but just to try to hustle a couple of dollars?


I think that will all come out in the wash. Unless you really love writing erotica, you're not going to write 6-9k of it a week for five months straight. If it doesn't flow easily, at some point your mind is going to mutiny.

Also, in general, readers will be able to tell if a writer really enjoyed creating the story they're reading. If you fake it, you may sell some copies, but not that many.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

tsharp said:


> Claudia,
> I see that your books are listed on SW at $2.99. I've got an erotica short published on there in my pen name, but it's about half the word count, about 2500 words. I priced it at $0.99 and it seems to be selling better than I thought (as in I thought it wouldn't sell at all). Maybe I should put my price up and see how it affects sales?


I started out at $0.99-$1.99 pricing points initially, but after reading some advice from other authors (and seeing how slowly the money came in after publisher cuts) I bumped everything up to $2.99 recently. My sales are still pretty modest as I get this thing going, but they certainly haven't decreased at all, and they're netting me an extra dollar each time now!
I think $1.99 for a 2500 word story would be acceptable, much more and people might not be so quick to bite. 3000 words seems to be about the minimum for a decent $2.99 erotic short.
I'm still very new to all this though, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt!



Scott Daniel said:


> Okay, someone needs to play devil's advocate on this here thread. Should you really be writing erotica just because it's selling? It's one thing if you have a true interest in it and have always dreamed of writing it, but just to try to hustle a couple of dollars?
> 
> Believe me, I've thought about it, too. But I decided that I want use what little writing time I have to do what I'm truly interested in. I suppose everyone's circumstance is different and some of us need to make money at this; if not, I have to wonder how attainable this goal will be after the novelty (pun intended) wares off.


Interestingly enough I settled on erotica primarily because sitting down to write longer, more serious works just wasn't doing it for me. I absolutely love writing short stories, and nothing gets me motivated like knowing I'm working towards a steamy sex scene in the middle of them. I'd be lying if I said the financial motivation wasn't what tipped the scales, but given the choice between this and flip-flopping on a novel for a year or so, I definitely know what I'm going to find more fulfilling!
I'm also pretty nervous about getting into a big project right off the bat without any real professional writing experience beforehand. I'm a pretty young writer, and I figure I still have a lot I can improve on before I get to my magnum opus one day.

Erotica just works for me. It's fun, it's easily structured and worked into my schedule, and it's something I can watch grow steadily over time.


----------



## righterman (Jul 27, 2012)

Claudia King said:


> I started out at $0.99-$1.99 pricing points initially, but after reading some advice from other authors (and seeing how slowly the money came in after publisher cuts) I bumped everything up to $2.99 recently. My sales are still pretty modest as I get this thing going, but they certainly haven't decreased at all, and they're netting me an extra dollar each time now!
> I think $1.99 for a 2500 word story would be acceptable, much more and people might not be so quick to bite. 3000 words seems to be about the minimum for a decent $2.99 erotic short.
> I'm still very new to all this though, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt!
> 
> ...


You ROCK Claudia! You just answered a question I posted in a new thread! So I should be okay at pricing a 5k erotic short at $2.99?

Oh, and for those who doubt my seriousness, you are right -- it was not my goal in life to become an smut writer. But I love writing short stories and I was single in Los Angeles from age 29 to 38 -- and I've got a shit-ton of real stories to pull from. (and herpes... just kidding) I dabbled in the entertainment industry for nearly a decade.


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

righterman said:


> So I should be okay at pricing a 5k erotic short at $2.99?


3K - 4K erotica sells just fine at $2.99.


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

TexasGirl said:


> .
> 
> Ha ha ha ha. Speaking of blowing...I just got married in June, about the time I FINALLY started finding some indie erotica worth reading (yay Kindle Boarders.) It had been a slog through samples to get there, but clicking on siggies here meant I was MUCH more likely to find good stuff. Cuz you know there is nothing worse than bad erotica. You go in for one thing, you come out... well, anyway...
> 
> ...


No freakin way! I shoot Boudoir in TX too.

