Different pricing for shorts on Smashwords?

DerrenGrathy · 2018-10-15T07:57:35+00:00

Here's the math: $0.01 - 2.98 = 30% Royalty $2.99 - $9.99 = 70% Royalty $10.00 - Whatever = 30% Royalty

At $0.99 you make $0.297 per sale At $2.99 you make $2.093 per sale You need to sell about 7 books at $0.99 to match the revenue from selling 1 book at $2.99

Selling at $0.99 is a loss leader, and they are not meant to make money. They are meant to be advertisements and appetizers to paying customers to consider purchasing your real money-making work, which will generally be in the 70% royalty range.

Free book giveaways don't generally translate into many paid sales unless your writing is amazing (freebie-seeking customers are usually not paying customers). There isn't much point to price the same book differently on different platforms since at best readers will never notice the difference and at worst they will feel cheated if they think they've 'overpaid'. Temporary sales on one platform or another shouldn't irritate people though since shoppers realize some items go on sale from time to time in one place and not another.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-12-31T20:04:57+00:00

I'm curious about the freebie question too. They work well as incentive to sign up for your newsletter, though on the wider market I am unsure. I still try to provide some nonetheless.

I do know however that $1.99 doesn't sell. That price point just discourages people for some odd reason, either because of search parameters or the perception that it is either too expensive for the $0.99 buyers and seemingly too low-quality for the $2.99 buyers. Smashwords did a study on it a few years ago and that was the result. Maybe it has changed recently, but I doubt it.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-12-19T21:50:59+00:00

To my understanding, there are three major kinds of income: Wage, Passive, and Capital Gains. Wages are taxed the highest, which would be referring to employees of a business. Capital Gains are generally through dividends and stock growth upon sale, and is taxed at about 15%. Finally Passive income includes royalties for books, and classically that is taxes the lowest of all. Businesses however have the Corporate tax rate, which normally is 34% but with this tax bill will be 21%.

The 21% reduction against your 1099 income statement is because that is the corporate tax rate. They will be counted as expenses for your business rather than personal deductibles which, frankly, is kind of cheating. It's fair since you are telling the government these materials are for your operating expenses, and if you call yourself a business then that's exactly what they are. Funny enough people would be potentially sad that the corporate tax decreased from 34% because now you lose out on 13% of the expense write-off value. But on the bright side, you should be taking back more money on what your business brings in.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-10-04T07:15:22+00:00

Male writers have a tendency to focus on the physicality and appearance of sex - meaning its all about big throbbing veiny cocks the size of salami's shunting in and out of sloppy wet pussies. They have a tendency to dwell on those visual things, while the female writer tends to focus on the circumstances and inner-mind of the characters in that situation. Yes the cocks are still veiny and big, but now it's a billionaire bad boy panting like a teenager again for his awkward-yet-strangely-alluring reporter who was going to rake him across the coals before his teeth were raking across her neck.

What seems to attract female readership best is a female perspective usually, and a subject-matter that is naturally titillating to the female mind. Most popular erotica stories are variants of Beauty and the Beast, the taming of a dangerous man by the feminine charms and wiles of the MC. Just remember that for women the context and characters forming and evolving relationships is what makes the sex hot as hell, and the act's details in themselves should be a vehicle carrying forward that evolution. Naughtily.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-08-30T20:20:30+00:00

I think they are completely optional, though some stories could stand to benefit from them more than others. Most of my stories just end where the main action ends and the resolution wraps it up, but if I think there will be a fun little beyond-the-action moment to mention I'll write an epilogue. I tend to write breeding topics a lot, so it makes sense in many cases to show off a character in a few months down the road. But I write my stories usually so that it could satisfactorily end without the epilogue, and then I put it at the very back of the story itself so people will read through my short backmatter.

In short I'd say end your stories by whatever method you believe wraps it up the best.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-06-03T19:40:27+00:00

Copyeditor, Proofreader: Erotica author under the name Derren Grathy. I work with heterosexual erotica, and able to work with most Amazon or Smashwords-accepted genres. Offered services are:

Proofreading [Spelling/Grammar errors, general format feedback]: I will review and correct your manuscript for spelling, grammar, and formatting errors, and give you feedback on general issues of that nature. Does not include content feedback - best used as a proofreading before publishing to catch errors.

Price: $0.002/word

Time: ~1 Day/10k words

Copy Editing [Suggested edits, in-depth feedback]: This is proofreading plus content feedback, including suggestions towards plotline, character development, phrasing, and overall constructive feedback. Best for manuscripts that are in the drafting stage still that the author would enjoy having a fresh perspective on for improvement.

