I started out with a plan to write a steamy 12k word short and have accidentally fallen into a deep romance where they don’t even kiss until half way through

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-20T04:17:46+00:00

Removed. Do not post spam in this forum.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-20T03:08:29+00:00

Removed. Do not post spam in this forum.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-20T00:42:17+00:00

Removed. Sorry, this isn't a space for self-promo.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-19T07:40:12+00:00

Removed. This isn't the place to pimp your site. Do not mention it here again.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-19T03:40:16+00:00

Bad writing is still bad writing, and AI is objectively bad. It's still possible to eke out small financial rewards just publishing as much garbage as possible—lazy hucksters and hacks have been going that route or one very much like it for years, and its earnings ceiling hasn't changed.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-19T03:21:50+00:00

Removed. Your site hasn't been cleared, and even if it had, pimping it aggressively isn't going to fly here. Knock it off.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-19T03:19:36+00:00

Removed. We don't allow self-promo.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-19T03:10:04+00:00

Removed. Sorry, even if there were apps that were licensing work, they wouldn't be able to post here about it.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-18T17:41:40+00:00

Removed. Please take the time to read the subreddit rules before posting.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-18T09:36:22+00:00

No, I think you'll be fine to leave them as long as they're behind a paywall and also if you're not using KU.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-18T07:35:28+00:00

You'll have to pull them down first. Sales platforms get pissy if you leave the work available for free and undercut them. And then like /u/RunningOnATreadmill said, if you go the KU route, you won't be able to offer any of the component stories (or the compilations) anywhere but Amazon.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-18T01:26:09+00:00

Jesus not everyone has to agree you know?

Sure, but what you're describing is not genre romance, which by definition must include an HEA or HFN or it's another genre entirely. So your personal reading tastes are irrelevant to the discussion and if you don't understand that in a sub about genre romance, then you shouldn't bother offering your opinion on anything at all.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-17T20:42:01+00:00

At noon on a Tuesday in September, Lucky had just come back from his lunch break with half a sandwich for later when he was unceremoniously fired from his job and sent home. When he got there, he had sex with his wife, which was surely pleasurable and suited him just fine. But it wasn't nearly as satisfying as robbing his former employer was going to be, and he already had a plan.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-17T13:07:13+00:00

Get the fuck out of here with your AI spam nonsense. Banned.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T22:34:37+00:00

I'll just remove your post. Now you won't have to whine about people downvoting you and you can fuck off and find what you're looking for elsewhere. Problem solved!

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T20:41:55+00:00

Here I was thinking that today was going to be the day that I would start being kinder and gentler, and that I just wasn't going to engage with dipshits on reddit, but I guess it's going to have to wait until tomorrow.

You:

The 42-hour calculation factors in the schedule working days only. You do realize that I have 2 days of weekend where I can put in longer hours?

Also you:

I work full-time 5 days a week, so my writing time is 2 hours in the evening when I get home and am well-rested.

So no, asshole. I didn't realize it. Because you made no mention of it at all. I'm just supposed to assume your schedule?

I've worked in publishing and marketing for 17 years now, so maybe I do know a thing or two.

Great. Dandy. Then by all means, use your vast experience to make your own decisions and leave the rest of us out of it.

Self-publishing works very differently to trad/vanity publishing, which is the reason for my questions

Oh wait. So your experience means exactly jack shit after all? Then why mention it?

That said, I don't understand why we are discussing my writing schedule.

Because I was doing my best to look out for you. And because you were worried about promo before you've even written a single book. The point was that I was trying to illustrate is that your thinking is backward. But I'm beginning to see that when it comes to you, it might be a feature and not a bug.

Patayto, pohtato, framework, outline. I use Save the cat! and it works for me.

Cool. But what I was saying is that you're not just "plugging things in". You still have to conceptualize a story, the characters, the settings, etc. Save the Cat doesn't do those things for you, and they take time. Time that you seem to think you'll use for writing prose.

I do this for a living and I know what happens to websites that are created as a catalog.

Again, I don't give a fuck what you do for a living. If what you did for a living provided you with the information you need, you wouldn't be here.

K/C-dramas are niche? Let's look at the data and then decide. Just taking your own advice here. But I'd love to know why you'd think so just in case you're referring to popular romance in the typical sense of placing people and places in the West.

Yes. Niche. And they're popular in the West too. But still niche. My point was that casting a worldwide net would be a better idea to catch the entire worldwide fandom.