About the minimize the story and beef up the sex scenes - is there such a thing as too much sex in erotica? I think I'm doing it wrong.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

H.M. Ward said:


> No freakin way! I shoot Boudoir in TX too.
> 
> About the minimize the story and beef up the sex scenes - is there such a thing as too much sex in erotica? I think I'm doing it wrong.


Oh no, *I* was doing it wrong. Wrote this novel where a muse does the deed with all the great art masters throughout history--Italian Renaissance, Ancient Greece, etc. but the acts tended to be a little colorful as she likes to push boundaries to help their art.

Did not fly for historical fiction. I guess cutting someone's...parts during the act was over the top.

Still not sure what to do with THAT novel. It's still shelved despite the indie movement.


----------



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

TexasGirl said:


> Oh no, *I* was doing it wrong. Wrote this novel where a muse does the deed with all the great art masters throughout history--Italian Renaissance, Ancient Greece, etc. but the acts tended to be a little colorful as she likes to push boundaries to help their art.
> 
> Did not fly for historical fiction. I guess cutting someone's...parts during the act was over the top.
> 
> Still not sure what to do with THAT novel. It's still shelved despite the indie movement.


huh, sounds kinky.

Slap a new cover on it and put it out there!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Scott Daniel said:


> Okay, someone needs to play devil's advocate on this here thread. Should you really be writing erotica just because it's selling? It's one thing if you have a true interest in it and have always dreamed of writing it, but just to try to hustle a couple of dollars?
> 
> Believe me, I've thought about it, too. But I decided that I want use what little writing time I have to do what I'm truly interested in. I suppose everyone's circumstance is different and some of us need to make money at this; if not, I have to wonder how attainable this goal will be after the novelty (pun intended) wares off.


I think it's acceptable to write with money as your major goal, but you really have to love what you're working on, or it will show in the final product. I write speculative fiction when I'm in the mood, but I enjoy writing the adult stuff too. I find erotica far less laborious to write than everything else. That's just me, though.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

righterman said:


> You ROCK Claudia! You just answered a question I posted in a new thread! So I should be okay at pricing a 5k erotic short at $2.99?


Glad I could be helpful! And yes, $2.99 seems to be the standard price for the vast majority of ~5k erotic shorts I've seen.



H.M. Ward said:


> About the minimize the story and beef up the sex scenes - is there such a thing as too much sex in erotica? I think I'm doing it wrong.


I like to think that a good erotic short doesn't have a clear cut distinction between the story and the sex. 
A lot of the time in mine the story *is* the sex, I don't even always bother going into the details of how person X ended up in the bedroom with person Y. It works really well with "first time"-type stories, where it's a character's first experience with a particular kink or sexual situation. You can have the "story" be all about how the scene develops and how the character responds to being spanked, or having their first same-sex encounter, or just finally hooking up with the person they've been crazy about for years.

I don't think there's such a thing as too much sex, but there is such a thing as too much _boring_ sex. As long as you work in something beyond just the physical descriptions of what's happening, a pure bedroom scene can be just as engaging as one with a thousand-word setup.


----------



## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

mrv01d said:


> So then my friend and I followed him all over NYC for two days...politely stalking (if that's possible). I got his autograph 4 times.
> 
> Total sweetheart.


Four times?

Why didn't you just take him home with you?


----------



## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

Claudia King said:


> Glad I could be helpful! And yes, $2.99 seems to be the standard price for the vast majority of ~5k erotic shorts I've seen.


If $2.99 is the going rate for a 5k short, what would you charge for a 23k word novella?


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

Claudia King said:


> I like to think that a good erotic short doesn't have a clear cut distinction between the story and the sex.
> _*A lot of the time in mine the story *is* the sex*_, I don't even always bother going into the details of how person X ended up in the bedroom with person Y. It works really well with "first time"-type stories, where it's a character's first experience with a particular kink or sexual situation. You can have the "story" be all about how the scene develops and how the character responds to being spanked, or having their first same-sex encounter, or just finally hooking up with the person they've been crazy about for years.


