Taking the Erotica Leap

[Rainy_TX]

I have dabbled in writing since I was little girl and have had a couple short stories published in a local newspaper a while back. So, when I found this forum on writing here, I dove in!

So far, I have:
*finished book 'one' of my first story, "Confessions of a Curvy Girl"
*created the cover for "Confessions of a Curvy Girl"
*started the first book of my second series, "Thicker than Blood"
*created the cover for "Thicker than Blood"
*created profiles on a couple of erotica sites, linking to my author page on Amazon

Things to do:
*find a copy editor that does erotica
*upload the first book of each series to the erotica sites
*publish the first book of each series to Amazon, offering them for free

Will update more progress as I go along.

Here are my covers:

If anyone could recommend a good copy editor, I'd appreciate it!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Wow... I just got the best review from Amazon:

This was a great start to a series, with enough humor and steaminess to warrant a full novel.

The start of the plot made me think it was going to be a mindless sex story, but as I read on I began to really care about Kenna. It's nice to see a story about a big beautiful woman who isn't afraid to indulge in her sex drive! A good change from the typical insecure BBW. And Dr Amante (love the name) is quite the sexy doctor!

Highly recommend for anyone who likes medical romance with a touch of the paranormal... I hope there will be more paranormal stuff in the next book, since it just lightly touched on it in this one. Still, looking forward to the sequel!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

YAY! One of my books busted the Amazon Best Seller's Rank of 5,000!

On a not too all different note, the husband is starting to take an interest in my writings. Hmmm... wonder why that is?? LOL

 

[Rainy_TX]

Hey everyone! Just got back from a trip to the Philippines with my friend to see her family. First time having been off North America... what an experience! And, just my luck, I had to come back with a cold. lol

Anyway, just wanted to post a little update. I currently have five stories up on Amazon. One is perma free, the rest are .99. By writing different sub-genres, I have started to see which are more popular. My Thicker than Blood series is about Archangels and Fallen Angels, while my Broken Alpha series is about a billionaire wolf shifter and his twin brother, who happens to be a vampire... and it is doing best, even with just one part to the series published. Although, there are a lot of factors to consider in the break down... cover art, synopsis, keywords, etc.

I will be wrapping up my Thicker than Blood series this week and creating a "boxed set" as well as publishing part 5.

January was my best month so far, selling over 800 books in the US and UK alone. Not much when you consider the profit I'm getting from that, but for a second month, it's encouraging. Also, I'm building a good mailing list and have 4+ star reviews on average on all of my stories.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

So, I'm taking the plunge and publishing my YA story. I've decided to break the first novel up into three parts and will do the same with the other two books. The first part is publishing today and will be live within 12ish hours.

I'm excited and afraid at the same time. This story is my baby... I wrote the first novel last year and have been sitting on it ever since. I pulled a lot of experiences from my childhood and the location from where I grew up. Sending it out into the world was a very hard decision... it's a real piece of me after all! lol I blame my editor for the final shove... he said it was like The Road, Walking Dead and Twilight all wrapped up into one. While I was flattered by the comparison, I still went through it several times before today - picking apart details. Anyway, I took a deep breath and hit the publish button an hour ago. EEEEEEEEEE!

We'll see how it and the new pen name does... (fingers crossed)

 

[Rainy_TX]

Update:

YA story is doing... decently, I suppose. It's ranked #56,844 in the paid kindle store. Being part one of a three part series, and under a brand new pen name, I think that's good. Will get the other two parts up soon and then run the first part for free over a weekend. See how that goes.

I am finishing up my Thicker than Blood series. Five parts to it, and I'm grouping all five with a bit of bonus material into Fallen Hard, the Thicker than Blood novel. Part 5 and the complete novel will be going up on Amazon tomorrow. Here is the cover for the full novel:

Whew, what a day!

