Other alternatives for accessing top selling books when your country doesn't sell them, it is for research. I don't know if VPN works for kindle.

If I’d like to read, feedback and upload short stories myself, where do I do that?

The main thread seems to be about general concepts and not specific texts.

Sprints are here

1. Goals for the day? (Word count? Reading? Editing? Covers? Something else?
2. Rooftop yellings? Successes? Failures?
3. How's it going? Anything you want to talk about or get off your chest?

Typically, I'll have an idea I want to incorporate I think will do well in my niche specifically. Then I'll think of a theme and outline what I think initially might be the whole book, or at the very least, the first few chapters.

Welp, as usual, I'm 2.5k words in before I realize adding an additional character would be a really good idea. And shit, as I write this I've just realized I might even change their gender completely lol. Luckily at 2.5k words it won't be that annoying to do.

But anyways, now I finally feel like I have an interesting story/goal to work towards that also interests me personally and I think has a solid chance of doing well.

Anyone else write in this manner?

I've searched and not found any definitive answers, and now know better than to go by what is available on Amazon. With regards to using 'book' in the title, Amazon says "Don’t add... Repeating generic keywords like... "books,"..." And I found out that their search function ignores the word book.

So two questions, first, is 'book 1' OK in the title, and would something like 'Hubert ~ Book 1, the erotic adventures of a trainspotter' be OK?

Second, is the word 'erotic' acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I’ve seen a few posts about Substack and Medium, and I am glad that I chose to go the route of Substack when I started my page last week. I have shared my writings on here, Twitter, and FetLife but am now moving them to a platform that is more writing centric.

My question is, how have folks found are the best ways to market their writing to grow their following? Outside of things like Twitter, here, and FL.

Thanks, J

Pov when both reading and writing?? And why?

Hi community, I have been a lurker but now I really need help and would be very grateful for any suggestions.

Question: Should I contact support or will this make it even worse? Is it possible that waiting will solve this problem?

TLDR: My book, that I am even running amazon ads to that get clicks and impressions, does not show up in the most important genre bestsellerlist, even though the category is in the backend, bklnk lists it and the sales rank should put it in there for sure. It is not in erotica. Is this a bug? It shows up in other non erotica bestsellerlists of the same subgenre but sadly those will not generate sales because nobody knows about them. Even books with "BDSM" in the subtitle show up in these important bestesellerlists, so can it really be because mine is partly in the dungeon? Or might it just be a bug and contacting support might help? Can this adjust after a while? (I just made the last wording changes to the blurb last week.)

All facts:

1. genre: MM Romance with BDSM, slightly taboo but not really (involves a catholic priest, but with the ads that was never a problem, just the bdsm stuff)
2. First listing was done with BDSM in Blurb and Title but I took everything out, the cover is really tame now and I am even able to run amazon ads to it, but maybe the listing is now tarnished forever?
3. Pre-orders for this subgenre ususally come in like a flood when you post a new book and bdsm is hot there right now, it should be an easy sell and on top of any list, but I have almost no pre-orders yet and didn´t get many from the start which is why I wanted to try ads
4. The book does show up on search in an incognito browser but on page four to six and not for all its keywords
5. Even straight out BDSM Hardcore books show up in these bestseller lists

I suspect, that my book is not really found by potential readers. The ad gets a crazy amount of clicks compared to the impressions but in this genre preorders don´t come from ads. (Had this phenomenon with my other books: over 200 organic pre-orders but my ads only got sales after release.)

It is possible of course that my reasearch is wrong and nobody is interested, but as long as the visibilty of this book is compromised, I can never be sure.

Please help, what can I do? I have a few other books on preorder and really don´t want to lose those pre-orders. So I don´t want to do anything risky. But if there is anything I can try ...

I'm writing my first erotica even though I've written a lot of these type things in the past for fun/fanfic... It has character A who has explicitly consented but then character B is a dom and pushes character As limits. They don't safe word and always have the option to... but thier limits are pushed and there were not completely informed on exactly the type of sexual acts going to occur even though they were told it may be overwhelming and were okay with that. Would this be considered Dubcon?

Sprints are here

1. Goals for the day? (Word count? Reading? Editing? Covers? Something else?)
2. Rooftop yellings? Successes? Failures?
3. What are your plans for the weekend?

Hi everyone.

I will soon be publishing my next gay erotica short and I would like a refresher on what causes a book to be put in the dungeon on Amazon. If you could please list reasons why this happens, I would appreciate it.

I have mostly been focusing on my romance pen name this year, and I have forgotten all about the dungeon criteria.

