I'm Hannah Wilde, erotica author and creator of Hipster Gangbangs and the Violated By Monsters series. I'm 22 and make over $2,000 a month writing dirty words. AMA! NSFW!

How do you get coverage to get your books sold when erotica on amazon goes unranked? I've wondered about that because of reports that there's a woman who writes Sasquatch porn that makes 30k a month.

Erotica is actually ranked on Amazon, with lots of specific categories and keywords for sorting. I have had several books reach the top of the paranormal erotica and horror erotica charts. In fact, if this AMA goes well some of these books that I put on sale will probably climb up there.

I get readers in a lot of ways. Amazon has a really good recommended reading system that drives a lot of customers, but mostly people are just searching for keywords. I've got a book about fucking a pack of Chupacabras, so when someone wants to read about that on Amazon, they know how to find it.

It also doesn't hurt that I have 10,000 + followers on my porn tumblr, but there doesn't seem to be much of a crossover demographic between porn viewers and erotica readers, surprisingly.

but there doesn't seem to be much of a crossover demographic between porn viewers and erotica readers, surprisingly.

Is that because there's a high rate of going blind among erotica readers?

Nice one!

Do your relatives know about your profession? If yes, what was their reaction?

My friends and the people that I date know about it, but not my family. I do work here and there as a model/actress in LA, so for now I've gotten away with telling them that I'm getting "royalty checks." They don't know it's from writing.

As far as my friends go, everybody thinks it pretty cool. It's a great conversation starter.

Is there somewhere I can see you naked?

In my shower in the morning. Or maybe in Los Angeles if you happen to live in Venice or West Hollywood and end up in the right place at the right time to buy me a drink.

Have you ever been in a hipster gangbang? I'm a hipster and I've yet to get invited to one :(

Yes, plenty. You've just gotta know the right people I guess.

Well if you ever need anybody...

All positions have been filled unfortunately. There's really no shortage of sexy folks here in LA.

Hi there Hannah, big fan. As a fellow Smutstress, I just want to congratulate you on your success and tell you that I love your work. You're a constant inspiration to those of us who are just getting rolling. I don't really have a question, but thanks for doing an AMA.

Whoa... Honestly, I didn't expect to find a comment on here that was so touching. Thank you so much, it means a lot. Really, anyone can do it, it just takes a lot of persistence and I've got a long, long way to go still.

My advice, find a niche that sells, but also that you enjoy, and then just pound it out. Also, focus on writing over promotion, volume sells on Amazon.

Also, you're so sweet. Thank you again.

Alright, I lied, I do have a question.

Could you take us through what your process is like?

I like to write in the morning, so I get up and start letting it all flow out without much revising or editing. Once the words are all spilled on the page I go back and do one deep edit and organize everything. This whole process takes about a day (remember I'm a model sometimes, so I can write as a day job without having to worry about a 9 to 5, which makes it way easier.)

After my edit I usually will do a "gay" version, which is just the same story but with the details changed for my gay readers. That takes some fine tuning, and serves as a sort of second edit.

After that I write a blurb and publish!

Also, many times I will start with the cover photo and have it open on my computer while I write for inspiration.

Just wondering, how much extra time or effort is needed for the "gay version"?

I would say it takes about two hours to convert a story over, then another half hour to design the cover. I've gotten pretty good at streamlining the process.

Of course, some stories can't really be converted depending on the relationship between the characters, but most of the time it's pretty simple.

Do you love being DP'd? all your images seem to be DP

A lot of people who get into writing erotica tend to follow where the trends are headed, which is fine, but I really can't write about things if I'm not at least kind of interested myself.

DP and gangbangs have always been my biggest turn on, so I decided to focus on that for marketings sake. 1) You can take that fetish and apply it to almost anything (hotwife gangbang, monsters gangbang, interracial gangbang, bondage gangbang) and it still works. 2) It's easier to write in my style, because there is just so much more to describe as far as the sex goes. With two people it's harder to fill the pages, I find, because you're just running through the positions.

Can you give me an instant erection using three words or less right now?

The. Best. Dong.

Why do you focus on gangbangs? Are you thinking of expanding into other areas of sex?

