I want to be able to write a bit and then insert gifs inbetween paragraphs to give visuals. I don’t know where I can post where I can do that? I know there’s BDSMLR but that site is hell and operates bad (I say as a user for years) tumblr is also an option but porn isn’t really allowed there and I’d definitely get taken down eventually. Help?

Hey there,

maybe this is a stupid question, but I was reading the FAQ's, especially the part about what could get you blocked/banned on Amazon.

In the PI part there is a paragraph of what to avoid and it states not only titles and keywords but also content of the book.

I was not going to write an incest story, but I wanted to mention that the MC father was in the military and that they had to move around a lot and never settled anywhere.

Is it really problematic to have the word „Dad“ in the content of the book or do I simply misunderstood that part of the FAQ

Hope someone can clarify that for me 😅

Did you have any negative experience publishing covers that depict feet?

Assuming the feet are visible, bare or not, as part of a larger figure in the cover: if the rest of the image is dressed, could the bare feet trigger any kind of nudity alert like an overly-undressed butt or cleavage would?

I noticed that there rarely are covers with feet visible.

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3. What are your plans for the weekend?

Hello everyone! I'm looking for some advice on Amazon keywords because I'm having trouble understanding how they actually work. Do they function better as individual words, or should I focus on using short-tail and long-tail sentences?

For example:

Example 1: gay first time story Example 2: man gay first time steamy spicy mm short story straight to gay

These examples are just for illustration, I'm not really familiar with gay erotica. But when I compare these two approaches, the results are inconsistent, and my sample size is too small to draw any conclusions. Which one do you think would work better? More human-like search requests (even if they are shorter), or max long bunches of keywords?

Has anyone found an advantage or disadvantage to putting standalone books in a series?

I've had a play with doing so in order to try and encourage people who read one to check out the others that are in the same niche, but can't decide if it might instead be suggesting that it's necessary to read the others.

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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.

I tried searching for this and the answers I found didn't seem to match Zon policy.

Under Prohibited Links in KDP, it says "Links to web forms that request customer information (e.g., email address, physical address or similar)." Which feels like it would preclude newsletter signup? But most authors I read do have a newsletter signup link in the backmatter.

Is it safer to link to social media or a website and hope the reader explores enough to find the newsletter signup?

I use Story Origins promotions regularly to push my books on Amazon and have found it effective. I'm wondering how it compares to Bookfunnel. Is anyone using it? Is it worthwhile?

I still have a running account on Prolific Works (downgraded to free). It was a powerhouse several years ago but seems to have died.

How do we feel about the word whipped? Anyone been dungeoned for this lately to their knowledge?

I’m trying to think of synonyms in case this is a red flag word but alternatives actually seem worse and more intense (thrashed, flogged etc)

I was worried disciplined might not go down too well either.

I could try something like ‘a taste of his riding crop’ but it’s a bit wordy for what I need.

I think the rest of my blurb is A-OK it’s just this one word I’m struggling with. Any thoughts?

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I’m trying to practice more with writing spicier material but I think I struggle a lot with dialogue sounding natural, especially in kinkier or more intense scenarios. It just reads like cringy porn acting to me lol. I’m not sure what the trick is 😭

I’m looking for tips on how to get into the headspace to write intimate scenes. I’m working on some creative projects where I feel intimate scenes would help with the plot, but I think I fall flat with it.

I may need to create some practice drafts beforehand to get into the groove of it, but how do you folks create it?

I think I get so uncomfortable with it and start cringing that I end up putting the work away. I currently have one that I haven’t touched because of the unfinished scene. I have read plenty of books with intimate scenes and it doesn’t bother me, but writing it is a whole new realm. I sometimes feel like it’s just wrong, like an intrusion of the characters (silly, I know), so does anyone know how I can overcome this?

Hi guys.

I am going to be publishing my first billionaire romance book soon under my MF romance pen name. This will be my third book under the name.

I don't have much of a following currently with this pen name and my first two books haven't gone far with many readers. Not many people have read them.

With all of that outlined, I am not sure if I should put my book up for pre-order. I read some comments here last week or so that were telling people not to put book up as a pre-order, as it will ruin the ranking on Amazon. Now, I don't know if they meant for erotica books or romance too.

Many romance authors put their books up for pre-order, but they already have large followings.

