So its official!  I have sitting in my bank account my first transfer from Amazon for Erotic writing!  :D

I am so excited I'm "Squee-ing" all over... I'm talking the whole nine yards, goose bumps, tummy tickles (the good kind lol) and drunken giggles!  Sure it wasn't anything to write home about yet (though I did immediately text my mother hehe).  

My process has been really simple, but I've gotten lots of questions about it.  So here it is in simple steps:

HOW TO SELF-PUB: 

1) Write a banging story.

2) Personally edit for clarity, smoothness, and readability.  Make it perfect in your eyes. 

3) Hire someone to read and edit it.  (For me I use my lover, who is amazing with continuity and clarity, he also is perfect at finding the exact right word.  And Ember Rose she is phenomenal with grammar and spelling, and is also good at telling me what works and what doesn't. She also is in charge of several "word-related projects." So I know she's got a good grasp of grammar.)

4) Format it.  Amazon uses .html zip folders, and Barnes and Noble .doc, others use .epub.  Make sure it looks amazing and things are done the way your distributor wants them.  Opening an ebook and discovering its not formatted correctly will immediately turn off your reader.

5) Create an eye-popping cover.  Use a professional photo, you can buy them at places like iStockPhoto, Dreamstime, and Shutterstock.  Do not grab one from somewhere on the internet, its illegal unless you have permission.  Put your title on it with your favorite editing program.  The more professional supposedly the better you do - though I've seen some that are essentially just tits and ass slapped on the cover with a word pasted over it in paint and no thought about cropping, lighting, or how it looks as a thumbnail.  Remember that your distributor has particular requirements too.  If you don't feel up to creating one, buy it.  I'll do one for you for $50 (with a by-line on the cover), but there are others out there who produce them for more or less.

6) Write out a blurb to hook your readers, include a rough (but accurate!) word count / page number so your readers know what to expect and a sneak peek.  

7) Sign up with your distributor. (There are a lot out there, B&N and Amazon are only 2.)

8) Upload to your distributors following their formatting guides, previewing all material before you submit it, answer all questions and click upload. 

9) Advertise.  Some people will say to wait until its pubbed for this - but I start pretty much as soon as I have the book cover done, sometimes before.  Some people say they've never advertised and are paid well, the truth is it is a personal choice.  Do what you feel is good and necessary. 

10) Receive your check and keep advertising.

I treat Lesa as a business, but a business I love and nurture, and she's paying off.  I'll draw an analogy now if you will bear with me (I know sometimes my posts run long, hehe).  But Writing is like Gardening.  The word doc on your pc is only a tiny seed, it isn't the soil, it isn't the sunlight, it isn't the water, and left alone its not going to grow into the big money tree most writer's dream about.  But if you put that tiny seed in the soil (with a publisher or on Amazon or B&N) and water it with a good cover, shine the sun of advertising on it, then it will start to flourish.  But no matter what it has to be drug through the dirt.     

Why would you ever become a writer if you didn't love it?

I have several writing friends.  Mostly those who blog.  They talk about saving money, about couponing, about their kids, and about crafts they're doing at home - they talk about things that fill their lives.  They enjoy it - I can see that. But each of them has come to me at some point and gone "I so didn't want to write today." Or "I so didn't have time to write today." Or "Jeez I hate blogging."  They enjoy it but they don't seem to LOVE it.  

Its not a requirement to love your job - hell most people won't ever love their job, they'll wake up they'll go to work, they'll do their job, they'll come home and talk about how much they hate their job.  I have to believe that most people just tolerate their jobs because I rarely hear people talking about how much they love their job.  

When you are passionate about something it shows.  Your thoughts wander to it - even at inopportune times.  Suddenly time seems to magically appear for when you get to do that activity.  

As I said, I have several writing friends.  Amongst them is a man who has been writing for years.  He loves it, he is passionate about it, I wish I could italicize that.  He is PASSIONATE about it, he LOVES it.  He still goes to a boring job and sits down and calls people to set appointments, but he never talks about that - he talks about writing.  He talks about his screenplay, his story, his idea.

I believe that is true happiness.  Being passionate about something so much it helps you get through the rest of your day.  You dig through the junk to find the treasure.

If you are a true writer, if you are doing this because of a passion then I believe that some day it will pay off.  Someday it will work to your advantage.  :) Hopefully that someday for me is soon.

So in truth I did this several days ago, (before submitting it to Amazon & Barnes and Noble.), but I've been busy, so please forgive. 

The cover ended up being easy in execution, difficult in decision.  

I loaded up a stock photo site granting me royalty free (or limited royalties) and pooling around for photos that would work.  They are particularly awesome because they are professional, they are well lit, and they're really on the cheap side and the rights specifically allow for use for book covers, allowing cropping, editing, and adding text.  

I have seen several photos on Amazon that I know do not belong to the writer, and means that the illustrator/photographer isn't getting anything from the use of their art.  They are using it illegally and stealing from that artist.

Its highly frustrating to me that a writer who is attempting to make money at their craft would not support an illustrator trying to make money at his, especially when there are so many services out there in support of these "starving artists."

Ok off my soap box.  

I used a free shareware program which I plan to donate to if this venue helps my family as it has helped many others, and I used free for everyone fonts (not free for personal use fonts).  

Then I saved as a jpeg and made sure pixel sizes and file sizes were correct.  Easy Peezy.  :) 

So its official, The Binding: An Erotic Fantasy, is waiting for Amazon to clear it - expected in the next 12 to 24 hours.  WOOT! :)

I'm actually amazed with the ease of which it was uploaded - we had a few little hiccups, a page break wouldn't work, sort of things, but the HTML was easily handled, and the photo uploaded easily - the part I honestly was most afraid of.

I'm really excited - I have published a lot of little articles around and made a "few bucks" there - and honestly I have no idea what to expect from my erotica, but it never hurts to try! 

My dear friend sent me a link yesterday with information on self-publishing versus "old fashioned" publishers.  It was an intense and deeply knowledgable read. 

It has lead me to the conclusion that I won't be doing things quite the same way as originally thought.  (I was quite literally writing out my cover letter for a publishing house when I opened his link.) 

In it Delilah Fawkes, an erotic author, discusses her experiences with self-publishing, and erotica in general.  The acceptance of readers to take in short stories versus novels or collections, and the ability to essentially fill the market quickly with your own good porn!  

I have been slowly pouring through the user agreements (I want to ensure that I keep my rights or some semblance of them) and am preparing for publishing hopefully within the next two weeks.  

But the next question is what to do about the cover?  I have gimp - but its not quite as professional as Photoshop (and what "starving artist" has the hundreds of bucks for that?) and as my sweetheart says it is my only marketing tool other than title at this point. 

Miss Fawkes shared that she finds hers through a website of photography... Perhaps I will look that up.  

On to the next step!