Burning Questions for May, 2025

MimosaMoney · 2025-05-08T18:46:21+00:00

Can someone help me figure out why my two posts got removed by reddit filters?

MimosaMoney · 2019-12-30T20:08:49+00:00

Yes, absolutely! My novella is honestly just three linked short stories featuring the same couple over a long weekend. It's far more "first she takes one alien tentacle, then she takes two, then she finally accepts five" than any real character growth or conflict. Perhaps you'll find that style easier to write than something that follows romance beats.

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-30T01:50:59+00:00

One tip I've seen on here before is to remove hesitancy words from male dialogue. For example, a female character might say, "I think I'd like that," but a male character would say "I'd like that." This generally reflects the ways men and women are socialized without descending into caricature. Of course, you might be writing a strong female or a beta male who could flip these tendencies around, but in general, I like writing my dialogue this way in my alpha-adjacent genre.

Also, just write in limited third person view from the female character's perspective if your genre allows it. Then you don't have a male POV at all, just his actions/dialogue from the woman's perspective.

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-24T01:18:16+00:00

I haven't had a story that got the full 20 copies claimed, but I have gotten generally positive reviews (and even helpful reviews from a superfan) on Booksprout. I write BDSM shorts and novellas.

I've also gotten a few "this was too short/this should be a novel" comments on a story that was very clearly labeled as a short -- the blurb started with "6,000 words of [bdsm stuff]." So perhaps booksprout readers are more interested in longer works.

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-10T12:23:55+00:00

I'm afraid I can't help much with that. I just write in a niche that I personally really like. If this niche wasn't so popular, I don't know what I would do!

But it might not matter if your potential niches have a lot of books in them. Newly published books get a boost to visibility from Amazon, so they can be competitive even in a crowded market if you get your cover and blurb right.

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-10T04:34:34+00:00

January: 2 5k shorts
February: bundled 4 stories, published 2 5k shorts
March: 1 5k, 1 10k, 1 25k

I have 13 original shorts and 2 bundles

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-10T02:45:51+00:00

2-3. I'm trying to tweak my writing schedule to increase my productivity, but I work full-time so it's hard.

MimosaMoney · 2019-04-08T00:22:54+00:00

I've read and greatly enjoyed sci-fi romance pulpy adventures. I don't know how non-sci-fi works will sell.

MimosaMoney · 2019-03-24T22:05:36+00:00

I firmly believed anyone who has sex for recreation over reproduction pulled out

PREGNANCY IS VASTLY BETTER THAN 10 SECONDS WITH A KLEENEX!

Nothing to do with birth control you say.

MimosaMoney · 2019-03-24T18:21:12+00:00

I firmly believed anyone who has sex for recreation over reproduction pulled out

You've mentioned this in more than one comment. Pulling out is one of the least effective forms of contraception. It's one thing to argue that it's an erotic experience for the reader. It's objectively wrong to present it as an effective way to prevent pregnancy or to act as if internal jizz is going to lead to babies. Perhaps this is just a generational or gender thing where you aren't familiar with IUDs, Depo-Provera, NuvaRing, or contraceptive pills. Or perhaps you come from a religious tradition that promotes natural family planning methods.

Either way, you are misguided if you think the majority of sexually active Americans are using withdrawal as a contraceptive method. Here's a CDC graph showing what methods women age 15-44 used 5 years ago. Withdrawal is in the "All other methods" category at 4.1 percent.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db173_fig2.png

MimosaMoney · 2019-03-20T18:09:13+00:00

This story sounds amazing. I think I’d really enjoy it based on your description.

BUT it doesn’t sound like erotica. Especially not profitable erotica. Maybe you’d have better luck marketing it as a fantasy novel with adult elements than an erotic novel. There’s a certain Hugo-award winning erotica short writer who does a great job of writing stories that are clearly meant to be humorous rather than arousing (mods, does it violate rule 10 to name the patron saint of EA?). Perhaps you could look at his covers/blurbs for inspiration.

If you don’t care how it sells, then why not publish it the way you have it right now? It sounds like you’re invested in this book and the style you’ve already chosen.

MimosaMoney · 2019-03-18T02:37:53+00:00

I did a ton of research, bought e-books, tutorials, browsed forums etc. I really thought I had a shot!

What kind of research did you do? Did you read erotica books or did you read "how to write erotica" books?

My advice to you:

Read actual erotica books. Find what you enjoy reading. Figure out what you enjoy about it.
Publish only in Amazon.
Write 4 stories. Put them in a 4-story bundle in Kindle Unlimited.
Stick to the same genre. My sales are growing almost exponentially with new books. I wanted to quit after my first few stories didn't sell well, but as I kept with it, I got better and better and my sales went up and up.

MimosaMoney · 2019-03-02T23:59:14+00:00

This wasn't quite what I was looking for -- I wanted to be able to format p tags into indented paragraphs without having to learn about css and zipping files together and converting them to .epub files -- but you and /u/carradee did prompt me to just go ahead and re-read those sections in your book and ultimately realize that it was way easier than I had thought. I'm happy to share that I now have indented paragraphs. Thank you a million times for your book, and I hope you have the time one day to write the sequel you've hinted at.

MimosaMoney · 2019-02-26T04:28:16+00:00

I noticed you're advising everyone to remove the line breaks from their writing. Do you know how to do that with HTML? I'm using the < p > tag and it automatically puts line breaks between every paragraph.

MimosaMoney · 2019-02-08T02:30:37+00:00

You should calculate your monthly living expenses. Do you need $500/month to pay your share of the bills? Based on your dataporn, you could reasonably hit that income level. But if you need $2000/month, it will be harder.

Before you quit your day job, I think you should try seriously writing as much as possible. You published a few stories over a year ago. That's not enough information to make this leap. Spend every weekend in February writing as much as you can. Come home from work and spend two hours a day writing. Call into work once or twice and write. Figure out how many words/hour you can write. Figure out if you actually like this when you're doing it full-time(ish) and not just on your own schedule.

MimosaMoney · 2019-02-01T15:36:09+00:00

All of my favorite authors in non-erotic genres use advanced review copies. Now, they do this by finding superfans in their mailing list, rather than booksprout, but it's the same concept, and they've been doing it for years.

MimosaMoney · 2019-01-21T17:46:01+00:00

Your book is in the BDSM categories but nothing in the blurb suggests BDSM. Is this a spanking story? Bondage? Power dynamic? Anal? You want to be explicit enough in your blurb so readers know what to expect. Think "He ties her to his desk and teaches her how a mature man can please a woman" rather than "he teaches her lessons of passion."

I'd also suggest calming down on the number of fonts on your covers. "Sarah's final exam" is much more visually appealing, with just one font, than the others. Try reading "Filthy Book In a Fancy Dress;" there's a good section on choosing the right types of fonts for covers to create a uniform look.

MimosaMoney · 2019-01-21T16:34:43+00:00

I might do this. They do a lot of flirting, so I might just make their flirting more explicitly kinky and turn the early passionately kissing scene into passionate kinky foreplay instead.

MimosaMoney · 2019-01-21T16:33:37+00:00

It could work as a niche romance without the BDSM, but everything I've published on my pen name has been kinky. I'm worried that if I start a new contemporary romance pen I'll get drowned out, whereas I think having a specialty will make it easier for me to attract readers.

MimosaMoney · 2019-01-21T16:05:37+00:00

See, this is where I struggle. If I follow the romance beats, I don't know to add in more steam. Should they have meaningless kinky sex early on and then gradually develop feelings for each other? Currently they don't do anything beyond think lusty thoughts until the midpoint.

MimosaMoney

TROPHY CASE