With all of the information I have given, what would you recommend I do? Put the book up for pre-order or just publish it right away?

I will be marketing the book no matter how I publish it.

I came across an analogy for AI-created writing and how much a threat it potentially poses to human writers, and I thought it might be interesting to share it here, even while knowing we don't generally talk AI in here.

This person pointed out that chess-playing computers have been around a long time now, and these routinely defeat the greatest of human grandmasters. But while human chess players in tournaments still draw huge audiences, nobody is sitting around watching computers play chess. Nobody cares that the play is far superior.

It similarly seems inevitable that AI will eventually overcome its challenges with nuanced writing like subtexts, metaphors, and cliches, and produce "superior" writing to humans. But no matter, I don't believe readers are searching for "the best" writing, any more than chess aficionados are looking for "the best" games, though it might have looked like that for a long time.

What readers ARE looking for, I can't say, but it doubtless has something to do with being human-generated, aside from all the typical measures of quality we've long used. The biggest reaction I've seen in reader forums about AI text seem to be a profound cry of betrayal when a reader feels they were duped into reading an AI-generated text, and that sense of betrayal seems to rise even higher with the quality of the writing they were duped with.

Perhaps there'll come one day a trusted organization that will credibly certify an author's products as genuinely human-produced, based on some kind of standard of proof, and no matter how "good" AI can eventually learn to write, it will always lack that badge of authenticity.

I regularly check this subreddit for advice and one of the most important sources of info especially, [You Pick the Niche] by u/The_Gorgon has been deleted. What happened?

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3. What are your goals for the week? And what are you going to do to make sure you achieve them?

Cover concerning you?

Title tribulations?

Need feedback on formatting?

Post your books here so the community can offer constructive criticism.

Rules:

Kindness is not required, but constructiveness is.

Hello everyone! First off, I want to thank all the active participants of this subreddit for your insightful advice. I thought I'd share my initial experience in publishing erotica to contribute back.

This covers the first 30 days (from late December to yesterday - not the best timing, I admit). Before this, I had limited writing experience, none of which was in erotica or published.

Over the last month, I published 16 books in total. More than half were written previously. All were released within a 2.5-week period, with the last one published about two weeks ago. They all fall into the same category but cover various niches.

13 books are short stories (9-14k words). 1 is a novelette (18k words). 1 is a novella (33k words). 1 is a novel (47k words).

All books are Amazon exclusive and available in KU. None have been sent to the dungeon, and I've done no promotion. I design my covers using stock photos from Deposit Photos.

Almost all books are priced at $2.99, with the two longest ones at $3.99.

Total earnings: $103.59

Total sales: 40

From KU: 22%

Total KENP: around 5500.

Half of the reads come from my only novel.

The best book was my short novel ($34 - 8 sales and a dozen borrows). The worst ones were some of the shorts with 1-2 sales and several borrows.

What I did wrong: Starting to publish around New Year probably wasn't the wisest choice. My blurbs might not be the best, but I'm working on improving them. My covers are questionably fine, based on research within my category and niches. I've noticed sales drop off sharply within 3-7 days, suggesting a very short cliff, probably because I lack a back catalog.

I can't say I'm thrilled with the results, but I'm not disappointed either. I've made some beer money and gained valuable experience. Currently, I'm working on a romance novel (non-steamy) to expand my writing horizons. I plan to write more erotica, exploring different niches after some research. I also have lots of newbie questions, which I'll post about in a few days once I've organized my thoughts.

Edit: I forgot to mention ratings.

My books have received 7 ratings so far with no reviews: one 1-star (which was the first and really disheartening!), one 3-star, and five 5-star ratings.

Welp, I guess I've technically done it even though it doesn't feel like it. I've written and published erotica for 90 days. Let's get down to earnings..

Book 1: Published October 27th - 44 pages - $15.28

Book 2: Published on November 25th - 36 pages - $11.95

Book 3: Published December 9th - 34 pages - $21.79

Book 4: Published January 8th - 66 pages - $15..63

Lifetime earnings including older stuff: $217.32

Total earnings for 90 days add up to $97.89 but that's because I also have a really old bundle that basically made me an extra $22.69 (despite the fact its cover is utter fucking shit) on top of it.

I also had other older books purchased, again, despite the fact their covers are complete and utter shit. I fully intend to redo those.