I answered this kind of in another question, but basically because it's something that I enjoy myself, you can easily apply it to other fetishes, and there is more to write about when you've got multiple people going at it.

[deleted]

Go for a run along the LA river (Not pretty, BTW, it's basically a slice of cement that runs though the city). That is where I get most of my ideas, and then when I get back to the apartment I'm sore and tired and ready to just sit down and write.

Ok I'll bite is Hannah the fake half?

Do you enjoy what you do for a living?

Are there other genres you want to write?

What do you think of the 50 Shades books?

Hahaha actually you're kind of correct. My last name isn't Wilde but Hannah is not technically how you spell my first.

I love writing erotica. I get to make my own schedule and even though the money isn't great right now it's getting better every day, plus I get to think about different ways of fucking all day.

Eventually, I'd love to write straight up horror, but we will see if I can find the time.

I never read 50 Shades, but to each their own, if it helped some people here and there discover something about their sexuality, then I am all for it.

Hi! I am inspired by your work and your success! Great job on doing all of this work. As someone interested in joining this type of field, what would you say are the steps someone should take to start self-publishing these books? Also, how often do you write/how often do you finish a book? What would be your best piece of advice for other others in general/for writing erotica? Is there any type of erotica that you won't write? Thank you for doing this AMA! Keep up the great work!

Edit: Another question: Where do you get the pictures for your cover art? Do you have to pay for it or can you use it for free from your source?

Step one would be to download and read some erotica yourself just to get a feel for the genre. There are some very specific things that the audience expects from you and they are different from other types of books. There are a few other AMAs on this subject that would probably be really helpful to read though.

Lately, I try to write a book and it's "gay version" every two days, which makes a book a day technically, but thats much quicker than most people I think.

Best piece of advice would be to keep it simple and give the audience what they want, find your niche early and have the grit to push through it because eventually you will see results, you just have to stick with it.

How long do you see yourself doing erotica? Was there ever anything else you could imagine yourself doing? If so, is there a possibility you would ever return to that?

I'm making 2,000 a month right now but my goal is 10,000 a month by the end of the year, which I think is attainable at my rate. Because of that I plan on doing it for a while and trying to make a full on carrier out of it.

It might seem like a lofty goal, but I'd really like to change the focus of erotica and upend the whole idea of who is reading it. I write specially for younger people like myself, hence things like the Hipster Gangbang series. I would love to have some part of a sexual revolution towards people in my generation getting off to ideas rather than just the image of two or more people fucking.

I was in school for design and art, but I'm not sure how much I really wanted to do that. I still act and model sometimes, which is a big reason why I need a pen name. I'll probably continue to do that because it's fun.

When did you start?

Did you see profit right away?

If no then how many books did it take before you saw them selling well?

Did one of two books around last October but didn't really see any sales and got pretty discouraged. The /smutwriters and /eroticauthors forums really kicked me back into gear though, and I gave it another shot.

There's so little investment upfront that it's pretty easy to see a profit right away, but it's a tiny one, around ten to twenty dollars for the first few months.

At about 40 books is when I finally thought, okay, this could be a thing, and it just kinda took off from there.

Do your longer or shorter stories do better?

I only write shorts, but as long as they are between 4000 and 6000 words it really doesn't seem to matter. Erotica Romance is a little different and requires a bit more length, but as far as Erotica goes, you are simply doing the service of getting them off and that's easy in 4000 to 6000 words.

One more question, YOU SAID ASK ANYTHING

When writing the short stories do you jump right into the smutty smut smut or do you wait til the end as to keep them reading? Or do you just fill it all with smut!

Hey, ask away, that's why I'm here!

The stories have a very specific pacing based on the genre, it is typically first 2/3rds build up and then last 1/3 sex. That's what people expect and I'm happy to give it to them.

I see you have a lot of series, do those sell better?

People in the smut author community say that they do, but I don't really notice a huge difference. I just like to do it because I loved Goosebumps books as a kid.

Hi Hannah! I'm just getting started on this path myself (first book/sales yesterday). I see you do monster stuff and I have ideas rattling around for nonhuman/horror themed stories but thought those were harder to sell on Amazon after the crackdown a few months back took out bigfoot and the like as collateral damage.

