The Erotica Handbook: (How to Write Erotica) a Guide to Making $100 an hour Writing Erotica Short Stories and Selling Them Online
Non-Fiction, Writing
Amazon Digital Services LLC
February 18, 2016
eBook
90
Kindle Unlimited
A best-selling writer provides her proven formula to writing erotic stories that sell.
You will learn how to generate hundreds of story ideas, cover designs, and characters. How to get past writer’s block. How to use the monster mirroring technique. The most profitable keywords, word counts, kinks. THE EROTICA HANDBOOK also includes a thesaurus with a mountain of sexy synonyms to help speed up your writing.
Here’s Something Different
This isn’t your typical romance/erotica book review. I only picked Emily Baker’s Erotica Handbook to learn more how to write sexier fanfiction. That’s right, fanfiction!
I didn’t expect the pot o’ gold information I’ve gained from this book. Here, you will learn how to write and self-publish your very own erotica on Amazon. According to Baker:
“Erotica is the only genre on Amazon where new authors can write a short story that’s only 2,500 words long and sell it for $2.99.” -Emily Baker
Really? Is this possible? It is for Baker, and it is for YOU.
Erotica Writing Tips
Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash
You know erotica. You read erotica. How the heck do you write it? It’s more than “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.”
You know the erotica scenarios: the sexy vampire encounter, the hot professor, the mysterious next door neighbor. These stories share one common trait: building desire. Here are several erotica writing tips Baker reveals in her book.
Pick A Niche
A niche is a theme or genre catering to a specific audience.
Amazon has books out of the wazoo catering to different audiences in the erotica world: lumberjack, bigfoot (yes, the big hairy dude), threesomes, BDSM, paranormal, etc. Choose one of those niches and start writing. Your niches are the ones that turn you on the most.
Figure out your protagonist’s main problem
Your main character’s problem doesn’t have to be sex-related. Maybe their car broke down, they’re a tourist lost in a foreign country, or they’re suffering from a terrible case of writer’s block. Once you’ve established the problem, you can bring in the second character who comes in with a rather sensual solution.
Write Every Day
If you don’t write every day, you’re not going to make $100 an hour from your erotica. Honestly, you won’t make money from your first book. That’s okay. Write every day until it happens.
Baker recommends writing 1,000 – 2,500 words a day. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be on paper or your Word document. Better have something than nothing.
Wait, why write 2,500 words? Isn’t that the Amazon limit for short erotica?
Baker also suggests 7,500 words for a decent selling story. 2,500 is only good for $2.99 or one story along three others for a bundle sale.
Not used to writing 1,000 words a day? There’s no harm to starting small. Start with 300 words daily then 400, 500, and further up until you’ve reached your highest point.
Besides, the more you write, the more ideas you’ll be able to develop for your next stories.
Social Media Marketing
The best social media platforms to market your stories are Twitter and Facebook. Make sure to build an e-mail list as well. Baker didn’t mention Instagram, but I’ve seen many authors online who had marketing success with it.
One warning: don’t worry too much over marketing. Focus on your stories. That’s what matters!
“Don’t get dragged into the marketing game. You’re a writer. Stick to the writing game.” -Emily Baker
Book Designs
Use Adobe Photoshop or GIMPshop for your book cover designs. You may use services like Fiverr if you’re not tech-savvy. Only pray the covers don’t look like crap. You’ve worked too hard for that!
Pen Names
If you don’t want the real world to know you write steamy werewolf pirate erotica, feel free to create a pen name. Many authors do it. Author Patricia Ryan wrote erotica as Louisa Burton. Anne Rice wrote The Sleeping Beauty series as A.N. Roquelaure.
Make sure your name is easy to remember. You want readers to read your latest stories as soon as they spot your name online.
Conclusion
If you’ve been a long-time erotica reader, why not start writing them? Sure, you’re not going to create a best-seller your first try. Keep going, and you’ll become a better writer.
Baker has written many helpful tips (more than I presented in this review) including a massive erotica thesaurus. There’s more than one way to say, “man sword” and “venus mound.”
The Erotica Handbook is an excellent starter’s guide for writers looking to self-publish their sexy stories. You don’t have to send a 100,000-romantic epic to a traditional publishing company anymore. It’s not the only path. Those days are long gone.
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