Honestly, I started out this endeavor with the goal of publishing once a week. Well, as you can clearly see from above... I have not met that goal in the slightest. I sat on book 4 for like weeks longer than I needed to because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to end it. I'm sitting on a current short right now that feels bland because I'm writing it to market and I feel like it's not good enough.

I think part of it is imposter syndrome. But really, I've also been just not motivated of late. I hate my full-time job. I hate the state (Idaho) that I live in. I hate the direction our country is heading. I've always said that I'd rather have a job I like in a place I hate because you can usually get around hating your place, but if you hate your job you take that shit home with you. Welp, I've worked in clinical research for 3+ years now and it's become toxic as fuck. And I'll be honest, I'm pretty pissed.

But I digress. If you are considering rebooting an old pen name I say absolutely do it. Frankly, while I've not hit my own personal goals I've made decent beer money doing something I find genuinely fun and enjoyable. I think to keep up momentum and encourage myself I'm going to write a dark fantasy novel with tentacles next while still trying to write as many shorts a month as possible.

Also just wanted to say thank you so much for being here as a community! It's been a truly invaluable place of information!

I publicized a free book yesterday and today there have been195 downloads. All my other 5 books got at least 10 downloads.

Way better than Shameless or ExciteSpice

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First of all, sorry if the flair is wrong. I figured it would work best.

I’m writing my first erotic romance novel. I’m 42k words in, and have about 5-10k words left. I’ve written shorter smut before, but I was curious what those of you who are more experienced in long-form writing would advise. Just any advice would help! Thank you!

Alright, longtime lurker here.

I've somehow willed myself into writing in earnest after years of stalling on beginning what could be a great way for me to earn some extra money and also act as a necessary creative outlet. So yay me, I feel kinda pumped, to be honest.

I do have multi-part question though.

I'm currently writing about a eighteen year old male who begins relationships with a few older married women. I have plans to write for other kinks I'm familiar with but this is just kind of an opening story, just something I want to see through to completion and publication.

Ok so the issue is that a key point in the story is that the character loses his virginity.

Now, I remember reading that the word virgin is a no go on Amazon, that I understand, and the word deflowered/deflowering etc. there are others I'm sure.

Now I've read conflicting information from people on here. I've read that these words shouldn't be used in the title, blurbs or synopsis but that they are actually okay in the actual body of the story? Seems contradictory to the FAQ?

I am also led to understand that obviously characters losing their virginity may be ok for characters aged up into their 20s but the fact that my character is eighteen presents a far more significant problem on Amazon.

So I can just publish this story only on Smashwords instead. I assume?

But what about a later set followup story, where the 18yr old has aged into his 20s?

Can I publish this followup on Amazon as Part 2, when Part 1 is available only on Smashwords?(Along with Part 2 obviously)

The idea being that if a reader enjoyed reading Part 2 after buying on Amazon, they might go looking and find Part 1 on Smashwords?

Is this an unwise strategy?

Thanks in advance for any help rendered.

I'm writing mind control erotica and have a question about pacing and market trends. I've seen (also here in the group, if I remember correctly) advice to include a hot scene early on to hook readers (and to show the style and where I want to end up in the free preview), but it seems like many mind control stories focus more on the submission process and sometimes delay the explicit content, even by a long time. Is this a common characteristic of the genre, or is it just my impression because I've read too little?

Also, my stories tend to be longer (no less than 20k+ words) with a gradual, more 'realistic' approach to submission (I usually show the victim's resistance and submission little by little; there is no such thing as an quick 'look at the pendant' - 'now you are my slave' in my stories). I'm wondering if this is less popular with readers who prefer quicker, more intense scenarios or if this kink is a bit particular and welcomes both options.

Since nothing is published yet I can still reduce them without problems, but first I would like to understand how the market is going. Also because I have not understood how to see what is most popular on Smashwords (Amazon is banned for my kink, I know) and what is instead parked there but does not produce anything...

Thank you very much everyone and sorry for all these questions!

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I've tried to use the search bar to try to find the answers in this sub, but I either used the wrong keywords or couldn't find any definitive answers.

