Congratulations! We started in the same month and I've made $13,000 to date, although I was only actively publishing for less than half of that time. I wish I had your persistence. I've gone very long periods of not being bothered to write and it's obviously hurt my financials quite significantly. Is this all on one pen?
May I ask, have you had to register for an ABN?
Thank you! You'll get there, just keep working on it. Obviously the more you publish, the more you will make.
It's not all one pen - I've got 1 main one (90 or so titles), two smaller ones (15-20 titles) and a few with only a handful of books. I've retired all but the main one now.
I already had an ABN but if I didn't, I would have registered for one. My accountant said that even the months where I was only getting a few dollars still needed to be declared.
Edit: applying for an ABN is pretty easy, from memory.
Not a silly question.
Yes, I’ve left the books up and just don’t write more - but the door’s always open if they suddenly start selling again. I actually have redone the covers, not to get sales (they didn’t change and I wasn’t expecting them to) but because I wanted to practice using Photoshop.
I don’t advertise them at all. Occasionally I’ll do a free or discounted promotion on one of the shorts, but I mostly just leave them alone.
Wonderful! I started publishing in 2019 and have earned $17k thus far. Like you, a bulk of this was earned last year and this year is looking even better. Burn out is real. I’m taking a small step back during the second half of this year and publishing one novella a month instead of 2 shorts. It’ll be roughly 6k words less a month. But I need a second to catch my breath.
It’s very true— persistence is queen. There have been times I wanted to stop, but I’m so glad I didn’t! Good luck with your romance novels!
You have half the published titles as me but twice the income, so congrats!
This is really encouraging, to keep honing the craft while building a back catalog.
I have noticed, too, that my old novels and bundles get bumped up by newly published shorts, so I believe it is good for every erotica writer to have some longer titles in their back catalog while using newly published shorts as an advertisement for longer works.
If I had to guess, I'd say that it would be good to publish a short per week and a novella/novel per month, but that's a lot of words put in, like 8-10K per day of writing which I can't do.
So, realistically, a full-time writer might benefit from publishing a short per week and a longer work every two or three months.
I might start working on this model now.
That’s a good strategy.
My shorts tend to be about 5000-8000 words, so at my peak I was publishing one a week.
It was tough at the time, but it’s paying off now.
And did a shitload of work to learn how to target it more effectively.
I can't downplay the amount of work I did to learn how to do covers, blurbs, titles, keywords, formatting, backmatter, ARCs, mailing lists (honestly the hardest thing) and writing millions of words. It's not just about finding a "good niche", it's about doing the work to make sure you'll be successful in that niche.
I kind of gave up on ARC's, because I have seen enough steam gaining on my main pen that I feel like in the long run just dedicating the time to writing more is time better spent.
But yeah, short-term ARC's can help with exposure and sales for sure.
Thanks for sharing, this is great to see.
As a beginner, it's really encouraging to see how your earnings built over time. Congratulations on that!
Good luck with your romance writing too! (I can see the appeal of putting out longer works where you get to spend more time with your characters).
Congratulations I've been publishing since, 2016 have close to 300 titles now glad I don't do this for a living I'm lucky to make enough to pay for dinner a month. I write erotic shorts but do not do much promotion I just write. I do this to keep busy and my profits reflect this is a hobby. You have obviously figured this out keywords I think is my problem.
You know what you're doing this for and do it accordingly. I take my hat off to you :)
You can always learn more about keywords if you want to. Just because you haven't in the past doesn't mean it's too late now.
Looks great. I launched into things in 2017 and started earning slowly, but burned out early (and had many other health issues pop up, which stalled my writing for a few years). Still working on short stories, and only recently got up over a hundred stories.
My total income over the years is nearly $14,000. Mainly organic sales.
The ones I've published? One was 50,000-ish words and the other was 75,000 or so.
The new ones will have no relationship to these two - new pen name, new cover designer, new everything. These two were just to learn the ropes.
When you write shorts, do you typically build up things or do you just jump into the situation? Do you find that sometimes you want to carry on things from one short to another? I’d consider anything I’ve written to be shorts and I kind of enjoy the whole telling a scene and moving on to the next story.
Congratulations! We started in the same month and I've made $13,000 to date, although I was only actively publishing for less than half of that time. I wish I had your persistence. I've gone very long periods of not being bothered to write and it's obviously hurt my financials quite significantly. Is this all on one pen? May I ask, have you had to register for an ABN?
