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publishing on Amazon

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cornodamore
Active Ink Slinger
Hi. I've been practising erotic writing for some time, and I'm really glad to have discovered this group. I have some stories that I'd like to try publishing as e-books, say on Amazon. If I put them on LS would that mean I can't publish them anywhere else, or does my copyright notice mean I can? I'd be interested to know what you all do and what your experiences are. Thanks. Corno
JulieTopper
Advanced Wordsmith
If you put your stories on Amazon Kindle they want exclusivity. It is not a problem as you will get sales and interest.
Kindle Unlimited is the way to go. I have increased my sale since moving to Kindle Unlimited.
cornodamore
Active Ink Slinger
Thanks. Julie. I'll look into it. I'll probably post some more stories here to see what people think. All best. Corno
RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
Amazon will remove an Ebook from listing if it is discovered to be available elsewhere for a cheaper price. Free certainly qualifies as cheaper, so any story published on Lush could get the book removed from listing.

( As a side note, if you find your work for sale under someone else's name on Amazon, this is often the quickest and most reliable means to get it removed. Link to your story on the original free site when you report it, and don't even mention copyright. They're wishy-washy about copyright claims, but quick to nuke something that hurts their profits )

Going with Kindle Unlimited creates even more restrictions. It's a personal decision, but if you have any thought of diversifying to other venues such as Smashwords, going with Unlimited can be very detrimental to your bottom line. Amazon is also notorious for burying erotica, and seems to come up with new ways to further hide it every few months. You could very well find yourself stuck in an exclusivity agreement with your work that generates no sales when the next wall goes up.

Good Will ---|--- Three Alarm <= Both almost famous, give them a read and get them one step closer!
nicola
Matriarch
Some good advice above.

You used to be able to "price match", but I am guessing they've probably removed that option now, as it means they make nothing (someone will be able to confirm, I'm sure) when someone sets it at $0.00 match elsewhere.

I'd use all free sites like this, to create a following (make sure you are all over places like Twitter, like a rash), and then publish exclusives on Amazon which hopefully your following, will want to snap up.

It's a hugely competitive environment on Amazon (50 Shades and nanny state policing trashed it). We more or less stopped publishing there 3 or 4 years ago, as it simply wasn't worth the effort.

But with a huge amount of self-promotion, and an unerring ability to spin a yarn, there's still plenty of money to be made there from what my sources tell me.

Good luck, and welcome to the site!
Verbal
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
Quote by nicola
Some good advice above.

You used to be able to "price match", but I am guessing they've probably removed that option now, as it means they make nothing (someone will be able to confirm, I'm sure) when someone sets it at $0.00 match elsewhere.

I'd use all free sites like this, to create a following (make sure you are all over places like Twitter, like a rash), and then publish exclusives on Amazon which hopefully your following, will want to snap up.

It's a hugely competitive environment on Amazon (50 Shades and nanny state policing trashed it). We more or less stopped publishing there 3 or 4 years ago, as it simply wasn't worth the effort.

But with a huge amount of self-promotion, and an unerring ability to spin a yarn, there's still plenty of money to be made there from what my sources tell me.

Good luck, and welcome to the site!



I got a notice/warning saying my work was found elsewhere on the web for free, but all I had to do was declare the content was written by me. Way less complicated than I figured. I still have stories on sites I never submiitted to, but I am not gonna go to the bother of trying to take it down.

As to whether there is money to be had, I am guessing it's pretty slim pickings, but I will find out in about 3 months.
RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
That's surprising. I suppose my success rate could be attributed to diligence. Once I see work I recognize, I often dig through the previews of every work on the plagiarizers page, google search reasonably unique phrases, and report them all with links as well. They're almost all inevitably stolen from free sites as well.

I have seen them nuked after a single report on a single plagiarized work, though.

I do know for certain that there are some Amazon programs that absolutely require that the work not be available anywhere else for a cheaper price. Those have a specific selection to report them for that reason.

I've fiddled with the idea of publishing mine for years. I used the excuse that I didn't have a Paypal account, and no desire to set one up for most of that time. Now I've had to get one for another reason, so that excuse is out the window.

So, I'm leaning on it being too much trouble to create new covers appropriate for retail in the obscene sizes they demand, when cover images with those dimensions aren't displayed anywhere.

From what I've heard from reasonably successful authors, the key is long term, consistent production. Having your name out there on a regular basis keeps attracting new eyes, and builds trust/loyalty with those who have found you. Eventually you hit a critical mass where there's enough word of mouth to make you a reasonable amount of folding money for fun, though certainly nothing you can live off of.

I've got an existing catalog that could probably keep me in weekly releases for at least a year, including full novel-length stories. Just never able to summon up sufficient motivation to go through with it.

Every time I think about it, the hobby starts feeling like work.

Quote by Verbal


I got a notice/warning saying my work was found elsewhere on the web for free, but all I had to do was declare the content was written by me. Way less complicated than I figured. I still have stories on sites I never submiitted to, but I am not gonna go to the bother of trying to take it down.

As to whether there is money to be had, I am guessing it's pretty slim pickings, but I will find out in about 3 months.

Good Will ---|--- Three Alarm <= Both almost famous, give them a read and get them one step closer!
C_R_R_Crawford
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Verbal


I got a notice/warning saying my work was found elsewhere on the web for free, but all I had to do was declare the content was written by me. Way less complicated than I figured. I still have stories on sites I never submiitted to, but I am not gonna go to the bother of trying to take it down.

As to whether there is money to be had, I am guessing it's pretty slim pickings, but I will find out in about 3 months.



How did you end up going Verbal? Do alright?
Verbal
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
Quote by crrcrawford



How did you end up going Verbal? Do alright?


The flash stuff didn't sell well AT ALL, but the short stories sold well, and the Open trilogy of stories did quite well. Thanks for asking!