Journey into the world of self-publishing

[thunder_god]

Hello Everyone,


After having read several threads here talking about self-publishing, I decided it was time to take some action and enter into the world of self-publishing. I have always considered myself a creative individual and many people have always commented that I have a creative imagination. I figured why not use my strengths to my advantage and dive deep into self-publishing where I can use some of my creativity.

At the moment, I am working for some shady russian company as a online tutor. The money is crap and the amount of extra work outside of teaching such as prepping lessons, marking homework is unpaid and totally not worth it for the money I am paid. The only positive of this job is that I can work at home and thus it gives me some freedom to travel around the world as long as I show up for work and my boss doesn't find out. I'm hoping I can make enough money from self-publishing that I can quit this teaching job in about 6 months to 1 year from now. I'm currently not even making 4 figures from this teaching job. I have been reading comments from some members claiming that the market is overly saturated but nonetheless I would still like to take my chances and have a stab at it.

Since I have an active imagination, I figure fiction would be best suited for me. Based on the research I have read, the best bang for the buck in terms of time and effort spent seems to be writing erotic romance / erotica novellas, with a word count between 10,000-20,000 words. My strategy is to try and publish as many novellas as I can while trying to produce the best fiction book that I can write. I don't want to pump out crap and develop a bad reputation. I am hoping that I can write approximately between 3000-5000 words a day during my free time outside of work. I am trying to shoot for publishing 1 book a week minimum maybe 2 weeks when I am first starting out and trying to figure everything out.

This past week I managed to do the following things:

1. Read several threads on self-publishing.
2. Read a how to guide for self-publishing erotic romance novels
3. Read about 8-10 erotic romance novels ranging from really good to just god awful. I wanted to see the contrasting differences between why one was highly rated vs one that got crap reviews to give myself an idea about the quality that I would need to put out there. Also reading this books gave me some ideas for plots and stories that I could write about.

Current to do list:

1. Research niche segments. (done)
2. Start writing (done)
3. Proof-read, revise, format (Currently on this step)
4. Learn how to create book covers
5. Purchase stock photos.
6. Create book cover
7. Figure out how to market the book and have an early release and give away copies to get reviews?
8. Publish the book on Amazon


I am a terrible marketer and hoping some of the more experienced members can help chime in on how to best market the books.

Marketing strategy:

1. Give away free copies of the book on several websites and facebook and ask for reviews
2. Publish the book on kindle select for 90 days using the 5 days of free download to promote the book
3. Take the books off kindle select after 90 days and publish on other websites like smashwords, itunes, etc.
4. Create a website and offer a free download of an ebook for newsletter sign ups
5. Send out periodic newsletters promoting new books

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Congrats on your progress so far! I like your meticulous approach to this. A few observations:

1. You're already ahead of the game, in that you're actually writing, pretty darn fast too. If you can combine this speed with crafting a story that people want to read, you could do really well.

2. Yes, it IS competitive out there. And it's getting more competitive all the time. But in six months, it will likely be even MORE competitive, so you're smart to push ahead now. If you don't, you'll always wonder what might've been. People are still making money, and readers are still hungry for good stories. The gold rush might be over, but it's still easier than it was when traditional publishers acted as gatekeepers.

3. There's a lot of good advice above about marketing, testing, etc. But I'm going to add mine...Get your novella written, design a great cover, and get that puppy published via KDP/Amazon. It might sell zero copies and immediately tank. It might take off. You never know. But that first book will tell you a lot. If it tanks, you can always pull it down, rewrite it, change pen names, whatever. If it takes off, you know there's potential for your writing style in your chosen niche. Think of it as a product test. One of my friends did this several times, and it told her a lot about what readers wanted.

4. About KDP Select: I see you plan to use KDP Select for only the first 90 days, and then publish on Barnes & Noble, etc. If it were me, I'd just stick with KDP Select until you build an audience. If your book is enrolled in KDP Select, you can make money off borrows, and your book will get more visibility. Also, this lets readers who are subscribed to Kindle Unlimited sample your book for "free" to them. It's a great way to pick up new readers, because it's a zero risk proposition for them.

