IAmA successful Erotica author! I turn naughty words into dollars and have crazy adventures. AMA!

Have you ever masturbated over your novels?

Yes.

Although I don't write many novels, I write almost entirely short stories (3k-8k words).

What are some of these "crazy adventures" you mentioned?

Weirdest one was probably my stalker. Early on I wasn't very careful about my identity, and I was using a pseudoname that could be googled to an old discussion I'd had with some friends on the internet, and from there, to my email address.

The e-mails he was sending didn't bother me, but when "fan mail" showed up in my actual mailbox, I was more than a little sick inside. I'm still not sure how he got my address.

He sent me a few dozen letters to my penname, no return address, some of them getting a little aggressive (and full of quran quotes). It got bad enough I turned everything over to police, but nothing ever came of it.

I've since moved and I haven't seen a letter since. Still feel a little creepy adrenaline rush when I check the mail though...

It'll probably make you uncomfortable but incase you can cringe and type it: can you type out 1 of the quran quotes

ان الذين فتنوا المؤمنين والمؤمنات ثم لم يتوبوا فلهم عذاب جهنم ولهم عذاب الحريق

Google translate yields a really disturbing message.

"Those who persecute believing men and believing women and repent not, theirs the doom of hell, and theirs the doom of burning"

Religious fanatic, I guess? One of them fire and brimstone types?

Yeah, it came with pretty specific death threats.

Nasty stuff.

Other crazy stories...

I wrote a commissioned piece of erotica about one of the penguins from adventure time.

I took a cross country roadtrip off my smutbucks, with a trunk full of sex toys and bondage gear. It was like fear and loathing, except with a crappier rent-a-car and a lot less mescaline.

My mother-in-law caught me in the middle of writing an erotic tentacle story in her hospital room while she was in for a respiratory infection. I was typing on an ipad and absentmindedly left it laying near her, she tied to use it and we ended up having a long uncomfortable conversation.

I've role played a few of the characters in my books, for fun and "research".

Is it more amusing, or arousing when you write?

Depends on what I'm writing.

Many naughty bits were warmed while writing erotica - that's how you know you're writing something good ;).

Sometimes though, I'll be writing something absolutely ridiculous and giggle the whole time. I write what sells, and that means jumping into niches that are seriously silly sometimes. For example:

http://www.amazon.com/I-Fucked-the-Puppet-ebook/dp/B008KFBYD4/

ಠ_ಠ

Oh, you haven't seen anything:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/billionaire-tentacle-lily-nibs/1115213050

And yes, people bought that. People continue to buy that.

Can we suggest body parts to use in your next story? I personally do not see frenula mentioned nearly enough in my erotica...

Why not?

Your search "frenula" did not match any products in: Kindle Store › Kindle eBooks.

It is clearly a market yet to be discovered. Here, how about instead, I write you a story about Frenulum?

The brooding entomologist frowned, sweat pooling on his brow as he pinned the moth on the table. His assistant was breathless at his side, awestruck by the beauty of the insect.

"These are supposed to be extinct..." she whispered, the excitement clear on her face.

She was right, they'd been extinct for hundreds of years. The Aztecs used to cultivate these things. Their long-silent temple walls spoke of the little bug with reverence, the moth had special status as a symbol of fertility.

"Clearly we were wrong." I replied, sliding the blade through the frenulum, separating its delicate wings. A small puff of grey dust floated away from its body, and my young assistant started sneezing uncontrollably. I watched her rock forward and back, chest heaving.

"Are you ok?" I asked as she fell to the floor, suddenly silent. She looked up from her kneeling position, catching my eyes.

"I'm...... Yesssssss." she hissed, a disturbing smile growing on her face as she reached for my belt...

*its

BAH! Thanks. Fixed. You found one of my serious pet peeves.

Not yet it isn't :)

seperating it's delicate wings

separating its delicate wings

I could have sworn I fixed it - I must not have saved the edit. There, NOW it's done. Bleah!

Thanks again, I'm responding rather quickly here and haven't taken the time to slow down my typing a bit ;). I really appreciate your editing efforts on my frenulum porn.

Who's your favourite erotica author?

My favorite author is probably Delilah Fawkes - she's the whole reason I'm making money doing this :).

Just for laughs though, my underdog favorite is a top 100 author, writer of the acclaimed "A Child Of A Crackhead" series. He wrote THIS: http://www.amazon.com/Beastiality-ebook/dp/B00BOYZG9Q/

Yes, that's a book with a girl urinating on a bathroom floor covered in dog poo, a book named "Beastiality", and it gets SOOOOOO MUCH WORSE. I dare you to read as far as the acknowledgements section in the "look inside" - it's comedy gold the likes of which you have never seen :).

That book is making thousands of dollars. It'd be the most inspirational piece of literature on the planet if it wasn't reprehensible in every single possible way.

:)

I wonder what my amazon recommendations will look like from now on....

Hilarious, really.

Just yesterday I was shopping for something unrelated and my "things you might like" was populated with a whole mess of Senior-Sex stories (swinging grandmas).

:)

The only book funnier than this one is 120 Days of Sodom!!

It's the freaking 3500'th best selling book in the whole kindle store. It's in the top 100 Horror.

It's on a whole other level ;p.

What are your opinions on the 50 Shades of Gray series? In terms of overall writing quality and story

50 shades was a piece of Twilight fan fiction. She changed the names of the characters, and turned "vampire" into "billionaire" before shoving it onto the market. It's poorly written and obviously a bit of a hack job.

And it's -BRILLIANT-. I could sit here critiquing that book all day long, picking it apart, but the fact of the matter is it SELLS. I write what sells, and if hackjob billionaires spanking virgins is selling, I'm going to write it. It's proof positive that you don't have to be shakespear to make money at this, and for that, I will always be in 50 shade's debt ;).

you don't have to be shakespear to make money at this

Ironically, Shakespeare was doing exactly the same as you: writing what sells. His literature is filled with filthy jokes targeted to the lower classes. It is modern literature critics and professors who have claimed it to be on par with the Bible, not Shakespeare himself.

