Not that kind of messing around!

In this chapter, I’m talking about trying different strategies to see if you get increases in sales.

Book Covers

One thing that can make or break a book is the book cover and cover images. People do judge a book by its cover. If you have a book that isn’t getting any attention, you can try changing the book cover design. Pick a different cover image, change the color scheme, or move the title and author name to different locations. When making these changes, see what is selling well in your market and keep some of the same elements. But don’t copy another person’s work!

Title

Another option you have when updating or tweaking your book is to change the title. Some people use keywords in their book titles to ensure people who like those types of scenarios see the book. That way there is no question what the book is about.

Book Description

Your book description can sell or kill your book. To capture your reader’s interest, the book description must tell the potential reader what the book is about. Don’t forget to add those trigger warnings.

Price Points

Money. The root of all evil, or the key to a comfortable living. Either way, if your books are for sale, then you need to play around with your sales price. Amazon also has this neat feature in the pricing section where you can compare your work with other work of a similar nature and discover what the optimal sale’s price would be. You can choose to go with that price or a different one. Not to mention, you can continue to change your book price as time goes on.

Book Reviews

Book reviews are necessary to get sales. There are millions of books on Amazon, so you must find a way to stand out from the crowd. The more positive reviews, the more social proof that you have. However, bad reviews seem to be better than no reviews. Moreover, if your reviews give you sound advice or point out grammatical errors, fix what you can, and re-publish. When you do your description, include that the book has been updated and improved.

Don’t forget – Grab the companion workbook for your step-by-step guide!

Buy Now!

Alexia Chase

https://alexiachaseromance.com

#writeeroticshortstories #startpublishingtoday #sweetromance #dirtysex #happyeverafter #quickreads #shorteroticstories #erotica #contemporaryromance #eroticsex

While writing erotic on its own can be exciting, let’s not kid ourselves, you want to make money. I know, for me, becoming a published author on Amazon was a huge accomplishment. I’ve spent countless hours writing, publishing, and marketing over the last three years.

However, achievement is not my only goal as an author. I would also like to have an impact on people and to be able to make a living with my writing. Both goals take persistence and dedication to achieve.

The exciting thing about erotica is that if you produce a lot of quality content, then you can speed up the timeline to being known and making money. I should know. With my first three months as a published erotic short story author, I’ve ten times my Amazon profits versus my three years as a non-fiction author. What does that say? People are seeking escape and pleasure.

If you’ve decided to try your hand at writing erotica, there are several additional things that you can do to expand your reach.

Email Lists

As they say, the money is in the list. To ensure that your fans known when your next book is coming out, you need a way to contact them. True, you could depend on your fans to follow you on Amazon and let them do the work, but you have no control over Amazon. If your fans are on your list, you can make sure they receive timely notices of new books and promotions.

Website

Another way to enhance your reach is through a website. With a website, people have a centralized location where they can find you. On your website, you can display your books, write a blog, set up swag promotions, display book excerpts, etc. Furthermore, you can use your website to set up Pinterest pins, Facebook posts, and other marketing ideas. One word of warning – setting up multiple accounts is a pain in the ass.

About Page

On your website, it is essential to have an about page. This page is where you can tell your story and connect with your readers. Make it fun.

Contact Page

Again having ways for your fans to connect with you is invaluable. Get them on your list.

Freebie

One way to get people on your email list is to have freebies. These freebies can be on your website, in Facebook posts, via Pinterest, or inside your books. The more avenues you have available for readers to get onto your list, the better off you are. What freebies should you use? A few examples of freebies that fans might like to receive include chapters of future books, epilogues, and free books.

Promotion

Another way to reach new readers is through advertisements. If you are in KDP Select, you can promote your book for five days out of each quarter. These promotions can be free days or Kindle Countdown Deals. Furthermore, you can choose to have all five days done together or spread out over time. During these promotions you will want to contact diffident book promotions sites to run ads for you. Some are free, and some are paid.

Social Media

Social media is a great way to expand your reach. It is important to have a Facebook page to post upcoming books, cover photos, book quotes, or information about your writing process.

Pinterest is another format that you can use. If you have a website, you can make blog posts for each of your books and post them on your Pinterest board. Another option to further your reach with Pinterest is to get on group boards for books and/or erotica.

Twitter has been said to be the best format for erotic writers to connect with their fanbase. I’m excited to try this one in the future.

Instagram is another option for furthering your reach. I’ve not investigated this one yet, but I can see the benefit of sharing your book covers via Instagram as that platform is heavy on images.

Book Reviewers

Another way to increase your reach is to have your book reviewed by well-known book reviewers. These individuals run blogs that focus on book reviews and love to share good, new books for their reviewers to check out. There are several of them out there.

However, I would be weary of those who contact you as they will want money for their service. Not to say that the product, for some of these bloggers, isn’t high-quality, but there are questions regarding how much traction you will get based upon these reviews. I would recommend keeping your expense down as much as possible.

