Clever Pricing Sells Books...

But does it really make more money?

I've got a number of titles out now, all at prices varying between free and $2.99. There's no doubt that my 0.99 priced eBooks sell well, yet they need to sell a lot in order to make up for the low royalty rate.

If I sell one $2.99 book on Amazon, I'll net $2.07 of that which is pretty good. If I sell one $0.99 book, I'll only make $0.35. So for every one copy of a $2.99 book, I need to sell six $0.99 books.

A couple of months ago I switched my $2.99 novella, Deadly Beauty, to $0.99. I definitely saw a rise in sales, from selling between 2-5 copies a night at $2.99 to selling 10-15. However, at this higher sales rate, I still wasn't making the same sort of money. In fact, I was making half the amount. I left it at the 0.99 price tag for two months to see if it would hit the best-seller list. It did, briefly, but then dropped back out again. Last week I switched the price back to $2.99 and I'm back to getting those few sales but making more money. I'm happy with that.

Pricing books depends on two things; whether you want the book to be a steady income earner or if you want to have a go at getting the book on a best-seller list and selling a lot for it's category (though be warned, this won't last!). When 'Some Love it Hot' was at its peak, it hit #11 on the Amazon best-seller list on Amazon and sold around 80 copies a night. I don't need to tell you that even at 99 cents, 80 x 0.35 is a decent sum.

In the next month, I hope to have two more titles out. One is another short story collection, which will have the $0.99 price tag. The second is a novella and I'm still undecided about its pricing. To match Deadly's pricing, it should really be at the $2.99 price tag, but there's always that voice inside me, saying 'take the chance at the 0.99 price tag. This might be the one that really sky-rockets'.

Perhaps I'll launch the novella at 0.99 and see how things go... Or perhaps I'll just stick with $2.99 and hope it brings in those two or three sales a night that really add up quickly. Who the hell knows what the right answer is (or even if there is one). I guess its still just a case of play around and see what happens!

I'm a Guest Speaker at Eroticon: 2012 - Writing Sex Right!

This past couple of weeks I've become an even bigger fan of twitter than normal. Through twitter I learned  not only was an erotica writer's conference happening in the UK, but it was happening right up my road! Straight away I wanted in and contacted the organisers to see if I could get involved in any way. Though my sales have slowed somewhat over this past month my resume is still pretty impressive and the organiser emailed me back almost immediately. I told her I'm a bit of a chicken when it came to standing up in front of a big group and talking but that I'd love to work with smaller groups, looking at individual's writing and giving edits/critiques and advice.

So the writer's workshop was born! I'll be running two sessions with writers either emailing me their piece a couple of weeks in advance for a more in depth edit, or else bringing a piece with them for a quick critique on the day. I'll also be available for people to chew my ear about what has worked for me and what hasn't.

I'm really excited to be involved and I'm now willing March 2012 to roll on round.

Keep reading for some more info on the conference.

I hope to see you there!

Eroticon 2012 : Writing Sex Right

What is Eroticon?

Eroticon is the UK’s first conference for Sex Bloggers and Erotica Writers.

Eroticon is an all day event open to anyone writing about sex online from novice bloggers to published authors, the conference will provide a safe space to learn, share and network.
The schedule will include workshops and panel sessions covering a wide variety of subjects from writing inspiration, tech-skills, photography, intellectual property rights, getting published and more.
We are also working on having an evening event of sublime sauciness.

When is Eroticon?

Saturday 3rd March 2012

Where is Eroticon?

Eroticon will be held at Armada House in Bristol, UK.

How do I find out more?

Stop by the website and  Follow the hashtag #eroticon2012 on Twitter!

Short but Sexy

The short story is under-rated. When it’s good, it’s really good. A short story can pull you into its world within the first few lines, thrust you through intense drama and then surprise you at the end.

Examples of some hit short stories include Stephen King’s, The Body' (Stand by Me) and 1408, both of which were made into hugely successful movies, and Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Pit and the Pendulum.

These days everything seems to want to be long. It’s as if some writers are in competition with each other, trying to see who can write the longest manuscript. But bigger doesn’t always mean better.

