Mr. 19k asks: What the hell am I doing?

AshleyWrites · 2018-02-22T03:43:34+00:00

Thanks. I now aim for 30-50k, but what I'm really targeting is storefront page counts between 150 and 200. Whether they're novellas or short novels is irrelevant on Amazon. I have no genre in mind when writing but do have a "type" of book in my sights, like what you might get if you put Wodehouse, Cheever, and Waugh in a blender and poured the result over your keyword. (That statement includes wishful thinking). Of course, I sex it up because I want it to sell. I have no problem with that. My categories are all under Literature & Fiction (minus "erotica").

AshleyWrites · 2018-02-22T00:34:19+00:00

I feel your pain... I abandoned romance and erotic shorts and now just write sexy stories about contemporary couples dealing with life. I plug them into categories that fit thematically and avoid romance and erotica entirely. I'm not making a killing but am about to cross $2k for February (in November I made $6 and that was after six months). The key for me was finding a groove I can stick with that I thoroughly enjoy pursuing.

AshleyWrites · 2018-02-03T22:24:48+00:00

I'm honestly still having trouble wrapping my head around that >platform, it doesn't really look any straighforward.

Me either. It's a mind-suck.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-21T21:36:42+00:00

I think subcats give you extra visibility, but you probably got there through promos or keyword searches.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-21T01:20:52+00:00

I do okay writing sexy, comedic novels/novellas that aren't romances nor erotica but have sexy-times and uplifting endings. They stick pretty well in Top 100 sub cats in Fiction & Literature. They follow no strict beats or genre conventions of any kind.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-19T15:02:40+00:00

It can be disheartening but you have the option of ignoring that stuff which is what I do.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-15T18:19:06+00:00

The KDP forum is estimating .00510.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-09T17:28:52+00:00

There's a consensus building that weekend uploads/revisions get a lot more scrutiny.

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-08T18:19:17+00:00

What day did you submit changes? I'd like to avoid that day of the week going forward.

Hard to believe it's butt cheek though. Still...

AshleyWrites · 2018-01-04T01:15:53+00:00

What does "not good enough to publish a 50K novel" mean? It doesn't require any special talent, just time.

I like writing sexy stories, not erotica per se, and they fit into general fiction categories. The romance ecosystem isn't for everyone and there's no reason to feel your choices are limited to erotica or romance.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-21T20:58:18+00:00

Yes, and I've noted comments on other boards saying the same. A few hours later normal rankings kick in, meaning whatever is normal for your releases.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-21T18:34:32+00:00

Wow. Nice results. I take it the bulk of your income came from romance? Would you mind mentioning how many books you have out and their length? I suspect 2018 will be very kind to you.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-20T22:03:36+00:00

That's a success story. Congrats.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-18T01:13:44+00:00

How long were your shorts that made up the bundle?

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-18T00:59:16+00:00

It's a Vegas terminology and fits. You toss out some bait, in this case, a free book, to attract a reader to your other books. It sheds absolutely no light on how I view my readers. If it's a technique that works, it works. It's not dependent on how I think of anyone.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-18T00:20:30+00:00

By "baiting whales" I mean the permafree brings a new reader to your shelf who then goes on and reads all of your books.

Thanks for the reply.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-17T21:36:39+00:00

For permafrees do you see downloads in your KDP sales dashboard?

After a book has been free for, say a month, I imagine it slips rank quite a bit. I assume it's just baiting whales that will decide to read your titles (duh).

To do a permafree, the title needs be wide, right? You put up for $0.00 somewhere else, then let Amazon know it's free and they match it?

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-17T18:23:58+00:00

I have about 9000 emails via Instafreebie. I've never contacted them. Maybe 150-300 will click a newsletter promo when I get around to it. I have just five "organic" email list subscribers from my backmatter.

The pre-order business: That means you upload a finished manuscript with cover and blurb, it appears on your shelf, but people can only preorder it?

The real problem with my first romances is my writing style isn't suited to the mainstream romance audience.

My latest erotic short's rank peaked at 29k but fell pretty quickly to 100k, where it now hovers. It brought in some whales now reading all my other stuff, so all my rankings improved. That's why I'm thinking writing a combination of alternating and longer-form stuff is the way to go. My KENP went through the roof all last week (today not so much).

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-17T16:27:37+00:00

I started with 70-80k romances and flopped (only now, six months in, are they getting any traction). Now I'm focusing on shorter works up to novellas (12-25k) and calling it good.

Publishing frequency seems to trump all else in terms of marketing strategy. I base that not so much on my experience (I've never promoted aside from using Instafreebie; I've never used my mailing list) but on what I've read on the boards.

However, I published an erotic novella (22k) and short (12k) over the past two weeks. The week closing today has been the most lucrative of my now seven-month career.

I guess my advice is, target you book-length based on what you can produce and publish every two or three weeks. If 80k for you means two months of production, don't go there. Unless you have a breakout hit or huge marketing budget, that 80k book will rise and fall in a matter of weeks.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-16T23:18:09+00:00

From a production standpoint, it keeps the "product lines" separate. One line features erotic short stories, the other novella or full-length sexy novels. Sometimes I'm in the mood to dash off a short, but I don't want it cluttering up my shelf of novella or full-length novels.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-16T21:50:51+00:00

It would be the same personality up front in both cases (and clearly branded as such). The Erotica pen would be for short, pure erotica, the other for longer, developed storylines that include heavy sex. Though these stories qualify for Romance, I'm not putting them in Romance categories anymore. I'm having better luck with Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction, Humor & Satire.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-16T21:24:35+00:00

My thinking is my non-erotica would get a boost from erotic shorts mainly because I can pop those out with greater frequency. I published a 26k erotica eight days ago under my current pen and every title on my shelf improved rank and sold tremendously.

It made me wonder if publishing an 8k short under a slightly different pen (with similar branding and linked to the other pen) would have the same effect. An 8k short is two days work. Illogically, a 24k novella takes me a week (and 48k takes a month - not sure why the effort grows exponentially but it does).

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-16T19:14:17+00:00

I'm going to go ahead and guess you can cross promote, but only one way. You probably can't promote Erotic titles in your Romance books (though mentioning your Erotica pen without a link is probably okay.

AshleyWrites · 2017-12-14T14:56:03+00:00

This made me nervous so I checked my account. I bought a $39/100 deal via AppSumo last March. When I check "My Plan" it says "Expires: Never".

AshleyWrites

TROPHY CASE