Daddy books

or maybe they just make zon so much they're allowed to stay. I wish I could get into the private forums where authors like this discuss their dark arts. On reddit all they do is tell you not to ever do anything that's even slightly risky. Which isn't bad advice, but it's the only advice. I'd love to hear from the guys bringing in the big bucks writing the riskier stuff. I know you can sell anything through smashwords, but I hate smashwords, can't use Paypal, and do not trust checks. Plus, I' experimenting now with being all in with KU.

Right now my fears are that I'll cannibalize my sales, but I made so few sales that I don't so. KU cents aren't much, but it's really nice have 24 cents up on the tab, rather than the page of failure and shame that I had almost every day before I went into KU.

I ended September with $20. I had $2 before I published my 3 new shorts. That was only for the last two weeks of Sep. So it will be interesting to see what 4 weeks will bring.

This is why it's sad Selena Kitt's store didn't last. It was one of the few places erotica authors had. She ran into issues with credit card companies and Paypal not wanting to contribute to "pornography".

Many erotica authors are no more. They either switched to romance, other genres or don't write at all. It's sad to see a genre that made ebooks so popular is now almost extinct. But it got to where authors couldn't make money and the retailers made it too hard for them. Not just Amazon. Also, throw in the fact that D2D blocks sexy books even when they aren't erotica.

They had too much against them and it got to where it wasn't worth it to keep fighting just to sell some books.

K, I forgot to touch on what you said about getting into the spots other than Reddit to discuss erotica and marketing. The thing is, those places no longer exist! I knew of a few and one was Dirty Discourse and there were some others sprinkled around. I don't even know if DD is still around. Never hear about it and it had become a haven for scammers and schemers. I got a bad taste in my mouth when I joined and could get into the secret forums. All it was was posts on finding ghostwriters, how to scam KU (even though the people would dress it up as "marketing") and a lot of shady stuff. There were also many authors who were content mills and those groups who write under one pen name. They also had authors in there close to RH and Chance Carter who'd take up for them and man, those people on DD hated Kboards after they kicked RH off the site. She deserved what she got but those on DD were so vicious to Kboards, David Gaughran, Phoenix Sullivan (what happened to her?) and anyone vocal about the scammers and cheaters. It disgusted me so I stay a little and left when I saw what was going on. There were some good authors there too that like me, thought it was a place to get information and learn something but it was just this sleazy site of scamming so after a month, if that, I left.

There were some other "secretive" erotica groups on FB that weren't scammy or anything but they don't exist anymore and I have heard from other erotica authors that the places they used to hang out aren't around because so many authors ditched erotica altogether. Unfortunately that Reddit site seems to be the only place for Erotica now. I doubt any new places are popping up due to the lack of authors in the genre. They got tired of jumping through hoops with these retailers.

The erotica authors still around tend to just do their own thing and learn tactics themselves. Many just put the books out there and hope they can still make some money. Most write other genres outside erotica so not sure they are too much concerned about sales. I knew an erotica author who was making thousands a month back before KU 2 when you could get paid by borrows in KU 1. She made a killing. After KU 2 she was scrambling and never caught fire again. She still writes erotica but it's not her main genre anymore. No, years ago she switched to romance (sweet at that and says its more fun not having to write sex all the time) and she now just releases an erotica book once in a while under her old name to get extra money. She hasn't caught fire with sweet. She does okay but not as good as she did in erotica but she doesn't care because she loves writing it and says it's such a load off to not have to worry about a book being targeted by the retailer every time you publish or having some retailer reject it. She says though she made a lot of money at one while, it wasn't worth it and erotica just isn't the money maker anymore.

Are you a member of the Erotica Authors Guild? I'm sure they have tools and guidance that helps. They are still going strong.

I don't write erotica. I did for a short while but I learned as much as I could about it and the business of it and can't believe such a juggernaut has all but disappeared. 

I came in contact with some good authors who couldn't recover after things went south. Some want to say, "Just write romance or erotic romance." But it's not easy for everyone to do. Not every erotica author wants to write romance or erotic romance. Those are two different things compared to erotica. If you are used to writing short and fast, it can be impossible to switch to writing full-lengths and many don't want to. Many erotica authors don't want to write romance. They love erotica but the industry has left them behind.

I am not a conspiracy theorist at all but I wouldn't be shocked if this was some joint effort by retailers, etc, to kill erotica. Just funny how it went from a popular genre to seemingly blackballed. Also, let's not forget the sexist string in it. People act like women don't have the right to celebrate sex in anyway let alone enjoy doing it!

I sent an email to Lil Lacy, the new list that Adrian's books are on. There are 4 authors listed, not sure if it's a co-op or all the same author. I asked for tips. Don't know if I'll get an answer though.

My latest short has been stuck in reviewer hell for 3 days now, so I'm worried it means the book is in trouble. But maybe they're just swamped with all the low-content people submitting hundreds of journals a day for Christmas.

DD is still there. I can still sign in from when I was there for my free month, but I can't read anything. If I had a debit card that accepted subscriptions I would sign up just to see what was going on. It was a really nice place when I was there, even though there was very little actual smutty talk. They were all doing romance, at the time.

I think this was all way before the Rebecca Hamilton shit. It's probably just as well I can't sign up if they're promoting scammy stuff now. But I had fuzzy feelings back then and was missing it.

If I had the money I would write Mpreg romance novellas cos I think it's adorable. And some of the covers are totes squee. Or even if I had an artistic bone in my body was capable of learning how to make those covers myself.

There are two private subreddits, r/smutwriters and r/heavingbosoms, but they only let peeps who sell a lot join. You're right that the majority of forums and FB groups are dedicated to romance. That's where the money is now. Well it's in novels with pro covers, pro editing, and lots and lots of advertising.

I don't really like EAG.

ETA: They replied, but they don't have any magic beans. Basically, they said that daddy looks to be perfectly okay with amazon, right now, but they're super cracking down on dubious consent. I guess that's their new issue. Just my luck. Oh well. It was really nice of them to reply to me like that!!!

Since I probably have my first blocked book now, I have to try and decide what to do next. Oh, and for the record. Keywords can get you blocked, probably. I used to think they were safe, but they might not be now.

I did not know that. Thanks davidvandyke. *teeheehee*

It's so funny to hear someone else say that. I love those guys, but it can be a very frustrating forum at times. 

Exactly! What we need is an EA2.0. Private forum made up solely of people who come from the EA world, and want talk about things a little more openly. I've thought about this a ton. I think there's a lot of value there, but it can be hard to do, and I'm really not looking to step on anyone's toes at all. 

I went ahead and added a private erotica writers forum on here. You have to PM to be added to the Smut Slingers rank to be able to read it. If anyone joins the first members get to choose the requirements on who we let in and who we don't.

Okay, I think I figured it out. I added you to the smutslinger group so you should be able to see the new sub board now. You're the first to join so you get to help craft it to hopefully entice others to join, as well.

It's just a matter of time before someone gets banned. Amazon may be busy, but with the holidays approaching, they will clean up the store the best they can.