I meant it ironically :).

The man held plays in what amounted to the back half of a whorehouse. Truly a visionary.

Thank you so much for answering, i really appreciate it and couldn't agree more! Although the writing is really shitty, the author knew exactly what the target audience liked and wrote it based on that--which is a perfect recipe if you're trying to make money! Keep on doin what you're doin because pretty soon you'll be just as successful. Good luck!

No way in the world am I going to hit -those- peaks, but hell, I'm happy to have just a tiny fraction of that success.

What is your favorite euphemism for the penis?

Well I once used the euphemism "veiny bangstick" in an actual published story...

My favorite has always been "throbbing manroot" which I stumbled across in some awful historical romance novel.

I will officially use this one in my next short story.

I'm way too excited about that.

Already putting it together.

His beastly form hulked over me, fur covered hands dragging their dangerous claws delicately across my curvy hips. I reached down, wrapping my hands around his throbbing manroot. The werewolf growled seductively as I guided him past my soft belly toward my secret place of worship.

"You won't hurt me..." I whispered as he clenched his teeth. "I've got plenty of cushion for the pushing."

My voice fell into a fit of giggles as he pressed forward, all conscious thought suddenly lost in a sea of otherworldly pleasure.

Yes? You called?

Oh crap. Quiet guys, he's already inside the house!

Can you write a short poem for me?

I call this one, Jerzy_Letz post-history:

German rap battles, 
Such role models,
Just the meat production,
Discreet,
Golden,
Happy Birthday, Lauesha,
Hold on,
Take Care,
Be yellow...

How do you get your cover art?

Once I started making money at this, I picked up a couple subscriptions for stock image sites.

Before that (and also now from time to time) I made liberal use of creative commons, free for commercial use with attribution! I'd have to write a book to give you the entire process (actually, I did, it's in the OP), but that's enough to get you started.

I hope I'm not too late to this -- and that my question isn't too dull, but I would like to do something like this myself (on a different area) -- but how are you dealing with taxes? The quarterly estimate and pay, or some sort of corp?

This is taxed as self-employment, and that means taxes take a pretty big bite.

I set aside 30 cents of every dollar I make because of this, just to be safe. Amazon sends you the tax docs you need. It gets more complicated if you are doing this from another country, but it's still easy enough.

There's a bit more advanced tax stuff to know, for example you might end up having to pay quarterly taxes if your sales really take off. The nice thing about this is, that's a problem you WANT to have, it means you're doing quite well. If you hit that point, do what I do, pay a tax guy to tell you what to do ;). I don't have the time, interest, or care to learn enough about the screwed up tax code to fully understand what's going on. YMMV

Have you ever based a story on personal experiences?

Yes.

Thankfully, it wasn't one of my books about tentacles that need love.

Drawing from experience is an easy way to bang out a short story. I of course change the scene from a 49$ motel room in El Centro to a high rise Manhattan apartment, add a few more ropes and a pair of handcuffs, and we're off to the races!

Heh. Bang out.

Truly you are a gentleman and a scholar.

Were you already a writer before you started focusing on erotica? Do you write in other genres for fun now, or have aspirations to publish in another genre?

How long does it take you to produce a new story, from first word to upload?

I wasn't an author before I got started - unless you count some of the things I've written on the internet for shits and giggles. I do write in a couple genres (procedural crime drama for example), but they aren't the bulk of my work.

I dream of finishing a big novel and hitting it big, but the reality is, I'm going to keep pumping out short stories as long as they are paying the bills :).

It takes me 3-4 hours start to finish to produce a new story. I work on this a few days a week and put out a handful of releases a month. It's a side-gig for me, but if it keeps growing, I am seriously starting to consider quitting my evil day job to do it full-time.

Also, what subgenres have you been the most successful with?

I've been extremely successful in erotica. I've written a book for another genre (crime drama) and tried my hands at short-fiction in other genres (scifi, romance, horror) with minimal success.

If you're writing short stories, erotica is -THE- market.

What about subgenres within erotica? BDSM, sci/fi, fantasy, historical, cheating/cuckoldry, teen love, etc?

Honest answer there is that I take a shotgun approach. I write whatever seems to be selling.

I'm not writing the next "Jaws", I'm writing "Megashark vs Octopussy".

Seriously though, BDSM is always popular, right now Curvy girls are big (no pun intended), billionaires are still selling, werewolves seem to be overtaking vampires, etc. I've had pretty good luck with all of it. I have yet to write something that didn't sell and keep selling. Some of my books barely trickle out sales, but they keep selling.

I have yet to write something that didn't sell and keep selling. Some of my books barely trickle out sales, but they keep selling

These, my friend, are encouraging words.

I have a book that sells 2 copies a month.

2.

It's been that way since January, like clockwork. 2 sales.

But it keeps selling, and the hour and a half I spent putting that silly crap pile together keeps going up in value. It's basically a hack-job retread of another one of my titles - made up of stuff I'd trimmed from a more successful title. At this point, for my hour and a half worth of work I spent putting it up, I've been paid almost 25$, or 16.56$/hour.

Am I crying? Am I pulling the book? Nope - it sells, and I'm going to leave it right there continuing to sell. I feel pretty damn good knowing that a year from now, that stupid ass book is going to make me another 2$, continuing to increase the value of that long-since past hour and a half of my life.

How do you determine what's selling? Is it just looking at the front end of amazon and looking at the best sellers, or is there a back end merchant only place where you get a more scientific run down?

Amazon doesn't keep it a secret. Just go look at the top lists or the "hot new releases". It's easy to put a finger on what's selling right now, and it takes you an evening to push out a book that mirrors those kinks/desires. Someone finishes reading about a billionaire cowboy banging a curvy girl and wants more, so they go looking for more, and my book is right there waiting. :)

So, obviously, the income you showed in the chart above is for all titles.... add a few each month, and the total # goes up, so that by the end you're looking at the cumulative income for all titles?

It looks me you haven't been doing this that long, but-- do you find that interest for a single title tends to peak and then decline, or does demand for all titles tend to stay static or increase (as your name becomes more recognizable)?

