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PoshAlligator posted:Didn't self-published erotica get blasted recently or something by most of the markets? I wasn't affected, I don't write any rapey/minotaur erotica.
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May 19, 2014 14:54
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ravenkult posted:I wasn't affected, I don't write any rapey/minotaur erotica. Neither did I, but that didn't stop them from wiping 90%+ of my catalog.  Most of it is back online with new blurbs and covers, which actually rebooted the older works' popularity. Blessings in disguise!
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May 19, 2014 15:45
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Bobby Deluxe posted:The problem is you guys do the marketing every day, so yeah it seems obvious to you. It went from ranking in the mid six figures to sticking in solid mid-four figure territory. For every book in the series so far. Once you've done that then you can worry about the "complicated" marketing that will get your book up in the top 1000 or top 100. Honestly it seems like most authors want to whine and bitch about marketing not working. It's actually quite easy if you have an entertaining book - get people to read it and they'll buy the rest of your collection. The problem is most people don't want to do the easy work and/or their book is poo poo and they don't want to admit it and/or they're too vain to beg people to read their book for free.
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May 19, 2014 16:21
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^^ That stuff you wrote is super simple but also nice to see written out. Thanks. Can someone put it in the next OP? Sundae posted:Neither did I, but that didn't stop them from wiping 90%+ of my catalog. Man, I wish I hadn't missed the Erotica thread. Tomorrow is my final university hand-in for the year. I should just knuckle down and churn out some erotica maybe while I have a bit of free time. Can someone give me a couple of tips? What sort of length is good for a story? What sort of pricing? Is vanilla erotica better than the gimmicky stuff? Is ~romance~ erotica the best?
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May 19, 2014 16:25
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Okay - on the topic of marketing for the new thread, I'm going to stick to the "no duh" style super-basics, like covers fit to genre, blurbs, popular strategies without calling anything the best, etc. Not going into too much detail there since if I wanted to write a full marketing book, I'd put it on Amazon and sell the damned thing.  Posh - there is no market for 'vanilla' erotica. If you're going to write that, extend it into a novel and call it a romance.
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May 19, 2014 16:35
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Sundae posted:Posh - there is no market for 'vanilla' erotica. If you're going to write that, extend it into a novel and call it a romance. So make it weird? Or just lots of erotic experiences? Sorry to ask a bunch of questions but as this thread has so many experts it seems like the best place.
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May 19, 2014 16:41
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PoshAlligator posted:So make it weird? Or just lots of erotic experiences? I did okay with short erotica stories that rip off 50 Shades of Grey (I am a boring chick but this billionaire dude absolutely finds me amazing and hot but is also kinda kinky, oh well). But I'm not really that experienced in writing erotica.
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May 19, 2014 17:02
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I requested to the mods to let another erotica thread start. They politely declined.
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May 19, 2014 17:33
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I hope a bit of light erotica discussion in here is okay, though? Sounds like the erotica thread got a little weird before? So let's say I get together 3 or so short erotica stories (6k-12k sound all right)? The plan would be to put one up for free, the others cheap (less than $2.99)? Then to offer free copies to people that like similar stories via Facebook and Goodreads?
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May 19, 2014 17:49
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I've sent a PM to one of the CC mods to determine what the limits are to erotica chat in this thread / the new one. Shall follow up on questions / give info when I get a response.
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May 19, 2014 19:09
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PoshAlligator posted:So let's say I get together 3 or so short erotica stories (6k-12k sound all right)? The plan would be to put one up for free, the others cheap (less than $2.99)? Then to offer free copies to people that like similar stories via Facebook and Goodreads?
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May 19, 2014 19:20
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I'd rather just not talk about erotica at all because you're a) pushing out people who want to talk about their science fiction novel being published which is not as commercially viable and b) inviting FYAD to come in here and dox people again and c) you pretty much missed the boat, there was a lot of easy easy easy money to be made in erotica but nowadays with all the random blocking and non-communication from Amazon you're basically starting from a huge disadvantage if you're not a part of a group that writes erotica exclusively.
