No, our epic fantasy series is not headed in the direction of erotica. I just wanted to post a title that might catch a few eyeballs. I am, however, blogging about the risqué genre of romance and erotica. I recently had a conversation with some of my author cohorts—some of whom write in the above-mentioned genres—and I am astounded by how successful they are. They are all independent authors, struggling along with the rest of us, but they in particular seem to have at least one thing going for them: steamy sex as a lure. What is it about the physical side of relationships that makes readers scream for more? Is it the engaging story? Is it the writing style? Or is it strictly the sex?
I should mention that romance/erotica authors (there is a distinguishable difference between the two) also write in other genres, and they will probably tell you that they prefer to channel their creativity in a more thought-provoking manner. They will also tell you sales for their preferred novels pale in comparison to their “smut” titles. I learned that a short romance or erotica story ranging from 3,000-9,000 words (roughly 6-30 pages depending on the font and text size) can sell as an eBook for about 99 cents or more. One of my friends even said she takes a collection of her shorts and compiles them together and sells them for $5.99. That’s about $4.20 in profit at 70% royalty, and she’s selling many copies a day. Her colleagues told her to raise the price. They said it would still sell. It did.
Now take our book, Raven’s Heart; it’s a 716 page behemoth. We sell it for 99 cents as to attract reader attention. We have giveaways to build interest and hope that word-of-mouth carries our name. We enlist in countless review sites to strengthen our credibility. We plead to book promotion sites to post our novel on their page as a Book of the Day. All of these strategies have indeed gathered us some much needed readers, but not nearly enough to keep a steady flow of traffic. On the other hand, a $6.99 book one seventh the length and seven times the price is downloaded by the hundreds with little or no promotion required. It’s capitalism at its finest.
Am I jealous? YES! Do I think it’s unfair that romance and erotica titles garner a huge chunk of the market? No. Sex sells. It always has, and it always will. I am ecstatic for my friends’ success. They absolutely deserve every sale they get. Every independent author who makes a name for him/herself—whether through literary fiction or erotica—brings that much more credibility to the self-publishing world.
Now if only Stef and I could generate the same sort of interest in our family-friendly epic fantasy novel. Fantasy does sell, but an author has to prove himself in order to be recognized. My job as a writer and a marketer is to make the audience notice us. In the world of fantasy, readers of independent titles are averse to taking a chance on some “nobody” spousal authors with a doorstopper of a book. They want something smaller, and they want to know that said authors are writing more than a one-trick pony.
Who knows if we’ll give in and break apart our standalone book. Only time will tell. If we do go through with the split, maybe we can add a love scene between Jinx and Tyrianne to spice things up. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Who knows, we might even draw the attention of the romance audience. And we all know that’s where the money is. :)
-Matt
I should mention that romance/erotica authors (there is a distinguishable difference between the two) also write in other genres, and they will probably tell you that they prefer to channel their creativity in a more thought-provoking manner. They will also tell you sales for their preferred novels pale in comparison to their “smut” titles. I learned that a short romance or erotica story ranging from 3,000-9,000 words (roughly 6-30 pages depending on the font and text size) can sell as an eBook for about 99 cents or more. One of my friends even said she takes a collection of her shorts and compiles them together and sells them for $5.99. That’s about $4.20 in profit at 70% royalty, and she’s selling many copies a day. Her colleagues told her to raise the price. They said it would still sell. It did.
Now take our book, Raven’s Heart; it’s a 716 page behemoth. We sell it for 99 cents as to attract reader attention. We have giveaways to build interest and hope that word-of-mouth carries our name. We enlist in countless review sites to strengthen our credibility. We plead to book promotion sites to post our novel on their page as a Book of the Day. All of these strategies have indeed gathered us some much needed readers, but not nearly enough to keep a steady flow of traffic. On the other hand, a $6.99 book one seventh the length and seven times the price is downloaded by the hundreds with little or no promotion required. It’s capitalism at its finest.
Am I jealous? YES! Do I think it’s unfair that romance and erotica titles garner a huge chunk of the market? No. Sex sells. It always has, and it always will. I am ecstatic for my friends’ success. They absolutely deserve every sale they get. Every independent author who makes a name for him/herself—whether through literary fiction or erotica—brings that much more credibility to the self-publishing world.
Now if only Stef and I could generate the same sort of interest in our family-friendly epic fantasy novel. Fantasy does sell, but an author has to prove himself in order to be recognized. My job as a writer and a marketer is to make the audience notice us. In the world of fantasy, readers of independent titles are averse to taking a chance on some “nobody” spousal authors with a doorstopper of a book. They want something smaller, and they want to know that said authors are writing more than a one-trick pony.
Who knows if we’ll give in and break apart our standalone book. Only time will tell. If we do go through with the split, maybe we can add a love scene between Jinx and Tyrianne to spice things up. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Who knows, we might even draw the attention of the romance audience. And we all know that’s where the money is. :)
-Matt
I agree with you on the commercial aspects of the industry; that said, I'll take your Raven's Heart over most of the better selling books any day. In fact, I now have it in paperback and kindle!
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