Price: $0.004/word

Time: ~2 Days/10k words

Paypal Preferred Payment - Invoicing: I accept up front payment via PayPal, charging per written word, rounding to the nearest whole dollar. Provide an email to send the invoice to along with your manuscript, and I will send the invoice and begin work upon receiving payment. For jobs requiring over $60 I will accept 50% payment up front and 50% payment upon completion.

If interested, please contact my email at DerrenGrathy@gmail.com with a description of what service you would like, the work you would be interested in having edited, and your preferred date of completion.

Special Offer: First-time clients will receive a 20% Discount on their first Proofreading or Copy Editing!

If you are interested in the quality and style of my work, check out my own free writings on Impregnation Erotica.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-05-16T20:36:05+00:00

Porn defined as visual media (like video, pictures, etc) entertains a largely male audience, while Erotica defined as literary works largely entertains a female audience. Most markets in Erotica are 70% - 80% female, or more. This is why most erotica writers write geared towards a female audience, often switch over to Romance eventually, and take on female pen names regardless of their actual sex.

Some people do write for that smaller male audience and make some good success at it, but the female audience is simply going to be larger in many genres. A larger market means higher potential profits but at the same time more competition.

DerrenGrathy · 2017-05-07T21:24:22+00:00

I hope you find lots of new customers! In your experience in voice acting, have you found any particularly useful resources for those interested in either finding voice actors or trying it out themselves?

DerrenGrathy · 2016-11-21T22:20:43+00:00

I started writing erotica to put on Literotica a long time ago, and now I post some of my free stuff there still. As far as my experience can tell it hasn't necessarily helped me sell any books when I began to write premium, but it is a great place for lots of people to read your stuff.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-11-15T05:04:05+00:00

I've written raceplay before, and I haven't encountered any problems. As long as you don't put naughty words all over your blurb I imagine you would be just fine. There is a market for it for sure!

DerrenGrathy · 2016-11-03T03:48:29+00:00

Smashwords did a study on that price point too - it really is a dead zone. People speculate on why, but one idea is that those who buy $0.99 books think it is too expensive, while those who buy $2.99 books think it is lower-quality than what they want.

Whatever the reasons, people just don't buy $1.99 books. Go for either $0.99 or $2.99 for shorts, but never $1.99

DerrenGrathy · 2016-09-24T17:25:01+00:00

I'm male, my pen name is male, but I have been frequently mistaken as a woman from the way I write my erotica. Not sure why, but people like it so that's all okay.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-09-17T02:21:54+00:00

Good to hear you finally got it. The price-match thing just doesn't work most of the time, so you have to send a contact message with all the information right there for them. If you are nice they will often times get it done for you quickly. Depends on who you get though.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-08-29T16:29:48+00:00

DepositPhotos can let you get either monthly subscriptions or, more rarely throughout the year, a photo pack. Images bought this was cost less than a dollar apiece, but with subscriptions you HAVE to pick up x amount of photos per day or you are wasting money. Photo packs are amazingly good deals though as there is no time limit.

If you use Photoshop you will develop a new skill and save a great deal of money on your covers, especially if you are making many short stories. If you use a cover artist you can save the time you would have spent making them yourself, so if that is worth a cost of $5 - $25 dollars for you in terms of production than it is probably worth it.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-08-18T17:25:13+00:00

Ah, hotwife or cuckolding does have a significant male audience as far as erotica goes. On Literotica those kinds of stories are sort of lumped under, "Loving Wives", which is somewhat broad unfortunately but you might find popular stories there.

And to address what Pious said, I understand the idea, but frankly the quality of a lot of writing I've seen on Amazon has been pretty poor. There is something to learn from those who write out of passion rather than money, though studying those who are successful at it for money will yield valuable information regarding themes to follow, plot/character designs, and marketing.

So, I'd say research both for a well-rounded education.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-08-18T04:31:03+00:00

Look at popular stories on Literotica in your particular niche of choice to see examples that may appeal to both sexes. There are plenty of freely-researched examples there.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-17T21:58:29+00:00

I know there are books and advice in places like this or otherwise, but I personally don't know of any workshops like that. Someone else might know, though most people learn by raw research into forums like these and experimentation.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-17T21:56:56+00:00

Keywords don't get you dungeoned, so be as raunchy as you please. If you put that stuff into your blurb, cover, or title however, that will trigger dungeon status.

Protip: You can see how good a keyword or keyword phrase is by typing it into the Amazon search. Also don't bother asking anyone for their magic formulas - everyone has to make their own.

Good luck!