5. You don't need a Web site or blog to start building your mailing list. Just put a signup link in the beginning and end of your book. (If you've already done some reading in your genre, you've no doubt seen this done.) Just get a MailCheat(Chimp) account. It's super-easy. They even host the signup forms, so you don't need to go to a lot of trouble. Also, MailCheat(Chimp) is free up until a certain number of subscribers (2,000 maybe?). So basically, in the beginning and end of your book, post a little blurb that links to your MailCheat(Chimp) signup form. It's super-easy.

Good luck as you move forward!

 

[ChickenHawk]

Thank you so much for these tips, I really appreciate the help!

You're so welcome!

About the cover art, here's a super-easy way to tell if a book was hit with the adult filter.
Go to this site: www.salesrankexpress.com, and plug in the author's name or the title of the book.
Aside from sales-rank, it will indicate whether or not a book has been flagged as adult. (If a book is rated "adult," you'll see the words ADULT in red capital letters next to the "content rating" field.) If you're wondering if your planned book pushes the boundaries too far, whether in the cover image, the writing, or the blurb, this would be a great way to get a handle on it.

One caution though... Depending on your Amazon settings, you might not even SEE the books that have been flagged as adult. So if you find (in Amazon) a book you think is pushing the boundaries, remember (in SalesRankExpress) to plug in the author's name, not the name of the title. Odds are decent that some of that author's books will be flagged, even if some have slipped through the cracks.

Looking at the book-covers you listed above, the top ones are definitely riskier. But it's a crap-shoot. If you plug in that author's name in the salesrankexpress Web site, you'll see that some, but not all, of her books are rated "Adult," even though the covers are pretty similar. If it were me, I probably wouldn't risk it by using artwork that explicit. But I see that she has her fans, so she's obviously doing something right. It's a risk-reward trade-off. It's also a matter of branding. If you're looking to make an erotica name for yourself, you might push the boundaries more than someone else who may, for example, want to trend more toward romance.

Of all the links you provided, I thought this book-cover was the safest, and oddly enough, the sexiest, even though it had no nudity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016NG7UDO/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

I'm assuming words like "fu8Ked or nailed or rammed" would be considered too explicit and I would need to go for something more tame like "sleeping with the fireman or in his arms or something".

I agree! I've also heard that Amazon has some secret algo that analyzes your manuscript to determine if it's too adult. Like, maybe they only allow so many of those X-rated sexual words before you get slapped with the adult tag.

I'm assuming my catalog would need to be at least 12-20 books before I can see a decent cashflow come in?

Boy, I don't have a good handle on that, but hopefully some Fastlaners can chime in here? I'm following a different model, with full-length romance novels that include explicit sex, but aren't pure erotica. I don't have nearly that many books out, and have done well financially. But my books are a ton longer and more mainstream.

One neat thing... After you get the first one out there, you'll know a lot more. You'll see how your audience responds. You'll see how well your voice fits the genre. You'll hopefully get some reviews and feedback. That, along with the publishing experience, will put you far ahead of those who only think of going that far. It will be interesting to see how it goes!

 

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[V8Bill]

Sounds like you've got a plan. I'm also going down that path with a view to expanding into speaking...etc. I might be able to help with 4,5 and 6 if you get stuck.

 

[thunder_god]

Sounds like you've got a plan. I'm also going down that path with a view to expanding into speaking...etc. I might be able to help with 4,5 and 6 if you get stuck.

Thanks for the offer, I am a complete newb at this point and any pointers would be appreciated. I will take you up on your offer once I get to step 4.

 

[Mattie]

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/screenwriting/2/steps/88811
This might be of interested, started today.
Sounds like you have a plan.

 

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[Omni]

Hey, don't let this kill your momentum but I'd rather tell you now than you being caught off guard.