It's actually a combination of things.

Income rises as a result of several aspects of this. Your back catalog starts selling better as you get more and more books out. You even occasionally see someone go in and blow 50$ buying up half of it all at once. This boosts the sales of older and less-successful books (a rising tide raises all ships, as the saying goes). On the same coin, your most successful books eventually hit saturation and sales start to decline.

The money gets more and more stable the more books you put out, but stopping writing altogether -will- reduce your income over time unless you write a seriously "cult" work. You need the new releases to keep driving things forward.

There are other funny things too - for example every so often one of your titles will be "discovered" for no real reason. All of a sudden a title that has sold four copies in a month bangs out forty copies in an afternoon and is sitting in the hot new reads list. There's really no way to gauge when this will happen, you just have to KEEP WRITING.

Thanks for all the info, and better yet - the laughs. One of the most interesting AMAs I've read in a while.
Anyway, if you're still taking questions... what's one euphemism that makes you cringe but you still find yourself using it because it works, or because there's demand for it? What are some of your favorite cringeworthy lines from, say, 50 Shades?

Cringe worthy 50 shades lines? Here you go:

"Ha! My inner goddess is thrilled. I can do this. I can fuck him with my mouth."

Lol. The best part of that line is that it barely comes after she's lost her virginity. She goes from virgin to pro sword swallower in a few short pages.

And speaking of awful euphanisms. Inner goddess is right up there. I used it on a billionaire title that was ape'ing 50 shades and it made me cringe -every- time.

As a joke though, I made the billionaire use it instead of the silly inexperienced virgin. He was telling the girl to embrace her inner goddess, and had an internal monologue where he wished he could bring out his own inner goddess.

Is there any phrase/adjective/simile that you find yourself writing more frequently than others?

"Shaft".

I use the word Shaft -FAR- too much.

It's OK though, I'm just talkin' bout shaft! Can you dig it? Daaaaaamn right.

I majored in creative writing and have had friends tell me I should do erotica (something about my shameless attention to detail) -- how big of a time suck is it to balance writing and a full time job? who do you have edit/prescreen your stories before self-publishing them? Like, what makes a story feel "done" to you?

I write a couple days a week, and never spend more than 3-4 hours at a time on it. I do my writing in the evening once the kids are in bed.

It doesn't cut into my work or home life -at all-.

I have gotten pretty good at putting out books free of most basic errors. I still make the occasional mistake. I usually give my short stories a once-over, or have them read to me by a computer robo-reader voice, which makes finding errors VERY easy and only takes a few minutes. I RARELY go back and change things I've written. Even if I listen to it and say "this isn't very good", I usually leave it as-is. I've found that I'm not terribly good at picking which of my stories will take off, some of my worst written stuff is selling better than stories I seriously loved writing.

I've gotten a feel for writing stories in the 3000-8000 word range, I've got a general structure I use for a beginning, middle, and happily ever after ending. It makes writing simpler. I write about this in some detail inside the book I linked in the OP. You'll know when a story is done, it really is pretty easy.

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Lots of fantastic movies have been made over the years. In fact, almost every single movie you go to see today is going to be a retread of something you've already watched before.

So why don't you just sit at home and pop in casablanca and just watch that OVER AND OVER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

You don't, because our monkey brains want something new. We want something exciting. We want to read yet another way a curvy woman overcomes her insecurities to bed the billionaire. We want to lay back an be surprised as the werewolf comes crashing through the wall to save our leading lady. There's plenty of erotica out there, but people will always want more.

Hell, look at porn. It's all insert tab A into slot B, you'd think we'd have covered -everything- in that genre many many years ago (after just a few short videos). We clearly haven't - there's something exciting about variety. Hell, I was watching an x-art video with lexi belle ("truth or dare") in bed with my SO the other day and the flexible girl in the video (not lexi) gave a crazy backwards arched-back crab walk bj. I was impressed, it was something I'd never seen before, it was hot. I've seen plenty of penises in plenty of mouths, but with just a bit of spice it's a whole new experience (btw, don't use spice on a penis). We tried it, and it turns out, it's not as easy or enjoyable as it looks.

Also, amazon and other e-reader sites tend to help push new titles to keep the market rolling. In essence, they are on your side, trying to help you break into the writing market with ALL their might. They are actively working to bring hot new releases in front of new willing customers, showing people also-boughts, also-viewed, and suggestions for purchase.

Why aren't there 10,000 people doing this? Because people are lazy. Hell, I've got a HUGE headstart, awesome sales figures. I should technically be writing 8 hours a day pumping out STORY AFTER STORY and bringing in the -big- bucks. I don't though. I know logically it would work, but I'm happy with my barely-an-effort and the money it's bringing in. You'll probably close this AMA up and forget all about it in a few days. Maybe you'll think about how it would have been neat to make some money writing, but chances are you won't write a book. Hell, even if you did go so far as to buy my book, follow it, write your first book, and see your first sales, there's still a huge chance that you'd let your early success wither on the vine as the rest of your life intrudes. There's a reason workplaces enforce 8 hour days and threaten to take away your livelihood and food on your table if you don't perform. If it wasn't for the constant threat, we wouldn't put in the effort. Most people aren't made out to be self-motivated authors. I'm barely able to do it :).

Although I think I'll be working harder at it after this thread - I'm convincing myself very quickly that I am taking a bit too lackadaisical of an approach to this.

Thanks so much for being open with your earnings. As a new freelancer this is pretty much the most important thing I want to learn from more experienced people. Yet most people don't answer it.

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That would seem to far exceed your posted monthly numbers... people buy a lot on Sundays then?

That is about what I've hit monthly as a writer for magazines, though admittedly I could work harder and hit $500-700. I will look into books (probably non-fiction) seems a little more stable and not having to hustle as much

Weekends are always a bit hotter than weekdays sales-wise, and this post seems to have driven a few people toward my how-to book, which is driving some of that daily income. It's currently #8 in the kindle ebook store under home based businesses, and #1 in writing erotica and writing romance, so that's helping. It's actually slipped a bit in sales from how it was doing during the week - I'm thinking people are more interested in "home based business" how-to books DURING the week, while they are grinding away at shitty day jobs. At any rate, today will do alright for it and maybe I can push it back down to #3 or #4 in home based business by the end of the day. We'll see. I REALLY want to beat Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", just to say I did.