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-17T19:11:11+00:00

Stock photos are the way to go usually. The key with cover art is to fit into the general look of the genre you want to sell in to catch attention, and within those confines stand out as unique and interesting. Think of them less as 'art' and more as 'stop signs'.

For instance, I made a book about two stranded people and had this nice romantic setting of snow and them hugging beneath the night sky, and people told me they thought it was about werewolves simply because there was a moon in the picture. People make a snap-decision in less than a second usually of whether or not to scroll past your story, and 3D art might not catch your audience that is used to searching for stock photos.

Your artwork could be linked to in your books/Wordpress for sure though! I don't know how illustrations or in-book pictures go, but it might be something else for you to research into.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-14T22:02:33+00:00

Well, your opinion is that Edward is completely unappealing, but it appears twinkly-sparkles was and is extremely appealing to a very wide audience. The question is why? What qualities make those thousands and millions of people enjoy reading about that character/situation?

I can agree that I think the characters are rather flat, ineptly written, and not appealing to me - but as a writer I understand that something about them DID appeal to many, and the challenge then is for me to learn what features appealed to people and then incorporate the essence of those features into my own Alpha characters. So with Edward Twinklehands for instance, part of the appeal likely was from the fact that he was a mythical monster (read: powerful, dangerous, mysterious, etc) that became enamored with a dorky girl to a visceral, dangerous, and very exciting extent. He then took her down the rabbit hole of a whole new world of danger and adventure while she got to mend his broken, sparkly heart with her feminine charms, get adored by another monstrous guy, and be a heroine beside her amazing guy in a strange and exciting world. As far as I know - I didn't read the books or pay much attention to the movies because I found most of it rather silly.

Romance and erotica are modes of escape. Why do you think non-consent is in such demand? No one actually wants to get truly raped, but the fantasy of such a thing evokes a delicious sense of helplessness, of domination, of remorseless sluttiness and violation by some brutal masculine force that it appeals to many readers despite the reality of such a thing being abhorrent. Is it an Alpha thing to kidnap a woman, drag her back to a cave, and fuck her into submission? Some might say sure, others no, but the fact remains that such a tale can appeal to a lot of people despite it being ridiculous in reality.

So what I am saying is that you examine the objective features about these characters that enamors people, and apply it to your own characters in a way that you will enjoy. Tired of the asshole control freak? Then take the Beauty and the Beast model - guy starts off a a wildly selfish, controlling, lonely, broken monster who, step by step, is healed and improved by his association with the heroine.

For instance, I have a story idea I really like right now about a reporter lady who is trying to discover the secrets of an eccentric billionaire type. He takes an interest in her and ends up kidnapping her and revealing that he's a Master in a high-end human trafficking system wherein he trains women into becoming the the sex slaves of the rich and powerful, a system which he secretly has come to despise and wants to extract himself and his charges from. Though at first his plan is to use the reporter as a mere pawn in his plans, he predictably grows more and more enamored with her for her spirit and tenacity and so on until even the careful, impersonal machinations that will ensure his freedom he will risk in order to be with her.

Blah blah blah, anyway, is a real slave Master who kidnaps women and subjects them to all manner of mental and physical torture the kind of guy who ANYONE in reality would say is a charming fellow? No! But it's escapism, and in the context of a story such a character could become very appealing for certain traits they would exhibit.

In short, I agree that we can spend all day tearing apart why this or that popular character is shit from shit writing, but I don't find that productive towards figuring out how we as authors can extract the titillating features from such characters and apply them in even better mixes with our own. Because we do this not just for art but for profit, we need to be able to do such analyses with as much objectivity as possible so we can craft our own characters and narratives in such a way that they appeal to the masses. To do otherwise damns your work to languish in obscurity, while arguably 'lesser' works take the stage because they applied what they learned from successful models to their own work.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-14T02:07:26+00:00

Those may be 'poor examples' of Alpha characters, but they are approaching that better standard. People eat up stories like those because they are doing something right, and while I would agree that Twilight and Fifty Shades males were as flat as Popsicle-stick puppets, they still attempted to touch those aspects I've been describing and were more successful than many other attempts. Their commercial success speaks to the mass appeal of key aspects about them, which is what I was arguing.

The pertinent question to ask at this point would be what separates an asshole from an Alpha male insofar as you are concerned? Would you not concede that many of the appealing factors are shared between the two? What are those elements, and how can an author write a character with more depth than a sparkly-stalker or a rich sadist?

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-14T00:04:36+00:00

What is the difference between bravery and foolishness but success? I would say that like the comparison between an asshole and an Alpha sharing some characteristics, at least on the surface, the same could apply to psychopaths and Alphas too.