That's exactly what I thought erotica was, but I kept getting reviews complaining there wasn't any relationship development. Maybe my book looks too much like a romance book? *Slams head into wall* It's my worst selling series. Seriously, the photography manual sells better than the erotica. Hmmmm. Oh hell, here's the link to the book. Tell me what u think I did wrong? http://www.amazon.com/Tryst-Short-Erotic-Romance-ebook/dp/B008KFBZ7Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352313798&sr=8-1&keywords=tryst+ella+steele I bet the cover and description are resonating with romancies and not erotica peeps. I was seriously thinking about scrapping them.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

H.M. Ward said:


> That's exactly what I thought erotica was, but I kept getting reviews complaining there wasn't any relationship development. Maybe my book looks too much like a romance book? *Slams head into wall* It's my worst selling series. Seriously, the photography manual sells better than the erotica. Hmmmm. Oh hell, here's the link to the book. Tell me what u think I did wrong? http://www.amazon.com/Tryst-Short-Erotic-Romance-ebook/dp/B008KFBZ7Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352313798&sr=8-1&keywords=tryst+ella+steele I bet the cover and description are resonating with romancies and not erotica peeps. I was seriously thinking about scrapping them.


Well you are calling it a erotic romance right in the title. So that is what readers expect. Erotic romance and erotica are not the same thing.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Soothesayer said:


> If $2.99 is the going rate for a 5k short, what would you charge for a 23k word novella?


Oh boy, I really wouldn't know. All of my research and focus has been on short stories recently, so I couldn't begin to guess at what novellas might sell for I'm afraid. 



H.M. Ward said:


> That's exactly what I thought erotica was, but I kept getting reviews complaining there wasn't any relationship development. Maybe my book looks too much like a romance book? *Slams head into wall* It's my worst selling series. Seriously, the photography manual sells better than the erotica. Hmmmm. Oh hell, here's the link to the book. Tell me what u think I did wrong? http://www.amazon.com/Tryst-Short-Erotic-Romance-ebook/dp/B008KFBZ7Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352313798&sr=8-1&keywords=tryst+ella+steele I bet the cover and description are resonating with romancies and not erotica peeps. I was seriously thinking about scrapping them.


I'd definitely agree, reading through your blurb and sample it does come across as a more romantic piece! The tone seems very emotional and sincere rather than naughty and steamy. I always try and get in at least some hint of straightforward lusty physical attraction in my first few sentences so the reader knows what they're in for.


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

Thanks! So is erotic romance the wrong term? It's an erotica story with a romance element/ emotional connection b/t the two.


----------



## JGray (Mar 7, 2012)

Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?

The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.

BUT at that price, will the reader feel gypped at paying $2.99 a pop for a story that long? By the time they're done reading the series, they will have paid over $14 for 112,000 words. That seems a bit much to me.

Thoughts?


----------



## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

ShortySmalls said:


> Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?
> 
> The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.
> 
> ...


Maybe you break it into two different bundles like stories 1-4 bundled at $4.99 and stories 5-7 at $4.99.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

ShortySmalls said:


> Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?
> 
> The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.
> 
> ...


Actually, if there are 7 more @ $2.99, they would be paying around $22 for the entire story.

I know I'm stating the obvious, but it all depends on if people will buy it. If they will, then you'll be successful. If not, then no.

'Anything He Wants' is an example of that working. It sold for $2.99 for each installment, and it was extremely successful. And yes, if you look at the reviews, readers bitched up a storm about the price. But that didn't change the fact that it was and is a successful book.


----------



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

ShortySmalls said:


> Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?
> 
> The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.
> 
> ...


Well, when I'm in the mood for kink...I normally spend 3-5 dollars. It's fine if it's short--it just needs to deliver on what's promisedd. That price doesn't seem absurd to me. But, it's gotta be good...or bad...however you want to look at it.


----------



## JGray (Mar 7, 2012)

swolf said:


> Actually, if there are 7 more @ $2.99, they would be paying around $22 for the entire story.
> 
> I know I'm stating the obvious, but it all depends on if people will buy it. If they will, then you'll be successful. If not, then no.
> 
> 'Anything He Wants' is an example of that working. It sold for $2.99 for each installment, and it was extremely successful. And yes, if you look at the reviews, readers bitched up a storm about the price. But that didn't change the fact that it was and is a successful book.


