# 54 Titles - My Results



## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

***See page 4 for my 75 titles update***

I decided to create this thread because I've found these types of threads to be motivational in the past. Please be advised that this thread is for informational purposes only. I am sharing my experiences and what has worked for me. Your mileage may vary.

Sometime ago, I read two threads that lit a fire under my butt. This one 50 Titles = 1,000 Sales...The DWS Way and this one My Experience with the DWS Method..

At the time, I had 6 titles up and was lucky if I was making enough money from my writing to pay for a cup of coffee every month. The above methods discuss writing short stories and publishing them at regular intervals at a price of $2.99 each.

To make a long story short, I decided to give it a go. So, I hunkered down, publishing at least one story a week. At first, I started in the horror genre, serializing a zombie story I had planned out for a while (which still isn't finished. I'll explain later.) At $2.99, I got about 1 sale right out of the gate, and then sales died. I know from reading those two threads that it takes a while to build up a name for people to be willing to pay that kind of money for a short story. Unfortunately, patience isn't one of my virtues.

I'd been debating on writing erotica for a while. In most of my normal stories, I've wanted to add long sex scenes that weren't appropriate. Having heard that erotica sold fairly well, I decided why not give it a go. So, I decided to alternate working on erotica and my regular stuff at the same time. As soon as I published my first erotica story, I got 3 sales right away. Now, those aren't impressive numbers by any means, but in comparison to the sales I was getting at the same price point for my horror, I was ecstatic. As I continued alternating between erotica and horror, I noticed that my erotica always outperformed my regular stuff, so I ended up temporarily dropping the zombie story to focus my energy where the money was. I haven't looked back, and things have only gotten better.

Right now, I have 54 titles, including one that I just published today that isn't on sale yet. I had originally planned to write this post when I got to 52, but apparently I underestimated my number of titles. Anyway, I made a chart to put up on here, but since I can't figure out how to add it, you'll have to settle for text.

*August 2012*
59 books sold
$80.30 in royalties earned

*September 2012*
150 books sold
$238.27 in royalties earned

*October 2012*
290 books sold
$535.72 in royalties earned

*November 2012*
2246 books sold
$3,346.18 in royalties earned

*December 2012 (as of the time this was posted)*
955 books sold
$1,435.59

Now to explain the drastic increases and why I believe they happened. In October, I pulled my books from Select and distributed them directly to Barnes & Noble. I also distributed them to the other retailers through Smashwords. While my income from Amazon did increase, I can directly attribute $206.44 to Barnes & Noble, money I wouldn't have otherwise received for a very long time had I waited for distribution through Smashwords. I count publishing directly to them as one of the best moves I've made so far in my publishing career. As of right now, I've already made more than that through them this month.

In November, I put all of my erotica up on All Romance Ebooks, which brought in an additional $1,627.20. If you write erotica or romance, you need to be publishing on All Romance Ebooks. They are your target audience. Needless to say, last month, All Romance Ebooks beat out my Amazon income. I also think the surge of income was partially due to me being a new author on there and have a huge backlist. The first day I published on there, I spent all day uploading close to 30 books and made almost $200 in one day.

I am not uploading screen shots because a.) I don't know how to do it on here, and b.) I believe it's against the TOS of some of the ebook distributors, but if you're interested in seeing screenshots (I will grey out my titles, so please don't ask about them), you may PM me and I will gladly send them to you.

Here's a quick QA to answer some of the questions that you might have:

1.) How long are my titles?
My shortest story is 2,100 words long. My longest title is 22,000 words long (that doesn't include omnibuses). On average, I strive for at least 7,000 words. That's the price point that I am willing to charge $2.99 for.

2.) What is my pricing strategy?
I follow the Selena Kitt pricing strategy, which is as follows:

$0.99 > Short Shorts: Under 3k
$1.99 > Shorts: 3-7k
$2.99 > Stories: 7-15k
$3.99 > Novelettes: 15-35k
$4.99 > Novellas: 35-50k
$5.99 > Novels: 50-70k

This is for erotica and romance only. All of my non-erotica I sell for $0.99

3.) Which sells better, stand alones or series?
Definitely, series. Every once in a while, I'll publish a stand alone, but most of my stuff has at least 3 books. For series with 3 books, I make the first one $0.99, regardless of length. For series with more than 3 books, I make the first book in the series free. I have done this method and been in select (obviously not at the same time), and I have found that having permanently free titles increases sales far more than Select ever did for me.

4.) What genres do I write in?
I'm going to be a little specific for this one, since erotica is a broad category. I write billionaire erotica (don't believe what people say, it still sells well), BBW erotic romance (also sells well), monster erotica (does great for m/m), werewolf erotica and erotic romance (is a big seller for both m/m and m/f right now), BDSM erotica (does better for m/f than m/m). Something with a romantic element has always sold better than those without. Also, m/f does better than m/m.

5.) Have I had any best sellers?
No. In fact, the highest overall ranking I've ever had for anything has been in the 16,000s.

6.) Who do you publish with?
Amazon, B&N, All Romance Ebooks, and Smashwords (for all other retailers)

I write all of my erotica and romance under 1 pen name. My regular stuff is what you see in my signature. To be honest, the stuff in my signature only sells about 1 copy a piece per month. The Sunset High series does a little better because I have the first book for free, but it's still not a whole lot.

If you have any questions that I did not answer, please feel free to ask. Again, I will not share the names of my erotica titles, so please don't ask.


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## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

Good stuff. I LOVE threads like this. Congrats on the success.


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## SamanthaGrey (Dec 13, 2012)

Wow! Good for you! This motivates me to keep writing. . .and possibly raise the price I have on my story right now! 

How long does it take you to write a short story (let's say 5,000 words), edit it, and publish it? My goal for next year was 15 shorts, but now I'm wondering if I could push myself to do more without sacrificing quality.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Wow. Educational. Thank you so much for sharing so specifically and in such detail.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

I needed this. That's all I'm going to say right now .


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

SamanthaGrey said:


> Wow! Good for you! This motivates me to keep writing. . .and possibly raise the price I have on my story right now!
> 
> How long does it take you to write a short story (let's say 5,000 words), edit it, and publish it? My goal for next year was 15 shorts, but now I'm wondering if I could push myself to do more without sacrificing quality.


I have written, edited, and published a 5,000 word story in one day before. On average though, it takes me two days. I can write a story up to about 9,000 words in one day. Then I'll take the next day to design a cover and edit.

I also forgot to mention that having a mailing list definitely helps with generating additional sales of newly released titles. It's a fairly easy thing to implement. Simply create an opt in form with Mail Chimp and add a link to the form in the back of your books. That way, people who already enjoy your work can sign up and stay on top of your new releases.


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## Rayna Corday (Dec 4, 2012)

Great stuff, Marla!

Personally, I have a hard time gauging my own level of success versus expectations. With two months in and 13 books out, my Dec. is beginning to look a lot like your Oct., so I guess I'm doing something right. 
I'm aiming to have a stable foundation of money from erotica (Smut Bucks) before I shift into other genres.