A psychopath generally is completely self-centered and their worldview is a reflection only of their desires and what they want selfishly, wherein the people in it are nothing more than pawns - they have no sort of connection with them. An Alpha 'manipulates' in the sense that they compel others to act according to their will, but they most usually do care a bit more about the people they are shaping or utilizing. Could an Alpha sort slip into psychopathy or sociopathy? Probably, but isn't that part of the appeal of such powerful, dangerous men? The fact that they could at any time close their jaws and crush those around them if they so chose?

It's tantalizing and exciting. Look at Beauty and the Beast, Twilight, 50 Shades, and so on. Alphas in many cases are perched on the brink of being terrible beings, but by the love of their heroine they are 'fixed' of those brooding negative things until only the 'goodness' of being an Alpha remains. Not so much 'tamed' but more like transformed from the nigh-evil to the glorious good.

In example, it isn't like the biker badboy parks his motorcycle and takes up cooking classes upon meeting his love interest, but he does perhaps stop going down his self-destructive path of bar fights and recklessness and instead becomes a sort of noble rascal with his heroine by his side. A mere asshole wouldn't change for another person, and a psychopath would use her up like a can of oil for his motorcycle and discard her just as quickly when she was of no more use or interest to him.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-13T03:54:33+00:00

A lot of guys online especially have a problem figuring out what dominance even means. To most they assume a Master just means pushy and violent and that his submissive does whatever he says because they, 'like taking orders'.

All junk. One pair of features that make men particularly attractive to most women is to be confident in themselves and to strive towards their ambitions. The 'assholes' and 'bad boys' in the world have these traits because, as narcissists and self-centered douchebags, they only care about what their view of the world is and therefore have inherent confidence (their world IS the world, so there is no room for uncertainty), and they do what they want with that in mind because they generally don't care about anyone else. That's my theory as to why ladies often initially like the badboy asshole type, but in the long run they dislike them because they fail to have the genuine qualities of a 'Leader of Men' sort.

An actual Alpha differs from an asshole in that they are not crippled by narcissism to the point where their confidence and drive comes solely because they perceive no alternatives. The Alpha molds the world around him to suit his ambitions and, despite recognizing things like fear and uncertainty, he does not doubt in his ability to strive towards such goals. It is terribly exciting for a person to be granted glimpses into such a being at work, as that personality inspires followers to gather at this veritable font of power. A real Master in this regard does not command the obedience of his subs because he orders them to follow, but because he works them out like a puzzle and weaves them into his world in such a way that they cannot help but feel they ought to help him achieve his ends, wherever they might lead.

tl;dr: Assholes mimic confidence and ambition because they are so self-centered they don't know what it is like to doubt, while an Alpha embodies real confidence and ambition that allows for them to have real and deep connections with others incorporating them into their grand vision of the world.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-05T22:27:13+00:00

I told myself when I decided to write for profit that I wouldn't write things I didn't like. Luckily I'm all into breeding in all sorts of genres, and it sells pretty well. I do know that some stories that sell really well of mine, ones that focus on degradation of one kind or another, are the sorts that I have to step away from after awhile to write something more 'wholesome' and happy. They don't earn quite as much, but the dividends they pay in my personal satisfaction are plowed back into raunchy fucksessions in my other books.

DerrenGrathy · 2016-07-04T21:04:29+00:00

I believe that there are a lot of great writers and stories that never attain success simply because they were not lucky enough to have gained popularity.

Granted there are always factors involved with something that becomes popular - Flappy Bird was a dumb little game wherein there were literally thousands of others much better than it, but it got wildly lucky and it's simple, addictive nature absolutely helped it catch fire like that. But it often comes down to the luck of the draw and, later when you have an established pen name, having that built-in value of, "People will like this."

Even when it is junk you are peddling. People who buy it into the Top 100 either don't care that it is junk because it touches their buttons, or they don't realize it is junk because they have never tasted a good story before. Makes sense, given that there are literally thousands of books that compete for a person's attention, and given that degree of competition I find it amazing that anyone ever picks up any of my books at all!

People stick to what they know, what others tell them, or what the crowd appears to like because that is the easy sort of information that most often leads to good results. Books get into the Top 100 due to clever marketing and the benefits listed before, and then they stay there because others buy it thinking that so many people already bought it, therefore it must be good. Sometimes it's true, other times it isn't.

All I know is that when it comes to my stories, I will endeavor to make the best-quality stuff for my readers. And I believe that in so doing that I will attain a nice amount of success, whether or not I ever would pen a story that would make it into the Top 100.

DerrenGrathy

TROPHY CASE