I did say _over_ $14. 

Math in public... arrrrgh!!

I will feel it out for a while, see if people buy the second novelette at $2.99 then make my decision.


----------



## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Soothesayer said:


> Four times?
> 
> Why didn't you just take him home with you?


I wanted to. It was hard to walk away...

I did give some of the autographs as gifts, so I had other folks in mind when I kept asking him to sign stuff.

M


----------



## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

ShortySmalls said:


> Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?
> 
> The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.
> 
> ...


What I would suggest is building a mailing list with the hook that new episodes will be 99 cents for the first x days of release. Then you notify fans so they can scoop it up at a deal which gives you good rank and a shot at the HNR list.

M


----------



## John Waylon (Jul 10, 2011)

Soothesayer said:


> If $2.99 is the going rate for a 5k short, what would you charge for a 23k word novella?


$2.99 to $3.99.


----------



## John Waylon (Jul 10, 2011)

Atunah said:


> Well you are calling it a erotic romance right in the title. So that is what readers expect. Erotic romance and erotica are not the same thing.


Yeah, the e-rom crowd is VERY picky, and critical if you don't give them what the expect


----------



## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

ShortySmalls said:


> Can I jump in with a pricing question of my own?
> 
> The first in my series, an erotic romance, is 99¢ right now (and I'm planning on keeping it that way) at 14K words. I was thinking of making the rest (there will be 7 more novelettes in the series) $2.99 each.
> 
> ...


I charge .99 cents for the first installment of my Billionaire's Beck and Call series, and $2.99 for the next 8 stories, and thousands of folks have purchased the whole bunch .

If they like the story, they'll keep purchasing. Think of it like a new episode of their favorite TV show that they download every week. If people will pay for a single episode of a show (or more for a cup of coffee!), why not for a story from that erotica series they've been enjoying? 

Go for it and see what happens!

Also, YAY! for all the new erotica writers in this thread. Best of luck everyone!


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

DelilahFawkes said:


> I charge .99 cents for the first installment of my Billionaire's Beck and Call series, and $2.99 for the next 8 stories, and thousands of folks have purchased the whole bunch .
> 
> If they like the story, they'll keep purchasing. Think of it like a new episode of their favorite TV show that they download every week. If people will pay for a single episode of a show (or more for a cup of coffee!), why not for a story from that erotica series they've been enjoying?
> 
> ...


Ya ya... listen to Delilah...

She's my erotica mom!

Nice to see you delilah


----------



## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

AnitaDobs said:


> Ya ya... listen to Delilah...
> 
> She's my erotica mom!
> 
> Nice to see you delilah


Haha . Don't you mean step-mom? We don't want to get in trouble with Amazon!


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Delilah is everyone's mom. What a


Spoiler



slut


.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Ooh Delilah, question while you're around! (totally not a fangirl)

I was looking at your Billionaire series recently and thinking about the possibility of doing my own erotic serial of sorts at some point. It seems like it'd be a really fun way of working on a slightly longer project (and one that gives me time to explore characters beyond "why tonight's sexytimes are happening") while still keeping to the model of short stories. My concern is that, as a pretty new writer without my own fanbase, working on a big ongoing series might not be the best way to get new readers interested in me if I hop into it too early on.
So do you think an ongoing series could work out for a beginner erotic author? Or might it perhaps be a better idea to focus on more one-offs to spread my net a bit wider for the time being?


----------



## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

Swolf, everything you've heard people say about me is


Spoiler



true!



Claudia, go for it!  Sara Fawkes only had one story under that name when she did her serial, Anything He Wants, and now she's got a huuuge following. I modeled The Billionaire's Beck and Call after what she did, and it worked very well for me, too. There's absolutely no reason not to dive right in! If readers love it, then they have more from you to buy right off the bat, which is awesome.


----------



## JGray (Mar 7, 2012)

DelilahFawkes said:


> I charge .99 cents for the first installment of my Billionaire's Beck and Call series, and $2.99 for the next 8 stories, and thousands of folks have purchased the whole bunch .
> 
> If they like the story, they'll keep purchasing. Think of it like a new episode of their favorite TV show that they download every week. If people will pay for a single episode of a show (or more for a cup of coffee!), why not for a story from that erotica series they've been enjoying?
> 
> ...