Thank you! You'll get there, just keep working on it. Obviously the more you publish, the more you will make. It's not all one pen - I've got 1 main one (90 or so titles), two smaller ones (15-20 titles) and a few with only a handful of books. I've retired all but the main one now. I already had an ABN but if I didn't, I would have registered for one. My accountant said that even the months where I was only getting a few dollars still needed to be declared. Edit: applying for an ABN is pretty easy, from memory.
[удалено]
Not a silly question. Yes, I’ve left the books up and just don’t write more - but the door’s always open if they suddenly start selling again. I actually have redone the covers, not to get sales (they didn’t change and I wasn’t expecting them to) but because I wanted to practice using Photoshop. I don’t advertise them at all. Occasionally I’ll do a free or discounted promotion on one of the shorts, but I mostly just leave them alone.
Wonderful! I started publishing in 2019 and have earned $17k thus far. Like you, a bulk of this was earned last year and this year is looking even better. Burn out is real. I’m taking a small step back during the second half of this year and publishing one novella a month instead of 2 shorts. It’ll be roughly 6k words less a month. But I need a second to catch my breath. It’s very true— persistence is queen. There have been times I wanted to stop, but I’m so glad I didn’t! Good luck with your romance novels!
What's your word count range for novellas?
20k
You have half the published titles as me but twice the income, so congrats! This is really encouraging, to keep honing the craft while building a back catalog. I have noticed, too, that my old novels and bundles get bumped up by newly published shorts, so I believe it is good for every erotica writer to have some longer titles in their back catalog while using newly published shorts as an advertisement for longer works. If I had to guess, I'd say that it would be good to publish a short per week and a novella/novel per month, but that's a lot of words put in, like 8-10K per day of writing which I can't do. So, realistically, a full-time writer might benefit from publishing a short per week and a longer work every two or three months. I might start working on this model now.
That’s a good strategy. My shorts tend to be about 5000-8000 words, so at my peak I was publishing one a week. It was tough at the time, but it’s paying off now.
obviously you found a good niche.
And did a shitload of work to learn how to target it more effectively. I can't downplay the amount of work I did to learn how to do covers, blurbs, titles, keywords, formatting, backmatter, ARCs, mailing lists (honestly the hardest thing) and writing millions of words. It's not just about finding a "good niche", it's about doing the work to make sure you'll be successful in that niche.
I kind of gave up on ARC's, because I have seen enough steam gaining on my main pen that I feel like in the long run just dedicating the time to writing more is time better spent. But yeah, short-term ARC's can help with exposure and sales for sure.
Fair enough, every niche is different.
Thanks for sharing, this is great to see. As a beginner, it's really encouraging to see how your earnings built over time. Congratulations on that! Good luck with your romance writing too! (I can see the appeal of putting out longer works where you get to spend more time with your characters).
Thanks :)
Congratulations I've been publishing since, 2016 have close to 300 titles now glad I don't do this for a living I'm lucky to make enough to pay for dinner a month. I write erotic shorts but do not do much promotion I just write. I do this to keep busy and my profits reflect this is a hobby. You have obviously figured this out keywords I think is my problem.
It warms my cold, dead heart to see you went on your annual ski trip with the wife.
Try offering 1 title a week for free through kdp. It helps my small catalog.
Thanks for the tip
You know what you're doing this for and do it accordingly. I take my hat off to you :) You can always learn more about keywords if you want to. Just because you haven't in the past doesn't mean it's too late now.
I really love your tenacity. Best of luck with your romance novels!
Thanks!
This is fantastic - good for you. You earned every penny. Just what I needed to read before an evenings smut-peddling too...
A job very well done. You've earned your rest, soldier.
Thank you :)
Looks great. I launched into things in 2017 and started earning slowly, but burned out early (and had many other health issues pop up, which stalled my writing for a few years). Still working on short stories, and only recently got up over a hundred stories. My total income over the years is nearly $14,000. Mainly organic sales.
Incredible achievement! Thank you so much for sharing your numbers!
Personally, I'd appreciate data posts for your novels. What's your usual word count on those?
The ones I've published? One was 50,000-ish words and the other was 75,000 or so. The new ones will have no relationship to these two - new pen name, new cover designer, new everything. These two were just to learn the ropes.
Did you use a different pen name for your novels?
Yes I do
When you write shorts, do you typically build up things or do you just jump into the situation? Do you find that sometimes you want to carry on things from one short to another? I’d consider anything I’ve written to be shorts and I kind of enjoy the whole telling a scene and moving on to the next story.