Is that not the case? What would you say the fuzzy gray line is between banned monster erotica and stuff that passes muster?

Thanks for doing this! I'd like to make this a full time thing as well and it's an inspiration seeing others who are making it.

I'm personally not aware of any monster bannings, but maybe I missed something. All of my books are up and running just fine.

If you like to write horror or sci-fi, monster erotica is really really fun. I was into Goosebumps as a kid and somehow that makes me feel really cool every time I publish a new monster book in my series. I'd highly recommend it and it sells alarmingly well.

I think the only thing that's going to get you banned is if your "monsters" are actually real animals, but then it's no longer monster erotica now is it.

Hey, did you find any mentors or editors along your journey that helped you?

Oh my god, yes.

/u/ScarletCox /u/haleighcooksonclark /u/ellendominick /u/virginiaflowers /u/JSmithWriter /u/50s_Housewife /u/Amberizzle /u/lumpiestprincess /u/throwiethetowel and even just today /u/DirtyDaisy

Honestly the whole community over at r/smutwriters is the best on Reddit. There are probably some people that I'm forgetting and I'm sorry about that.

You rang? :)

Seriously, glad that we were able to help you! You've done so well for yourself, and it's awesome to see the progress you've made has paid off.

There you are! Thank you!

How did this happen? Like were you randomly writing a dirty story one day and like hey let me get this published? Or was it more like you were on places like lushstories or something posting first and someone recruited you?

I self publish, so nobody recruited me other than myself.

I came up with the notion of using Amazon's recommendation tool combined with a lot of content to make money, and the whole thing blossomed from there. I thought I was so original with this thought, but that is not the case.

Anyway, I got involved in the r/eroticaauthors and r/smutwriters communities and realized that people have been making good money off erotica for years, thought I would try it and I really really enjoyed it. Now here I am.

Why did you decide to make books about people getting fucked by monsters?

I was writing pretty straight forward gangbang books at first, but I heard monsters was a lucrative subgenre and wanted to try it. I had a lot of fun, especially because I enjoy horror so much, and the books sold really well.

Whenever I write monster books I always think back to the iconic idea of the creature carrying away some damsel in distress into the night. There's something sexy about the iconography of the "dragon and the maiden" and, as weird as it sounds, I like exploring that.

Is there anything you refuse to write about?

I'm more likely to not write about a particular fetish simply because I don't find it attractive, rather than any moral obligation. I personally don't want to get fucked by bigfeet, but I can understand it enough that I'll enjoy writing about it. I'm a big believer in "to each their own", and as a bisexual woman who's also into gangbangs, I'm glad when I get the same treatment back.

Originally, when I started to write interracial stuff I tried really hard to take out black stereotypes until I realized that pornography is all ABOUT stereotypes, that's the sexy part. I think that people understand that, and if you can't separate fantasy from reality then there are deeper issues going on than what you are reading or watching on TV.

That being said, obviously I won't ever write about children, nor any animals that aren't make believe.

Why not real animals? I'm personally not into that, but your tastes seem to be a bit darker than mine.

I'm not sure, honestly. I mean, what's the difference between a unicorn and a horse, really?

I suppose we all have our barriers of comfort between fantasy and reality and even though mine is VERY broad, that's where it ends for whatever reason.

On a more practical level, I really doesn't matter either way because it's not allowed on Amazon if the animals are real creatures. Hopefully nobody out their discovers the Loch Ness Monster because I'm going to end up getting myself BANNED.

I'd be more excited that they found my disembodied cock in a loch that's only a hundred or so miles away from me ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

へ‿(ツ)‿ㄏ

$2k a month doesn't sound like very much. Do you have a side job as well?

Yes, I do modeling and act as my other source of income.

What's your favorite/most used dirty word.

I actually used "rectum" in a story once and then went back and took it out, then put it back in. I was very on the fence because I thought it was filthy in an awesome way but figured it weird some people out. I also like describing cum as shooting out in "ropes" for some reason, it just seems really pleasant and specific to me.

Most used word: Cock.

Between the 50 Shades phenomenon and all the other writers like you, why do you think erotica sells so well?