Thanks! I'll try it out!


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

DelilahFawkes said:


> Claudia, go for it!  Sara Fawkes only had one story under that name when she did her serial, Anything He Wants, and now she's got a huuuge following. I modeled The Billionaire's Beck and Call after what she did, and it worked very well for me, too. There's absolutely no reason not to dive right in! If readers love it, then they have more from you to buy right off the bat, which is awesome.


Okey dokey, thanks a bunch!

Now to figure out my very own BDSM saga. o.o


----------



## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

Glad I could help!   Erotica rules!


----------



## Honey Layne (Dec 12, 2011)

Thank you to all who posted and shared information!

I think my novelettes lean more toward erotica, yet there is romance between the MC's, so have left them as erotic romance. Sales have not been so hot and thinking maybe I need to reclassify them or just write more or both. 

Working on adding more to my collection under the erotica genre and the information here is very helpful!

To the OP, I wish you lots of luck and lots of fun!


----------



## summerdaniels71 (Jul 23, 2011)

DelilahFawkes said:


> Glad I could help!  Erotica rules!


I agree ... Erotica rules!!

In that vein - I remind you all to "come" visit me over at WTRAFSOG (What To Read After Fifty Shades of Grey) on Facebook ... and feel free to post your erotica titles ...

https://www.facebook.com/WhatToReadAfter50ShadesOfGrey

The page will top 30,000 voracious readers (and authors) sometime in the next few days.

Voracious you say? (I can hear you scoffing - that's okay ... I understand ... consider the following ...)

I set the page up in April of this year.

Check out a few numbers ... the following is the *AVERAGE* number of books sold per day through the links on the WTRAFSOG page ...

May: 56.32
June: 105.37
July: 141
August: 201.81
September: 259.9
October: 396.81
November (to date): 474.78

You are welcome to post and promote your works on the page - I only ask that you help by sharing the page and/or posts with others. More readers = more sales for our authors.

I have been having *major* spam issues with Facebook lately - so you can always email me with recommendations to post on the page as well - just drop me an email at [email protected] ...

I try to limit posting the same book(s) too often ... so rotate your requests accordingly.

Happy sales ...

Summer


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

I'm loving this thread! Inspirational and fun.

I'm going to try for one story a week as well - probably in the 3-5 K range. I just published my first story, going for a sexy, steamy read with sequel potential.

It's so much fun and I keep getting new ideas. I'm wondering though - have any of you more experienced erotica mavens ever felt like you were running out of steam, or do you all feel like you could keep writing forever?

I'm hoping it's the latter.


----------



## GiGi Summers (Jul 31, 2012)

DelilahFawkes said:


> I charge .99 cents for the first installment of my Billionaire's Beck and Call series, and $2.99 for the next 8 stories, and thousands of folks have purchased the whole bunch .
> 
> If they like the story, they'll keep purchasing. Think of it like a new episode of their favorite TV show that they download every week. If people will pay for a single episode of a show (or more for a cup of coffee!), why not for a story from that erotica series they've been enjoying?
> 
> ...


Hi Delilah! Love your series! Just wanted to tell you since you had popped in for a visit here.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Isabel Dare said:


> I'm loving this thread! Inspirational and fun.
> 
> I'm going to try for one story a week as well - probably in the 3-5 K range. I just published my first story, going for a sexy, steamy read with sequel potential.
> 
> ...


I've only been publishing for around three months, but before that I wrote a whole bunch of erotic shorts in my spare time (and figured hey, why not polish these up and start making money off them!). I'm still waiting to get bored of it, and I doubt it's going to happen. 
There are just so many different settings and scenes and characters you can toss together to create something new and steamy, and on top of that you can always challenge yourself to write something new and a little different, there are more than enough kinks out there. The first M/M and F/F scenes I ever wrote were a whole bunch of fun!

If anything I feel like I've only gotten more productive as time goes on.