It's writers like yourself, with 40, 50, even _80_(!) titles that keep me going... because It'll probably take that many. :b


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Here's a bit of extra info, number of titles I had out before the end of each month:

*August*
19

*September*
28

*October*
37

*November*
49


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## CaseyHollingshead (Dec 8, 2012)

If you don't mind me asking, where do you get covers to match that sort of productivity?


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

I design my own. It takes me anywhere between 1 - 5 hours to design a cover using Photoshop.


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## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

This is a great thread. 
Thanks for sharing.


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

This is absolutely, gobsmacking, brilliant. I love to see that this sort of dedication and hard work equals earnings. Bravo. Thanks so much for sharing.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Congrats Marla!


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Thank you so much for posting this. I really needed a swift kick in the backside to keep writing. I have roughly 16 books out under various pen names, and I am feeling a bit burned out. I should make about $300 - $400 this month with those 16 books, so that seems pretty in line with your progress. I need to pick up the pace!


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks for sharing!


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## Ann Chambers (Apr 24, 2011)

Wow! Awesome and inspiring info! Thanks for sharing.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Congrats & thanks for sharing.

A question that's meant not just for the OP or for erotica, but in general: if you have many titles up, and a few are not selling at all--or selling just 1-5 copies a year--while a few are getting most of the sales, would you unpublish your poorly selling titles under the assumption that they are hurting the rest of the list while contributing very little? 

Or do you think that's the wrong approach?


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Richardcrasta said:


> Congrats & thanks for sharing.
> 
> A question that's meant not just for the OP or for erotica, but in general: if you have many titles up, and a few are not selling at all--or selling just 1-5 copies a year--while a few are getting most of the sales, would you unpublish your poorly selling titles under the assumption that they are hurting the rest of the list while contributing very little?
> 
> Or do you think that's the wrong approach?


The way I look at it, every title has the potential to help your other titles, even if it's under performing. If you have several similar titles that aren't performing well, combine them together and sell them as a bundle at a discounted price. You could also make your non-performers freebies, which may help drive sales to your other books.

I definitely would not unpublish them though.


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## DPfitzsimons (Dec 1, 2012)

okay Marla, I'm 53 titles behind, my first came out today...but you are an inspiration. Love to see those numbers. The power of belief and application giving fruit. Great message for all writers. I want to stay on task like you and get my number of titles multiplying.


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Marla, thanks for sharing. I don't think I'll ever match your dedication and productivity level, but I seriously applaud your efforts. It's been said up thread, but I'll repeat: "very inspirational."  

Signed: Loves Success Stories


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## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

This type of thread is very motivational. I'm in the process of building up a 5-story series that I'm going to put out under a pen name over the next month or so. I'm holding my feet to the fire to go from 6 published titles to 15 by then end of Feb. This is just the sort of inspiration I need right now.


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## Rayna Corday (Dec 4, 2012)

Richardcrasta said:


> Congrats & thanks for sharing.
> 
> A question that's meant not just for the OP or for erotica, but in general: if you have many titles up, and a few are not selling at all--or selling just 1-5 copies a year--while a few are getting most of the sales, would you unpublish your poorly selling titles under the assumption that they are hurting the rest of the list while contributing very little?
> 
> Or do you think that's the wrong approach?


Don't unpublish. I can't think of one instance where a dud book actually hurt its mates on the shelf.
If you have a languishing title that's flatlined in sales, try changing the cover, blurb, or even title. Simply giving the book a new makeover can do wonders and give it new life on the sales chart. 
It's worked for me.


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## authoryallen (May 4, 2012)

so glad you mentioned all romance I almost forgot about them. I just published my first two titles on amazon and b&n. I have some ideas for series because I know that they sell well so far I just have standalones. I just started writing stories (I write mostly poetry) so I have to get disciplined in writing daily so that I can produce more work (I work full-time so normally when I get home the last thing I want to do is write I would rather take a nap). I set a goal for two novellas a month (minimum) for 2013, but if I can get focused, disciplined...I'm sure I could get more done!

Congrats on your success!!
Happy Writing Everyone!!


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

Wonderful results and data


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## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

Thanks, Marla. I'm just about where you are on income this month, but I don't write that fast. I have six books out under T.S. Welti and six books out under my e-rom pen name. Making the first book free works. My No Shelter series finally sells steadily with the first book perma-free. 

The only problem I've had is getting Amazon to price-match the first book in my e-rom series. How did you get them to price-match? Going free on iTunes with book one gave me a major boost with only book two available. I would love to get this book to go free on Amazon, but they refuse to price-match.


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## sarracannon (Apr 19, 2011)

Wow, this is great information! Thanks for being so open and candid about your process and your sales (and income). It's great to see what some hard work and determination can produce. Also, thanks for the advice about all-romance ebooks. I'm thinking about starting a romance pen name in 2013 and will definitely publish there!


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## sunnycoast (Sep 10, 2010)

Thanks for posting this info, Marla.

I'm always inspired by writers who have a great work ethic. I will do any reason not to write. And given that I have so much time to write, my level of procrastination is almost bordering on being a criminal waste of time. That you can write and edit 5000 words in a couple of days is amazing. I need to look to people like you for motivation.

Brilliant stuff. I hope you chime in with an update once you publish another 50 titles.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Congrats on your productivity and your sales, Marla.

I always find these threads motivational as well, especially since I follow a similar path. Though I don't write erotica and I'm not as productive as you, since I only published my 30th e-book today.

And yes, I keep my steady non-sellers on sale as well. Sometimes I tweak a cover or a blurb, but mostly I just leave them sitting there and forget about them. They don't hurt me, they give a new fan plenty of stories to choose from and even if a certain book sells only a copy every few months, that lone sale still contributes to the total.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

T.S. Welti said:


> How did you get them to price-match? Going free on iTunes with book one gave me a major boost with only book two available. I would love to get this book to go free on Amazon, but they refuse to price-match.


I wish I could say there was an easy way to get Amazon to price-match quickly, but I haven't found one. It took them almost 3 months to price match my first book to free. I have noticed a few things though. First, (in my experience) it definitely has to be free on Barnes & Noble. And second, once you see it free on Barnes & Noble, click the "tell us about a lower price" link and input all of the places that your book is for free. Then go back to your dashboard and 'update' (don't change anything, just send it through their processing again) the book that you want free. Usually, within a week of the book reprocessing, the price-match will kick in. This has worked for me on several books, so it's worth giving it a try.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

wow!!!!  love this!!  and i think i will be trying all romance. this is the second time someone mentioned them this week.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

x2far said:


> I hope you chime in with an update once you publish another 50 titles.


I will definitely either update this thread or create a new one when I get to 100 titles.


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## yomatta (Jun 29, 2012)

Would be interested in an update at 75 also. At your pace it will tie in nicely with an after Xmas push. 

Thanks for sharing!


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

yomatta said:


> Would be interested in an update at 75 also. At your pace it will tie in nicely with an after Xmas push.
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


I'm greatly hoping so. This is going to be the first Christmas that I stand to see any real bump in sales. I hear January is supposed to be amazing. This month hasn't been as good as last month, so far.