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May 19, 2014 19:22
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To escape from erotica chat for a bit, does anyone have a list of services they want in the new OP? I'll put the goon-approved cover artists in (I'm adding Damon Za to the list since he's the god-king of awesome cover artists, plus GoOnWrite [which is not GoonWrite] pre-designed covers), but if there's anything else you guys know that is useful or any editors you'd like to list, etc, send some links my way and I'll add those to a services section.
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May 19, 2014 20:52
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My favorite hold over from the erotica thread is now every time I write anything I try to work in a transgender character, not because I want to be more inclusive or anything, but because gender swap fetishists will buy ANYTHING with gender transformation themes.
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May 19, 2014 21:15
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Sundae posted:GoOnWrite [which is not GoonWrite] Since I first ran across GoOnWrite, I've been wondering if it had an intentional double meaning.
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May 19, 2014 21:29
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Mod response: "To be perfectly honest, allowing erotica would inevitably be a huge drama bomb - I'm going to say no erotica talk in the new thread, thank you." So that's that. Away it goes.
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May 19, 2014 21:38
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As useful as erotica advice would be to me, I can see why it's a no. You can't limit it to 'no weird stuff' because then you'd end up with pages of arguments about where the line is, what constitutes weird, people trying to get their pony vore trilogy validated, it would get weird fast and not in a good way.
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May 19, 2014 22:10
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Bobby Deluxe posted:As useful as erotica advice would be to me, I can see why it's a no. You can't limit it to 'no weird stuff' because then you'd end up with pages of arguments about where the line is, what constitutes weird, people trying to get their pony vore trilogy validated, it would get weird fast and not in a good way. The old threads were fine until there was huge outpouring of trolls from FYAD or wherever. But shrug. You can use a lot of short story advice and apply it to erotica anyways. Sort of.
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May 19, 2014 22:32
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Hooray for no drama bombs. There are plenty of good places to talk shop re: erotica, and this thread is such a nice spot to talk about self-publishing with higher literary aspirations (or at least, e-publishing in more mainstream genres, or whatever). On a money note... Something that would be really helpful to me in the new thread would be some links to figuring out the process of starting an LLC (getting an EIN, etc.) as an independent author. When's the right time, what are the specific tax pros and cons, etc. I'm not to the point where I need to worry about it too seriously yet, but it would be nice to have a better understanding about stuff when I do get there. Trustworthy fucked around with this message at 23:16 on May 19, 2014 |
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May 19, 2014 22:34
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Sundae posted:To escape from erotica chat for a bit, does anyone have a list of services they want in the new OP? I'll put the goon-approved cover artists in (I'm adding Damon Za to the list since he's the god-king of awesome cover artists, plus GoOnWrite [which is not GoonWrite] pre-designed covers), but if there's anything else you guys know that is useful or any editors you'd like to list, etc, send some links my way and I'll add those to a services section. You can add me for covers: https://www.ravenkult.com
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May 19, 2014 23:40
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Erotica is dumb anyways I guess. On another note I've actually been applying a tiny bit of time to marketing my novella, as now I actually have time to spare for a short while. I've approached just shy of 20 people on GoodReads to ask if they would like to read my book for free. I figure at least even if they don't love it or leave a review they'll probably at least add it, as they are GoodReads users. I've mainly been looking at people who have left negative reviews for what look to me to be bad versions of what I have written, and said "you might like this better". I guess I'll keep that up for a while. Feedback on my Amazon stuff would be cool maybe? Ebook: http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Dark-Hand-Oscar-Taylor-Kent-ebook/dp/B00E83GT2S/ CS Print Version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Hand-Oscar-TK/dp/1491257377/ For a dumb reason they are separate pages because I was stupid and initially had my author name as simply "Oscar T.K." but then someone said that was silly and I changed it except for on the cover. But CreateSpace won't let me have an author name besides what's on the cover, which makes sense. Is it really worth changing it on the cover and trying to get these consolidated? Who buys print books anyway? It would be a good excuse for me to reissue it with the quote on the cover like the ebook version I guess. I think my book description is probably terrible. I really suck at those things. The ebook version is better though because of what it used. I can't really CreateSpace well, it was just done through D2D. e: Conversation starter bonus: Is self-published humour a waste of time? I just don't know who in their right mind would want to publish a humour novella like this traditionally, which is what drew me to self-publishing in the first place.