Next, I will be working on my wolf shifter series. Currently, there is just one part up (of approx 10k words) and it's doing best of all of my books. (Currently ranked #14,989 in the paid kindle store)

Gotta keep pluggin' away!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Update time! I am happy to say that my income from my books has surpassed that of my former full time job! Also, a group of book bloggers is doing an entire month 'author showcase' on one of my pen names!

Geared to have two more books published this week!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Update:
*Have sold 17 books on Amazon since uploading my first book last week.
*Book two, Fallen from Grace, is published and live.
*3k words into the next book in the series, Truth in Legends.
*In following the lead from an author I follow on Twitter, I have created a pinterest account and am making boards to pin images for inspiration for my current projects. http://www.pinterest.com/leighton1238/truth-in-legends/ It also is a cool way for readers to see what might be coming up for the next book!

 

[Held for Ransom]

You caught me!

I always do. No matter what, I'll be watching.

 

[Rainy_TX]

Another job bites the dust! Woohoo! How does your husband feel about your writing now?

He's starting telling people that I'm an author. Granted, he tells them that I write porn, but he goes on to tell them books by big authors that my books are out ranking. lol

Your progress is downright breathtaking! How long are these books, anyway? I'm feeling snail-like.

I'm doing series, so each 'book' is about 10-12k words until the end of the series, then I publish a novel that includes all the parts of the series. Right now, that means I have nine 10-12k word books and 1 novel. I like doing series because it's a good litmus paper by which to gauge reader interest. If the first part of the series takes off, I know they'll read the next one. If not, then I move on.

So, don't feel like a snail! I'm only doing 10-20k words a week! You blow my count out of the water!

 

[AubreyRose]

My first books in my series will be roughly 10k words long. My plan is to make them an intro or hook into the series and capture readers with the freebie. The books after that will be priced.
!

Don't publish a permafreebie without a backlist - there's no point. Wait until your entire series is out, then permafree the first one. IMO.
Congrats on making the leap - your covers look awesome! If you're really just doing erotica, no need to worry overmuch about copy editing. If you write as well as you do here with only a few errors, that's fine for erotic shorts. Or trade reads with another author to find any egregious errors.

Or are you writing erotic romance? your covers look more erommy, especially the first one.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Today... what did I do today... I created accounts on: Goodreads, Literotica, Amazon and Smashwords. I made a blog on blogger. I uploaded book one of Thicker than Blood to Smashwords, Amazon and Literotica. It is now live on Smashwords, waiting for approval on Amazon and Literotica.

Busy, busy day. If anyone wants to check out my book one, it's free on Smashwords right now. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/387584

 

[Rainy_TX]

Just a little tip I want to throw out there to others that are just getting started... read works by strictly Kindle authors that are doing well in your chosen niche. This is GOLD! They are writing what people want and is a perfect way to gain cheap insight to how to craft your stories to cater to your chosen group of readers.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon an author who is in my niche, has only 8 stories under her belt (they look to be approx 30k words each), started publishing in April of 2013, and most of her stories are in the top 50 for said niche... which is in the top 2,500 for the Paid Kindle store.

I don't recommend putting reading everything highlighted authors have put out, but take it in bites. Never take focus off of your own writing.

Oh, also, one additional tip... if you aren't collecting names for a mailing list, do so now! I would say that 90% of the people on my mailing list buy my newest book within 2 days of me sending them an email. This is great not only for purchases but for ranking of your book. The more purchases you have, they higher in ranking your book climbs, and the more people that are exposed to your work!

 

[Rainy_TX]

Update on Altered: It went live last night and right now, it's #48,184 in the paid kindle store.

Ugh. I need to do something other than sit here hitting refresh. LOL

 

[Rainy_TX]

Excellent work. The book covers are pretty impressive - they alone should be enough to generate interest in your books.

Thank you! :embarrased:

I had a nice surprise this morning when I woke up and found that Altered, my YA, is at #37,892 in the paid kindle store... and #99 in the ebooks> teen & Young adult> Romance> Sci fi & Dystopian category!

 

[Rainy_TX]

Drum roll please....