----------



## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

GiGi Summers said:


> Hi Delilah! Love your series! Just wanted to tell you since you had popped in for a visit here.


Oh, yay!  Thanks so much, GiGi!


----------



## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Isabel Dare said:


> I'm loving this thread! Inspirational and fun.
> 
> I'm going to try for one story a week as well - probably in the 3-5 K range. I just published my first story, going for a sexy, steamy read with sequel potential.
> 
> ...


I spend a certain amount of time reading, watching films, researching sex/erotica/kinks etc... to keep my work fresh and original. I also don't push my muse b/c that just makes for bad erotica. In fact I'm taking all of next week off for the holiday.

M


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I pretty much take Delilah's advice about everything. The only thing I did differently is charge $1.99 for the first installment of my series instead of .99. People are still buying it up, to my surprise. I thought it would totally kill my sales, but it didn't. When the sales do start to fall a little, I have a .99 sale for a week and they jump back up to normal again.  

When the "saga" is finished and I finally put up the complete bundle, I'll probably make part 1 perma-free and see how that works.

Oh, and on a related note, I'm writing several pieces of "holiday erotica" throughout December. Yay!


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Claudia King said:


> Absolutely, but as always it has to work well in the context.
> You can easily ruin a totally steamy scene by throwing in some goofball moment in the middle that completely shatters the sexy tone. I find if you're going to sprinkle in humour it works best at the setup/conclusion of an erotic short, with maybe a few cheeky references during the erotic part. All-out comedy erotica isn't something I imagine many people can pull off well, as it's a huge clash of tones if a piece tries to be hilarious and intensely hot at the same time.
> 
> But yes, a bit of humour is good! The stories I've enjoyed writing the most recently have all had their lighthearted moments. There's a lot of awkward situations that arise from one of my protagonists trying to balance her day to day life with being her husband's full time sex slave.


Claudia, thank you, and sorry I missed this until today. I had forgotten about it or gotten busy with other things. (Nice covers and titles, by the way, I took the liberty of "liking" Slut Puppies--being the first one to do so. (Right where I am now 91,000 doesn't look like too bad a rank.)

My novel "The Revised Kama Sutra" is NOT erotica, but a book of growing up with a few erotic scenes, and laughter, because the hero stumbles so often in his attempts to get laid. A very normal feature of growing up for many men, especially in the pre-Internet age when you could watch a thousand sex acts performed by experts before actually losing your virginity.

But what about short stories that tell about real life, including real erotic life, including pain, disappointment, misunderstanding, laughter? Do these not have a readership anymore? And if they do, what is the genre? How does one categorize them?


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

David Scroggins said:


> I pretty much take Delilah's advice about everything. The only thing I did differently is charge $1.99 for the first installment of my series instead of .99. People are still buying it up, to my surprise. I thought it would totally kill my sales, but it didn't. When the sales do start to fall a little, I have a .99 sale for a week and they jump back up to normal again.
> 
> When the "saga" is finished and I finally put up the complete bundle, I'll probably make part 1 perma-free and see how that works.
> 
> Oh, and on a related note, I'm writing several pieces of "holiday erotica" throughout December. Yay!


Do you include the word "sale" in your Book Description in Amazon, and take it out when you complete the sale? One of the problems is that the Book Description changes do not always synchronize with the price change; the price could have returned to normal while your book description still says "sale." The other problem is that, these days, your book could, by virtue of being changed, be stuck "In Formatting" for 4-6 days.


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Callalily6 said:


> I took a stab at erotica earlier in the summer and had several ppl say - _There's too much sex_. lol.


Well, I downloaded a couple of free erotica books, and found the setup to be too long and boring. Is this a male thing: that males want the action to begin almost on Line 10 or 15, while women need a lot of setup?

Of course, they could have just been dull examples of erotica.


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

swolf said:


> I write (and read) only hetero, and in my opinion, there should be a woman on the cover, whether she's alone or with a guy. A single guy alone on the cover signals m/m to me.
> 
> In my two Amulet books, it's the male lead who wears the amulet most of the time, but if I showed that on the cover, I think most would assume it was a gay-themed story. I haven't had any complaints about misleading covers in those two instances.
> 
> Just my opinion though.