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Fantastic! I've been following a very similar model since I started publishing, and it's great to be reassured that it works out well. 
The big pain for me is not being able to distribute via B&N directly from the UK, and AllRomance is going to have to wait a few months until I have the right tax information sorted out. Even so, the results definitely seem to be trickling in, and I'm going to stick at pounding out erotic shorts every week until that money builds up!

I've got 15 titles out at the moment, and I managed 132 sales in November when I first started taking this seriously and got published on Amazon. The first half of December has gotten me 111 sales already, so the numbers are looking promising! Now if Smashwords would just update I could find out how much I sold on B&N to add to those totals. :|


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Thanks, Rayna, Maria, for the encouragement and inspiration.

I sometimes unpublish because I fear a book's low or non-existent sales suggest that it is "offensive" in its cover or in its premise and might hurt the sales of other books.

I was not this kind of person before--I defied every convention or conventional wisdom and published the boldest books I wanted to, and exactly as I wanted them; but prolonged financial challenges in recent times have shaken my confidence a bit.

I'll just do as you suggest, because keeping those books out didn't help me in any case!


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## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

Of course I read this after I got married with Amazon for 3 month yesterday night for my first erotica ... oh well, 3 month's not that long a time. 
Thanks for the info !


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Great strategy. Thanks so much for sharing your success with us, Marla. Congrats!


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## MeiLinMiranda (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm sure I'm not the only person sitting here thinking, ok, so how do you come up with stuff for a story a week? It takes me the better part of a year to write a novel, and when I sit here thinking about shorts I just blank. Any advice?


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Lady_O said:


> Of course I read this after I got married with Amazon for 3 month yesterday night for my first erotica ... oh well, 3 month's not that long a time.
> Thanks for the info !


This is not hugely to your detriment. Write a bunch of other titles in that 3 months and save your free promotion days for when you have other titles to support it. The free days should have a trickle over effect on them. KDP is still a great promotional tool overall if you use it wisely - though I wouldn't recommend it for ALL of your titles.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Marla,

Thanks again, so much, for all that you have answered/provided. I'm curious about a couple other things:

You have a wide range of word counts that you write - do you notice any correlation between word count, price (as dictated by word count), and sales?

Do you do any social media? Twitter, FB, blog? You mentioned a newsletter which is easy to incorporate directly into your ebooks (as I've begun doing as well) but I wasn't sure if you were active in any other mediums.


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## K.R. Harris (Jan 25, 2012)

Great results! Congrats! Thanks for sharing!


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## maritafowler (Nov 27, 2011)

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

This is the kind of kickstart I needed to shake off the holiday laziness. <pouring a tall cup of coffee, cracking knuckles and setting fingers to home row keys>


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

This is great stuff.  I love that you shared and really laid it all out.  Your success gives me hope.

Rock on. And I wish you continued success and mega sales.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Fabulous data. Thanks for posting it here. Congrats on your success!


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Well done on all your hard work and congratulations on your well earned success!  Thank you for sharing.


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## Aya Ling (Nov 21, 2012)

Wow, congratulations on your hard work! I admire how you set a goal and stick to it. So many times I read some how-to book and get fired up, but only for the first couple days   

May your success continue and grow!


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

MeiLinMiranda said:


> I'm sure I'm not the only person sitting here thinking, ok, so how do you come up with stuff for a story a week? It takes me the better part of a year to write a novel, and when I sit here thinking about shorts I just blank. Any advice?


Wow, I'll take some advice on achieving that kind of output as well. I'm afraid my pace is much, much slower than that, lol! 

I love to hear success stories too though. Congrats!


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## Lloyd MacRae (Nov 18, 2012)

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

MeiLinMiranda said:


> I'm sure I'm not the only person sitting here thinking, ok, so how do you come up with stuff for a story a week? It takes me the better part of a year to write a novel, and when I sit here thinking about shorts I just blank. Any advice?


I have a backlist of ideas for stories that I want to write. When I'm looking at trends though, it's sometimes a bit more difficult for me to come up with things that meet market needs. Tomorrow, I'm going to begin working on a werewolf erotica. I've had the basic outline of what I wanted to do in my head, but I couldn't seem to fill in the details. While I've been trying to figure out what to write, I've been working on another piece. I get ideas everywhere, from the fantasies in my head, to things I see on television, snippets of other things that I've read, looking at various best sellers, and even just observing my environment, both offline and online. The well isn't dry right now, but I'm admittedly concerned about where my mind will be when I get to 100 or more shorts. Oddly enough, inspiration and ideas came a lot easier when I had a full time job. Now that I'm writing full time, it seems I don't take enough time to really think about what's going to come next.

Sorry if that wasn't very helpful. The creative process is different for each of us.


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## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

MarlaB said:


> I wish I could say there was an easy way to get Amazon to price-match quickly, but I haven't found one. It took them almost 3 months to price match my first book to free. I have noticed a few things though. First, (in my experience) it definitely has to be free on Barnes & Noble. And second, once you see it free on Barnes & Noble, click the "tell us about a lower price" link and input all of the places that your book is for free. Then go back to your dashboard and 'update' (don't change anything, just send it through their processing again) the book that you want free. Usually, within a week of the book reprocessing, the price-match will kick in. This has worked for me on several books, so it's worth giving it a try.


Thanks so much! I waited for over a month, but the free Smashwords version never appeared on Barnes and Noble, so I gave up. I'll try again.


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## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

Really wish I could follow your lead with AllRomanceBooks. I applied with 20 under my belt and a guy there emailed me back saying I was too "hardcore" and not "romance" enough. He was very condescending, looking only at the tags on the books at Amazon and not even reading them. What a great outfit, eh? Meanwhile they sell books called "Rough Sex", among other things.

Sigh.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

This sounds off to me - I didn't even have to go through any "application" process like this. There was a brief period of time while they reviewed *something* before approving me - but I honestly don't know what it was. I would suggest that you form a publisher name that isn't associated with your Amazon books and gain access that way. Then just publish your books through that publisher name (still using the appropriate author name, which can be created by your publisher account).

Hope that helped. 

Now -- back to work for me, enough procrastination hitting the F5 key to see if anyone posted in this thread


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I never had any problems getting approved by AllRomance either, but then I don't write erotica and I think they are a bit squeamish about some of the more extreme and out there types of indie erotica ever since the PayPal debacle earlier this year.


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## Hildred (Sep 9, 2012)

KellyHarper said:


> This sounds off to me - I didn't even have to go through any "application" process like this. There was a brief period of time while they reviewed *something* before approving me - but I honestly don't know what it was. I would suggest that you form a publisher name that isn't associated with your Amazon books and gain access that way. Then just publish your books through that publisher name (still using the appropriate author name, which can be created by your publisher account).
> 
> Hope that helped.
> 
> Now -- back to work for me, enough procrastination hitting the F5 key to see if anyone posted in this thread


I applied (as a publisher, with a publishing DBA) in October and had to go through the same process that soothesayer describes. I was approved (only had one title at the time, which is erotic romance) after about two weeks. I've heard of lots of more hardcore erotica authors being rejected for accounts, even as publishers, ever since Paypalocalypse a while back.