My running average this month is damn near 200$/day, every day. I haven't had a single day this month under 100$.

The thing I love most about all of this, is I end up selling books at all odd hours. There's nothing better than waking up realizing people were handing you 2.07$ while you were sleeping ;).

Really weird question... did you ever write clop? I see r/clopclop brought up a lot as a joke and I'm wondering if its actually a big thing in erotica.

Nope. NOOOOOOOOPE.

Hi, and firstly thanks. Do you have any idea of the demographics of the people who buy your work?

Most of my buyers are women. Seriously.

Don't be too surprised though - look at 50 shades of grey. There's some seriously raunchy stuff in there, and it's probably sitting on the shelf above your mom's bed.

There is a big female market for quick reads in this particular genre, that's all I can say.

Thanks again for sharing this. I've always loved to write, and have been working on some novels for a very long time. I've actually written some kink stories before, both with friends and on my own, so now it's time to see if I can earn a little extra cash on the side. :)

I have all the confidence you'll do fantastically well. It's easier than you think, and once you get over the hump from "thinking about it" to "published author" you'll see the difference in the bottom line :).

When you write erotica, do you try to write from personal experience or do you write from what you think it should be like? Obviously there's a plus in being versed in what you're writing about but, how much of advantage does it have? Does fantasy outweigh reality?

Do you use words that you would otherwise not? I've always thought it's silly when I read about someones "member" or something of that, why not just say "cock"? Is it just a more acceptable term?

Since I'm submissive its fun to see how others are treated in the books and I try to imagine myself in their position. (not that this means anything)

I write from personal experience and from fantasy - sometimes, I am forced to go outside of fantasy and simply write something outlandish to meet a kink I'm not interested in. I'm writing for money, not personal enjoyment. If it's on the top 100, I'm writing it - I don't want to bang a werewolf, but I'm damn sure going to write about a curvy girl and her werewolf savior if it sells books.

I usually use words that I feel comfortable with. Cock gets used, although sometimes I go all silly and write some insane line about a throbbingly throbby member just to break the monotony of insert tab A into slot B.

I write all of my books in first-person - I find most people want to be "in character" as they read these sorts of things. Almost everything I write is female first-person, and it works.

If you were to write for enjoyment... what type of story would it be? have you written it?

I already write for enjoyment, mostly because I enjoy seeing money flowing into my bank account!

Honest answer though - I'd love to write a -successful- crime drama. I've written one, but it fell woefully flat. It almost hurts every time I look at it's sales numbers and realize that the worst POS story I -ever- wrote (the literal product of an hour worth of effort) has outsold and outearned it.

Thank you so very much for writing this AMA! I really appreciate that you wrote all of this as it will help me and others immensely.

I recently started to look into self publishing on Amazon and I am trying to write 2 how-to non-fiction e-books becasue I need passive income that I can grow to over time in order to pay off some massive business debt.

Although I have read a few erotica stories over the years that I came across on the internet I never considered writing in this niche and now that I saw your AMA I am going to give it a try.

I once had a girlfriend with whom I really had the most amazing connection, lots of kinky escapades and I would love to take those experiences and put them on paper into a fictional setting and characters and turn it up a few notches.

So my first question - how do you develop that consistent discipline to write daily?

My other question to you is how do you go about setting up a pen name? and using a female pen name if you are male? Isn't that going to make marketing more difficult? Should there also be a blog for the fans for marketing?

Do you just make up a name and publish underneath it if you don't want to use your own name? How does that work from a technical stand point especially if I want to write some business non fiction and want to make sure that all that stuff is separate from any erotica I write? (maybe I'm just overcomplicating and overthinking it).

And lastly besides what you already wrote in the AMA about writing from a female's perspective and niche advice, is there any other advice you would recommend to a guy author who wants to write erotica?

Are there any examples you would recommend looking over or specific things to look out for or keep in mind when writing? I have a pretty crazy imagination, I can probably write a ton of stuff but are most of the customers men or women?

Thank you! Your AMA is very inspirational!

p.s.

I am very serious about writing as my current lifestyle depends on it and I want to eventually release a novel as well as write a bunch of non fiction. I am in this for the long haul. Would there be any way where I could pm you somewhere to just pick your brain or bounce of some ideas and network with you? I would like to start talking with like minded people and build a network of other writers. My background is in Web Dev, sales, and process improvement so maybe there is something I can do for you in return.

Thanks again for this AMA.

Oh, and as for pen names, yes, you just make up a name and publish under it. You still have to use your Real name to get an amazon account (and give them your real bank account number so they can pay you), but your books can be under any name you want. A reader will be unable to know what your real name is.

I only write twice a week. I also don't bother blogging or marketing. I focus all of my Marketing attention on properly positioning my books I've written to hit their target niche. Amazon and the other book publishers do the rest.

So I might not be the best person to ask your questions :-), I'm just a lazy erotic author making a damn nice side income. If you have questions, feel free to ask here or even to pm me, I don't need anything from you, I enjoy helping. If you're serious about trying this, I still highly recommend my book it explains my process start to finish. I'm confident you can turn your time into money if your serious about building a business. As for finding like minded authors, I've put a link toward the back of my book to a little closed-off author forum for erotica writers like me. Its full of us, but its meant for published authors only. If you read and follow my book, you'll be published by the time you get to the link, and I'd suggest you join us there :-).

What is the single most steamy sentence you can imagine, either your own or another writer's?

I've always been pretty fond of:

"Drake pulled back, desperately trying escape my needful mouth."

I have a bit of a fetish though, admittedly.

Was the "needful mouth" either a werewolf or a vampire?

God, I hope not. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was a secretary. Almost as dangerous.

Vampire secretary... Hmmmmm.

Is there any other kind?