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May 20, 2014 00:33
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PoshAlligator posted:I've approached just shy of 20 people on GoodReads to ask if they would like to read my book for free. I figure at least even if they don't love it or leave a review they'll probably at least add it, as they are GoodReads users. I've mainly been looking at people who have left negative reviews for what look to me to be bad versions of what I have written, and said "you might like this better". I guess I'll keep that up for a while. If you're doing a twilight parody, do a twilight parody. I like the idea but your font is not twilighty at all, it's just a bad font. take this poo poo out of your description: "The rough draft was initially written in front of a live audience, something which is reflected upon in the included blog post reprint at the end of the book." put in an excerpt instead.
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May 20, 2014 00:44
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PoshAlligator posted:Is self-published humour a waste of time? I just don't know who in their right mind would want to publish a humour novella like this traditionally, which is what drew me to self-publishing in the first place.
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May 20, 2014 00:46
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moana posted:So you're approaching people with a track record of leaving negative reviews? Sure, that sounds like a great plan. Thanks for the feedback! It's not a straight-Twilight parody. Though it kinda is. I'm not good at explaining it. The font was meant to looks somewhat Asian I guess? Because there are anime-parody elements in it too? I guess I'll just change it to look full-on Twilight if that seems more marketable? Do you not think the "live audience" angle is at all marketable? Some people I've spoken to seem to think this is one of the most (or only?) interesting aspects to the novella. What does a comedic blog even consist of?
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May 20, 2014 00:52
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PoshAlligator posted:What does a comedic blog even consist of? I tried running one last year and was starting to see the page views creep up, but then got hit by depression and the funny became kind of thin on the ground. Since Hyperbole and a Half got published, the blog landscape is covered with depression coping blogs so I don't really feel like that would make it stand out either. So it kind of lies abandoned.
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May 20, 2014 01:09
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Keep writing until you say something funny, then condense all the non funny bits until you end up with something resembling a good Charlie Brooker / Danny Wallace column. Or do what Buzzfeed does, and reword month-old articles from other sites. Thanks for your advice. Simple advice, but again, the value of someone telling it to you gives it another level, I feel. I'm basically doing nothing with my own personal blog (https://www.oscartk.co.uk/blog) because I can never think of anything to write. I'll probably give this a go. Do you think it's fine under a personal website sort of banner? Then it's like a "this is me" sort of thing. I mainly just write humorous stories and sketches and stuff. So trying the topical satire sort of thing could be good.
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May 20, 2014 01:28
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A bit about editors and the pros/cons would be great to see. A list of known genre editors who Goons have had success with would be awesome. It's been frustrating that I can write novels faster than I've been able to get people to edit them. Hopefully my newest Editor is on the ball. I followed the "usual" recommendations and got poo poo editors. Twice.
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May 20, 2014 02:15
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PoshAlligator posted:Thanks for your advice. Simple advice, but again, the value of someone telling it to you gives it another level, I feel. Consider writing pieces for sites like cracked.com - yes they're usually shameless clickbait but their workshop forum will give you feedback on your ideas, and if they buy your article they already have a readership of thousands, all of whom will see a link back to your blog at the end of the piece. All of those pageviews should translate to a little extra ad revenue, plus they pay you for the articles (badly compared to most freelance rates, but it's less about the money and more about the exposure). I would also see if you can get someone competent at modern online marketing to give your site a once-over just to check the code is optimal, you have the best ad placement, you have a linkback system in place and all the social media / seo stuff is working correct. HOWEVER, the caveat to all this is that - as others have said before - if you're doing this mainly to build an author presence, it's much more important to have a couple of books under your belt first. Having a website is only really important because it leads interested readers back to your back catalogue, and one sale becomes several. If however you want to pursue the site on it's own merits, I'm sure you can get a lot more / better advice in the freelancing thread.