If I notice right, it's not just that the covers need to have a woman on them, she needs to be very sexy, young, and scantily clad (or prudely nude?), right?

Second question: where do you obtain such a variety of sexy women stock art from so that there are not dozens of repeats among erotica titles??

Thanks!


----------



## mirros (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I am new to erotica as well. I was just wondering what sites you guys publish your stories on?


----------



## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Any site I can get my hands on:

Amazon,
PubIt (B&N)
Smashwords
ARe
Kobo

Personally I haven't bothered with iBooks yet - but I think they recently changed their ISBN requirements; so I might have to look into it.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Richardcrasta said:


> Claudia, thank you, and sorry I missed this until today. I had forgotten about it or gotten busy with other things. (Nice covers and titles, by the way, I took the liberty of "liking" Slut Puppies--being the first one to do so. (Right where I am now 91,000 doesn't look like too bad a rank.)


Pshaw, looks like I missed this as well! Thank you!



Richardcrasta said:


> If I notice right, it's not just that the covers need to have a woman on them, she needs to be very sexy, young, and scantily clad (or prudely nude?), right?
> 
> Second question: where do you obtain such a variety of sexy women stock art from so that there are not dozens of repeats among erotica titles??


Showing a lot of skin definitely seems to be important with erotica covers. I find naturalistic poses are the best to go for, particularly if you can get a photo that actually looks like the model is in the midst of some passionate moment. There's nothing that says "hot sex" like a gasping pair of lips or a passionate embrace. 
Unfortunately there's no easy way to find unique and amazing stock art without spending a long time looking. I've spent hours browsing sites just trying to get the perfect picture, but a lot of the "best" ones have undoubtedly been used before.

Having said that though, a trick I've been using to make my covers look distinct is to take a popular photo and simply crop it to focus in on the sexy bit (a lot of stock art isn't framed to look good on a book cover, after all), and then alter the colour balance/brightness/contrast a little bit to give it a slightly different look. With my recent BDSM romance (the titles on the right in my signature) I've been trying to get the same warm orangey glow with lots of dark, sultry shadows for all of my covers, and I've been very happy with the results so far.


----------



## mirros (Dec 8, 2012)

KellyHarper said:


> Any site I can get my hands on:
> 
> Amazon,
> PubIt (B&N)
> ...


Thanks!


----------



## Honeybun (Nov 25, 2012)

A. Rosaria said:


> Hmm Erotica... I think I'll also dabble my pen into that.


Oh my goodness.. Winter Escapes -- What a GORGEOUS cover!!!!


----------



## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

Results of this experiment? How is it going?


----------



## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

*Bump*

Results? C'mon, the suspense is killing me!


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

swolf said:


> I think that will all come out in the wash. Unless you really love writing erotica, you're not going to write 6-9k of it a week for five months straight. If it doesn't flow easily, at some point your mind is going to mutiny.


It's possible the OP cracked under the stress.


----------



## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Or, he's rolling in so much money he said to hell with us.


----------



## Daizie (Mar 27, 2013)

DelilahFawkes said:


> I charge .99 cents for the first installment of my Billionaire's Beck and Call series, and $2.99 for the next 8 stories, and thousands of folks have purchased the whole bunch .
> 
> If they like the story, they'll keep purchasing. Think of it like a new episode of their favorite TV show that they download every week. If people will pay for a single episode of a show (or more for a cup of coffee!), why not for a story from that erotica series they've been enjoying?
> 
> ...


That's what I was going to ask because I have a 10-part novella collection coming out. I almost feel bad to charge $2.99, like people would feel like they're getting gypped. I'm going to try to get the first one to post perma free, and charge for the rest and put out the collection at the end for like $11.69 or something. The whole thing is over 200,000 words. My novellas range from 17,000 - 23,000 words.

I've seen many reviews in erotica reaming writers for doing this. There are threads in the Amazon forum about it too.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

KellyHarper said:


> Or, he's rolling in so much money he said to hell with us.


True.


----------



## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

So are we all talking just 'erotica' here or does this include 'romantic erotica'?