New title idea: "Taking His Dictation (The Billionaire's Vampire Secretary, Volume 1)" "Sucking Him Dry (The Billionaire's Vampire Secretary, Volume 2)"

Hi there. Thanks for doing this AMA. I love to write romance fiction, but have been to shy to reach an audience other than my own girlfriend. I would like to buy your new book, but don't have a Kindle. Is there any way that I can just download it to read on my laptop?

Yep. Buy it and there's an option to read it in Amazon's cloud reader, right there in your web browser :).

You could also read it on a phone with a kindle app, any kind of tablet, etc etc etc. There's even a PC and Mac kindle app, if you don't feel like reading it in the browser.

What inspired you to start writing in the erotica genre specifically?

Money.

I read some discussion by an author who was -killing- it in Erotica. She quite literally made 80,000$ in a single month. It wet my whistle, so I threw out a few short books as a tester and low and behold, they sold.

I did some back-of-napkin calculations and realized that even if I never found any more success than I already had, I would make a lot of spare money doing this. The rest, is history.

I remember my first month, telling myself if I could end January having made enough money to pay for lunch every day I'd be happy. By March/April, I was mind-blown by the sales rolling in.

And I've totally blown away those old calculations. I was hoping I could make a few hundred dollars a month, and next thing you know I'm making four figures like clockwork.

Wow, that's really awesome. I'm glad you've met some success.

Are you ever tempted to try other genres as well? Or expand one of your shorter stories into a longer novel? Just a curious student.

I've discussed this in-thread. I -really- wanted to write a breakout success novel in the crime drama genre. I wrote it, I was proud of it, and it's currently one of my worst selling works I've ever written - and it took me a LOT of work to put together.

I outsell it every month with a piece of flying monkey poo I finished up start-to-finish in an hour and a half.

I'm seriously considering branching out into romance novels, but I know how much more of a time commitment that entails, and I'm not sure I want to risk it again knowing how easy it is for me to keep banging out successful shorts.

The money is tempting though, it's just such a big time vs reward risk.

Did it cost you anything to get started in this profession? Was there any nervousness over an initial investment to start e-publishing? How did you know you'd be good enough at writing erotic fiction for your stories to sell?

I got into this without spending a single dime.

I go into how to do that in detail in the ebook listed in my OP. It doesn't cost you anything to get started. You can go from finding an idea/niche to write for, to creating a book, to creating a cover, to publishing it, and it won't cost you -anything-.

Nowadays, I use stock image websites to find good cover images, so my average cost is about 7$ per book. You don't -have- to do this (you can use the free method I outlined), but after you start making four figures a month the stock image websites start looking awfully appealing - it's just easier and faster to find an image that way :).

How did I know I'd be good enough to write stories that sell? Take a minute and google "amazon top 100 free erotica". Click on the top 100 free books. Go to the books between 60 and 100 on the rankings. These are some of the most popular books currently in the amazon store. Read a few (they are free). Most of those books are ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.

Most of the paid books are -exactly- as bad.

You can write better than those people. It was never a question that I could write stories that would sell, it was a question of whether or not I'd take the time to actually do it. Hell, even now I'm making well into the four figures a month and I -STILL- find myself procrastinating instead of writing. If I sat down and seriously wrote for a whole month instead of goofing off 3-4 days a week in the evening, I could triple or quadruple my catalog and probably break 10,000$/month.

And now that I write that, I feel pretty shitty about myself. Now you've gone and made me feel like I need to write more.

Wow that sounds almost too good to be real. Maybe it's about time I start writing bad erotic mini novels for amazon instead of mediocre fan porn. I'm inspired.

I sit around asking "Is this real life?" every now and then. It's funny how quick you adjust to the "new reality" too. I remember when I started breaking 10$/day I was shitting myself with excitement.

Now, a 100$ day is not up to par.

Hah.

What's the kinkiest thing you've done in real life?

I've done my share of bondage, exhibitionist sex, road head, and sortof fell into an MMF once...

I'd say I'm pretty average, really. I'm not -that- kinky. Now if you'll excuse me, I already banged the dog and shit in your purse, I'm done.

Of the $2.99 cover price on Amazon, how much gets to you? What about books that are free to download with Amazon Prime?

The reason you put books up at 2.99$ is because that's the price point where the author receives 70% royalty. Any lower, and you only get 35%, meaning you have to sell a LOT more copies to make the same money (for example, you need to sell 6x the amount of 99cent books to make as much as you would at 2.99). I've tested the hell out of this, you basically -always- make more money at 2.99.

So out of the 2.99, I receive 2.07$ for every sale. I make 2.07$ at all random times of the day, and I'm breaking 100$ daily without fail at this point. It's gotten to the point where I stop checking my sales - but at first, I was refreshing my sales page every 30 minutes to see if someone else had bought something :).

Amazon Prime members can lend books for free - when that happens, Amazon pays the author who's book was lent out from a big pool of money (it's split among all authors who's books were taken out on loan). Payments from this pool are roughly equivalent to the amount you'd make if you actually sold the book.

In other words, whether they buy or borrow the book, you make your two dollars :).

Do you feel like there is a market for gay (m/m) erotica on the pay side of things? It's very popular (among female readers) on the free side of things (LiveJournal, etc.) but I wasn't sure if that was something that translated to the Amazon market.

There's a huge market for gay m/m books.

HUUUUUGE. It's not my thing, but an author could easily make that their niche and do extremely well.

How do you make sure you are not inadvertantly copywritting someone elses books/ideas? I've read so many romance novels that just seem like they have changed the names but the story lines are the same...how do you protect yourself from being sued?

You don't plagiarize. That's how.

If you write your own story in your own words, you're fine. Hell, I often use other people's work to help me guide conversations, flow of scenes, etc. There's nothing wrong with this. I'm not trying to write the next "Jaws", I'm writing "Megashark". It'll hit similar themes, it'll be similar in genre, but it's a different story altogether.

Think about how many hollywood movies end up being "mirror" pictures, coming out nearly at the same time with similar plotlines. Antz/A Bugs life, The Illusionist/The Prestige, etc etc etc. It's ok. Ride the wave.