Before I get into it I want to first say that I understand that self publishing anything on Amazon requires enthusiastic consent between all of the characters in the story. What I am struggling with (and is slowing my writing down) is having a good feel for whether or not certain BDSM activities might start to run afoul of the consent prime directive. I understand that many activities fall under the larger BDSM umbrella, and that some of those are known to be issues with Amazon EVEN IF ALL PARTIES WERE CONSENTING. I'm not trying to post here to ask if it's okay to include those activities. I'm trying to figure out if there are any other BDSM-related activities that could be an issue either due to the activity itself or the way it is presented.

It will probably be easiest for me to give examples to help illustrate my questions, but generally I am struggling with the idea of showing the sub's POV in any given scene where they are being made uncomfortable or otherwise pushed to do something that is fully within their limits while they have the capacity to end the sexual act or scene at any time (safeword).

For example - let's set a scene where the sub is tied down to a spanking bench and is going to be given ten strikes with the cane for sticking out her tongue at her dom instead of hanging up her coat that she had just thrown on the ground.

There is a bit to unpack in this scene, and people who are interested in this sort of story may recognize that the sub was likely acting like a brat for the express purpose of eliciting a punishment. What comes next though is not going to be pleasant for the sub. People do these sorts of scenes in real life to experience feeling helpless, desired, aroused, and the rush of endorphins that follow this sort of corporal punishment (not an exhaustive list, just trying to give context to people who may not see the appeal).

So now the question I have about this scene is whether or not Amazon and it's reviewers are going to take issue when we spend a few paragraphs reading about how the punishment stopped being fun after two strikes, the sub was apologizing after five, and then dropping into subspace and mentally accepting her role as the sub for the next five.

The conclusion I've had so far is that the context of the entire story helps inform the scene. In this case the dom loves and cares for his sub, and maybe it turns out that she's the one who needs to push HIM to exert this level of control over her. But without that context, reading about a fairly painful physical punishment where the inner monologue of the sub becomes less coherent and more focused on the pain and the sensations she's experiencing seems like it might run pretty close to our consent prime directive. Especially if that inner monologue focuses on wanting the pain to stop or just focusing on getting through it, because she hasn't hit her limit and doesn't feel the need to safeword even if that is an unquestionable way for her to stop the scene.

The only thing that really makes me feel safer writing something like this is to constantly be reminding the reader in the POV's inner monologue that they are aware that they are able to stop at any time with the safeword. But that feels similar to interrupting the momentum of a vanilla sex scene where the female POV takes a moment to think about how "it's okay he's not using a condom, because I'm on birth control".

Now the example above is purposefully on the more extreme side, including a physical punishment. But I have these sorts of questions in all sorts of power-exchange scenarios that I can think of

A few quick examples: -POV being tied up and wishing they could grab their partner -POV being told to kneel and wait patiently even though the hard floor is making them ache -POV being teased relentlessly and not being brought over the edge of an orgasm -POV spending the day with a collar locked on their neck and dealing with keeping it hidden under their clothes (specifically avoiding any sort of consent issues with third parties in the story)

So I guess I wanted to ask the experienced writers of this group if they have any insights they could share. I might be overthinking this, or maybe this sort of content is one of those edge cases that remains safe-ish on Amazon until Amazon decides to change its mind.

Thank you!

(And I apologize for typos or other weird formatting. If I see any mistakes on a reread, I'll try to fix it)

Like damn lol. 18 orders off of my free book. Not sure if I'm doing it right. I was hoping for sales of other books but I have 200 page reads of other stories in KU I suppose which is on average more than I usually get on a daily basis.

But wow, 18 orders already. If only that were paid sales... I could almost justify quitting my full-time job with that amount of daily purchases haha.

Kind of hits home why people say not to write for free. A lot of readers out there just crawling for free stuff apparently. Will be interesting to see if the book gets more than its current one three-star rating lol.

Edit: Jesus, it's jumped up to 5kish rank in the Kindle store...

Edit 2: Up to 36 orders now! While those orders aren't making me money I honestly did not expect this much momentum at all, even if free.

Edit 3: Up to the 2.3kish range for overall rank - top 10 in its main category. Top 20 in its second. And top 50 in its third. Interesting to see how the rank changes.

Edit 4: 44 orders in and got a conversion! Lol...

Edit 5: Ended the day with 50 orders and two conversions. Overall, I'd say alright... not terrible considering one such conversion was a bundle.