If you're going into a competitive category like erotica, your marketing strategy won't work. The free book promo strategy worked well way before saturation. You'll need to put some cash into promoting it by buying lists (either as a free/paid book). And even then, the first few books for marketing is likely going to be negative ROI until you build out your portfolio and increase the lifetime value of your customer.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Update: I've written about 3000 words so far and still have a whole lot of ideas running through my head but I don't want to write a 100k novel lol. I'm experiencing quite the opposite of writer's block and actually have too much to talk about in my story. I didn't think initially when I decided to start writing fiction that I would enjoy this, but I'm actually finding this quite enjoyable especially creating the story and watching how the plot unfolds.
My plan is to write another 5000-6000, possibly more if I'm really into it, and hopefully have my first draft done by Sunday.

How can you start building your audience now? You might wanna test your writing before writing even 30k words because it's still a lot. Sites like WattPad can be useful to get early feedback about your writing and also about what the market wants from you. If you could release some kind of tidbits on instagram or other social media you might find interested parties also. Lots of ways to build an early audience and on Amazon you'll likely need it.

I launched 2 books in the past 2 months, both around 30k with no marketing to see what would happen. 1 copy of each sold the first day it launched and after that they both disappeared into the abyss. That makes me think if the writing is in front of people they'll buy (assuming it's good stuff) but once Amazon tosses it on the pile it gets lost forever.

 

[Selfy]

HI! First of all: good job! You are way ahead.

10k seems lengthy for a pure erotica. Maybe 5k would be better? Depends on what Erotica.... On your cover, be careful about getting too raunchy or it will go straight to dungeon (blocked) and you should already know what title words are 'filtered.' Other than that you should be ok.

Erotica is a game of speed. To write fast, try writing the sex scene first then creating a story around it, like say 60%-40% split with not much character. The game in erotica is not to produce top-notch quality stuff, but to understand the 'kink' or the twisted perversion or what have you. In contrast to romance fantasy, where plots and characters are central. I have mine proof-read even when the other erotica authors do not -- I only do so I can improve -- but the margins in Erotica is quite dismal for someone with a small catalog.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

I wouldn't say its pure erotica/porn. Its just two consenting adults having sex a few times inside of a story...I guess I'll pick photos that have a couple in an implied sexual position for my cover or try to keep their faces hidden so as to avoid this problem all together.

One quick tip... About the implied sexual position, you might want to be a bit careful about that, just to make sure your book isn't tagged with the dreaded "adult" filter. It seems that even fairly explicit erotica books have more "tame" covers than they did even a few years ago. It might be worth googling, "Amazon adult filter" and book covers, or something like that. I recall reading some really interesting (and sadly amusing) threads about how much skin you could show before you got slapped with an adult rating.

Just as a clarification, if Amazon tags your book with the "adult" filter (or however they put it), it won't show up in nearly as many search results. I've heard some erotica writers lament that it makes their books practically invisible, which means it's almost impossible to sell any books.

 

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[Selfy]

Its a romance erotica, not purely erotica, although I would like to make the switch over to pure erotica later.
I haven't even thought about the title keywords yet nor have I come up with a book title yet
I'm assuming words like "fu8Ked or nailed or rammed" would be considered too explicit and I would need to go for something more tame like "sleeping with the fireman or in his arms or something".

My goal is to try and pump out at least 1 book a week if possible while still working at my job and eventually quit and then double that output and then start outsourcing it once my cashflow increases. I'm assuming my catalog would need to be at least 12-20 books before I can see a decent cashflow come in?

Yeah, rammed is too explicit. A good way to do it is look at your neighbors title and see how they did theirs.

About the catalog. No one can promise you 20 books is ok. Thing is, books die fast. Good thing is, readers have voracious appetite. It's about speed, imo. It will be formulaic. I know some Erotic authors pump a book per day, which is not hard to do.

Outsourcing - I don't think it's viable anymore long term. Will create more problems. Maybe if payouts were hundreds time higher like before then maybe. Bottom line is if u want this to be your fastlane.. You gotta write a lot and write fast.