Feel like I should mention that I have yet to sell a single thing at ARe. Meh. I sell more at Kobo. 

And of course congrats to Marla! Wish I could mimic your erotic romance success, but the lesbian niche isn't as kind without some man meat around, I find.


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## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

Thanks for mentioning that Hildred...glad to know I wasn't the only one grieving (a bit) about that! 

Marla...here is something that I've been wondering for awhile now. Let's say instead of 50 shorts and novellas, you had 50 NOVELS. As in, 50k-70k words each...do you think it follows that you'd be making twice as much money, seeing as you could charge twice as much per book than the shorter stuff?

I'm really torn between which is the more optimal route to take: novellas or novels. Novels are both harder and easier. Harder in that the word count is higher. Easier in that I don't have to squeeze sooo much into 20k words (plot, climax, character buildup/dev, plot twists, etc). It takes me one month to write two novellas, and a little longer (5 weeks) to write a novel. Any thoughts on this as it pertains to erotica?


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

KellyHarper said:


> Marla,
> 
> Thanks again, so much, for all that you have answered/provided. I'm curious about a couple other things:
> 
> ...


Longer stuff generally sells better, regardless if it's at $0.99 or $2.99. I do have a few niche specific shorts (3k words) that outsell some of my longer work at a price of $0.99, but those are few and far between.

As far as marketing goes, I used to do Twitter, FB, and blog, but to be honest, I don't think any of them brought much of an increase in sales. As of right now, only people who are on my mailing list have access to my Facebook Account. I've taken down links to my blog, Twitter, and Facebook from the backs of my books since I don't really update them. The only links I keep in the back of my books are links to my mailing list, my catalog of books on whatever retailer I'm published on, and links to other books in the series (if the book they're reading is part of a series). For stand alones, I'll usually put an excerpt from one of my similar books, a 10% preview, with a link to that book at the end. Also, for books in a series, I'll list the books on my blubs and provide links directly in the blurb to where they can find other books in the series. The goal is to provide as many breadcrumbs to follow as I possibly can to my other works while they're still invested.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

What tools do you use to write and keep all of this straight? I've had difficulty with going back and re-formatting all of my works (only 9 stories published right now - just finishing the first draft of #10) to update them to include the new titles I've written since the older ones were released. 

I'm not sure if there is any easy way to do this, or if time should just be budgeted for on a quarterly basis to go back and update everything.

I use Scrivener which makes things a bit easier - but it can still be a hassle to manage a portfolio that large.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Hildred said:


> Feel like I should mention that I have yet to sell a single thing at ARe. Meh. I sell more at Kobo.


Oddly enough, I haven't had any luck with Kobo. Everyone's told me that they are great for selling erotica. I pulled 20 of my titles from Smashwords to publish on there directly. I'm lucky if I get 6 sales a month on Kobo.


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## Hildred (Sep 9, 2012)

MarlaB said:


> Oddly enough, I haven't had any luck with Kobo. Everyone's told me that they are great for selling erotica. I pulled 20 of my titles from Smashwords to publish on there directly. I'm lucky if I get 6 sales a month on Kobo.


Haha, I've only sold ONE book at Kobo. I also hear that erotica sells well at B&N, but I only sell about 5 copies a month there. (And I think most of those are people who get the links off my website / their friends.) Honestly, after Amazon, my biggest place of sales is Smashwords! I always have a nice steady stream of sales on the SW site.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Soothesayer said:


> Marla...here is something that I've been wondering for awhile now. Let's say instead of 50 shorts and novellas, you had 50 NOVELS. As in, 50k-70k words each...do you think it follows that you'd be making twice as much money, seeing as you could charge twice as much per book than the shorter stuff?
> 
> I'm really torn between which is the more optimal route to take: novellas or novels. Novels are both harder and easier. Harder in that the word count is higher. Easier in that I don't have to squeeze sooo much into 20k words (plot, climax, character buildup/dev, plot twists, etc). It takes me one month to write two novellas, and a little longer (5 weeks) to write a novel. Any thoughts on this as it pertains to erotica?


The pricing model I work with actually benefits me more to write short stories. For example, I will change $2.99 for a short story that is 7,000 words long. If I wrote a novel that was 70k, I would charge $5.99 for it. If I took that same 70k novel and broke it up into 10 7k short stories, I would sell the entire thing for around $17.94, which is a $12.42 royalty (if each sold at $2.99, minus the first book in the series being free). That's more than I'd get for selling the same thing as a whole for $5.99, where my royalty would only be $4.19. I have actually done this before. I have a 9 part erotica series. Aside from the first book, all of the books are $2.99. Usually, after reading the freebie, interested readers go on to buy the entire series at a whopping $23.92, which gives me a royalty of $16.56. The awesome thing about writing erotica is that people are accustomed to paying more for what they want.


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I haven't sold a thing on Kobo either as far as I know. Oddly, I did get a sale from Sony today. I was shocked!


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## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

Extremely impressive work and results, Marla! Thanks for sharing such an informative post.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

KellyHarper said:


> What tools do you use to write and keep all of this straight? I've had difficulty with going back and re-formatting all of my works (only 9 stories published right now - just finishing the first draft of #10) to update them to include the new titles I've written since the older ones were released.
> 
> I'm not sure if there is any easy way to do this, or if time should just be budgeted for on a quarterly basis to go back and update everything.
> 
> I use Scrivener which makes things a bit easier - but it can still be a hassle to manage a portfolio that large.


Unfortunately, I haven't found an easy way to do this either and I'm a bit behind updating some of my stuff. I try to do it as soon as I finish a series. Whenever I'm working on an extremely long series though, I tend to get lazy and put it off . . . indefinitely.  So bad, I know. As it is right now, I have about a dozen titles I need to update.

I write in Open Office, and I basically created a template that I use for all of my books. That way, whenever I start writing a new one, I can just open a copy of the template and get to business without having to worry about formatting.


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## Cover Magic (Dec 9, 2012)

MarlaB said:


> Oddly enough, I haven't had any luck with Kobo. Everyone's told me that they are great for selling erotica. I pulled 20 of my titles from Smashwords to publish on there directly. I'm lucky if I get 6 sales a month on Kobo.


It's not odd. It's typical.

*Kobo is the laughingstock of the ebook world. * The worst search engine in the history of ebook websites, repeated revealing of private information, and ongoing failure to pay authors for their work.

Epic fail, Kobo.


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

MarlaB said:


> I write in Open Office, and I basically created a template that I use for all of my books. That way, whenever I start writing a new one, I can just open a copy of the template and get to business without having to worry about formatting.


I can vouch for this being super helpful!
I keep templates in Open Office too with all my formatting saved, so I barely have to worry about anything when writing. Once I'm done I just paste in the appropriate copyright stuff and links from my Amazon/Smashwords templates and it's good to go!


