I saw the post by the mods and realized it had been a full year since I started self-publishing. Figured I’d put some info down here. Hopefully it will be useful to someone!

The Details

Royalties to date: $27,453.79 (first few months were in the double/triple digits, so that’s weighted more to the tail end; however, it’s been holding steady between $3K and $5K for a while now) Seven distinct works under this pen name. Genres: Erotica/Erotic romance

25K and 30K novellas released in mid-Nov 2011. I had no website, did no marketing. Purely on random sales/searches alone, I made about 2 sales a day.

Released a 12K and a permanently free short story 5K for marketing in over December 2011. Also started a blog/website and twitter account.

Released a 35K (my most lucrative work to date) in Feb 2012.

Mostly took a break from this pen name over the summer, except for a 17K I wrote for a reader’s group (for free). I recently did put that up for sale but as it’s slightly different from my usual (or for whatever unknown reason) it’s not selling at all.

Had a big release at the end of September 2012.

I’m planning for a small release in early 2013 and a larger one as well (both sequels that people are asking for). I’ve also got one other thing I’ve started writing that will probably go out next year.

During this time I also got an agent, had a book published through that pen name with a small press and have a couple more contracted including one with a Big 6 – I mean, Big 5 :) The two pen names do not cross promote and no one except a few writer friends know it’s me.

Distribution

I sell through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords (and most of their expanded distribution), and All Romance Ebooks.

Why do I sell through Smashwords even though it’s a PITA? Because there are some readers, international, who only buy through there. I know of at least one reviewer who raves about my books who found my stuff on Smashwords and has thanked me for selling there. How many sales have I gotten from her word of mouth? Answer: enough to justify using Smashwords.

All my stuff is too short for print. However, I recently made print copies of my longest novellas so that I could use them for promo/giveaways, and also I heard that having the higher price point of print makes your digital price seem like a deal. Doesn’t seem like it’s made a huge difference but it doesn’t hurt.

Editing

I usually have about 5 people beta read/critique my work. At this point these are people who already understand me and know (and like) my style. They are invaluable. Beta readers who give you praise are nice but useless. You want people who will be rough BUT it’s also important that they know what they’re talking about. I’ve had people rip apart my work and I have to just shrug and move on because I didn’t think any of it was correct. Then I have people that I beg to rip apart my work because I know their comments will be spot on.

As for paid editors, I recommend:

Helen Hardt (http://fiction-editor.blogspot.com/) – I’ve used for both copy editing and proofreading

Em Petrova (http://empetrova.wordpress.com/) – A VERY affordable copy editor.

My current process is to use Em Petrova for copy edits and then Helen Hardt for proofreading. I also use Em to edit my traditionally published works before they go to my editor – helps my piece of mind, professionalism and yes, those editors still have their work to do!

Lastly I wanted to recommend Emily Eva Editing (http://emilyevaediting.weebly.com/), who did some brief work for me that was very good and is currently my backup in case either of the two ladies above were to be unavailable.

Cover Art

I make my own cover art because I had previous graphic design experience, knew the market expectations, and wanted to be able to change it. It was definitely a learning curve, which is why I recommend that you hire someone with experience in covers. A regular graphic artist is not the same. There are standards and genre expectations that I know now that I didn’t when I started. I make covers for a couple of small presses. The difference between those and the freelance clients I take on: clients try to jam in as much design and story elements as they can into the book. Even if they say the want a simple cover they will add and add… whereas a publisher understands that you want to show the genre and the hook and maybe a few crucial details (font, the “feel”, etc) and that is better than a busy cover. Yet another reason

Pricing

I price my works comparable to other books in my genre (both self-published and not). By some standards it’s high, by some it’s low, but I’ve never seen anyone complain about them. The novellas are $2.99, the mediums (between 10K and 20K) are $1.99 and the short story is set at $0.99 but permanently free. By the way, 99 cents is not enough to make any real money. That doesn’t mean set the price of your short story to $2.99, that means write something worth $2.99, which IMO is a novella length.

A Note on Erotica

I meet a fair amount of people who want to write erotica because it’s easy, because it makes money, though of course they don’t actually want to READ it. Meh. I won’t begrudge anyone who wants to make a buck this way, but the money is in the backlist, and to build a backlist you are going to need to write hundreds of thousands of words, so you better love it.

I started writing erotica because I love it not because I thought it would make more money. Does it earn more than other genres? Yes, but it’s also a business. There are times I don’t want to write or promote or even think about it, but it helps A LOT that I already love all these topics. I love to hear about what’s new and hot and talk about it, because the interest is inherent to me. I can’t imagine having to do this for XYZ genre that I don’t give a shit about. That’s why you should write what you love. On day 1, your erotica book will sell more than your fantasy book. Yeah, probably. But on day 365, if you invested a full year in writing, in building an audience, you will only want to spend time on the ones you love, and that’s where the money is.

Best Advice I Can Give

Write, write, write. There’s a reason why every author gives the same advice—because it’s true.

This is true for both self-publishing and traditional. I see folks put out a novel or a short story and then let it sit, wondering why it doesn’t sell. They shop around a novel to agents and editors and wonder why they don’t sign you. Well, if they DID get signed, the first they’d be asking you to do (after revisions of that book) is to write the next book. Then the next.

A popular genre author needs to write one book a year, minimum. So do it! Even if you’re not a popular genre author yet. Even if they go into a drawer because the writing isn’t mature enough. Write like you’ve got 3 books on contract and guess what…. you’ll be the one to actually get that contract. Or have a backlist, which yes, that’s where the money is.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ping me with a question if you’ve got one—doesn’t have to be right now.

Happy writing!