Btw I'm talking about erotica - short and dirty (a place for practice) and converts to sales really fast and dies. @ChickenHawk is on a diff level with her long romance works -- which has a skill barrier if she's talking about series-- much harder to produce but is more lucrative long term.

 

[thunder_god]

Update:

I just published my first novella on kindle about an hour ago. Man was this a lot of work, but still I can't believe I went from just talking about writing a novella to actually creating an actual book in about a months time. The learning curve has been difficult and steep but I learned a lot through this process.

Things I accomplished:

1. I ended up using depositphotos for my photos. They have a new member trial where you can download up to 5 photos for free. I struggled looking for photos in my particular niche because there was not lot of photo options, both on this site as well as other popular stock photo sites. Also the models and photos that were available looked very amateurish and the models were not particularly very good looking. I had to improvise and just use the body and do a little magic with photoshop to convey the same idea. In the future, I will use my earnings from my book sales to get a subscription for either depositphotos or one of the more popular stock photo sites.

2. I designed my own book cover using photoshop. I was debating on whether or not I should hire someone just for ease of time and convenience but in the end decided to do it myself for two reasons. #1 I figured if I learned how to use photoshop this would be a life long skill that I now have and could potentially freelance to others in the future once I get more proficient at it. #2 I wanted to have more control over my book covers and also if I do outsource any work in the future, I can make the necessary modifications myself immediately instead of waiting 1-2 weeks before I receive the modifications back. I spent a little over a week learning the fundamentals of photoshop such as layers, masks, quick selection tool, content-aware, how to cut people out, or remove objects, blending, etc. A great investment I think.

3. Learned about the ins and outs of converting my word document into the mobi format using calibre. I spent several hours trying to figure this out because at my first attempt, my book was seriously messed up with all of the spacing being wrong. I'm going to create a template in word to help save me time from formatting in the future.

4. Had to do some research and learn how to write a good description for my book. I am in no way a great writer, but a novice at this, but I think my writing will improve with time as I do this more and more.

5. I had to do keyword research as well as selecting a particular genre in my niche. I hope what I selected was a good choice.

6. Signed up for MailCheat(Chimp) and created a mailing list and attached it my book. I also created a facebook author page as well which I will utilize in the future for marketing purposes.

I decided to enroll my book in the KDP Select to get more exposure and to build up my mailing list. I also priced my book at 0.99 just to start getting some sales and to hopefully increase my rank. Once I start getting some sales I'm going to switch it to $2.99.

I think now that I've produced my first book and learnt all these things, I can produce my second book in half the time, and even less for subsequent books. I think for my next book I'll just switch to erotica instead of romance and tone down the length to 5000 words. I want to test out several different niches and see which ones sticks and which ones don't.

That's all for now, I'm going to get started on my second book tomorrow.

 

[ChickenHawk]

I just published my first novella on kindle about an hour ago.

Congrats! Wow, looking at that list, you've made some amazing progress -- writing, cover-designing, formatting, and more. It's funny how much you can learn by actually doing something. Even if you end up farming some of this out in the future, the experience should serve you really well.

 

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[thunder_god]

Hey, don't let this kill your momentum but I'd rather tell you now than you being caught off guard.

If you're going into a competitive category like erotica, your marketing strategy won't work. The free book promo strategy worked well way before saturation. You'll need to put some cash into promoting it by buying lists (either as a free/paid book). And even then, the first few books for marketing is likely going to be negative ROI until you build out your portfolio and increase the lifetime value of your customer.

Is it really that bad out there?

 

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[Omni]

Is it really that bad out there?

Yes. For a high competition category like erotica. You can test this for yourself by publishing a 15k word novella on free. You'll see what I mean or you'll find traction.