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May 20, 2014 09:23
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Double post because it's a whole separate question I don't want to get lost - I am a 2:1 bearing creative writing graduate with three years of workshop based constructive criticism under my belt. I am also broke as poo poo and pretty desperate for work and my family feel that since writing isn't a 'proper' job until it's earning money, I have been thinking of offering my services as an editor, but I have no idea where to advertise, how much to charge, or really anything about how to get started doing it. Any advice?
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May 20, 2014 09:31
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Double post because it's a whole separate question I don't want to get lost - I am a 2:1 bearing creative writing graduate with three years of workshop based constructive criticism under my belt. I am also broke as poo poo and pretty desperate for work and my family feel that since writing isn't a 'proper' job until it's earning money, I have been thinking of offering my services as an editor, but I have no idea where to advertise, how much to charge, or really anything about how to get started doing it. Any advice? I've been paying about $15/1000 words. She's missed some pretty big things with grammar so I have to hire a proofreader after her but she's invaluable for actually developing the story. I have no idea where you advertise, this girl was a friend of a friend.
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May 20, 2014 09:36
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Double post because it's a whole separate question I don't want to get lost - I am a 2:1 bearing creative writing graduate with three years of workshop based constructive criticism under my belt. I am also broke as poo poo and pretty desperate for work and my family feel that since writing isn't a 'proper' job until it's earning money, I have been thinking of offering my services as an editor, but I have no idea where to advertise, how much to charge, or really anything about how to get started doing it. Any advice? I'm in an extremely similar situation - got some professional editing work on the side untangling unedited English translations, but I'd love to edit actual fiction for pay. No idea how to go about landing it though. Hungry fucked around with this message at 12:16 on May 20, 2014 |
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May 20, 2014 12:07
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Double post because it's a whole separate question I don't want to get lost - I am a 2:1 bearing creative writing graduate with three years of workshop based constructive criticism under my belt. I am also broke as poo poo and pretty desperate for work and my family feel that since writing isn't a 'proper' job until it's earning money, I have been thinking of offering my services as an editor, but I have no idea where to advertise, how much to charge, or really anything about how to get started doing it. Any advice? I saw this http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php thrown around quite often from editors. Though the rate varies once you add developmental work. I'd recommend getting a nice simple website, lay out your rates, services, timeframes, and exactly what you do. Beyond that this is a pretty good place to be active. Remember, never stop posting! One other thing I've seen newer editors doing is releasing collections of short stories. Pay a fair rate and stick it up on Amazon.
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May 20, 2014 12:14
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I just wanted to thank this thread and all the awesome contributors. I hit publish on my first short story yesterday! Starting on the next one now.
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May 21, 2014 16:18
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Five months and three editors later I published my second novel! My Goon recommended Editor came through and he is awesome. Thanks Ravenkult! I owe you man. Edge of Solace - Amazon Link quote:War is coming. The first book in the series is getting an edit, then I'll see if Bookbub finds me a spot. The third novel is done, and will head to the editor within a few weeks. Already outlining another novel too. Thanks thread!
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May 22, 2014 14:41
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Congratulations, Yooper! Hope it does well for you.
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May 22, 2014 15:19
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Yooper posted:Five months and three editors later I published my second novel! My Goon recommended Editor came through and he is awesome. Thanks Ravenkult! I owe you man. Change the title to white stat, it's almost invisible.
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May 22, 2014 15:51
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Otherwise that's a hell of a cover and blurb. Not my usual genre at all, but I'm honestly thinking of buying it anyway.
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May 22, 2014 16:11
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Otherwise that's a hell of a cover and blurb. Not my usual genre at all, but I'm honestly thinking of buying it anyway. I don't know, the blurb tells me nothing except that there are people in the book, and they do things. Maybe. Perhaps it's in space or something? I mean, I get that it is a sequel so anyone should have read the first part before they read this one, but somehow that blurb isn't making me go out and look at part 1. One hell of a cover, though.
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May 22, 2014 16:27
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ravenkult posted:Change the title to white stat, it's almost invisible. Done! Yah, looks much better now. 
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May 22, 2014 16:46
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not enough categories 
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May 22, 2014 17:05
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