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## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

I'm glad (sort of) that it wasn't just me wondering what is up with Kobo. I published 12 books with them few months ago and not one sale. I checked their search engine...yep, they are all there but no bites. Underwhelming to say the least.

Same with Lulu (erotica).


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Claudia King said:


> I can vouch for this being super helpful!
> I keep templates in Open Office too with all my formatting saved, so I barely have to worry about anything when writing. Once I'm done I just paste in the appropriate copyright stuff and links from my Amazon/Smashwords templates and it's good to go!


I essentially do the same thing in Scrivener. I have a master copyright, master "other books", master "about the author" and then I cut/paste the stories into the appropriate section and print them off. If Scrivener would let me include "Back Matter" instead of "Front Matter" managing that many stories would get a bit easier - but it's still a chore to update them all. This is why I'm thinking I'll have to schedule it Quarterly.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Thank you so much for sharing all of your experience with us!  TOTALLY inspiring!  You're my hero!


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## Christian Price (Aug 3, 2012)

Thank you for sharing.


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## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

In regards to Kobo, there's good money to be made there. I've been slowly building my inventory over the last few months (my children's books are being pulled out of KDP Select), and suddenly I'm selling at least a copy or two a day (it used to be a copy or two a month). A few of my titles are doing better on Kobo than Amazon, and with a higher royalty. My mother has found a little more success, and just received her first check.

For what it's worth, most of my customers are Canadian.


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## StrokerChase (Mar 4, 2012)

There have been problems with Kobo as stated, but I'm starting to make decent sales there. It's been worth publishing there, even though there's been some major headaches from the payment screw ups.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

This is a GREAT thread - and it echoes what I've been telling myself for a while. Put your head down and just write. Write good and write often.

(check your grammar while you're at it -    )

And, as for all of the negative experiences some folks have mentioned on Kobo - my Kobo books are seriously out-performing my Amazon books this month. I sell Kobo e-books everyday - not so much on Kindle. A lot of Canadian sales and quite a few UK sales.

Mileage will ALWAYS vary. Some folks kick butt on Kindle, others rock at Barnes & Noble - while some sing paens of adulation to Diesel, Apple and ARe. 

The only thing predictable about e-books are their constant nonstop unpredictability.

(mmm, in addition to grammar I ought to also look at redundancy...)


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## authoryallen (May 4, 2012)

I've been thinking about getting into erotica...so I downloaded a lot of the bestsellers from Amazon to immerse myself in this genre

A few of the books are written in first person...is this the preferred POV to write in?

Thanks!!

Continued success to ya MariaB  and Happy New Year!!


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## Griffin Hayes (Sep 20, 2011)

Great info! Thanks Marla.


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## Kathleen Valentine (Dec 10, 2009)

Well, I'll add my 2 cents here. I've been checking all day and I just sold my 38,000th book for 2012. That is with 24 titles (including 2 boxed sets). I was hoping for a little more but that isn't bad.

So, because of the great November and December I had in 2011 that means I've sold 52,000 books in the past 14 months. This does not count paperbacks and PDF downloads.

My pricing is:
Novellas/novelettes -.99 - $1.99
Short story collections: $2.99
Full length novel (over 100k): $3.99
Knitting singles: $5.00
Knitting collection: $8.00
Boxed Sets: $5.99 & $8.99

Onward to 2013!

I should add that none of mine are erotica. Mostly they are psychological suspense or romantic suspense with a few love stories and, of course, knitting.


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## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

cdstephens said:


> I am also taking the plunge into erotica, and everyone seems to agree that erotica readers are willing to pay more than other genres. Publishing a series of shorts as a series seems to make sense from an economic standpoint, but when I look at some of these I see a large number of savage one-star reviews complaining about the author publishing a book a chapter or a two at a time and ripping them off. The stories, however, seem to be selling extremely well despite this backlash.
> 
> Do you, or anyone else with experience in the genre, feel that this is the best way to go? Do you just ignore the bad reviews complaining solely about price, or do you think those will turn away enough potential readers to make the series concept less than the best way?


Well, I put the word count and page count in the blurb. I haven't had any returns and I have had readers thank me for the story afterwards. I don't leave cliffhangers, and that might have something to do with it.


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

cdstephens said:


> I am also taking the plunge into erotica, and everyone seems to agree that erotica readers are willing to pay more than other genres. Publishing a series of shorts as a series seems to make sense from an economic standpoint, but when I look at some of these I see a large number of savage one-star reviews complaining about the author publishing a book a chapter or a two at a time and ripping them off. The stories, however, seem to be selling extremely well despite this backlash.
> 
> Do you, or anyone else with experience in the genre, feel that this is the best way to go? Do you just ignore the bad reviews complaining solely about price, or do you think those will turn away enough potential readers to make the series concept less than the best way?


I think it's something that's likely to happen no matter what. I got my first couple of negative reviews today for my eRom series, and the only feedback I could pick out of them (other than the reader not being happy) was that they thought the instalments were too short. It's understandable, particularly when you can get a lot of much longer literature for cheaper prices, but I think it's more of a knee-jerk reaction from people who aren't familiar with the pricing model than anything else. Most readers who're enthusiastic about indie erotica will understand that $2.99 for one chapter is pretty commonplace, so I'd imagine reviews criticising the length aren't going to put too many people off. 
I've seen dozens and dozens of titles from other (often very successful) erotica authors with these sorts of reviews, so I'm just going to accept them as part of the process.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

alainamarks said:


> I've been thinking about getting into erotica...so I downloaded a lot of the bestsellers from Amazon to immerse myself in this genre
> 
> A few of the books are written in first person...is this the preferred POV to write in?
> 
> ...


First person does seem to be the preferred POV in erotica, from what I have seen. Most of my books are written in first person. I have a few that are third person though.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

It was requested that I do an update when I reached 75 titles, so here it goes. This time, I included how many titles were published each month. Please keep in mind that I had other titles published before I started keeping track of my sales, which is why the number of total books published does not equal 75.

*August 2012*
59 books sold
11 stories published in August
$80.30 in royalties earned

*September 2012*
150 books sold
9 stories published in September
$238.27 in royalties earned

*October 2012*
290 books sold
9 stories published in October
$535.72 in royalties earned

*November 2012*
2246 books sold
12 stories published in November
$3,346.18 in royalties earned

*December 2012 *
3253 books sold
5 stories published in December
$5,060.30

*January 2013*
2503 books sold
5 stories published in January
$3,694.89

*February 2013*
2728 books sold
11 stories published in February
$5,227.37

*March 2013*
3533 books sold
0 stories published in March (was working on a novel)
$7,862.25

*April 2013*
3338 books sold
4 stories published in April
$5,536.23

*May 2013 (as of the time this was published)*
740 books sold
1 stories published in May so far
$1,205.26

I've expanded my portfolio quite a bit since this thread was originally started. Since then, I have bundled several of my stories together. I have also expanded into print editions and audiobooks, as well as writing one full length novel.