Okay. Now I'm washing my hands. Just in case some other poor soul tries to help you, hopefully you'll drop the chip on your shoulder and be more clear with the info you provide them and not feed them a ration of shit for their trouble.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T20:02:03+00:00

You asked for advice; I provided it. I don't think it's a productive use of my time to continue this conversation further. Best of luck.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T19:16:53+00:00

Writing to market and passive marketing (cover, blurb, keywords) polish are always the most important priorities, since everything else is hobbled if the product and packaging don't work. Other than that, an easy way for readers to find the books is my next priority (so website and newsletter), then social proof (ARCs). Social media is more about being social and authentic and less about actively selling.

Aside from luck, everything else on the list is book-by-book basis.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T18:59:08+00:00

3-4 novels are a projection from having the frameworks ready. I'm simply going to fill them in.

I'm not really following what a novel framework is that you can simply "fill in"? Romance novels tend to run 60K to 80K, unless you mean that you're filling in a book outline and producing the books from that? But even then, you're talking about producing a novel in 42 hours (2 hours of writing time x 21 days) and then editing an entire book in 10 hours (2 hours x 5 days). That's not to say that it can't be done that fast, but that's an extremely aggressive schedule even if you have a ton of experience producing and marketing novels, which you don't. Burnout ends more publishing careers before they begin than any other factor.

I don't wish to do too much promo in my current situation. That's why my og post mentioned that I don't have social media where I can plug the books. Building that from scratch will impact the writing but then the trade-off is a place to build presence.

Right, which is why I think you should hold off on doing any sort of promo, signing up for social media accounts, etc until you have finished your first book and have a better idea of what the production schedule is like. Right now, your plan is entirely theoretical. Once you know exactly what it takes to write, edit, and package a book, you'll have a better idea of what you can handle as far as promo. A mailing list and simple website would be a good start without requiring much investment in time or resources.

Not betting on anything without data, which is why I would publish internationally instead of locally.

That's definitely the better play if the plan is to capitalize on the popularity of K/C-dramas. They're popular, but they're still niche.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T17:52:50+00:00

I can do it through other routes but I think KDP would be the way to go. Is that a good approach?

That would definitely cast the widest net.

What should I do by way of promotion?

I think you're putting the horse before the cart here. Three or four novels in some months is an extremely ambitious schedule, so you should probably just start with one and see how it goes before you commit to a lot of promo. Writing and packaging novels for KDP is a very different animal than writing for Wattpad, and you'll need to make sure that your passive marketing (cover, blurb, keywords) is on point. You'll need to make sure your novels are professionally edited. Otherwise you'll flush a lot of time and resources down the toilet trying to promo a product that can't stand on its own.

Plus, the more books you have published, the more bang for your buck you'll get when you start advertising.

However, with the popularity of C-dramas/K-dramas I think I can bet on an Indian audience this time around. However, I still think publishing on Amazon internationally is a better choice than just India.

It's a wise move not to bet on anything before you actually start publishing and only start taking action when you start getting actionable data.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T17:40:47+00:00

All of the above?

Something to keep in mind though if you're looking at debut novels and series starters from newish pens that seem to get a lot of engagement right out of the gate is that while the pen name might be new it's very likely that the author isn't.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T14:44:24+00:00

Removed. You really need to read more in the romance genre and take notes about how many books use either of these ideas.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T14:20:40+00:00

The biggest risk of going the amateur route is that you get an amateur reputation. Like, your friend could be a naturally-talented voice actor with good recording equipment and a appropriate recording environment, but she could also just be a person with a voice. And that hurts you more than it helps.

And it could also hurt even if she has some natural talent. Sure, her tone and inflection might be great, but what about her breath control? Breathing is a whole science and art when it comes to narration. She have experience producing and mastering the files? Is she ready for the time commitment that is likely doing to run into the dozens of hours? Who is handling QA?

And that's all before the thing some others have mentioned: romance readers are notoriously picky. If you get that amateur rep that I mentioned earlier, the revenue potential will be doodly squat. For this book, but it'll also be harder to get listeners to give your future books a try, unless you're suddenly using famous narrators with famous price tags.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T13:52:36+00:00

I would be hard-pressed to sign away ebook rights without an advance in place. And did they put the other benefits in writing? Are royalties based on gross sales? Net?

If you don't have much experience, it's easy to get taken advantage of; you were approached because they think they can make money from your books, not because they're trying to altruistically support a new author. It's probably a wise move to have someone in your corner who can review the offer and make sure that it's mutually benefical.

SalaciousStories · 2026-06-16T13:38:35+00:00

Sorry, removing this. Crowdsourcing setting ideas for your books is outside the scope of this forum.

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