People read erotica to fill a need that's different from any other genre, and the nature of that need makes fresh, new content very valuable.

What do you like reading apart from erotica?

Bret Easton Ellis is my favorite, particularly Glamorama. Also, Mark Z. Danielewski.

I grew up on H P Lovecraft and King.

Ah cool! How much do you think they have influenced your writing?

Hopefully a lot! As far as tone, I like to keep things pretty streamlined like BEE, but my ideas probably resemble something more like my early horror influences.

Thought of another one if you're still around. Where do you get stock images for your covers? Know of any good free resources?

I also noticed you have women on a lot of your covers. Since erotica has a big female audience most others go for hunky men. Do you notice a difference in sales based on what gender goes on the cover, or do you think female fans are projecting themselves onto the cover while male fans drool over it?

I get a lot of my source images here

This is a really great question. My gay covers feature men, straight ones feature women. I'm bisexual so it really doesn't matter to me, but I think that the girls on my straight covers work because I think I have an unusually larger male readership than most erotica authors. It just seems like guys tend to like my style, which is generally much more hardcore than some of the other stuff I've seen.

Whats the "dirtiest" thing you have ever wrote/said?

In one of my bondage gangbang books, there is a part where a girl is forced to drink the cum of several guys out of her own ass. Even I felt weird writing it, but it's so extreme that it just makes me laugh now.

Interesting AMA, thanks. I write short stories. (Sci-fi, not erotica) I've been considering selling anthologies through Amazon for a while now, but I've hesitated because I've never believed that the final product would be long enough to justify placing online. Looking through your work though, I see that most of it is shorter than 30 pages. So, I have a few questions:

1. What is word count are you'r aiming for when you sit down to write? What's the shortest piece you consider saleable, in other words?

2. Do you deliberately keep your work short? Is that part of a marketing strategy, or is that just the natural length of your stories?

3. To what do you credit your success? Do you think that your success is due to your genre? Or would you still be making the same money writing in another genre?

4. How did you start the ball rolling when you first published? Did you actively market your books, or did you just post your first book and cross your fingers?

Sorry for all the questions, but I've never caught an AMA with a short form writer having any success on Amazon before. Thanks!

Short story erotica has a sweet spot of between 3,000 to 5,000 words, it seems. I almost always shoot for the late 4,000s. The shortness is mostly due to the fact that the entire genre is based on people getting off, so you don't need a story that goes on and on and on. It's also helpful for marketing though because quantity is paramount in Amazon's recommendation system.

I'd credit my success to persistence, because that is definitely the hardest thing to overcome in self publishing. After that, having a professional looking product will really help you stand out in the self-publishing sea, and I think I have very good covers with a style that is specific to me and my readers.

With erotica on Amazon, no marketing is really needed. People will search for the kinks that they are looking for and if you've got something that appeals to them, then they are gonna buy it.

How are you selling erotica on amazon? I thought it was banned

It's very far from banned, they have entire best seller lists for many erotica subgenres too.

How many books are you turning out a month?

At this point I would say around 20ish, which includes bundles. A bundle is when I repackage 3 or more stories of a similar genre into one book, or just a collection of a 3 part series.

Would you call yourself an author?

Of course! Even now I'm making way, way more than many other people who use the term to describe themselves. Erotica is just as legitimate an artform as horror, fantasy, biography or anything else.

What inspired you to go down the writing Erotic road.

Also when did you write your first dirty story? I knew some girls that did it in middle school and wondering when you did?

I've always enjoyed writing a lot, and when I was younger I did try my hand at a few smutty stories but those were just for fun.

The reason I started six months ago was kind of wild actually. I'd been going to school and was having all sorts of "get rich quick" schemes, mostly involving starting porn Tumblrs with ads. None of them really worked, but I decided that if I could find a better recommendation system I could actually get people to see what I was putting out onto the internet.

I realized Amazon had that kind of system, and then thought to myself: Sex sells, I love porn, I love sex, I love writing. Let's try this.

It turns out there is a huge, VERY supportive community of people making a living as smut writers. After plugging into that I gave it a shot and ended up really loving it. At this point the money is nice, but honestly I just enjoy writing weird stories about fucking and giving people something fun to get off to.