Sales from the audiobooks and print editions aren't anything impressive, but it's still neat to have both formats available for readers. While I've been working to get everything I've written into audiobook format, I am only publishing my non-erotica as paperback. I don't think there's a big enough market for erotica in physical form to merit turning all of my series into paperback editions.

Amazon has been the overall bread winner for my sales, with Apple being next in line. I've had half a mind to buy a Mac just so I can upload there directly, but I hear that it's about as painfully slow as going through Smashwords, so there doesn't seem to be much of a point.

My sales on All Romance Ebooks have dramatically decreased. I attribute that to the fact that I've switched over to writing more m/f stuff. For some reason, my m/m erotica flourishes over there, my m/f not so much.

Since I feel like I've already achieved a good amount of success with serializing, I decided to try my hand at writing a full length novel. In comparison to how my serials sell, the results were underwhelming. I've decided to stick with serializing. It gives me dual benefits. People who want to purchase the serials can buy the stories as they're being written. And when the serial is complete, I can combine it into a novel, and also target readers who prefer longer works.

I thought it would be interesting to update the QA section from the original post to reflect my current experience. So, here it goes.
*
1.) How long are my titles?*
My shortest story is still 2,100 words long. Though this particular title is no longer published on Amazon because of an email they sent me.

My longest title is 50,462 words long (my novel). Though I do have combined serials that are much longer. On average, I strive for at least 10,000 words, which usually gets cut down to a little over 8,000 after editing.
*
2.) What is my pricing strategy?*
I follow the Selena Kitt pricing strategy, which is as follows:

$0.99 > Short Shorts: Under 3k
$1.99 > Shorts: 3-7k
$2.99 > Stories: 7-15k
$3.99 > Novelettes: 15-35k
$4.99 > Novellas: 35-50k
$5.99 > Novels: 50-70k

This is for erotica only. All of my non-erotica short stories I sell for $0.99. Non-erotica novels are sold for $2.99 regardless of length. 
*
3.) Which sells better, stand alones or series?*
Definitely, series. Every once in a while, I'll publish a stand alone, but most of my stuff has at least 3 parts. For series, I make the first book perma-free. I have done this method and been in Select (obviously not at the same time), and I have found that having permanently free titles increases sales far more than Select ever did for me.

*4.) What genres do I write in?*
I'm currently mainly focusing on erotic romance. I've noticed from my own list of titles that my m/f erotic romance outperforms everything else, so that's what I'm sticking with for now. I've been working on a werewolf paranormal romance for the last three months that's done incredibly well. I'll probably continue down that road whenever this series is over. Werewolves are hot right now.

*5.) Have I had any best sellers?*
Not a NYT best seller, but I have been in Amazon's top 100 for several different genres.

*6.) Who do you publish with?*
Amazon, B&N, All Romance Ebooks, ACX, CreateSpace, and Smashwords (for all other retailers)

If there's anything else I forgot to mention or that you would like to know, feel free to ask. When I hit 100 titles, I'll make a new thread.


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

Great info! Thanks for the update. I love reading posts like this! Congrats.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Great info! Thanks for updating.


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## Hildred (Sep 9, 2012)

Awesome. Have you been noticing your erotic titles being filtered through amazon recently? (Since they're so gung-ho about it.) And if you have, has it dented your income any?


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Hildred said:


> Awesome. Have you been noticing your erotic titles being filtered through amazon recently? (Since they're so gung-ho about it.) And if you have, has it dented your income any?


To be honest, I haven't paid much attention to it. I certainly haven't seen anything drastic enough to merit concern.


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## whatdanwrote (Oct 18, 2012)

Thanks so much for sharing, it's really inspiring and helpful for you to share this info. Thanks!


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## Guest (May 8, 2013)

Thanks for the update! Very inspiring stuff


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## AshRonin (May 5, 2013)

Very awesome, thanks for the info.


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

I am so happy you updated this thread! I've been looking for this thread for a long time and could never remember the subject title.  Congrats on your success! You deserve it! Thanks for sharing! Please keep updating, too! at 100 perhaps?


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## Skye Hunter (Apr 30, 2013)

Awesome info. I really gotta get off my tuckus and start writing more.  

Quick question for you. How much time a day do you spend writing to be able to publish a dozen stories a month?


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Very encouraging! It's awesome to know your model's continuing to do well, and it's a great incentive to pump out more of my own titles to build up a nice strong portfolio of shorts.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

David Stephens said:


> What do you do about covers? By publishing that number of titles each month covers could get expensive.


I make my own covers. Since I began publishing, I've gotten pretty good at Photoshop. There's not much I can't do with it in relation to designing the covers I want. It typically costs me between $0 - $5 to make a cover, depending on how many stock photos I use and where I buy them from. The three places I get stock photos from are:

http://www.sxc.hu - for free photos 
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ - for inexpensive high quality photos (I mainly use this site)
http://www.123rf.com/ - you have to be careful which size you download or the image will be distorted when you blow it up for the cover. As a rule of thumb, I buy at least the medium size image

To cut down on expenses, I've started using the same covers for my serialized work. I also use White Smoke to help me with editing. When you write mostly shorts, I find it's not very cost effective to pay for cover art and editing.


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

@MariaB, I echo @SkyeHunter's questions. I meant to ask the question last night. How much time do you spend writing etc? Do you have a certain time you write every day etc? How long does it take for you to write a short story? And I agree with you on Perma-free. I have been seeing amazing results with it on one of my series. Moving forward, I will keep replicating the model. And I definitely feel the way you do about serials versus novels. I love the fact that I can release the story in serials, and in the end, have a novel for those who like longer works! Seriously though, LOVE this thread!


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## Craig Halloran (May 15, 2012)

MarlaB said:


> I wish I could say there was an easy way to get Amazon to price-match quickly, but I haven't found one. It took them almost 3 months to price match my first book to free. I have noticed a few things though. First, (in my experience) it definitely has to be free on Barnes & Noble. And second, once you see it free on Barnes & Noble, click the "tell us about a lower price" link and input all of the places that your book is for free. Then go back to your dashboard and 'update' (don't change anything, just send it through their processing again) the book that you want free. Usually, within a week of the book reprocessing, the price-match will kick in. This has worked for me on several books, so it's worth giving it a try.


Yes! Very helpful! I didn't know about "tell us about lower price". Thanks!


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

bellabentley said:


> How much time do you spend writing etc? Do you have a certain time you write every day etc?


I try to aim for 5,000 words a day. Often, I'm not able to get that much done though.

Oddly, since I've switched over to writing full time, my production has declined. When I was working full time, I could easily pump out 5,000 words on a work day and closer to 9,000 on a day off. Now, getting to 5,000 a day seems to be a struggle.



bellabentley said:


> How long does it take for you to write a short story?


It usually takes me two days to write a story and one day to edit and design a cover.

I tend to write mostly in the morning. My mind seems its freshest then. Somewhere between 2pm - 4pm, I'll have what I like to call a creativity crash. Most of the time, that's when I quit for the day.