----------



## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

Daizie said:


> That's what I was going to ask because I have a 10-part novella collection coming out. I almost feel bad to charge $2.99, like people would feel like they're getting gypped. I'm going to try to get the first one to post perma free, and charge for the rest and put out the collection at the end for like $11.69 or something. The whole thing is over 200,000 words. My novellas range from 17,000 - 23,000 words.
> 
> I've seen many reviews in erotica reaming writers for doing this. There are threads in the Amazon forum about it too.


You know, I've researched this too and concluded that reviews/threads don't matter if the books are selling. There are very successful authors out there making crazy money from precisely this approach. Every book of theirs has someone complaining that they paid $2.99 for 6000 words but then you check the book rank and it's 12,000 or so and they have twenty titles floating around that level and they're pulling in $8000 a month.

There are many many people more than willing to spend $2.99. Some people in fact will not buy a book unless it's $2.99.

So go for it!


----------



## Alex Anders (Apr 11, 2012)

So many familiar faces in this thread! 

Hey Delilah; Hey John; Hey Swolf!


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

What's up, Alex?  Long time no talk.


----------



## 56139 (Jan 21, 2012)

That one girl said:


> I wish I could just set aside everything to write erotic romance for a while, but I've already committed to too many projects under my real name. I'm thinking of maybe taking a month or two off to write just erotic romance when I'm done with the book I'm working on right now (should be done by Christmas).
> 
> Come back and update us monthly to let us know how it's going.


Me and you both...I have two never-started books that need to be out by the end of summer, my erotica always comes last.


----------



## Alex Anders (Apr 11, 2012)

swolf said:


> What's up, Alex? Long time no talk.


 You know, churning the stories out. But I'm doing it in whole new way in 2013.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Alex Anders said:


> You know, churning the stories out. But I'm doing it in whole new way in 2013.


Cool. You still doing the quality audio work?


----------



## Alex Anders (Apr 11, 2012)

swolf said:


> Cool. You still doing the quality audio work?


 Thanks Swolf! I am, but not as often. I am also, however, doing another test in the German audio book market. My last test became the first ACX produced audio book that Audible.de ever banned in Germany. This new one shouldn't get banned, so I should be able to get a true evaluation of the market. Supposedly the German audio book market is more robust than the American market.


----------



## Kiki Wellington (Mar 28, 2013)

Alex Anders said:


> My last test became the first ACX produced audio book that Audible.de ever banned in Germany.


Banned? Wow. Considering what I've heard about German porn, your story must be something else  Did they give you a reason?


----------



## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

I'd like to read an update, too! <3 Until then, how are all of you other erotica/erotic romance writers doing??


----------



## Alex Anders (Apr 11, 2012)

Sex With Kiki said:


> Banned? Wow. Considering what I've heard about German porn, your story must be something else  Did they give you a reason?


 Dark Meat (which is now Dark Desires) was my best selling story in German. It had gone through Amazon.de without even a delay for a more scrutinized review. However, Audible.de rejected it because they felt that it violated the German 'equal treatment under the constitution' laws.

Dark Desires is an interracial story that implies that sex with black men is different than with white men. I implied that there was a pact among black men that they wouldn't have "real" sex with anyone else but black women. The story is about a young blond woman who falls for a black guy and then gets initiated into this more aggressive (non-BDSM) sex.

For that Audible.de banned my book. They said that I wasn't representing black men as equal. That's kind of ironic because I thought that I was representing black men as better at sex. But I guess that isn't equal, so they banned me.


----------



## Kiki Wellington (Mar 28, 2013)

Alex Anders said:


> Dark Desires is an interracial story that implies that sex with black men is different than with white men. I implied that there was a pact among black men that they wouldn't have "real" sex with anyone else but black women. The story is about a young blond woman who falls for a black guy and then gets initiated into this more aggressive (non-BDSM) sex.


Sounds like an awesome story! Too bad Audible didn't see it that way.


----------



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I'm having a GREAT time. One of my series finally caught on last week and now sales are decent finally. Took five months and seven stories to get traction.

Hmm. Five months. Just like the OP said.


----------