As author Mark Twain once famously wrote to his friend, ‘I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.’

In many ways, writing a short story is harder than writing a novel. There isn’t the opportunity to hope the reader falls in love with the characters within a few chapters. Instead, the character must be big enough to be believed in and adored within a few paragraphs. The story needs to have a plot and the characters need to have a past, but this information needs to be filtered in and not simply dumped in one big heap.

Writing erotic short stories is sometimes even harder than writing non-erotic stories. Of course, the sex is important. It has to be smoking hot and it needs to happen within a few pages. However, this doesn’t mean that the story itself should be lost, or that the characters have any less depth or background.

Generally my short stories start with a situation: a woman gets into difficulties while out for a swim in a rough ocean, a man returns to his parents home to find the girl next door is no longer a little girl, a business man is accosted by a hot air hostess while on a long haul flight. Once I’ve got the situation sorted out, then the characters start to build in my mind. I ask myself who they are, what are their likes and dislikes—their favourite foods and music—how do they like to dress? Then I start to look into their past. What has happened in their past to get them into their present situation?

I like to end my stories with a happy-ever-after or a happy-for-now ending, but my favourite type of ending is a twist, something even I didn’t see coming.

The great thing about a short story is that it has such immediate gratification, both for the writer and the reader. There isn’t the six months writing the first draft, followed by another six months of revisions, then another six months of submitting before you even hear something. Writing short stories are fun, and getting the acceptances are even better.

So get writing everyone. Craft your short stories with the love you give your novels, but remember if less has ever been more, it is certainly true in a short!

Rescued is available to buy from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you would like to know more about M.K. then please visit her Facebook Page. Her short stories also appear in the Kindle blog and eBooks, Everything Erotic.

My Love/Hate Affair with Reviews...

A good review can make my day. If I get a bad one, it can ruin my week.

I think I've got better at taking bad reviews though they do always feel like someone has just socked me in the stomach. As my husband reminded me a few days ago, six months ago I phone him at work in an absolute panic because someone had left me a three star review. At that time, it felt as though the world had collapsed. Now I can see a three star and think, oh well, it could have been better, but at least it wasn't a two!

Even so, getting bad reviews can be hard to take, but they can also be learnt from if the reviewer gives some constructive criticism. However, there are some things reviewers do that drive me nuts. Here are my pet hates in no particular order (cause they all piss me off!)...

1.) Leaving a one star but not saying the reason why they thought the book only deserved a one star!
2.) Complaining there is too much sex in an erotica novel. I mean, seriously, its erotica, of course there is going to be lots of sex!
3.) For free books; complaining it wasn't long enough or that the author then tried to sell one of their books afterwards. It was FREE! Of course authors want to get something back.
4.) Not even bothering to read the actual book but giving it a one star because the didn't like something in the product description.
5.) Mentioning random things that don't even happen in the book. One of my friends had a review complaining about all the anal sex in her book when there wasn't any!

So there they are. Have you got any pet peeves when it comes to reviews?

Business Cards!

I just ordered my first business cards! They let me have a free online business card as well (clearly to promote their own company, but what the hell!) so I thought I'd share it here...

Can't wait to get them in the post. I think they're looking good!

Writing Short Stories...

Hi guys, I'm over at Delilah Delvin's blog today, posting about how I write my short stories. I've always enjoyed writing shorts - there is so much satisfaction in writing a few thousand words that encapsulate a moment of time in my character's lives - and reading them as well. With these busy days, it's often hard to find the time to sit down and read a whole novel and dipping in and out of short stories can be a way of getting a good hit of fiction.

I've been thrilled this week that one of my short story collections, Some Love it Hot, hit the Amazon top one hundred bestsellers for Erotica. It's been dipping in and out all week, but I'm hoping it's on the climb.

Next month, I'll be getting ready for the release of the follow up to Some Love it Hot, which will be entitled, Some Love it Rough. As you can imagine, these shorts have been lots of fun to write. I'll be posting a preview of one of the shorts on Everything Erotic this Wednesday.