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## shanerowling (Jan 17, 2013)

Marla,

Thank you for a very motivating post.  Are you still using the DWS method and writing erotica even after the supposed filtering done to erotica books?  Do you have any updated stats?

Shane


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## OJ Connell (Mar 23, 2012)

This is a great thread and I very much appreciate your sharing this information. It's extremely motivational, though-- and I wonder if you or anyone else here might wish to comment-- I have to question whether this sort of success is possible in genres outside of romance. That isn't to say that authors outside of erotic romance aren't making money, however this DWS-style method of publishing lots and growing sales seems to work _especially_ well in romance.

For instance, I write in horror. Providing that my blurbs, covers and stories are all of quality, how might this prolific method work out for me? No one can say for certain, though I imagine some here might be able to manage an educated guess. I personally see some potential in it and intend to give it a shot, though I scarcely think I'll be as successful as you.

Do you know of anyone who's published such a large volume of works in other genres-- especially speculative fiction? I'd be keen to hear about their experiences as well.

Thanks again for posting all of this info. I hope your sales continue to grow!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

This method works when writing thrillers as well, or at least that's what I've discovered.


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> This method works when writing thrillers as well, or at least that's what I've discovered.


Marla and Bilinda, would you be willing to give us an update?
You uplift me, I feel thrilled for you and hope one day I can do as well as you both.

Just for that, thank you so much for all the data and inspiration!


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

shanerowling said:


> Thank you for a very motivating post. Are you still using the DWS method and writing erotica even after the supposed filtering done to erotica books? Do you have any updated stats?


The short answer is yes, though I've been leaning more to the erotic romance side of things, since it seems to sell better. If Amazon has been filtering erotica, I haven't felt any impact from it. There was a thread here with a link to a website where you could enter in the title of your book and it would let you know if it had been slapped by the Amazon adult filter. None of my books seemed to be hit with it, even the more morally questionable ones and the ones where I had explicit excerpts in the description, so I'm not exactly sure how that filter works. As for an update, here are my stats for May.

*May 2013*
3517 books sold
7 stories published in May
$5,571.10 in royalties earned

My current concern is the summer slump. Since this is the first year I'll actually be experiencing it, I'm a bit concerned about the down tick of sales. Plus, most of the books I've published recently have been priced at $0.99 due to an experiment and me starting a new series. It appears that I'm still on track to earn over $3,000 though, so I'm happy for that.

I put together some data for another thread not to long ago that I thought was worth sharing here. It has to do with the way my books are priced, the percentage of sales I make per price point, and the percentage of income from each price point as well. This data only spans from 06/01 - 06/09, and only for sales from Amazon US/India.

*Number of titles per price point:*
Free - 13
0.99 - 14
1.99 - 17
2.99 - 23
3.99 - 11
5.99 - 1 
6.99 - 1 
9.99 - 1

*Percentage of sales per price point:*
0.99 - 27%
1.99 - 5%
2.99 - 46%
3.99 - 18%
5.99 - less than 1%
6.99 - 1%
9.99 - 3%

*Percentage of income per price point:*
0.99 - 5%
1.99 - 2%
2.99 - 53%
3.99 - 27%
5.99 - 1%
6.99 - 3%
9.99 - 9%



OJ Connell said:


> This is a great thread and I very much appreciate your sharing this information. It's extremely motivational, though-- and I wonder if you or anyone else here might wish to comment-- I have to question whether this sort of success is possible in genres outside of romance.
> 
> For instance, I write in horror. Providing that my blurbs, covers and stories are all of quality, how might this prolific method work out for me?


When I first tried this method, I started with horror, since that is my preferred genre to write. Getting someone to buy any of my shorts at $2.99 was near impossible. I was lucky if I got 1 sale whenever I published something. I lowered my prices to $0.99. Sales weren't great, but at least I was actually getting them. I produced 10 horror shorts and a bundle before I moved to writing erotica. From what I've heard, that's not really long enough to make a name for yourself in any particular genre, but I just couldn't hold out any longer. I desperately wanted to make writing my full time gig, and once I saw the sales and income that were possible with erotica, I didn't look back. Of those 11 pieces of horror I have for sale, I still only get a handful of sales a month at $0.99. Sometimes the bundle doesn't even sell.

However, there are people who have successfully been able to do this, though not with the horror genre, to my knowledge. Bilinda is one of them. I'd actually love to get an update from her as well.


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

I love the breakdown, Marla! This thread is one of my favorites here! Thanks for updating! You mentioned earlier in the thread you write around 5,000 words a day. I was wondering how that breaks down into time? And how much time you spend editing?

I, by nature, type really fast like 3k an hour. Yet, the situation as of late is, I get really ADD around 12 minutes. I set timers and do make it to 20 min where I'll be at over 1k of writing and then I stop and do other things. I was just wondering your method as I'm working on growing my concentration and having more "20" minute sessions throughout the day because my goal is eventually be like you! And like DWS teaches...and have a plethora of short stories and novellettes. I've soooo enjoyed writing this way. I took a break from writing novels last summer and started this pen name and have had so much fun. I also think it's a psychological thing for me because I'll see a finished product and after I send it to editing...I want to keep writing more and more. So, it helps me complete things. Also, I'm wrapping up an 8th installment of an 8 series short story/novelette series. I'll publish the full series as a full novel around 80k words. That's the longest piece of fiction I've ever written. I feel like writing in series teaches me naturally how to keep the archs going throughout the story of keeping the reader wanting to read the next part...and the next. So it naturally keeps the story moving along. I agree with you about publishing them as serials opposed to full novel in regards to financial reward. 

Thanks so much again for updating! Looking forward for more updates! <3


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Ooops I had missed this update, thanks Marla!
What is the hardest part? Do you have problems sustaining such an output?


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## Zenferno (May 29, 2013)

Just wanted to add my thanks for making this fantastic thread.  Love reading these posts where people are cranking out short stories week after week and building mini empires.  Very inspiring.  It's no surprise to see that a similar theme runs through all of them involving a lot of self-discipline and a solid work ethic.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

bellabentley said:


> You mentioned earlier in the thread you write around 5,000 words a day. I was wondering how that breaks down into time? And how much time you spend editing?


Though I type 75 wpm, I only write about 1,000 words an hour. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a little less, depending on my frame of mind at the time. It takes me about an hour to edit 10 pages (250 word pages, not Amazon 333 word pages). So, on average, I spend about 10 hours writing and 4 hours editing. I almost never write and edit on the same day. Then again, after writing for 5 hours, I don't really want to do anything else for the rest of the day besides maybe design a cover. I do so enjoy designing covers.