Part 5, Azariah's Rage and the Thicker than Blood novel, Fallen Hard, is up on Amazon, baby!

Now I can enjoy the weekend!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Hey all! Hope you're having a good Saturday!

I started work in the next book in my Broken Alpha series today. I got the outline done, the cover done and I'm 3k words into it so far but I'm aiming for 4.5k tonight at least. I'm planning on about 15-17k words for this part of the series.

I feel very proud that I have 8 books up since I started working on this in November. I would have more, but a vacation and the flu kinda got in the way! (I know, I know, poor me...) I would like to put up one book a week... I feel that's totally doable.

I think my covers and descriptions are getting better but I feel I still need to work on description writing. Other than that, learning to show and not tell in writing is my other area of work. By reading popular stories in my genre, I'm taking mental notes on how the other authors word things - how they describe situations, feelings and actions. Huge help.

On a side note, I was checking out the "look inside" on Fallen Hard... and I had a YIKES moment! It got to a naughty part before the free sample ended! So, I was proactive and wrote to Amazon, asking them if they could shorten the length of the "look inside" because I was concerned that young readers might stumble upon the naughty. They are going to adjust it to end right before the colorful graphics begin. Just an FYI in case anyone else wondered about that.

Back to work! (I see you giving me the stink-eye, HfR!)

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Happy Friday, everyone! Wanted to post a little update:

Published my 9th book today (the 8th under my main pen name). It's the 2nd part of a series out of 3. The first part of the series has been doing pretty decent, been enjoying 8-15 sales per day this month. (Not CoS's or CH's numbers... but not too shabby) So, we'll see what the second part does to those numbers.

Also, working on wrapping up another book for this week. Hope to have it up on Sunday.

 

[Rainy_TX]

Quit checking your sales woman...

Well, sir, you'll be happy to know that I finished the book I was hoping to finish Sunday today instead and it's currently with the editor. (So that's TWO books this week!) Musta felt my ears burning or something... weird.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

I've had a couple of people ask about pre-made covers so I've started putting a few together, if anyone is interested. Pre-made Covers I will be adding more each day.

Something has to pay for the editor! lol

 

[Rainy_TX]

Publishing my 2nd part of the vampire story today. I am constantly amazed at how stubborn my characters are. I'll have a nice story line all set up and they'll decide that what I had planned wasn't something they would do. Bastards.

Anyway, three of my books are ranking in at least one of their genre's top 100, so I'm pretty happy.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Hi Britni and thanks! I do freelance covers for other authors, I'm doing a couple today. Thanks again and have a great day!

(If anyone needs great cover art, hit me up via PM)

 

[Rainy_TX]

Congrats to you on taking action. A lot of people talk but you are actually doing it. I am in sales and a lot of women are reading 50 shades of grey, what do you think of this book?

Thank you, and yes, I am doing my best to get my stories out there.

As far as Fifty Shades go... I really didn't like it. To be honest, I had a hard time not just tossing it out. Characters lacked depth and the writing was mediocre, imho. I think the reason this book is so popular is because of it's BDSM content. It was shocking, like Madonna in the 80s. "Oh my GOD, did you read FSOG? It's so naughty! Tee hee!" People wanted to read it because their friends aunt, their co-worker, their so-and-so read it... and "omfg, you just have to read it!" And... like everyone else, I read it because it was recommended. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. lol Word of mouth is fantastic marketing. We could all be so lucky to have hordes of loyal readers telling their friends about our books...

Sorry to get off on a tangent, just actually read something about FSOG movie just now, so my thoughts were fresh.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

wooo hoo! Just had my first beta reader give me input on "Thicker than Blood":

"I found no problems at all with the flow of the story. I cracked up when the nurses were talking about the hand size. I could just see them gathered around the nurses station gossiping like that! You've got me drawn fully into this storyline and I would be greatly honored to read the rest of it! I am dying to know why Matt got so angry and stormed off when he learned who the doctor was!!"

