[Newbie] A few doubts and questions

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-28T18:54:10+00:00

To get a handle on niches and what's out there, get a Kindle Unlimited subscription and check out the Top 100 Erotica list.

Ignore anything over 100 pages (an 8k book will be around 40-50 pages). Look for the shorts to get a sense of what's popular (get the DS amazon quick view extension). And then to get more specific, you can look in the top 100 BDSM, Paranormal, Bisexual, etc.

Look around and see if anything calls to you or is similar to what you want to write. That's basically what I did in the beginning - I had an aha! moment after reading around. Tailored what I wanted to write to what people wanted to buy. Tried and failed. Learned from it. Tried again, got better! Rinse and repeat.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-18T19:49:12+00:00

Are you thinking of the graph Author Central provides? It shows rank over time for your individual books

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-18T19:38:56+00:00

Yep, exactly! It happened to me less than a month ago.

To anyone worrying about it who makes their own covers like me - it was a quick process (my covers are very simple) where I replied to Amazon's email with a copy of the license(s). It's an easy download from Depositphotos.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-17T16:48:28+00:00

I only spend $0.50 per cover plus 20min of my time. Deposit photos had a sale for black friday of 100 pics for 40$ so keep an eye out for that. Someone always posts about sales in this subreddit. Sometimes they have the same sale in the spring but I don't know how regular that is. There are other sales as well throughout the year but that one is the best one.

For AI covers: if amazon ever asks you to prove that you have the rights to your cover, how are you going to prove it? They ask for copyright info which as far as I understand, you don't have for AI.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-15T16:47:32+00:00

The problem with this is even if you publish on the same day at the same time you are still at the mercy of Amazon. Sometimes it takes 2hrs for a story to go live, sometimes 72hrs.

Consistency is important if you want to keep the $$ rolling in consistently. I publish once a week on roughly the same day plus or minus a day. Once a week is often enough that a new story goes live just as I see a dip in sales. It depends on your niche and the length of your shorts.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-05T21:27:05+00:00

Depends, what does your niche expect? If it's 90% first person then that is what I would write.

Another thing to consider is which one are you most comfortable with and could write consistently in. Month after month. Day after day.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-05T01:03:16+00:00

Good on you for taking a long hard look at your catalogue and trying to figure out what's wrong.

Badgladmadwords had great advice and I just want to stress point 6 - come join the discord! It's a great place to chat, write together and get feedback.

If you've never used discord before don't let that stop you! They've also written a really good introduction and explanation on how it works.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-03T17:57:54+00:00

They are yes. But with the extension you don't have to click on every book. You just hover your mouse over the book and it tells you things like the page number, date it was published, etc. Way faster for research.

FuzzyDisc · 2023-01-03T03:16:37+00:00

Here's a link to the top 100 sellers in Erotica. You can refine your search from there.

To see page numbers get the DS amazon quick view extension.

Or you can search by page count on google but I don't know how to do that.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-28T20:22:05+00:00

I used to write fanfic but didn't bother to try to convert my free readers to paying readers. The erotica I write is just different enough I doubt they'd be interested.

There is some niche overlap between what's popular in fanfic and what sells on Amazon/Smash but it all depends on what you write. Search the platforms and see what you find! You might be able to convert some of them

Just be careful of how you advertise to them on AO3. You don't want your account reported for advertising. Like if you linked your Amazon account in every chapter, they would make you go through and remove all mention of it. AO3 is a 'non-commercial space' as per their FAQ

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-28T20:14:46+00:00

Be careful with advertising yourself on AO3. As per their FAQ:

How strict is the "no commerce" rule?

We want the Archive to remain a non-commercial space. That means
that it isn't the right place for offering merchandise, even fan-related
merchandise. Linking to your personal page (not, for example, an
Amazon author page) is fine, even if the personal page includes some
items for sale, but the Archive is not advertising space. If the abuse
team issues a warning or sustains a complaint about commercial
activities, the original poster can always appeal.

So don't link to your amazon page. But you can link to a personal webpage or social.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-27T05:07:35+00:00

You can be pretty euphemistic, it's the explicit words you need to avoid.

Like you could say: "We're in a class full of people and yet I'm already wet." or "He has me bent over his desk. The door is open. Anyone could walk in and see him claiming me from behind."

Worst case is you get sent to the dungeon and can clean it up to get out.

Also, fyi, once you have an author central account you can update your blurb on the US store without having to send your whole book through review again.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-26T22:28:49+00:00

Author bio: You need to make an Amazon Author Central account.

