Yeah, this is way out of the ordinary. It was for an anthology.
For anyone curious, I sort Submission Grinder's markets by acceptance ratio and work my way down the list.
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Writing-GAF: Writing, Publishing, Selling |OT|
- Thread starter AngmarsKing701
- Start date
For anyone curious, I sort Submission Grinder's markets by acceptance ratio and work my way down the list.
Great advice. Keep us updated on your submission escapades.
Super useful, thanks. I'm starting my first draft tonight.
I'd just like to say thanks, H. Pro, for organising all of this for us. Doing this as a group is much more fun but also feels less silly!
And my weekend, like several others here, is going to be spent immersed in .99 erotica :|
Oh wow, thanks for sharing this. For a rejection it's really nice (and useful) and not scary and offputting.
Crash Station
Member
Just realized, I have NO idea how I'd be able to make covers for some of these from bought stock photos. 
Just realized, I have NO idea how I'd be able to make covers for some of these from bought stock photos.
Go abstract, that's my plan.
Just realized, I have NO idea how I'd be able to make covers for some of these from bought stock photos.
Orbit Books' art director, Lauren Panepinto, released a time lapse video demonstrating the creation process for a novel cover using stock/original photography? It's worth watching.
Nappuccino
Member
Just realized, I have NO idea how I'd be able to make covers for some of these from bought stock photos.
You might want to check out http://www.freeforcommercialuse.net/
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
.
Sgt.EntryEnass
Banned
Don't think of it as third person.
Think if it as you are that character.
You are writing what is real to you then.
Think if it as you are that character.
You are writing what is real to you then.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Nice. Looks like you're right on track then. I'm really curious to see if the superhero thing would get a boost from the movie. Great idea.
For a rejection letter, that's a really positive response! Cyan's right. It's a good sign.
No prob. As silly and fun as it is to write these things, the selling of seems pretty complicated in all the twisting and pitfalls there are. When we do all finally publish I think it'll be a bit nerve-racking to see who makes it over that first review hurdle. *_* Good luck on your draft. After reading those I think I'm going to have to tweak my own a bit.
Haha. You're enjoying this, aren't you?
My pleasure. It's been a fun little exercise so far, and tackling it in a group is even more hilarious. Just writing something you don't normally write is a great mental workout, so we already have benefits there. Enjoy your weekend of 'boxed wine'! Next week I'll start calling for 1st short themes/categories, so think hard about your story!
Just realized, I have NO idea how I'd be able to make covers for some of these from bought stock photos.
Shadows, abstract, and implied, uh, bits...?
These covers really are hard, though. I'm struggling to find anything I like. Miiiiight have to give Fiverr a go if this weekend is a bust there.
timetokill
Banned
Have people generally decided on their "niche" ?
Nice to see that I am not the only one gets ideas to write an incest erotica, though I do fear that one of my family member will take a sneak peak in my note book and I will have some explaining to do. >_> <_< >_>
Anyway after months of messing about I have finally buckled down working on my book, I think I may need to try a different location so I don't get distracted.
Super Heroes.
Anyway after months of messing about I have finally buckled down working on my book, I think I may need to try a different location so I don't get distracted.
Super Heroes.
I've had a lot of luck using Canva.com for covers, a lot of the images are free and those that aren't are $1. I don't have any experience with GIMP or Photoshop but their tools are easy to use.
I write under the pen name Cassandra Logan if anyone wants to see the covers. Three of them I paid a professional for and while they are nice it was wasted money, thankfully not too much. Definitely wouldn't advise paying more than a couple dollars for covers.
I've written and published nine ERROMs so far, sadly I have not had the luck that others have, but I don't think it was because of my covers.
My last trilogy was Billionaires and it pretty much bombed, so far my witches series has been the best, with the lesbian one being the highest seller. I wouldn't advise plain old contemporary, you need some kind of gimmick.
I write under the pen name Cassandra Logan if anyone wants to see the covers. Three of them I paid a professional for and while they are nice it was wasted money, thankfully not too much. Definitely wouldn't advise paying more than a couple dollars for covers.
