Sunday, August 5, 2012

Self-Publishing Erotica: An Introduction

If you're reading this, you may already have heard about how easy it is to self-publish e-books. In particular you may have heard about the huge market for erotic ebooks. If you have, feel free to skip this intro and get to the good stuff!

For the rest of you...
With the advent of e-book readers, self-publishing has become easier than ever before. It's now possible to publish your work through a number of online retailers and potentially take in a greater cut of the profits than any traditional publisher could afford to offer.
There have been a number of success stories in self-publishing erotica. Some of them, like Selena Kitt, are fairly well-known for their great success - but there are other, smaller success stories. Writing and publishing erotica is a job like any other, and if you work hard, it can bring in as much (or more) money than more traditional employment might. If you're determined and keep working at it, it's very possible to bring in $3000 a month or more.

 Even so, writing erotica isn't for everyone. If you're intrigued, let's go over some general questions.
  
Why would you do this?
  • If you enjoy writing, and would like to make money doing something you love.
  • If you'd like to pay for a coffee a month. Or lunch. Or your electric bill. Or your student loan payments. (I can't promise anything, but if you can't earn enough for a coffee a month I'd be very, very surprised.)
  • If you've been writing erotica anyway! Do you have something out there for free? It's pretty likely that your work will sell.

What do you need?
  • The ability to write erotica. Erotica, like romance, isn't quite the same as genre fiction with sex or a romantic relationship thrown in: it's a specific genre in its own right.
  • The ability to keep going in the face of discouragement. There will be bad days, bad weeks, and bad months. If you can't get through them, you can't get to the good times.
  • A touch of shamelessness - if not with others, then with yourself!
How can you succeed?
  • Treat it as a real job, because that's what this is. This isn't a get-rich-quick guide. It's a collection of information, tips, and suggestions to help you succeed.
  • Be willing to adapt as the market changes.
  • Do the best work that you can. If you put out poor-quality work, you're only hurting yourself.
If you think you'd like to try writing and self-publishing erotica, great!

Head back to the index to continue.

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