Do you read your own books and how do you feel about it?

I read other peoples books but not my own, once I am done writing them and editing them there is really nothing I can get out of it any longer.

It's probably similar to the feeling of rubbing your clit or having someone else do it for you. I prefer the latter.

How often do you masturbate?

I make it a point to get off at least once a day, how many of those times are from masturbating depends on the number of special boys and girls in my life at the time.

Have you masturbated today?

Not yet! I'm dropping the ball, where's /u/misstorylane when you need her?

Forgive me if that question was a bit intrusive. I'm just horny as hell.

You could make up for it AND solve your problem by buying some of Hannah's books!

^{See what I did there?}

I like you Rozenwater. I like you a lot.

Is it a very competitive market? Where would you rank yourself percentage wise of success in your field? I ask because I write fantasy (The nerdy kind, not the sexy kind haha) and I'd acctually like to get paid to write haha.

It's competitive in that there are a lot of erotica writers out there, but the demand is so massive that I think it pretty much evens out.

What is your inspiration? Do you draw from real life experiences?

Clearly most of it is fantasy, but I'm no stranger to group sex. It certainly makes it easier to write about.

How do you write about the butthole? What is your thought process when writing about stuff involving a butthole? Seeing as you work with gangbangs, do you write about stretched buttholes? To you keep track of what state of elasticity the butthole is in? (tight butthole all the way to loose butthole)

I'd like to think that all of my works involving the ass are very tight butthole, even after double anal.

Thank you for your response I wish you well may a tight butthole be upon you.

Fur sure, and a very tight butthole to you too good sir.

Is Hannah Wilde your real name? I'm considering getting into erotica writing (to also have an interesting portfolio) but I'm planning to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons. What are your thoughts on this one?

DEFINITELY use a pen name. Hannah is really my first name with a different spelling, Wilde is borrowed from Oliva.

Who does your cover design, and if it is outsourced, what does it cost you?

I went to school for graphic design, so I do all of my covers. I just buy a license for the stock photo, which is usually around 3 bucks, then do my thing as far as fonts and the rest of the design. Making covers is actually one of my favorite parts.

What software are you using for your covers? They look great, btw!

Thank you! I make them with Photoshop myself, but apparently some people use a program called GIMP. I don't even know what that is, so I stick with Photoshop.

Hey, I have been writing this stuff for a while (never published or submitted) but those who have read it say its pretty good. How do you even begin to get this stuff out there for the right people to see?

Having the confidence to publish it is really all that matters, because if you are hitting peoples specific kinks and you have a good cover they are going to buy your book. Just look into self publishing on Amazon and get to it! There's nobody stopping you but yourself!

Do you think 2000 a month is a lot of money? If so, where do you live?

No, 2000 a month is below the poverty level. However, most small businesses don't even turn a profit in the first year, and after 6 months I'm very happy to be looking at the direct deposit that's covering my rent every month. I'm hoping to be making 10,000 a month by the end of the year and think that it's attainable.

I live in Los Angeles and also work as a model and actress.

2k is not below the poverty level lol

This is why I write about monsters fucking people rather than become an economist.

Why did post how much money you make a month?

Lets pretend I'm doing an AMA. I'm an international travel agent. I send people all over the world and I've been all over the world. I make "$xxxx.xx" per month by booking people airline tickets, Hotels and other travel stuff. Go ahead AMA.

Very irrelevant ..... .

You seriously think it's "irrelevant" that enough people buy books about fucking bigfoot and the loch ness monster where I can make $2,000 a month?

That's a lot of money being spent of monster porn. I WRITE it and even I can hardly believe it.

There's nothing incredible about writing a bunch of "out there" erotica that nobody buys, but turning it into a business is something special.

I'm kind of blown away that there's someone out there who thinks its comparable to booking airline tickets, but good on you for having an open mind.

Welcome to Reddit.... Where horny guys who are Pissed off that a woman can do something better than them take the time to try and verbally beat you up.

First two rules of reddit.... Ignore the haters and don't feed the trolls.

Haha, true story! Thank you.