Calista Foxton - How to Write Erotica

Text copyright 2015 Calista Foxton

All Rights Reserved

Cover is for illustration only and any person depicted is a model.

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I started writing erotica around four months ago, and Ive made over $3,500 in that time. I know of a few people who made a lot more. And I know of many people who are still procrastinating, still wondering whether theyre brave enough to put themselves out there.

If thats where youre at right now, this book is for you. Its very much a beginners guide, and in simple terms its a whole lot of the information I wish Id known right at the start. Theres a lot to navigate, and the learning curves greater than I expected it to be. But all of its perfectly possible and within your grasp.

I need you to be able to write. You dont need to be a literary genius, but you need to be able to put a story down on paper. Being able to tell a good story is essential. Ill cover the structure that I use later in the book.

I also need you to have an appetite for some hard work and some serious learning.

Ill be walking you through the steps Ive learned in getting short erotica out there and in front of the right eyes. Starting with how to research the market and then write the stories that people want to read.

You should know that I write hetro erotica (usually one man and one woman), and where I refer to characters and standard structures in this book, I use those conventions. If you write other character combinations, youll be able to adapt those to suit pretty simply.

You should also know that around half of my books are exclusive to Amazon. There are advantages and disadvantages to this, some of which Ill hint at. But most of the information in this guide is just as applicable if you plan to publish wider.

Read everything here and experiment. Take some of the methods Ive learned to use and start your own writing career. Take everything here as ideas and thoughts rather than business advice. Your track may develop in a whole different way to mine.

Nothing here is set in stone, and you should pick out the bits that work for you. Im just a few steps ahead of you, and Im still learning, but you can do this. All you need is a bit of imagination and the courage to get started.

O K, so you need to know a little about me.

Im in my late 40s, writing as a way to make a little extra money on the side.

I have a supportive partner and a sister whos been running her own business for years. Both of those people have been important to me; if I can give you one piece of advice right at the start, its that youre going to need one or two people wholl cheer you on when things are going well and challenge you when youre falling behind. Choose those people carefully; not everyone is comfortable with erotica, and you might need to keep your specific content private. But find people wholl give you the validation and encouragement you need without judging you too much.

I work full time and for now, writings a side-gig. I write about three evenings a week and usually manage to find extra time at the weekends.

Before I started writing stories to sell, I wrote a little on literotica and a couple of other sites. My stories there were much shorter and much less structured. In fact, I knew very little about story structure when I started. But we all learn by our mistakes, right?!

I now have almost 40 short stories published, on Amazon and elsewhere, across three erotica pen names.

I guess Im a bit set in my ways on most things. I cant remember the last time I learned something new. I hope you take something from that; if I can do it, you can too.

S hort erotica was a natural start for me. I have a strong imagination, and I had a lot of stories I wanted to work through. Id published a little previously on free sites, particularly literotica, and I knew that this was something I could go further with.

I guess that all of us are keenly aware of the success of the 50 Shades series. That came out at a time when people were just getting into the e-reader thing; if youre reading a book on the train nowadays, using an e-reader means that no-one need know exactly what it is that youre reading. We can read what we want to read without judgment, and thats opened up the chance for women (and men, although to a lesser extent) to access the kind of erotica that they enjoy.

Short erotica isnt without problems. Youll find that some promotional outlets will reject your work because they want to avoid alienating the less broadminded of their readership. Theres some disadvantage in not being able to use existing social networks, online and offline, unless all of your family, friends and colleagues are particularly liberal.

The advantage, though, is that theres a strong and voracious readership out there. Women particularly read erotic fiction with great enthusiasm, and you have the opportunity to put your own fantasies and theirs into stories that theyll pay significantly more for than readers of shorts in other genres would be prepared to.

Publishing often gives you plenty of practice on learning how to do that comfortably and efficiently, and finishing a story always comes with a sense of accomplishment. Shorts give you the opportunity to experience that accomplishment frequently, and that can be a great motivator.

Youll have the opportunity to develop your writing craft; focusing on one or two characters, with tight plots and a lot of anticipation and tension, will be useful to you if you choose to write longer books in the future.

Youre also going to be learning some marketing skills. Ill take you through those as we go. Going through those frequently is a good way to build some systems and create a kind of flow to your marketing. Its cumbersome at first, but youll soon reach a point where your marketing tasks feel pretty natural each time you publish a new book.

Short erotica is a great starting point. You may find that your long term strategy is to continue with this, or you may find that you want to move into other genres or longer work. Either way, its a simple way to get started with writing, and if you do want to move into different genres, youll have a lot of the learning curve done and the transition to full length erotica or steamy romance is a simple one.

Romance and erotica bring in over a billion dollars in annual sales; heres your chance to grab a slice of that for yourself.

A ll that I ever learned about the process of writing was about getting something written and then having to do a whole lot of work on getting it accepted by an agent and then a publisher. The process seemed slow and laborious, and writers career stories appear to be littered with stories of frequent rejection and years of effort.

Even those who are fortunate enough to find an agent and a publisher will often experience months or even years of waiting before their work is published.

All that disappears with the process of self-publishing. You write a story, you publish it, you promote it and - assuming its of a reasonable standard - someone will read it. Hopefully many people read it. The effort that you put in is almost always directly related to the financial return you get, and all of that can happen very quickly. I made a couple of dollars within days of having my first book published and thats completely attainable for you too. Its not much, but its a start and youll be surprised at how quickly it begins to build.

Shortly before I started publishing, I attended a writing conference where the emphasis was on agents and publishers. Being found and being wanted. Networking and building relationships, and playing a long game in the journey towards being a fully-fledged writer. I came away knowing for sure that that was a route I didnt want to take.