Publishing Erotica Part 1 – Introduction

For the last two years, I have been a self-published erotica author. For nearly a year-and-a-half, I have been self-employed, writing erotica full time and providing for myself above what I had been at my low-paid day job. I publish as Reed James, and I want to share with you how I tackle publishing, what I’ve learned, the pitfalls I encountered and how I navigated them, and how I’ve made a moderate success as a short-form erotica author.

At the time of writing this article (March 13th, 2015) I was the #21 ranked author in the category Kindle Ebooks>Literature & Fiction>Erotica and the #45 ranked author in the category Books>Literature & Fiction>Erotica. I have over 400 books published on Amazon and another 40 on various other sites. Every other day, I post a new short erotica on Amazon. That’s a story around 4 to 6 thousand words (though I’m usually 6 to 7k these days, sometimes more). I’ve been doing this since I went full time in October 2015. It has been a rewarding experience. I make my own schedule (though I spend most of my day writing and editing). I am my own boss. I am happy and satisfied. I get to spend my time working on my passion—writing. And not just writing erotica, but on non-erotic fiction that is not nearly as successful.

Why Write Erotica?

So why should you write erotica? You may have heard it is easy money. Compared to any other form of writing, it is. But that doesn’t mean this is easy. It doesn’t mean you can sit down at your keyboard, bang out a story, post it on Amazon, and then just sit back and rake in the dough. If you are looking for a quick buck, no form of writing is that answer, not even erotica.

The money is merely the bonus. You should write erotica because your kinky, because you have dirty ideas, because you want to share your naughty fantasies. To write erotica, you need to enjoy erotica. It cannot be a chore to you. If the thought of writing graphic descriptions of sex turns you off, then you should not write in this genre.

I have known many authors who had the mentality of “I’ll just write smut even if it’s distasteful to make money.” Their prudishness shows in their writing. Your readers can sense if you don’t love what you’re doing and just going through the motions to make a quick buck. The successful erotica authors are people that want to explore the perverse, who see the world and wonder why doesn’t the hot doctor give me a “physical” or wouldn’t it be hot if my secretary had nothing on under her skirt. They’re the people that imagine having sex with a stranger at a club on the dance floor or watching their wife being fucked hard by a Black man.

Erotica isn’t about being realistic. It’s about sharing hot fantasies, forbidden lusts, deviant thoughts, and wicked desires. And it’s up to you to bring them to life for your readers enjoyment. Even if they’re impossible—futanari, witches, paranormal creatures, inhuman stamina, gushing orgasms, bucketfuls of cum. Don’t be afraid to write all the juicy, naughty details. Don’t be afraid to use words like pussy, cunt, ass, cock, dick, cum, slut, and whore. Have your characters embrace these words. A cock fucks a pussy in erotica, not a penis entering a vagina. And remember, these are fantasies. Condoms are not needed. Pregnancy is only an issue if the risk of pregnancy while having unprotected sex is what makes the story hotter. Or maybe it’s a breeding story, and the girl is begging to be knocked up and bred, to have every drop of cum pumped into her fertile cunt.

If any of that makes you uncomfortable, writing erotica is not for you. And that is okay.

If, however, you don’t have a problem with graphic, kinky sex, and you have a filthy mind just bursting with ideas to share, then the next thing you need to understand is short-form erotica is a grind.

Let me repeat that. It. Is. A. Grind.

You need to keep publishing and keep putting out new material so people keep browsing your catalog. It’s rare for any one story to be a huge hit when writing short-form erotica. But as you build your catalog, people are more likely to discover your stories. And if they like what they read, then they will browse your catalog for more of what you write. As your catalog grows, it feeds off of itself, delivering you more sales. You won’t even start to see any real success until around 30 books, and you’ll need more to make a living at it.

So that means you need to be writing a lot. You need to be prepared to commit time to this. If you want to write erotica as a hobby, that’s fine. If you want to make a career at it, you must make writing a priority. And this applies for writing any genre. You need to devote at least an hour a day.

And success won’t come right away.

My first story made me exactly $2.55 my first week and a half (I published near the end of March 2014). I had delusions of making several hundred dollars in the first day. Surely, there would be a hundred people who would by the book. That’s not a lot. A drop in the bucket.

It did not happen.

I preserved. In April, I published a second story and made $6.15. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept at it (you’ll see in future posts). May saw me earn $13.90. I had three titles by then. It wasn’t until July that I started publishing more stories. By August, I made nearly $400 dollars. I published more. September saw me hit over $1000 dollars. I was seeing success. I kept writing. I was publishing a short ever three days by the end of September.

October, I made nearly $3000 dollars. I was making more than my day job. The decision to quit was easy. I went full time. Now, this was during the days of KU 1.0. The changes Amazon made in July of 2015 to the Kindle Unlimited borrow program hurt short-form erotica a lot. Many erotica authors dropped out. I myself took a hit to my income. But I kept the grind, and I still make a living even in the KU 2.0 days.

And so can you, if you are dedicated and want to do this. I’ll show you how over the next series of posts.

Click here for Publishing Erotica Part 2 – What You Need