[Cross-posted from /r/eroticauthors – see post]
It’s been a few years since I did one of these… previous posts are here:
I’ve always believed in being honest and open about how I’m performing as a self-publishing erotica author. Partly to encourage, partly so as not to mislead. As such, this post will contain real numbers, cribbed from my meticulous spreadsheet that I’ve been keeping for every one of those 1833 days. I hope this data is useful to those setting out.
I’m not a huge success by any means, but I have some consistency and I bring in enough money each month that I would miss it if it went away. I still enjoy it, and still get a big kick from hitting that publish button or seeing a sale tick up on Book Report. I have no illusions that I’ll retire any time soon, but I’m happy with where I’m at…
So, sitting comfortably? Then let’s get started.
Executive Summary
In my five years of self-publishing, the main pieces of wisdom haven’t changed. I won’t go into them in detail here (see my previous posts), but I will summarize:
- Write more books
- Meet your readers’ expectations
- Enjoy what you write
- Don’t expect to retire on your first book
- Accept that some days, shit don’t sell
And that’s it. Get those five points down and you can definitely expect at least some success.
Just The Facts, Ma’am
So, the bit that people read these things for: the numbers.
- Genre/Niche: Lesbian/BDSM, some fetish
- Enrolled in KU: Mostly
- Gone wide: a little (see below)
- Number of books published: 123 (Amazon), 9 (Smashwords)
- Average length of books: 15,000-20,000 words
- Number of single books: 83
- Number of bundles (3 stories): 21
- Number of mega bundles (9+ stories): 11
- Number of paperbacks: 8
- Monthly average 2019: $460
- Monthly average 2020: $553
- Highest single day: $101.69 (the best day ever!)
- Highest number of sales in a day: 43
- Highest number of KNEP in a day: 4925
- Average daily total over all time: $13.33
- Average daily total 2020: $16.95
- Average daily KNEP over all time: 1247
- Highest average weekday: Saturday (then Sunday, then Monday)
- Highest average month day: 6th
- Total units sold: 6810
- Total KNEP read: 2,299,305
- Highest performing bundle: $2076
- Highest performing single: $556
Phew! Lots of numbers, right? Let’s go smoke a (candy) cigarette then talk about some specifics.
Smashwords
In the last year or so, I’ve been experimenting with Smashwords. I had a hankering to write something a little more naughty. So I wrote some hypnosis books, some lesbian incest stories and a few more.
I have to say, publishing on Smashwords was a breeze, so much easier and less nerve wracking than Amazon. Even if they do only take .doc formatted Word files and have weird rules about TOCs.
I didn’t really expect much, sales-wise, from SW and it didn’t disappoint. It’s very easy to get lost over there, among the tsunami of pure filth that is published every minute of the day. And once you’re off the front page, it seems very difficult to get any kind of visibility.
I do sell a few books, but so few that I haven’t even bothered including the numbers in the data above.
But sometimes it’s nice to publish something a little bit more risky, you know?
Paperbacks
I also branched out into Paperbacks. It seemed like an easy win, since the stories were already written. So far, I’ve only published my three story bundles in this format, and they’ve been moderately successful. Nothing compared to e-books, but basically free money.
Best of all is getting avid readers sending you pictures of their bookshelves and your naughty works nestled in there between the literary greats! Oh, the conversations that must spring up at those households’ dinner parties! 🙂
Custom Commissions
My biggest upheaval this year is that I’ve finally embraced custom commissions. I’ve toyed with it for years, but never had the guts before. Well, I’ve done it, and it has been okay, on the whole.
I’ve done five so far, ranging from $200 to $600. I keep my word rate low, because I never fully got over my imposter syndrome, and I’ve had some good transactions. It has been refreshing to take someone else’s idea and run with it, rather than constantly coming up with my own. I’ve also had clients who were quite happy for me to publish their stories later, so the books keep on earning long after delivery!
That said, I have declined some commissions as well, ones I didn’t feel comfortable writing.
For now, I recommend this route. But make sure you’re completely upfront about what is being written, how it is delivered, who owns the story going forward etc.
And finally…
It’s difficult to know what to write in these posts, the fundamentals change so infrequently. But I hope it’s been informative. If anyone has any questions they’d like to ask a very much mid-tier erotica author, feel free to ask. I love to help out.
Meanwhile, I’ll get back to writing. Got a tickle fetish series I’ve been itching to finish.
Another five years await!