New author - advice needed!

[newboy1200]

Hi everyone!

I am looking for a bit of advice. I am two thirds through writing my first ever erotic novel and hopefully looking to self publish in the next few weeks. Couple of questions and then an open invitation for any advice that people in here can give me to make it as successful as possible:

- Should I release a sample chapter before I fully publish?
- Should I be talking about it in places like this one and giving snippets to raise awareness?
- What price point would you recommend for a 65k word novel?

Any advice welcome and greatly received!

[Cinisajoy]

Let me get you to the correct forum.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by newboy1200

Hi everyone!

I am looking for a bit of advice. I am two thirds through writing my first ever erotic novel and hopefully looking to self publish in the next few weeks. Couple of questions and then an open invitation for any advice that people in here can give me to make it as successful as possible:

- Should I release a sample chapter before I fully publish?
- Should I be talking about it in places like this one and giving snippets to raise awareness?
- What price point would you recommend for a 65k word novel?

Any advice welcome and greatly received!

No.
Carefully since you said it is erotic.
Look and see what others in your genre are charging.

Now, did you or will you have someone else proofread it?

I may have other questions later.

[Dr. Drib]

Mobileread does not allow any promotional erotica whatsoever on our site, so no snippets, no chunks, no bits and pieces - no erotic novel will be allowed here.

We can give writing advice and recommendations.

By the way, you have three hits on your IP address for spam. You might want to take care of that problem...


Don
(Moderator)

[GeeCrow]

IMO, everyone, especially first time authors, should buy a current year's copy of Writer's Market & read the articles full of advice being given by published authors.

(Hopefully recommending this resource isn't a violation of the site's TOS.)

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by GeeCrow

IMO, everyone, especially first time authors, should buy a current year's copy of Writer's Market & read the articles full of advice being given by published authors.

(Hopefully recommending this resource isn't a violation of the site's TOS.)

Absolutely not, unless you are the Publisher or one of the editors.



Don
(Moderator)

[BookCat]

At the time of posting, you were only two thirds through your first draft ... you are nowhere near publication. Firstly, finish the first draft, then put it away for a couple of weeks. Next, load it into your chosen reading device (or print it out if you don't have one), sit back, cuppa in hand, notebook beside you and read it as though you hadn't written it yourself.

Make occasional notes concerning plot holes, or events in the wrong order, or maybe other things which would be better altered. Then, when you've finished, ask yourself if you would really pay good money for the book you've just read.

Go back to your computer, make the necessary structure alterations and fill in plot holes (get the times that events happen consistent). Then do a detailed textual edit.
The textual edit involves changing the syntax, word choices, grammar etc.

When you're finally happy with it, get some beta readers who are okay about reading erotica to read it (avoid friends and family, they'll just say it's great). Using their feedback, make more alterations if you wish.
Or send it to a professional editor (personally, I'd do my own editing, but I can be ruthless with my own stuff).

Then consider publication and all that entails.

Don't let this put you off, the editing can be great fun it's the getting the words on the page initially which is tough.

[Nabeel]

'When you're finally happy with it, get some beta readers who are okay about reading erotica to read it (avoid friends and family, they'll just say it's great). Using their feedback, make more alterations if you wish.'



I find friends and family are the toughest critics of all.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by BookCat

[...]Or send it to a professional editor (personally, I'd do my own editing, but I can be ruthless with my own stuff). [...]

There are various levels and types of edit. Yes, substantive copy editing can require ruthlessness. It is critically important but tends to be less obvious to the reader: they appreciate it when it has been done well, but when it has not been done well the resulting criticisms tend to be vague. I do my own substantive editing, and with practice I am getting better at it.

But what most end readers will complain about directly in their reviews is mechanical editing and proofreading. This work doesn't require ruthlessness, it requires knowledge, experience, an eye for detail, and the ability to read what's on the page (rather than what our brains fill in automatically for us). Try as I might, I can't get this right on my own. Having the computer read the text to me helps, but even that has let me down.

Originally Posted by Nabeel

[...] I find friends and family are the toughest critics of all.

Everyone's situation is different. Some people have editors in their family (they must come from somewhere ), but the advice still holds good as a general rule.

Certainly share your work with those you care about, and who care about you; your knowledge of each other can provide its own advantages. But always remember that this feedback will have its own skew (whether too harsh or too soft), so independent review tends to be more reliable as an indicator of how your work may be accepted by a wider audience.

One aspect of this that people forget is that your close acquaintances tend to speak the same dialect as you, so relying on these people can mean that you miss having your assumptions checked.

Being an Australian that would like my work to be read more widely than just the eastern seaboard of Australia (the west, I have learned, speaks a subtly different version of Australian), I have benefited quite regularly from having my work checked by people further removed from my locale.

[Cinisajoy]

Just reread the OP. 65,000 words seems excessive for an erotic novel. So I am wondering if the OP has read any erotic novels or is making the very common new author mistake of thinking if it has sex in it, it is automatically erotic.

So advice to the new author,
Make sure you know your genre and find a proofreader. A good one is not cheap so budget for it.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Just reread the OP. 65,000 words seems excessive for an erotic novel. [...]

Haven't you heard of Viagra? There is no excuse not to write epic erotica any more!

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

Haven't you heard of Viagra? There is no excuse not to write epic erotica any more!

Yes, but I don't want to read that many words about an old guy and his young mistress.
Well isn't that who single use Viagra is for?

Now back on topic:
Be sure and read some books in the genre you want to write in.

[BookCat]

The Black Lace imprint which publish erotica for women tend to be about 400 pages long. My aged mother used to read them in her late 80s/early 90s. Where most hot romantic novels are approx 90% story and 10% sex, the Black Lace novels are 10% story and 90% sex.
In my limited knowledge of the genre, 90,000 words wouldn't be too long. Maybe the ones written for men are different.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by BookCat

[...]Maybe the ones written for men are different.

Yeah, pictures!

Seriously, the only erotica I have ever read was in magazines. I've never bought a book that was sold as erotica. If I pick up a novel I expect something more than sex. (Perhaps men's higher cerebral functions cease to work efficiently under erotic stimulus, making it difficult to manage longer works under such duress.)

[BookCat]

Women have always been better at multi-tasking! They can concentrate and feel 'loved up' at the same time.
(BookCat pads off incase there's a mod around.)