You can always try to blaze new ground too, but there's LOTS of money to be made picking up the big dogs crumbs. Why beat your face in trying to see if there's a market for frenulum porn when you know writing a story about a billionaire werewolf is going to sell like hotcakes?

Ok, what was your first piece of erotica, and is it any good? Is it still selling?

My first piece of erotica wasn't terribly good, clocked in a hair under 4k words, has a terrible title/cover, and sold it's 122nd copy three days ago.

It's FAR from my most successful work, but it still sells, and it's made me a couple hundred dollars this year all by itself even as crappy as it is.

[deleted]

I talked to my mother-in-law, explained that I'd been doing some -purely- experimental writing to bolster my author earnings, and we all laughed about it. It's still a joke around the house though, and I'm pretty sure if I ever took her out to anywhere that serves calamari I'd get dirty looks.

My SO knows where my extra income is coming from, nobody else really knows about it - I keep my finances relatively private. I do tell people I've started writing books, but to anyone that asks, I brush it off telling them I write procedural crime dramas and have been seeing a little success. Sometimes they'll ask to read one, and I throw them the link to my floundering novel.

I've probably missed you. I'm always a day late with these more interesting IAMA's. :(

I've written some erotic short stories for sites (I like mind control and gender-bending stuff), and while I'm not Shakespeare, I'm pretty good compared to most of the other writers for such places. I've also gotten 40 pages into erotic novels twice and just couldn't stay focused on them. I know I'm not that far from being where you are, but I just can't quite find the missing piece. Reading all this is inspiring me.

Anyway, if you're still around...

Do you hide what you're writing from other people IRL? For example, my significant other wouldn't get what I'm doing. At all. Are you in a similar situation? How do you deal with it if so?

You put out stuff so fast... what is your review process? How many times do you go over one of your stories before showing it to the world?

How were you able to motivate yourself during that period where you weren't making money and weren't getting all the feedback? Do you work on a schedule? What kept you doing more of this and less of, say, playing Football Manager or Out of the Park Baseball?

My SO knows what I'm doing. She knows it's purely for money and we've talked about some of the more risque genres I'm writing in and had "the talk" about how it's NOT something I'm into, just something I'm writing for the $$$.

I made money almost right off the bat. I set little goals that kept me motivated. My first month, I wanted to make enough money to pay for lunch every day - it was a small goal. When I hit that I pushed it up - I wanted to pay for dinners, then a mortgage, then bills, etc etc etc. I force myself to sit down and write two days a week, that's all. I know it's enough to do what I'm doing, and I don't bother working any harder.

I should though, I'm not the best example of a hard worker, I'm just really good at marketing my books.

Do you ever base your characters or situations on your own experiences or people you know?

Sure. Already answered that question over here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1gwvj6/iama_successful_erotica_author_i_turn_naughty/caom45u

Did you take any coursework before starting, like creative writing? If you made enough to support your lifestyle with erotica to go full time, would you write a novel & if so what genre?

I didn't take any writing coursework. I'm a naturally long-winded writer, so I found no issue getting into this sort of thing.

I already make enough money to support my lifestyle at this point (between incomes, I could quit my job and we'd live just fine). The main reason I haven't quit my day job is the benefits. It's a rather easy job, pays reasonably well, and has awesome benefits/healthcare/etc. I am able to write as a side-gig without difficulty, so I have a hard time walking away from that steady income.

Maybe once I've had a year worth of decent 4000$+ income off being an author I'll consider it more seriously. For now, I'm basically doubling my takehome income with this side-gig and that's pretty nice.

If I wrote another novel at this point, it'd be a 50,000 word romance novel. There's been some other authors I'm associated with KILLING it on romance novels. One of them made something like 70,000$ over the last three months with hers. That's insane, really.

any tips for a 14 year old writer that writes about what he think about the world? thanks ! congratulations on a succesful career !

Sure. Write-what-sells.

In fact, I wish I could go back and be 14 again right now. I'd be writing every goddamned day for the next five years. It's an absolute fact that if you write a -lot- you'll get good at it, and this is perhaps the best time -ever- to be an author. You could set yourself up for the rest of your life if you worked at this now.

How long is a typical story of yours? Word or pages wise. Still 3000 to 4500?

My average is about 5,000 words. Everything I've written in Erotica is 8000 words or less.

I've got quite a few 3500-4000 word stories doing pretty well for themselves - it's hilarious to watch a story I wrote in a couple hours selling hundreds of copies.

You mentions niches, and it seems like you really made money when you found the right combination of what to write about and categorizing it correctly. I don't want anyone to intrude on your market, but what do you think is the niche(s) would give the most consistent results?

It's pretty easy to find a niche for yourself. Just go to Amazon's top 100 paid and free erotica. Scroll down the list, checking out what's selling.

For example, here's a currently popular one: http://www.amazon.com/Curves-Werewolf-Paranormal-Romance-ebook/dp/B00DC2M3TE

That's a 4,000 word story and is currently ranked 2,800 in the entire kindle store - it's making comfortably into 3 figures every single day all by itself.

What's "in" right now? Curvy girls, billionaires, werewolves, billionaire cowboys, cowboy werewolves, rock stars, busty babysitters, rock star werewolf billionaires with a BBW fetish, etc etc etc. Don't worry about "intruding", the niches constantly shift and there's plenty of money to go around. Obviously there's a few perennial favorites as well - bdsm always tends to do well, for example.

Are there men who write erotica for women? Is that a POV available in the erotica market? If a man were to write erotica, would he be better off having a female pen name?

It's no secret that a female penname sells better than a male one.

There are exceptions, but you'll make more money by not bucking the trend.

Thank you! What about the main character's POV? Is there a market for telling from the male's perspective (under a female name)?

Yeah, plenty of authors do this. It's not my particular way of doing things, but there are plenty of successful short stories written from a male perspective.

To be honest though, in my experience they tend to do better as "free" books. I'm pretty sure Amazon Free has a much higher male demographic. Females are more likely to buy your stuff, and I've found more success with a female-perspective in my writing. YMMV

[deleted]

WRITE MORE!