Booksprout

I love Booksprout. It is a great way to get reviews of your book. I’ve tried getting reviews for non-fiction but have not had any luck. Most of the readers on this site are fiction fans. Anyway, you can use this site to showcase your books and get honest reviews to be posted on any site that your books are published through.

Packages

If you write short stories, you can package those stories into bundles and publish them as a book package. This is a great tool to discount your books for readers, but to get you higher profits for each item sold.

Audiobooks

People are busy. As a result, they like to listen to books during their commutes, when cleaning the house, and while working out. Erotica is no different. The next time you see someone sitting on the bus with earbuds in, you might take a second to imagine what she’s listening to. Her next audiobook could be yours.

Granted, there is a lot of expense if you hire someone to read and produce an audiobook for you, but there are options available for an ambition person to do their own voice work. You will need a space with good acoustics, a microphone, an ACX account, and lots of patience.

Anthology and Collaborations

Another option to speed up your rise to the top of the Amazon charts is to team up with other authors in your genre. You can do this by politely contacting other authors and offer your support., collaboration opportunities, or just a friendly introduction. You never know what opportunities are available out there until you try.

Be sure to contact only those authors whose work you feel is polished and fits your publications. If you just write about BDSM and the person you are trying to get to share your work with their readers or to join in a collaboration effort writes about shapeshifters, your audience is going to be vastly different.

Other Sites

If you aren’t interested in being exclusive with Amazon, there are other sites available for you to publish your works. However, if your material is available somewhere else, you won’t be able to participate in Amazon’s promotional programs. Other sites include Apple, Sony, Kobo, and Nook.

There are numerous publishing formats available these days. However, Amazon is still king, and it is easy to publish on Amazon. In the past, you needed a mobi file to upload a manuscript to Amazon, but now just about any type of document will work.

Don’t forget – Grab the companion workbook for your step-by-step guide!

Buy Now!

Alexia Chase

https://alexiachaseromance.com

#writeeroticshortstories #startpublishingtoday #sweetromance #dirtysex #happyeverafter #quickreads #shorteroticstories #erotica #contemporaryromance #eroticsex

There are numerous publishing formats available these days. However, Amazon is still king, and it is easy to publish on Amazon. In the past, you needed a mobi file to upload a manuscript to Amazon, but now just about any type of document will work.

Kindle Create

Even though you can upload a .doc file or even a .pdf, I prefer to use Kindle Create, which is a free program that you can download to your computer. The program allows you to see what your book will look like on different types of reading devices (phone, tablet, and computer), click on what your book looks like, and click on the table of contents. Kindle Create also prepares a polished looking document.

Calibre

Another program that is free to download on your computer is Calibre. I also use this program at times to produce a mobi or pdf file. If your document is extremely large, then Calibre is a better choice than Kindle Create which tends to produce an error message when working with large files.

Amazon Author Account

Once you’ve prepared your document for download, you will need an Amazon Author Account. It isn’t complicated to open an author account. After following the steps as set out by Amazon, you will be directed to your bookshelf.

Bookshelf

Your Amazon Bookshelf will allow you to create a new eBook. There are several different functions on the Amazon eBook publication site. However, I will only detail the aspects that you must include to have your book published. You will need the following things identified before publishing – book title, subtitle (if necessary), author name.

Book Description

The next section that you need to have prepared is a book description. This is the snippet that will be visible to readers searching for a book to download. As a result, you should write something that summaries your book and would entice someone to want to download or purchase the document. I would recommend looking at book descriptions for other books in your chosen genre to see what they have listed.

About the Author

Many people like to include an about the author section in the book description. This is a small snippet of information that lets people know a little bit about you. It is not necessary, but it can help people connect with you.

Keywords

Another section on the Amazon publishing program is the keyword section. These words are to be reflective of the content of your books but are not a part of your book’s title or category.

Categories

You can choose two categories for your books to be found in. The two main categories for erotica are erotica and erotic romance. There are also other potential categories that you can have your book added to. However, you will need to contact Amazon KDP Customer Service.

Copyright

Before you can scroll down to the bottom and save your information, you need to indicate whether you own the copyright for the manuscript. This should be answered as yes.

Ready to Publish

The next section asks whether you are ready to publish or set for pre-release. If you are prepared to publish, then you need to “click” the ready to publish button and save the information.

Upload Manuscript

Now, it is time to upload your manuscript. Here you will upload whatever format you’ve chosen for your book. Again, you can upload numerous different types of documents to Amazon.

Upload or Create Cover

Next, you will upload or create your own book cover. Unless you know what you’re doing, you should have a cover made for you.

Preview

Once you’ve uploaded your manuscript and your book cover, you will have the option of previewing your book. You can scroll through the book and look at each page to see if there are any errors. Making changes prior to publishing is important.

If everything looks good, then you are ready to move to the next section. The bottom of the page has an ISBN section, but you don’t need to add anything there. Instead, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit save and continue.

KDP Select

If you want to have your book available for Kindle Unlimited (KU) subscribers and receive money for pages read and participate in free or countdown promotions, then you must “click” yes. There isn’t a lot of money in KU pages read, but it is worth it for erotica. A lot of people who read erotica subscribe to this service.