Publishing game is high quality product + marketing. You can't skimp out on the marketing and expect the same results as someone who does both.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[thunder_god]

Update: I've written about 3000 words so far and still have a whole lot of ideas running through my head but I don't want to write a 100k novel lol. I'm experiencing quite the opposite of writer's block and actually have too much to talk about in my story. I didn't think initially when I decided to start writing fiction that I would enjoy this, but I'm actually finding this quite enjoyable especially creating the story and watching how the plot unfolds.
My plan is to write another 5000-6000, possibly more if I'm really into it, and hopefully have my first draft done by Sunday.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I never heard about Wattpad before. Can I submit partial stories like a chapter or two there? Also I haven't come up with any pen names yet and would prefer to keep it anonymous that I am writing erotic romance novels.

Yeah you can submit partial stories by chapter and get feedback from readers right on the site.

I've seen some really good feedback where people tell others about weak points or what they want from the book.

You can set pen names there also.

 

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[GuestUser141]

Read your progress,this article may help

Crowdfund publishing : https://janefriedman.com/crowdfunded-publishing/

If your good and capture the imagination nobody will tell you honestly expect an audince.

Crowdfund publishing may be just the start who nows.....good luck

Thanks You

 

[thunder_god]

Update:

I've written about 8000 words now and almost winding down my story, although I feel like its taking sort of a detour and the story has drifted somewhere else. Its my first time writing these types of stories so I'm still trying to navigate the waters here. I'm expecting to either finish writing my first book by tomorrow or tuesday.

The biggest obstacle I am finding is not even writing the story, but internal conflicts in myself. I am having a lot of self doubts whether or not I can make this succeed. I have tried several other avenues for trying to make money in the past but they all ended in failures, and I find myself asking myself whether or not this will be repeat of those experiences. I absolutely hate my soul sucking job right now that pays me barely enough, so I tell myself that I have no choice but to succeed and make it happen and use that to push forward each day.

 

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[thunder_god]

Update:

I finally finished writing my book. The book ended up being around 12,500 words. A little bit more than I wanted but its alright for my first book. I did 1 rewrite of the story because I wasn't too happy with the plot, and then edited it and proofread it twice. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I wanted to get the story right but I need to focus on the big picture which is actually publishing something instead of trying to write the perfect story.
Today I finished writing all the copyright disclaimer stuff.
So now its onto learning how to use photoshop or some other book cover editing programs.
I've watched 3 tutorials so far on making book covers but didn't get much out of them, so now I'm just going to look for some general beginning tutorials on photoshop and learn the fundamentals instead. I don't know how long this step is going to take me, but I think its a very important step and I shouldn't half a$$ it. I'm hoping I can get my book cover done by the end of this week, once I figure out how to use photoshop or maybe get another program instead.

There's also the whole issue about obtaining photos I'm going to have to worry about once I get down to designing my cover. I know some members here used dollarphotoclub but adobe bought them out, closed shop and then jacked up the prices by 300%! Also they don't allow you to use your photos on erotic romance book covers, so that eliminated a cheap photo option. I'm going to have to do some research and look up some cheap alternatives to obtain erotic romance pictures.

I also added in a page on my ebook for newsletter sign-ups as suggested by chickenhawk. I haven't set-up mail chimp yet and will do that once my book cover is finished.

It seems I can no longer edit my original post so I'll just bold my steps from now on.

3. Proof-read, revise, format (done)
4. Learn how to create book covers (currently on this step)

 

[ChickenHawk]

Do you already have PhotoShop? (I know it's pretty pricey.) I designed my first book-covers in PaintShop Pro, which is a little more basic and might be more simpler to use, for what it's worth.

Also they don't allow you to use your photos on erotic romance book covers, so that eliminated a cheap photo option.

Interesting. Do you mean that they won't let you use their images for book-covers if the book falls under the erotica category? I've never heard of this. Not saying it's not possible. Just saying this is news to me. How erotic is your book? Is it full-fledged X-rated stuff that will be hit with the "adult" tag? Or is it a spicy romance? Is there a love story in there? Or is it just sex? You don't have to answer on the forum. Those are just things to keep in-mind. From what I've heard, you're better off if you can avoid that whole adult-content filter. If it were me, and I had 12,500 pages of just sex (not saying you do, this is just hypothetical), I'd probably write another 5,000 words of romance to wrap around it and call it a romance.