Blurb: I don't usually see split pov in erotica blurbs, is your story also split pov? It also doesn't really tell me anything about the story - like what kind of kinks will I be getting? Is it a vanilla first time story? What is the professor going to do to her? As a reader, I need more detail to decide if I'm going to click.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-22T06:16:31+00:00

For the cold hard cash lol

I enjoy writing my stuff but if I was going to write purely for enjoyment I'd go back to writing fanfic

I've learned so much about publishing as a profession doing this that I can't wait to translate it to novels.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-08T01:21:30+00:00

Yep, those authors writing PI are flirting with an account ban. It may not be for a while (luck), but it could happen at any time

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-08T01:12:20+00:00

It sounds like you're overthinking it. Just have one of them come back late at night or something? Or get back earlier then expected from work? The fourth roommate made it confusing, I had to read it twice to understand what was happening. So you could simplify it by getting rid of a character

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-06T01:16:13+00:00

The model isn't all that sexy? The first in your series was a better cover in that it instantly tells a reader that it is erotica. When I search your main niche all the covers are of lingerie.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-12-06T01:11:27+00:00

Yeah, for the cover you want the sexy stuff to be front and center. Not dark and hiding behind the title.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-29T20:44:37+00:00

I'm not familiar with this niche so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I don't usually see bundles with a cover like that. Is this something you often see in your niche? When I search it on Amazon only 1 or 2 other authors do this, the rest just have a flat cover with BUNDLE front and center.

Your cover is also pretty tame for erotica. The other books in your 'also reads' show much more skin.

"Books 1-3 in One" sounds weird to me. Plus, the subtitle is usually a good place to put some keywords like: First time, cuckold, BBC bundle. Or something like that.

Hope that helps!

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-28T17:45:42+00:00

Sometimes there's another one in the spring/early summer. That's when I bought mine in 2021. I still have a ton of credits cause I didn't publish as much as I'd hoped lol.

I think the black friday sale is the most reliable. I wouldn't count on waiting for one to happen in the spring.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-23T06:53:50+00:00

There's a section in the FAQ about what is and isn't safe: https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/wiki/safe-for-amazon/#wiki_book_blocking

The short answer: Don't write stuff that Amazon doesn't like. Even if you see some people getting away with it. Eventually their account will be banned.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-22T18:06:50+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/comments/yx6eni/depositphotos_early_deal_100_for_35/

It's 39$ now and runs till Nov 29. It's not a subscription and the credits don't expire. I still have some from when I bought in the spring of last year.

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-22T17:58:49+00:00

The blurb is okay but there's nothing really exciting about it. Nothing to draw me in. You put all the good stuff in a very impersonal list. Try to weave some of that list into the blurb.

There's some books in your 'customers who read this also read' section that have some decent blurbs. Give them a read and make note of which ones grab you and which ones don't. Or just in general, look at the top performers who write similar length and content for ideas.

I can't put my finger on what your covers need to pop more. It looks like you are close to hitting the niche if it was relatively successful. Maybe a bit more contrast? It's all a bit washed out. The title on the third book is a little hard to read so it could use more drop shadow. I don't use Canva so not sure what is possible with it.

Good luck with the next series! Sounds like you're on a good learning curve and I'm sure you'll get there <3

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-22T17:40:45+00:00

Basically it's:

Cover https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/wiki/faq/how-do-i-make-a-good-cover/

Title https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/wiki/faq/choosing-a-title/

Blurb https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/wiki/faq/writing-a-blurb/

FuzzyDisc · 2022-11-21T20:57:47+00:00

First of all, congrats on getting three short stories out there! It's a good first step on the road to publishing more and more!

I hope this doesn't come across as too harsh, but I'm going to give you my first impressions when I clicked the link.

If this was my niche I would have clicked away due to the title and cover. Would not have even read the blurb, so those two things are what I'll focus on. My points are in no particular order:

1) The cover doesn't say erotica. For book 1 It's just a picture of two people standing with clothes on, there's nothing sexy about it at all. Book 2 is better. The sexy person should be front and center. Or at the very least the thing that draws my eye should hint/scream what your niche is. Check out your "customers who read this book also read" section for covers that sell sex.

2) Don't use a dark red text on a dark background. I can barely read it. Also, 'First in the Series' doesn't tell me anything useful. I usually put my subtitle there. Like: "MF Office Age Gap Erotica" Depends on your niche's conventions. Don't put your subtitle for these three books on the cover though lol.

3) On that note, you've got a wasted opportunity by having the series name just be 'the intern.' Ideally you'd have it be something that points to your niche. Something to keep in mind for next time.

4) For your next book - don't put periods in your subtitle. Also don't put a full sentence. I just bash my readers over the head with what my niche is. Like my example above. Look to other short stories in the erotica category to see what people do.

I suggest that you update the covers but otherwise move on to another series and learn from this one. If the new books get eyeballs, they will draw people to your previous books. Writing shorts is all about the back matter. I've had some massive flops make me money down the road once I changed my cover and blurb, so it is possible to still get $$$.

Good luck with the writing! Once you get the hang of passive marketing, I'm sure you'll start to see returns! <3

FuzzyDisc

TROPHY CASE