I do have a cover ready for the book. It has man dressed in leather gear. Such as a harness, wristbands and jockstrap. You don't see the back of the jockstrap of course. My book would be banned immediately for that. You see the front of the jockstrap and it is behind part of the title, so it is being masked to some extent. I hope this doesn't cause any issues with Amazon and the people who will review my book.

I wrote a sexy story about characters who seemed interesting to me. I wanted to explore why they were doing these sexy deviant behaviours.

This led to me exploring their back stories and one thing led to another, I have more fiction than erotica.

I'm slightly amused at where I find myself. Has anyone else experienced this?

Sprints are here

1. Goals for the day? (Word count? Reading? Editing? Covers? Something else?)

2. Rooftop yellings? Successes? Failures?

3. How's it going?

Have a blurb that is bugging you?

Want to maximize its marketing moxie?

Post it here, either in its entirety or in part, and let your peers take a crack at whipping it into shape.

Rules:

Blurbs only, please.

Kindness is not required, but constructiveness is.

So this time they mean it. 10th of November is the day it's really gone for good.

I'll especially miss being able to look at data on a per book basis, I can't seem to find anywhere on new reports that does it.

America had an election last night. I'd heard that election season often means lower book sales. Now, it's over.

Will this mean the erotica market picks back up? Do tastes change depending on which party wins? Are there other surprises?

Let's keep the conversation restricted to the business of selling erotic fiction, folks. There are plenty of political subs for your general political needs.

So I know how to write and describe things pretty decently. Never had a problem there. But soon as it comes to describing the more R rated scenes and even lust I struggle a little. I mean I can describe it. But it's very bare minimum at best. I don't like this. I know what I want to say but trying to grab those words and throw them on the paper is a battle. What can I do for this? How can I improve? Is there any sites to help practice? I'm scared I won't be able to and I will fail at this. The stories are great and I want to try. I know I can also be very very hard on myself.

Also is there a place where we can ask for specific writing prompts? And not just use ones given to us.

Sprints are here

1. Goals for the day? (Word count? Reading? Editing? Covers? Something else?)
2. Rooftop yellings? Successes? Failures?
3. What is a question you have for more experienced authors?

I’m a total noob and I published my first short. I think I set it up for Kindle Unlimited and I am wondering if that is a mistake. I noticed on Amazon is doesn’t give a price to buy my short. I’ve had people download the book but no sales. What can I do differently?

First I want to say thanks to those who helped answer my last thread. While I figure out what to do with my other (now 33k) story, I thought I would every few days write a short 2–2.5k scene. Maybe once I get 10 or 12 I could put them together and sell to test the waters. Is that enough?

Anyway, I'm only a couple in and wondered how readers of the genre feel toward dream or fantasy sequences. I know there's a lot of push back readers have in normal books toward flashbacks, and some regard dreams as "cop outs" since they didn't "really happen." But since the point is to just arouse, is that an issue here? Say for instance, girl teases guy about what is to happen "later," and he drifts off into a fantasy over what he imagines will happen, then wakes back up in the present before we fast forward to "later" and see how it really turned out. Or maybe the fantasy could be one short, and the sequel included a few shorts later deals with the reality?

Newbie here, please be gentle 🙏🏼

I am just starting out and don’t intend to write erotica forever. I only start the post with this because I want to be clear I’m looking more for “quickest and easiest” options for a short time (maybe 1-2 years) versus looking for the “best overall”/long term options.

If there is a subscription model that works at all, I would rather make less money overall but have a more consistent inflow and an easier time monetizing and getting going without jumping through all the hoops of BS guidelines for how to get seen on Amazon (I’ve been reading the how-to wiki).

That said, I was considering Patreon or Substack because it seems a little easier to have a place for all my writing to live and I could have subscribers and scheduled releases, versus Amazon where each little story has its own link and needs to be marketed separately and have a cover, follow all the arbitrarily enforced rules etc.

I also feel like with Patreon I can directly interact with fans and do custom stories etc. Building hype and building a following is in my wheelhouse as I have been marketing my business (I’m a small biz owner) on socials for the last decade). So…does anyone have any experience publishing only on these platforms?

I know there are mixed feelings on whether it is allowed on those sites and if it is not, whether it is worth trying anyway. But either way, does anyone have any experience publishing somewhere that has a subscription service instead of publishing on Amazon?

Sprints are here

1. Goals for the day? (Word count? Reading? Editing? Covers? Something else?)

2. Rooftop yellings? Successes? Failures?

3. Tell us about your current favs? Book, music, app, movie, tv show, etc? What are you feeling passionate about?

I have several novels published in D2D and Bookapy, but these platforms are not good to reach the Spanish-speaking market. I also use Amazon, but I cannot publish my erotica novels there because they clash with their terms.