I'm going to have to do some research and look up some cheap alternatives to obtain erotic romance pictures.

When I designed my own covers, I purchased my images from iStock photo. Here's their pricing structure: https://secure.istockphoto.com/plans-and-pricing. As of now (May 2016), you can buy three credits for $33. From what I've found, most images cost 3 credits, but there are a few that cost only 1 credit. It's still more than a dollar, but nothing that would break the bank, hopefully.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[thunder_god]

Interesting insight. How "erotic" is your book? Is it pure erotica/porn? Or, is it a romance that happens to include explicit sex scenes? Unless your book is raunchier than average, you might be overthinking this. It's really hard to say without knowing how explicit your book is, but there's a big difference between a romantic book that features explicit scenes between two consenting adults and a book that features some guy screwing a couple of under-aged goats on page one. If it's the goat thing, I can see why you'd be concerned. If it's not though, you might be throwing up roadblocks needlessly.

That, of course, is just my opinion and not to be taken as legal advice. I'm no lawyer.


But this, along with the subscription thing, is no deal if you only need ONE photo. If your budget is $30, I'd find a place that will sell you one decent photo for $30. If your book doesn't live up to your hopes sales-wise, you're only out $30. If your book exceeds your expectations, you can justify a larger photo-purchase or subscription in the future.

I wouldn't say its pure erotica/porn. Its just two consenting adults having sex a few times inside of a story, that's all. I might be overthinking things and being a bit paranoid. I guess I'll pick photos that have a couple in an implied sexual position for my cover or try to keep their faces hidden so as to avoid this problem all together.

Your right, its probably better to just stick with 1-2 photos for now and see how it is, before spending anymore money. I'll check out istockphotos.

 

[Selfy]

I launched 2 books in the past 2 months, both around 30k with no marketing to see what would happen. 1 copy of each sold the first day it launched and after that they both disappeared into the abyss. That makes me think if the writing is in front of people they'll buy (assuming it's good stuff) but once Amazon tosses it on the pile it gets lost forever.

Wow you're back on the self-pub grind? @SinisterLex

The amazon algo, I heard, rewards consistent producers with higher placements.

Sites like WattPad can be useful to get early feedback about your writing and also about what the market wants from you.

Or just pay for a professional critique. Personally, I'm not too keen on getting feedback on a public site, but i'll gobble it up if it comes from a trained professional.

 

[Omni]

@thunder_god great progress! For depositphotos, instead of a subscription, I typically grab this appsumo deal ($39 for 100 photos) that happens once a year
http://www.appsumo.com/depositphotos-2016/

 

[thunder_god]

@thunder_god great progress! For depositphotos, instead of a subscription, I typically grab this appsumo deal ($39 for 100 photos) that happens once a year
http://www.appsumo.com/depositphotos-2016/

Funny you should mention this, I just purchased the exact same pack from appsumo like 5 minutes ago haha. This will last me a while now. Hopefully I can make back my investment soon.
I also found a great site for grabbing background images for free that has a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license meaning you can use it without attribution and on commericial works as well https://www.pexels.com/.

 

[thunder_god]

Update: Its been about 1.5 weeks since my book went live. I didn't know what the heck I was doing at first, and just used 2 of the 5 free days in KDP select. Surprisingly I got 1 sale right off the bat before my book became free. I got 37 free downloads and then I started to see sales averaging around 1 a day when I priced my first book in the series at 0.99 cents. So far I have sold 12 copies. I wasn't expecting much and I was just glad to be making a few sales. Last night I went to check on my progress and I noticed I got a 2 star review on amazon, my first review. The comment was very hurtful. They said my book was too short wtf (it clearly says the number of pages on the description plus I wrote 12,000 words which was above the industry average of between 5000-10000 words) and that their was too much sex in it. I thought erotic novels are suppose to have a lot of sex it, even based on my cover and description, its pretty obvious that was what they were going to get. They also said that my plot was weak and their was no connection between the characters, fair enough. It was my first time writing a book of this length and I still have a lot to learn regarding character development. Anyways it totally killed my mood and confidence. Since receiving that 2 star review, I haven't gotten a single sale and also my pages read from the KDP select program has declined drastically as well. I think this review ruined my book sales.