Hope to see you there!

Deadly Beauty

So, my vampire novella, Deadly Beauty, is almost done and I'm super excited about it. Initially it started off as a short story, but I simply couldn't let my sexy vamps go!

You ever write something you simply love? Well, I feel like that about this one and I hope my readers will feel the same way. Technically it's a lesbian vampire romance, though there's plenty of m/f sex as well. There's also plenty of violence and suspense, so I hope it's as good fun reading it as it was writing.

Here's the blurb:

When erotic dancer, Nadine, is attacked and stabbed in a dark alley, the last thing she expects  is to be ‘saved’ by lesbian vampire, Adrienne.

While Nadine had sworn off men as a human, now a newly turned vampire, she struggles with her new desire for both sex and blood. And when River, a sexy, but dangerous male vampire, is thrown into the mix, Nadine has to wonder if she really wants to be with another woman for the rest of eternity...

I'm also loving my cover, which C.J. at Red Hot Publishing did for me!

Thanks C.J!

Some Love it Hot!

This weekend will see the release of my second short story collection, Some Love it Hot.

Here's the blurb:
Erotica author, M.K. Elliott, brings you Some Love it Hot. Three short stories of girls who know what they like and know how to get it. Meet the air hostess who can’t get enough of the mile-high club, the personal assistant who discovers she shares a love of anal sex with her boss, and the best friends who love each other just as little too much—much to the delight of the boyfriend.

I've been amazed at how well my first collection, Rescued, has been received. It's already surpassed what I had expected, sales-wise, and it's only been out for a couple of weeks. People who have read the collection have contacted me, asking for more, and because of this I have decided to put togther a second collection, running along the same theme, entitled Saved.

You can buy Rescued at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Smashwords.

Finally, I'd just like to say a special thanks to my fellow Everything Erotic author, C.J. Ellisson, for all her help in getting my work out to the public. She's inspired me in so many ways, and is always there to offer a helping  hand, even when she's dealing with her own stuff. She's also super talented and is a fantastic author. You can check out her super sexy novella, Johnny Living Dangerously at Barnes & Noble. It's worth it just to check out the seriously hot cover!

Pull The Trigger, by Melissa Ecker: Review

Rebecca Harper is making a clean break. The ink is dry on her divorce decree and her dream job has finally come to fruition. In two weeks, she will be on a plane to St. Louis. All her plans are set until sexy cop Justin Cain, her former high school crush, asks her to dinner.

 This one night out instigates a roller coaster ride of hot sex, serious soul searching and heart breaking decisions.  Will Rebecca leave Justin behind to follow her dreams?  Or will his love be enough to keep her in Memory Grove?

 I read this novella in one sitting. The sex is steaming hot, delving into Rebecca letting go of some of the inhibitions and bad experiences she has had in her previous marriage. There is a little bondage (with the cops handcuffs--handy!) and some anal, but all of it is done in a gentle and loving way.

I enjoyed how Rebecca wasn't perfect. She has some body issues (though you wouldn't think it from the sex this girl has) and isn't adverse to drowning her sorrows in a bottle of wine and a take-out pizza. In short, she is like the majority of us, which makes her a very likeable person! Justin is sweet and sexy, with a hot body and the authority of being a cop. He also isn't afraid of standing up for her and punching out her ex-husband when the time comes!

I found the final scene at the airport to be wonderful. It totally captured all the emotions of being parted from someone you love, and it even brought a tear to my eye.

It is a thoroughly enjoyable read, especially if you love erotic romance. The best thing is that Pull The Trigger is only the first part of a three book series, so there is plenty more to come. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

You can buy Pull The Trigger at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Everything Erotic Paperback Preview!

I'm so thrilled to be able to give everyone a preview of the new Everything Erotic paperback!

The paperback is a culmination of three volumes of the Everything Erotic e-books and has a whole heap of tantalising tales within it's gorgeous cover. I personally have four short stories in the book, and I can't wait to get a copy in my hands.

The publication date is yet to be released, but I'll be sure to let everyone know about it as soon as it is available!