Seriously, that's the biggest advice I can give. If you sit waiting on one story to become a hit, you'll be waiting a LONG time. Keep writing, and you'll see the growth - I'm absolutely 110% certain of this.

How long does it take you to write your novels?

A novel takes a long time. A month or more. A short story (the vast bulk of what I'm doing) takes a few hours. 4 hours or so, typically, start to finish.

What about male authors?

What about them?

If you are a male author, pick a female penname. Simple as that.

If you REALLY want to buck the trend, feel free, just know that you could almost certainly be selling more books if you were "Emily Cumming" than you will as "Ram Hardrod".

How did you get your books noticed? Did you advertise or network via twitter at all?

There's several ways to advertise books, but I'll let you in on a little secret.

You don't need to.

What you need to sell your books is simple:

A GOOD COVER

A GOOD TITLE/Parentheticals

A GOOD BLURB

OTHER BOOKS WRITTEN BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Note I didn't mention content there. That's because it's really not that important. Writing a good book is actually secondary to all of the above. If you do this, your book will be sitting on the Amazon kindle shelf right next to any bestseller out there. Target your niche well, and it WILL start selling. Getting more short stories out there means your back catalog sales will pick up -huge-.

I go over this in detail in my book linked in the OP. You can waste a ton of time trying to game goodreads, or trying to build a mailing list, or trying to spam buddies on facebook about your latest erotic frenulum porn, but the reality is the best thing you can do is write another book and keep improving your craft.

Once your book catches a bit of momentum, that's all it needs to float for months or even years on the sales lists. You keep building your catalog, linking back to your other books as you go, and it grows and grows.

Thank you for the reply. You mentioned covers, how do you go about finding an image you can legally use?

I go into it fully in the ebook I listed in my OP. Creative Commons are your friend! There's some fantastic ways to mine for the right image if you know what to look for.

Thanks again. You've inspired me to write my first ever piece of erotica. This definitely something I didn't think I would be doing today, ha.

Carpe Diem, my friend.

I write a lot of blog content and website copy. I thought about erotica novels, though I make a lot more in the financial industry. I'm happy you're making it, but I was wondering how old you are. I've made a good name for myself working my hands to the bone as a writer and sacrificing a lot, but I always thought it would be so rewarding to be independent, no matter what the cost.

Why do you write erotica?

Also, I can't do anything with pornographic literature, but I appreciate your writing.

I'm in my early 30's. Still looking good ;), nothing's gotten too beat up just yet (of course, I'm hitting the gym 3 times a week, so that helps).

I write erotica because erotica sells. That's the only reason. It's a risk vs reward proposition here. I can sit down and write a 3000-8000 word short story in an evening, and have it posted and selling -tonight-. These things end up selling hundreds, and sometimes thousands of copies as I build my catalog, and pretty soon you're where I am, making over 100$/day off the old catalog sales, bolstering it with new releases.

I tried to branch out with short stories in other genres (sci-fi, horror, and even a children's book). They -still- sold, but the sales were and remain extremely sporadic. For the same amount of effort (or less, lets face it, we're talking about smut here) I could have banged out an erotic story that would have sold MASSIVELY better.

I -am- considering going full-steam into a 50k Romance novel though. There's been alot of success in my little secret circle of author friends banging out more "romantic" novels. One of them recently knocked down 70,000$+ over 3 months with one of her 50k word books. That is starting to look awfully appealing.

I just fear that I might write something that falls flat. In the time it'd take me to write a 50k novel I could write 10-12 short stories guaranteed to make me money. If and when I eventually quit my day job I might consider this worthwhile though.

Thank you for your response and I'll look into this. If for nothing else, to get by a little bit better. You sure are writing these fast. I admire your dedication and hard work. I hope things continue to be that successful for you and the goal is to quit your day job! Everyone wants that freedom! Good luck!

I'm actually writing quite slow.

Consider this. If you just decided to dedicate a few hours to write 2,000 words every single day, you could write 730,000 words by the end of a year of writing. Thats 162 of my average books.

I only have 32 books out right now, and I'm pulling down 4k this month.

I'm going to just say this right now. If you dedicated yourself to put out 162 books, you'd make my income look LAUGHABLE.

I can write 2000 words in -no time-. I know how it could totally change my life. I lack the motivation to take that time away from my other hobbies/family seeing as I'm already making good money. My lazy monkey brain says "hell, you're doing just fine on a couple nights a week worth of effort, why work any harder?"

That's awful, isn't it? I think I'm going to set a new goal. 2k per day. Fuck it.

Here has always been my hang up. Where the hell am I going to find a publisher? I have no clue where to start. I have no clue what I should be looking for. Do you have any insights?

READ MY BOOK!!! it's in the OP, here: Making Money Writing Naughty - The ULTIMATE Romance and Erotica E-Book Self Publishing Guide!

Seriously, I explain exactly how to do what I'm doing. I self-publish EVERYTHING. It doesn't cost me a dime, and it means I'm in control of -everything- You don't need a publisher. Hell, you don't WANT a publisher. This is new territory for writers and the grass is green as hell. My book is a literal step-by-step guide from how to decide what to write, to how to write it, to how to position it in the market, to how to make a cover, to how to publish it tonight and start selling books tomorrow.

You write, you publish (for free), and you rake in 70% royalties on EVERYTHING you sell. You could have your first short book published TONIGHT if you wanted it to be. I'm serious.

That's a shameless plug, but this is -exactly- the hang up I'm trying to cure with my book

Hah, is that you in the photo? I appreciate the novelty typewriter. I'll buy your book, as I enjoy a good read and perhaps I'll get the courage to publish some things. What got you into writing?

I got into writing for the money, nothing more or less.

No need for courage, you're publishing under a pseudo-name. Just write something, get it out there, and start making money :).

I liked the typewriter too, but sadly, that's not me.

How do you come up with different names for man-and-lady bits?

I've tried writing erotica, but feel silly with the terminology!

Read a few people's books, use their euphemisms. Makes things easier until you get a feel for it.

Maybe you're gone now, but.... Any advice on how to choose great pseudonyms and attentioon grabbing titles?