I also managed to publish another 10k book in a different niche to explore other potential niches but I have yet to get a single sale on it. The book was published on friday evening. I'm using a different pen name for this one. I'm contemplating whether or not I should make this book free for 2 days. I have about 1900 or so pages read from the KDP select program as well from my first book.

For my next book, I'm planning to just jump into pure erotic and write a 5k book just to test the waters. Then I will go back and write the second book in the series to my first book.

I think for my pricing strategy, I will price all of my first books in a series at 0.99 instead of free and then price subsequent titles in the series at $2.99 and then package it between $5-9.99 based on the number of books in a set.

I also submitted my books to two facebook groups for new erotic releases to help for marketing but the owners of the pages, never even advertised my books on facebook. I think they are just picking and choosing what they want to advertise.

I'm going to have to start writing and publishing faster if I hope to turn things around.

Summary:
sold 12 books so far from first book at .99 cents
37 free downloads of book based on 2 day free book promo
About 1900 pages read from KDP select
Received a bad 2 star review that potentially killed my sales
Published second 10k book on friday
No sales yet on second book when priced at .99 cents
Now planning out outline for third 5k erotic book

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Is publishing an ebook free on Amazon? I know you have to spend money to make a cover, but does posting the book for sale come with a fee?

Happily, it's free to publish an ebook on Amazon. (At least for now. )

Amazon makes their money by keeping a percentage of every sale. Hope this helps!

 

[thunder_god]

Update #1:

I've spend a good 6-8 hours trying to figure out research on which categories but the only thing that has happened is filled my mind with information overload. Right now I'm contemplating whether or not I should just throw the research out the door and just write something or keep on spending more time trying to find a niche.

Update #2: After plowing through several more hours, I think I have found a few niches that doesn't have quite as much competition so I will now decide which one I target. I think I might actually target 2, write 1 book in one niche, then write another book in another niche, and then pump out 2 more books in each niche and then compare the results to see which one I should focus on my efforts on. I will try and come up with an outline by tonight and hopefully start writing or writing by tomorrow at the latest. I want to get my first story and draft done by this weekend.

I need to make this happen, because I'm already experiencing problems with this shady russian company and there are a few students who are very cold and demanding and difficult to work with. It just continues to remind me that working for others is like a prison and you have no control over your future and have to just take shit from people and swallow it in order to get a paycheque. Screw that!

 

[thunder_god]

Yes. For a high competition category like erotica. You can test this for yourself by publishing a 15k word novella on free. You'll see what I mean or you'll find traction.

Publishing game is high quality product + marketing. You can't skimp out on the marketing and expect the same results as someone who does both.

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I'll have to think hard about how to best come up with a marketing strategy once I'm done my book.

 

[thunder_god]

How can you start building your audience now? You might wanna test your writing before writing even 30k words because it's still a lot. Sites like WattPad can be useful to get early feedback about your writing and also about what the market wants from you. If you could release some kind of tidbits on instagram or other social media you might find interested parties also. Lots of ways to build an early audience and on Amazon you'll likely need it.

I launched 2 books in the past 2 months, both around 30k with no marketing to see what would happen. 1 copy of each sold the first day it launched and after that they both disappeared into the abyss. That makes me think if the writing is in front of people they'll buy (assuming it's good stuff) but once Amazon tosses it on the pile it gets lost forever.

I never heard about Wattpad before. Can I submit partial stories like a chapter or two there? Also I haven't come up with any pen names yet and would prefer to keep it anonymous that I am writing erotic romance novels.