Pricing

In the past, an erotic short story would typically go for $2.99. That is not always the case now. You will still get pages read, but you might not get as many sales at that price point; unless you are a top known author. As a result, you might be better off putting your book in for the 30% plan and price your book at $.99. It isn’t much per book, but you are more likely to get sales at this price point.

Other Sections

Again, there are other sections, but these are the necessary ones. Now, you’re ready to scroll down and “click” publish. Yes!

In the next 24 to 72 hours, your book will be available for purchase, and you are a published erotica writer.

To learn more about each of these sections, click on the book below and write your first erotic short story!

Don’t forget – Grab the companion workbook for your step-by-step guide!

Buy Now!

Alexia Chase

https://alexiachaseromance.com

#writeeroticshortstories #startpublishingtoday #sweetromance #dirtysex #happyeverafter #quickreads #shorteroticstories #erotica #contemporaryromance #eroticsex

When preparing a manuscript for publishing, several components need to be included. In this chapter, I’ll explore those required components.

Book Title

You will need to identify a book title that is the appropriate fit for your manuscript. Think of something that is a catchphrase from the book or summarizes the theme of the book. Don’t get too cute. People haven’t read the book yet, so they aren’t going to get adorable or quirky titles that you think are funny.

Book Cover

When designing a book cover, you should scan through books in your genre. Are other authors using faces? Bodies? Couples? Clothed or unclothed models? Symbols? Vector images? Dark backgrounds? Light backgrounds?

Once you’ve identified a feel that fits with your genre, then consider how you could use that concept with your book cover. If you are comfortable with designing your own book covers, then there are YouTube videos and programs that can easily be used to make your own covers and save you money.

If you are uncomfortable with designing your own covers, there are people on Fiverr that can do a decent job with designing covers. Or there are numerous sites available that sell pre-made covers. However, those take forever to go through and may not fit your book perfectly. I prefer to find a stock image that matches my book and have a Fiverr designer to make my covers. The most important thing is that for erotic short stories, I would not spend a large sum of money for a top book cover designer. It isn’t necessary.

Images

When selecting the picture for your book cover, it is recommended that you spend a little extra money and get a stock photo plan. There are a wider variety of images to choose from and the images are better quality. Not to mention, you will have less likelihood of ten other people in your genre using the same image. With free photos, you will find numerous people having used the same models for their covers.

Title Page

On the title page, you will need to type the title of your book, author name, and year of publication.

Publisher’s Page

If you are your own publisher, you can put down the same information as the title page and yourself as the publisher. Additionally, you can make your own publishing company name if you would like to have a more professional look for your book.

Copyright Page

All professional quality books should include a copyright page. This page directs the reader not to copy, duplicate, or use your property as their own. There are examples of copyright pages online, or you can have an attorney draft one for you.

Table of Contents

If you are using a Microsoft Word document, you can use headings for your chapters to develop hyperlinks. These hyperlinks will allow your reader to click on the different chapters or sections to switch to that location in your book.

This can be helpful if the reader wants to go back to a specific area in your book and re-read the information. More importantly is if they’re going to your author page for your contact information or the review page to leave you a book review. The table of content’s function is under the references tab of a word program.

Excerpt

Next, you will want to include a page with your book excerpt. The book excerpt should be approximately two to three paragraphs of your story where the action or intensity is beginning to heat up between your characters.

This passage should entice the reader to want more. If you publish on Amazon, a reader can download a “free” sample of your book or click on the “look inside” feature. When a reader gets this free portion of your book, the excerpt should be a part of that sample. By including a tantalizing excerpt, you can pique the reader’s interest and get a sale.

Story

Now’s the place for the good stuff. Your manuscript should go here. Each chapter should have at least the “number” of the chapter and “chapter” listed at the top of the page. After these words are typed, then you need to “click” on the “heading 1” tab on the home page, if using Microsoft Word. This allows the chapter to be a hyperlink and can be automatically added to the table of contents once the book is complete.

About the Author

After the conclusion of the book, you should add a section about the author. This doesn’t need to be extravagant. A small blurb about you and how to contact you is sufficed.

Book Review

The last thing that must be included in your book is a request for a book review. As Indie authors, we need book reviews like drug addicts needs their fix. Without social proof that a book is good, there won’t be any sales. Moreover, please review the books of your favorite Indie authors. They’ll love you for it.

Event those negative reviews can be helpful. They can assist you in improving your future writings, give advice on how to update the current work and re-publish, or provide insight to another author hoping to avoid the same pitfalls. Most importantly, it let’s future readers know what to expect and how to spend their money and time wisely. Because we know both money and time are the most essential commodities.

Click on the book below to learn all you need to know to write your first erotic short story!

Don’t forget – Grab the companion workbook for your step-by-step guide!

Buy Now!

Alexia Chase

https://alexiachaseromance.com

#writeeroticshortstories #startpublishingtoday #sweetromance #dirtysex #happyeverafter #quickreads #shorteroticstories #erotica #contemporaryromance #eroticsex