I write under the pen name Cassandra Logan if anyone wants to see the covers. Three of them I paid a professional for and while they are nice it was wasted money, thankfully not too much. Definitely wouldn't advise paying more than a couple dollars for covers.
I've written and published nine ERROMs so far, sadly I have not had the luck that others have, but I don't think it was because of my covers.
My last trilogy was Billionaires and it pretty much bombed, so far my witches series has been the best, with the lesbian one being the highest seller. I wouldn't advise plain old contemporary, you need some kind of gimmick.
I write under the pen name Cassandra Logan if anyone wants to see the covers. Three of them I paid a professional for and while they are nice it was wasted money, thankfully not too much. Definitely wouldn't advise paying more than a couple dollars for covers.
timetokill
Banned
Is everyone pretty much just using Word to write their stuff? I want to make sure if I just start going that I'm not going to have formatting issues later. I figure Word is a safe enough bet, though.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Relegated to Community... :/
We've had a number of new people who never knew the thread existed pop in because the thread's been bumping the last few days, but tucked in here I fear that's going to end. Bummer.
I'm going medieval for my three. All standalones, but in the same vein.
And, using word to write now, but you'll have to reformat for Kindle. I listed some free options in my challenge post.
Oh, are you joining in too, Joker, or just writing in general?
Looks like a nice resource. Thanks, Soulfire. I'll add it to the next update. Also nice to hear from another author who's tried this. Feel free to share any tips or tricks you've come across. Did you feel like joining the challenge?
We've had a number of new people who never knew the thread existed pop in because the thread's been bumping the last few days, but tucked in here I fear that's going to end. Bummer.
I'm going medieval for my three. All standalones, but in the same vein.
And, using word to write now, but you'll have to reformat for Kindle. I listed some free options in my challenge post.
Oh, are you joining in too, Joker, or just writing in general?
Looks like a nice resource. Thanks, Soulfire. I'll add it to the next update. Also nice to hear from another author who's tried this. Feel free to share any tips or tricks you've come across. Did you feel like joining the challenge?
First story is college gay themed. I dont know what the rest will be. College tho might be a bit boring.
Tossed into the dens of Community, great.
Crash Station
Member
Shadows, abstract, and implied, uh, bits...?
These covers really are hard, though. I'm struggling to find anything I like. Miiiiight have to give Fiverr a go if this weekend is a bust there.
I mean in the sense I have no clue how to do one based on the premises. They don't exactly lend themselves to eye-catching covers that scream "SEXY" (or at least 2 of them don't).
toddhunter
Member
Working on the blurb for the first short. I'm opening with:
Gauntlets are being thrown down.
If you can't find a great cover image from http://thestocks.im/ then you are not trying.
Also my new NSFW favourite photo of all time https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajay_g/188099684. If that doesn't sum up life, I don't know what does.
Gauntlets are being thrown down.
If you can't find a great cover image from http://thestocks.im/ then you are not trying.
Also my new NSFW favourite photo of all time https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajay_g/188099684. If that doesn't sum up life, I don't know what does.
Elfforkusu
Member
Exiled to community.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
was it not always in Community? That must be why I can never find it on my phone :<
I'm subscribed to the thread like a civilized person, so I don't mind the move to community. It's a shame that it won't get the visibility to entice new people to join, but it really is a community thread...
EDIT: Man, Submission Grinder is a godsend, but it really is temperamental sometimes...
EDIT: Man, Submission Grinder is a godsend, but it really is temperamental sometimes...
Crash Station
Member
I don't think you understand just how out there these premises are.
But you're right, I already see a few I can use provided I had the photoshopping skills (which I don't).
Crash Station
Member
That's interesting. Could you share some more information with us? How much you made/sold (if you're willing to share), what your keywords were like, release frequency (lol), stuff like that.
I see you haven't done any bundling, so maybe consider that?
toddhunter
Member
We just need to be creative. We can make a "does anybody else think the writing in bioshock is better than forza 2's graphics?" thread in gaming and migrate across.