I guess my time working at a hospital as a unit clerk is paying off. LOL

 

[Rainy_TX]

Hey guys, I found this podcast and I thought some of you'd be interested:

http://authormarketingclub.com/blog/podcast-how-to-make-10000-a-month-writing-erotica-books/

 

[Rainy_TX]

Hi everyone! Just a quick update before I head off to play with the family for Christmas...

*My first part of the Thicker than Blood series is now permafree on Amazon. (It only went live on B&N on the 20th, so that was only 4 days for Amazon to price match, for those of you wondering.) I didn't ask anyone to price match... it just happened on it's own.
*I finished part three of the series last night but won't have it on Amazon until the 28th.
*Getting some good reviews, people following me on twitter, joining my mailing list and I've had one person follow a board on Pinterest so far.​

Will be reading Rob Eager's book over the holiday as well as checking out some top selling stories in my genre.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or a wonderful holiday, whatever your faith!

 

[Rainy_TX]

Okay, I'm just going to say it... I've fallen in love with writing stories!

Anyway, I published part three of my Thicker than Blood series today and sent an email blast to the readers that have signed up for new releases. I have planned out four and five as well as started on two different series. So far, I've had 2 five star reviews on the first Thicker than Blood and 2 five star reviews on the second, "Fallen from Grace", on Amazon; and 2 five star reviews for the first part on B&N.

Writing is very addictive. I've found myself so wrapped up in my characters that writing seems more like watching my favorite TV show than doing a chore. I need one of those treadmill-desk combos so I won't get a DVT from all of the sitting I'm doing!

 

[Rainy_TX]

Happy New Year, everyone! Just a quick update here:

*Sold 8 of my second part to Thicker than Blood today, and it's now #92 on Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Angels Woooo!
*The first part of Thicker than Blood is #1,183 in the free kindle store and #14 in the free Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Angels
*Will be wrapping up parts four and five this week. (Just in time because I'm going on vacation from the 13th till the end of the month).
*Created the outline for my next series, Raven & the Witch, and also created the cover for the first part. (below)

Great way to spend New Years Day!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

After much internet research today, I have found some brilliant tips I'm going to put to use. To see how it effects my rankings and sales, here are my current stats right now:

First part of series: Thicker than Blood

• permafree
• 2 five star reviews
• #16 Kindle Free Store> Kindle eBooks> Romance> Paranormal> Angels
• #31 Kindle Free Store> Kindle eBooks> Romance> Paranormal> Vampires

Second part: Fallen from Grace

• $0.99
• 2 five star reviews
• #100 in Kindle Store> Kindle eBooks> Romance> Paranormal> Angels
• Averaging 10 sales per day since start of 2014

Third part: Truth in Legends

• $0.99
• 3 reviews with average of 3.5 stars (Some person didn't like that I was breaking this story up into a series and not just one book)
• #143,676 in paid Kindle store
• Averaging 4 sales per day since start of 2014

I will be implementing some of the things I found today and will update changes, if any, in a week.

 

[Rainy_TX]

Okay... here it is!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IIDHRQG/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

They thought they'd be safe from the outbreak while camping in the mountains... they were wrong...

High school seniors, Anna and Keith, were excited about camping in the rainy mountains of Yale Valley Washington for spring break. Despite the increasing news of the Panhandle virus, the twins continued on like usual... until they witness an infected woman kill a man. Her white eyes and open sores convince them that the virus wasn't just infecting people... it's changing them into zombies.

Mitch Cooper expected an ordinary trip with his best friend Trey when Trey attempts to play match-maker. Mitch was just getting over his devastating crush on Anna when he is suddenly thrown together with her and her twin brother on the camping trip. He's positive he had no chance with Anna until he saves her from a zombie and then things change. She's looking at him now... and even smiling.

When a warning comes in from Anna and Keith's mom, the group must decide if they should stay in the mountains or venture back down into the Valley and face desperate people and more zombies...​

 

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