On most days, I feel like I should be doing more. Only working five hours a day makes me feel lazy, but my motivation seems to run out after that. I've been trying to force myself to start moving my books from Smashwords to Draft2Digital for Apple and Kobo distribution, but with so many titles out, it's a real chore, and every time I think about it, I don't want to do it. lol



bellabentley said:


> I took a break from writing novels last summer and started this pen name and have had so much fun. I also think it's a psychological thing for me because I'll see a finished product and after I send it to editing...I want to keep writing more and more. So, it helps me complete things. Also, I'm wrapping up an 8th installment of an 8 series short story/novelette series. I'll publish the full series as a full novel around 80k words. That's the longest piece of fiction I've ever written. I feel like writing in series teaches me naturally how to keep the archs going throughout the story of keeping the reader wanting to read the next part...and the next. So it naturally keeps the story moving along. I agree with you about publishing them as serials opposed to full novel in regards to financial reward.


^ This. It was really weird when I switched back to writing a full length novel for my experiment. I got frustrated because it was taking so long, and all of the what ifs of the world were bombarding the back of my mind. The funny thing is that most of the stuff I write ends up turning into novels anyway. There's just something rewarding about publishing things faster (in pieces), for me at least. Some of my readers would disagree. I do get emails asking me to start publishing novels instead because people don't like to wait for the next serial to come out. Serializing keeps me sane though, so that's what I'm going to keep doing.



Nathalie Hamidi said:


> What is the hardest part?


Publishing something new and waiting to see if the sales are going to roll in or not. Every time I start a new series, I hold my breath. While I've gotten A LOT better at doing market research and predicting what will be a hit and what won't, there's always that nagging fear in the back of my mind that my next project is going to flop and my income will tank with it.



Nathalie Hamidi said:


> Do you have problems sustaining such an output?


Definitely. It's not always a walk in the park. I actually just took the past three days off because of rl drama. Sometimes picking up where I left off is hard, but I try to keep in mind that this is a business. If I quit writing, then I'd end up back at a desk working for someone else, and that's something I definitely don't want. Knowing I'm living my dream is the best motivation I could ask for.


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## AmandaJilling (Apr 6, 2013)

Thank you for all the great info Marla. I'm inspired


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## mrszandos (Apr 30, 2013)

I am trying to sign up to all romance but having errors but they do not hilight what I am missing out on the sign up form, I am in the UK


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## LeLana Croft (Jun 18, 2013)

How does one go Perma-free?


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

LeLana Croft said:


> How does one go Perma-free?


You need to have your book free on either Barnes & Noble or Apple so that Amazon will price match. The only way I've found to get your book free on either one of those sites is to go through Smashwords.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

mrszandos said:


> I am trying to sign up to all romance but having errors but they do not hilight what I am missing out on the sign up form, I am in the UK


You need an ITIN or EIN to sign up to AllRomance. I have neither, so I was kicked off their site.


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## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

Marla,

This is a fantastic thread, so glad I noticed it, and thank you for the invaluable advice and sharing of your numbers. 

My question for you is, how do you *categorize* your books? Do yo use *erotica* or *erotic romance* as a category? (Or both?)

And if you use "erotic romance," do you think that has saved your books from falling victim to the Amazon and other vendors' draconian erotica filters?


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

What a delightful thread.  Many thanks for posting it and many thanks to everyone else who contributed their 2c in as well. Good reading, highly educational.


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## mrszandos (Apr 30, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> You need an ITIN or EIN to sign up to AllRomance. I have neither, so I was kicked off their site.


Ahhh, I guess I should get up early and call the US embassy to get that sorted


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Vera Nazarian said:


> My question for you is, how do you *categorize* your books? Do yo use *erotica* or *erotic romance* as a category? (Or both?)
> 
> And if you use "erotic romance," do you think that has saved your books from falling victim to the Amazon and other vendors' draconian erotica filters?


It depends on what genre the book actually is. If it doesn't fall into the romance category, I won't put it in the romance category on Amazon. The exception to this is on places like Barnes & Noble and Draft2Digital where they allow you to select 5 categories. Regardless of the genre, I make sure I choose the five most closely related categories. The more categories you pick, the wider your reach.

Labeling my work as strictly erotica hasn't hurt me on Amazon. However, I can't say the same for other retailers. I know that if your label your work as erotica on All Romance Ebooks, they exclude you from the front page as a new release, which can pretty much kill your chance of selling there. In that case, I always label my books in the Romance category, regardless if they're pure smut.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

This is great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to put it all together and share.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

I've been thinking about this sort of thing for a while now. I need to get my butt in the chair and get to it - but this thread definitely shakes my muse's inner pom-poms!

Raw-raw-raw!

Go, team, go!


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## janelson (May 19, 2013)

E.L. MacRae said:


> Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing.


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## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

MarlaB said:


> It depends on what genre the book actually is. If it doesn't fall into the romance category, I won't put it in the romance category on Amazon. The exception to this is on places like Barnes & Noble and Draft2Digital where they allow you to select 5 categories. Regardless of the genre, I make sure I choose the five most closely related categories. The more categories you pick, the wider your reach.
> 
> Labeling my work as strictly erotica hasn't hurt me on Amazon. However, I can't say the same for other retailers. I know that if your label your work as erotica on All Romance Ebooks, they exclude you from the front page as a new release, which can pretty much kill your chance of selling there. In that case, I always label my books in the Romance category, regardless if they're pure smut.


Thanks for the explanation!


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## janelson (May 19, 2013)

Thank you very much.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Just created a new thread for my 100 titles post. It can be found here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,162157.0.html


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## Eric Rasbold (Aug 27, 2013)

54??

Wow. I thought we were blowing it up with *15*!!


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## lazarusInfinity (Oct 2, 2012)

Thanks so much for sharing this info.  Always wondered about writing erotica, but wasn't sure.  This definitely provides of boost of inspiration to give it a shot.


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## WickedCrab (Sep 26, 2013)

This was a great post, very helpful in proving a point that short stories sell. So motivational!


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## Chris1962 (Jul 18, 2013)

To the OP, just wondering how your doing with the latest erotica crackdown by Amazon.  Have you had to make modifications to any of your books?


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## Book Master (May 3, 2013)

This is a great thread! 
There are three little secrets that go a long, long way!
1) Time - time can be your greatest friend.
2) Patience - you need it to have and keep a positive attitude as you rinse and repeat.
3) Moving forward - continue writing and publishing more works.

Alas, I left out something that may be even more important.....
"Expect the worse, hope for the best and everything should be gravy!"

You will make some good money, you can and you will!

BM


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

Chris1962 said:


> To the OP, just wondering how your doing with the latest erotica crackdown by Amazon. Have you had to make modifications to any of your books?


They actually banned the last two titles I published. As far as my other titles, I'm not quite sure. It has been an unusually slow month though, but I've been told that's normal for September.


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## Xenia Ryder (Feb 8, 2014)

Fantastic! Thank you for posting this! As a new writer, this is what I was looking for.


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## Jennifer Arnett (Nov 21, 2015)

About a year ago I read the DWS article about publishing shorter works often. I was thrilled because I love writing short stories and am stoked that they are socially acceptable to write. My question is: how many of you are finding success writing short stories that are not erotica? 

In 2014, I published three short stories and they didn't sell super well. I decided to publish like a mad woman in mid october and have published four shorts and a 30 page nonfiction book in the last two weeks. The sales have been rising nicely. Maybe this thing works.


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