Is there any Spanish-language platform I can use to reach Spain and Latin America?

What I'm getting is that my book will be too dark for traditional erotica on Amazon.

I love my book, it's everything the girl who grew up reading Dracula and Anne rice , and watching everything from Buffy the vampire slayer to the vampire diaries wanted it to be, but I have no idea how to navigate the miasma of publishing it. On top of that I run my own metal fabrication business and am a mom of two small children and am just struggling here as I wrap up my edits.

I am apart of most of the writing sub and I get really discouraged despite going through a lot of the FAQ's because I keep seeing you can get banned lickity split for doing the wrong thing/ having the wrong content...

It's written as a Gothic horror, vampire, the dark descent of someone typically innocent being seduced by a monster and ultimately becoming one herself with the reader along for the tormented ride, likely forseeing the inevitable ending.

The elements of horror are always present, creepy castle, death, off scene torture reference, within scene violence at the end (on undead characters or rather characters who are already vampires if that makes a difference), Probably elements of non-con since I've read Amazon requires enthusiastic consent.

I'm leaning to D2D and smashwords, but just read you can't have character death and don't know if my story would be flagged for that and I understand they don't tell you specifics, they just take you down.

Am I doomed, what are my options?

Once again, I am amazed at how much people are willing to spend on erotica. My newest book has been purchased multiple times over and even some of my back catalog as well. I just don't understand the logic of buying something for $2.99 when you could read so much more for a measly $10.

I've made like $12 so far so it's nothing to write home about... but it's definitely showing me the potential doing this even part-time seriously will bring. My 44-page book also has almost 1,000 page reads on KU and even though it pays very little it's still encouraging.

Excited to publish more stuff!

Hi fellas!

I was banned from KDP and D2D like a year ago. That killed my career and interest. Do you know if they give some kind of pardon after a while? What do they ban specifically? The IP? The email? The id? Please let me know and help me. The world can be losing a great erotica author

Edit: my mistake was using NSFW AI-generated pictures

Sorry, I know this has come up a lot lately, but here we go. I've been publishing erotica in German on Amazon for a little more than four years. In the first two years maybe one in ten of my books gut dungeoned and I got 80% of those out of there by changing the picture to something more modest. Then I had a rocky year dungeon-wise, because my dumb ass took months to realize that Amazon isn't cool with the word MILF anymore. Live and learn.

But nowadays, one in four of my books get dungeoned, although I've been using much tamer titles for a while now. And I never get the adult filter lifted by changing the cover anymore, hasn't worked in months. I finally dared to ask KDP support to remove the adult filter on two very vanilla books after I changed the cover. They told me - as others have reported here - that my books are erotica and therefore will stay filtered. This happened with two seperate inquiries for two stories.

So my assumption is that my books get filtered for their titles or just for being erotica, so I use more naughty covers than I did before and Amazon doesn't seem to care, the books with the most ridiculous cleavage don't get dungeoned, but others do.

Alright, so my question is, what's going on? Do the KDP people - or some of them - not know their own rules, so it's just luck if your book gets in the hands of one that thinks all erotica needs to be behind the adult filter? Or is the KDP answer just some random bot stuff that doesn't really mean anything? Have any of you successfully freed books from the dungeon in the last couple of months?

By the way, I click no with the 'sexually explicit content' box and I don't select a reading age, but I've tinkered with the box and have found that it doesn't make a difference in my case. Oh, and saleswise I'm ok, which makes me think that many others might have similar problems, but that's really just an assumption.

So I have been writing non-erotic fiction and poems for my entire life as a creative outlet, showing other people or submitting to contests. I haven’t been serious about publishing but I want to try my hand at writing erotic fiction and see what kind of response I get.

Does anyone recommend platforms for new-to-erotica writers who are interested in getting feedback and reader responses for short stories before committing to more extensive project (ex. Amazon books, anthologies, etc). Thanks!

Hey everyone, newbie Writer here with 4 published works looking for some help. I would like to know your perspective. I am currently writing a 6 part series ranging around 15k words per book. I am currently wrapping up the 3rd book in the series which will bring me to a total word count for the series thus far at 45k words. My question is should I bundle the first 3 books into a 45k word bundle, then do the same with books 4-6 or should I wait to bundle all 6 together into a possible 90+word bundle? How should I price them? I've seen other 45k+ bundles priced at $4.99. I'm curious if bundling separately will give me more bang for my buck. I haven't seen any standard prices regarding 80-90k words yet. Also could I do both, offer 2 split bundles and a full 6 part bundle later on. What are your thoughts? Thank you ahead of time.

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