Use the top 100 erotica for guidance/inspiration. Mix and match for a nice pseudoname, and mix and match for a great title. Parentheticals are VERY important in a book as well - if you don't know what those are, look at the books on sale and it'll become pretty apparent. I also go into how to use parentheticals for maximum impact in my book.

Have you ever had an odd encounter with a fan?

Outside of the stalking incident, no.

I keep my pen name and my real name VERY separate. I don't want anyone to know I do this. Even my tax guy thinks I am a "normal" author.

I've had some really strange online exchanges though. I had one person offer to pay me several hundred dollars to write a VERY specific story for him. I won't go into detail but it involved a penguin.

And yes, I wrote it. And yes, he paid me via my old paypal donation link :).

I'm in the midst of writing a book and some scenes have a little graphic sex. Will this turn off a publisher or will this be a problem if I want to have the book carried by book stores?

I don't work with traditional publishers, so I have no idea. I self-publish ebooks, physical books, and audiobooks, but they are all sold online at sites like amazon.

How do you determine what is currently selling? What niche category do you recommend I get into?

I'd have to write a book to answer that adequately well, I already did, its in the OP :-).

Seriously though, the top 100 list is your friend.

Threatened by a cleric? Can you elaborate on that?

Received a whole slew of email and then snail mail letters, no return address, covered in death threats and qur'an quotes.

To be fair, I had written a fairly blasphemous piece of erotica that sold pretty well. I've since removed the offending work and won't be putting it back up or discussing it in any way further than that. I did it thinking it would be funny. Death threats aren't funny. Screw free speech, I want to keep my head on my shoulders.

That is incredibly spooky. So sorry about your ordeal. I take it the threats stopped?

They stopped when I moved. I filed a fictitious change of address with the post office and didn't look back. Been in my new place without issue. I'm certainly being more careful now - I abandoned an entire pen-name because of this experience.

What is the absolute worst bit of erotica you've ever read? Fifty Shades doesn't count if that's your answer.

To be completely honest, if I realize a piece of erotica is absolutely horrible, I stop reading it. There's no reason to read crap, I need -good- leads to follow, not crappy ones. Most of the erotica on the top 100 isn't exactly shakespear, but it's hardly what I'd call the "absolute worst", so I don't worry about it.

Despite this, I will point you to the worst piece of erotica on the planet. As I've said somewhere else in this AMA, this is without question the funniest and worst thing ever written:

www.amazon.com/Beastiality-ebook/dp/B00BOYZG9Q

I dare you to look at that cover more closely. I DOUBLE DARE you to open the "look inside" and read as far as the acknowledgements. I swear it's perhaps the single funniest thing ever committed to e-paper, and totally disturbing because this is pretty consistently the 3,000-4,500th best selling title in the ENTIRE kindle book store. It's making thousands upon thousands of dollars. It's certainly the absolute worst erotica ever, bar none. In comparison, 50 shades is fine art of the highest order.

This is going to be a weird question, but I'm starting a story for a hobby. I need help on a scene involving a tunnel. Have you ever had a scene involving a tunnel or alley or cavern or something?

I shuddered, fearful, as the darkness closed in around me.

"My name is Drake, Ms Henwood. Welcome to my home." the man said quietly, setting me down on a standing piece of concrete railing as if I were weightless. I looked around from my makeshift pedestal, my eyes adjusting, a checkerboard pattern above twinkling in the light of torches, an old rail traveling off into the inky darkness. The place looked long abandoned, aside from the tall and Gothic looking stone structure built along one of the walls, light twinkling from it's windows.

"A subway station?" I asked. "Why did you bring me here?"

Drake smiled broadly. "I think she asks too many questions, wouldn't you agree, brother?"

My eyes followed Drake's gaze into the looming darkness, a hulking mass of a man stepping out from the shadows. His chest glistened with sweat, broad shoulders holding back a mass of manly power. Despite all of my better instincts, I found myself drawn into his gaze, mesmerized by his incredible form. He moved gracefully despite his size, quietly, like he was stalking prey. Reaching out, his hand grazed my cheek with a delicate lightness I hadn't expected.

I gasped, his hand tracing down, sliding over a breast. I could offer no resistance to a man so powerful, so sexy. My body followed his fingertips as I shuddered against his hand, letting him pull me off my pedestal and push me down to my knees.

"I know how you could properly show your respect." He said, the voice soft yet threatening. I dared not look up, my submissiveness turning me on even more than the feel of his fingers laced through my long auburn hair.

"Take it out." The man commanded, and my hands moved with an alluring grace, without even the slightest hint of hesitation. His scent tickled my senses, a hint of leather and sandalwood and something that couldn't be quantified, the scent of an alpha. I would be his tonight. I would be his... Forever.

Unsure if you are done answering questions, but is there a market for F/F erotica that you know of? I didn't see any represented in the top 100 after an admittedly quick look. And thank you in advance if you do see this.

There is a market for it, but from my own experience writing for that particular niche, it is far less popular.

I write for the money, so it's not a niche I tend to service. Not enough $$$ for the time spent.

Thank you for your insight. While on the topic of writing women, last week there was a sale on a fanfiction.net android app; I purchased it on a whim and have read a few submissions this week. Something that stood out to me is the lack of euphemisms that I could truly get behind for female genitalia. The word 'mound' was used too much for my liking, as was 'her sex'. So two questions: Which euphemisms for women do you enjoy using in your writing, and if 'mound', 'her sex' or 'pussy' give me a twinge, am I just a prude who needs to go the immersion therapy route and get comfortable with them?

Just get comfortable with it.

I'm a fan of "her wetness", "my depths", "delicate flower", etc.

Have you ever been to the, uh, "niche" areas of deviantart for inspiration? People commission weird art all the time there.

Yes.

I also have a very active deviantart account of my own, full of my own photography and self portraits.

Do you have a separate pen name for each niche within erotica?

Nah.

I have 3 total pennames. Ava Bonde, a more serious novel penname (floundering), and my successful erotica penname. It's usually best to put ALL your erotica on one name, to build up the catalog and sell more books.