"When will Tim Shafer start writing in 60fps?"
Anyway, I'm just popping in here to say that, while I'm not participating because I've got other stuff going on, I'm greatly enjoying reading everyone's erotica escapades.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Same, if a topic is interesting It'll pop back up on the front page
phillipgessert
Member
Sometimes you can key an image to a book's theme or a motif, rather than its literal premises; though you of course have to make sure not to misrepresent the book.
Crash Station
Member
Yeah, theme-wise I think I can get most of them figured out without much trouble.
There is one though that I have literally no idea how I'm supposed to represent it. The only thing that MIGHT work would take a far more skilled photoshopper than I'll ever be.
K playing around with this and I love it. Thanks a ton for linking this. (Now to find a good image of two half naked guys )
Conkersbadfurday
Member
I use Word.
I know when I sent stuff to agents (still dead air on that front), they always ask for word docs, or the ones I sent to did.
If you're looking into self publishing, you can save your Word doc as a .html thing and then upload that into something like Calibre and that works fairly well.
So yeah, I'd go Word
NipplesAndToes23
Member
Yo, why was this moved into community?
Elfforkusu
Member
I write in a text editor (gedit) with syntax highlighting, using markdown(ish) for formatting.
I gave up on Word back in college. Easier to have the computer figure out the indentation at the end.
I gave up on Word back in college. Easier to have the computer figure out the indentation at the end.
toddhunter
Member
Pretty much every tool/site I've seen related to writing wants word format, generally 97-2002.
So I just stick to that.
So I just stick to that.
Crash Station
Member
1000 words in. Think I can probably get this to 4k, which should probably be fine at 2.99. I feel there's some actual interest in this fetish, at the very least one that people didn't know they had.
Nappuccino
Member
And start writing erotica.
In January, after reading sirap's posts, I decided to try writing short 5k ERROMs to see how quickly I could write them and if I could make money off of them. Mine are about 25%-33% sex and the rest is romance. After researching more (mainly focusing on sales) I got excited and made unrealistic financial projections and decided that spending $150 for 3 covers wasn't a bad deal. In the grand scheme of things it isn't a lot, but I have not yet made that back and have been able to make covers just as nice using canva for $1-$3.
Initially I had a very strict schedule and was able to write the first draft in a week and while writing the next story complete my editing process. I read the story through three to four times and do a pass through using the free version of grammarly. It's not perfect, but it's not horrible so I don't feel bad charging people for what I've published.
Part of my problem, I think, is that I haven't stuck to a release schedule, I'm not following trends, and I have (so far) not found anything helpful regarding keywords.
As soon as I would start a series I would read something new and change my release schedule. I released the first books all at once, the rest I've staggered with no set time frame in between release.
Regarding trends the popular stuff is just not something I feel like I could fake and I'm not interested in putting in the time to learn enough to write something decent.
Currently I'm working on re-editing a longer ERROM (45k) I had published previously. I'm going to republish next week with a new title and under this new pen name. Next month I'll work on the sequel.
I do have a mailing list set up and have since the beginning, but so far I've got only one subscriber. I also have calls to action at the end of every book as well as a list of all my other available works.
After two months of keeping to my writing schedule fairly well and finishing when I wanted to I got burnt out. I don't have a lot of free time so using that writing something I'm not passionate about has been difficult. I took a bit of a break the end of last month and instead of starting a new series just decided to re-edit so that I could work on writing something I'm more interested in, a supernatural cozy mystery. I will need to set that aside soon, though, and work on the sequel to my longer ERROM.
Here's a link to an excel spreadsheet with my sales/keywords
Also, I use Word. I've never had any issues uploading it to Kindle and I've used it so long it's the program I'm most comfortable with. I've got Scrivener downloaded and use it a lot, but mainly with plotting and character sketches.
I hope that's helpful.
Initially I had a very strict schedule and was able to write the first draft in a week and while writing the next story complete my editing process. I read the story through three to four times and do a pass through using the free version of grammarly. It's not perfect, but it's not horrible so I don't feel bad charging people for what I've published.
Part of my problem, I think, is that I haven't stuck to a release schedule, I'm not following trends, and I have (so far) not found anything helpful regarding keywords.
As soon as I would start a series I would read something new and change my release schedule. I released the first books all at once, the rest I've staggered with no set time frame in between release.
Regarding trends the popular stuff is just not something I feel like I could fake and I'm not interested in putting in the time to learn enough to write something decent.
Currently I'm working on re-editing a longer ERROM (45k) I had published previously. I'm going to republish next week with a new title and under this new pen name. Next month I'll work on the sequel.
I do have a mailing list set up and have since the beginning, but so far I've got only one subscriber. I also have calls to action at the end of every book as well as a list of all my other available works.
After two months of keeping to my writing schedule fairly well and finishing when I wanted to I got burnt out. I don't have a lot of free time so using that writing something I'm not passionate about has been difficult. I took a bit of a break the end of last month and instead of starting a new series just decided to re-edit so that I could work on writing something I'm more interested in, a supernatural cozy mystery. I will need to set that aside soon, though, and work on the sequel to my longer ERROM.
Here's a link to an excel spreadsheet with my sales/keywords
Also, I use Word. I've never had any issues uploading it to Kindle and I've used it so long it's the program I'm most comfortable with. I've got Scrivener downloaded and use it a lot, but mainly with plotting and character sketches.
I hope that's helpful.
timetokill
Banned
Depending on how much fun I have doing my own, I could potentially do covers for people. I'm not "world class" at Photoshop but certainly good enough to do what is being done with most of the covers I've seen. I'd need to be compensated at the very least for the stock images themselves. I'm not committing to it just yet, just tossing it out there to see if people are interested in that kind of help.
Thanks (and to everyone who responded to that inquiry) -- I'll stick with Word.
I use Word.
I know when I sent stuff to agents (still dead air on that front), they always ask for word docs, or the ones I sent to did.
If you're looking into self publishing, you can save your Word doc as a .html thing and then upload that into something like Calibre and that works fairly well.
So yeah, I'd go Word
Thanks (and to everyone who responded to that inquiry) -- I'll stick with Word.
Nappuccino
Member
. . . my story is about a guy helping his lady friend save her artisan hotdog restaurant.
How did this happen
How did this happen
Crash Station
Member
All great info. Thanks for sharing.
I think the keywords might be a potential issue. These are the examples used in the book sirap mentioned.
Not a single word in any of them. I don't know though, I don't think yours are awful, just don't have as much variety.
I would say re-release some as a bundle with different keywords that utilize more than one word in each. They'll be easier to find when they're new due to Amazon's algorithm, so it would be like getting another shot at it.
I would absolutely be interested. Would have no problem PMing you the story title/premise/pen-name when I get to that point.
timetokill
Banned
Sounds good! Looking forward to it.
Nappuccino
Member
How does "Louise Fetchly" sound for a pen-name?
AngmarsKing701
Member
I'm subbed so had no idea we'd been moved until you all mentioned it.
Thanks to H.Pro for keeping everyone moving on the erotica challenge.
Thanks to H.Pro for keeping everyone moving on the erotica challenge.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
I blame Victorian dinosaur smut.
The old writing thread stayed for years in OT...
It was the Victorian dinosaur erotica, wasn't it? ;_;
Dang. Thanks for all the info, Soul. Seems you've run the gamut. Your experience is really helpful here, and much appreciation for sharing all the details. That canva.com site is also super useful. I've been toying with potential covers for the last few hours... -_-
Dare I ask the title?
You have a Kindle right, besada? If so, do the free trial for Kindle Unlimited and there are tons (obscene numbers) of free options there for you to check out. For this kind of challenge you'll want to hit tried and true notes with a focus on PWP. Classy would probably finish last, I'm afraid.
Memorable! Which is a good thing.
Monday is the day everyone ponies up their genre/theme for the first short. Get crackin'. ^_^