Erotica ebooks are very popular, but how can you promote erotic fiction?
There are well over 300,000 Kindle erotica ebooks or more listed on Amazon alone, and the number is growing every day.
But for an author who publishes erotic novels or short stories, the opportunities for book promotion are quite limited.
This is often because many mainstream and popular book promotion sites do not accept erotic fiction titles.
Erotica is popular
Erotic romance is one of the favorite genres for many readers.
But you are probably asking yourself how to sell erotica on Amazon.
If you do a quick check of the Kindle Boards, you will find posts from many erotica authors.
Many of them are looking for ways to promote their books.
There are suggestions for sites that promote erotica. But many tend to have the feel of a porn site rather than a genuine book promotion site.
Sure, the boundaries between sex stories, porn, and red-hot erotica can be a bit blurry sometimes.
But books, whether in ebook format or paperback, should not be classified as pornography.
Pardon the pun, but that is not a fifty shades point I will argue here.
Social media is limited
What I would rather do is give some helpful pointers for authors publishing erotica on Amazon.
These may help erotica writers and their titles gain more attention, traction, and book sales.
Regarding social media promotion, Twitter is probably the best forum.
But it’s crowded there. So be prepared to work hard to gain some traction and attention.
Facebook is very touchy, so I would not recommend it.
Facebook ads can sometimes work reasonably well for general fiction or even science fiction.
But it is next to impossible to get ads approved for erotic titles.
How can you promote a self-published erotica ebook?
It is better to think less about social media promotion.
Think more about how readers find erotic stories to buy and read.
A reader would rarely buy an erotica ebook because of one tweet on Twitter.
A hot romance reader is more likely to go to the Kindle Store and look for new erotica titles.
They start looking for books or ebooks in their preferred topics or sub-genres by using Amazon search.
I don’t want to make a list of what people use as search words or phrases other than fall in love.
I am sure your imagination as a fiction writer could make a quick list that would apply to your books.
Do a search on Amazon with a sex-related keyword, such as sex toys. It will then recommend a lot of associated keywords.
As I discovered before writing this post, these can be of a very, and I mean very explicit nature.
Clearly, Amazon applies very little censorship to search keywords on Amazon Search.
It means you can stretch the limits of your imagination. It will help you find keywords that readers of erotic romance might be looking for.
To attract erotica readers, researching a compelling book title is the first step.
A good book title should consist of only nouns, verbs, and adjectives. You should avoid using articles and prepositions.
Next is selecting two appropriate categories and seven searchable Kindle keywords associated with them. These two steps are, by far, the best way to gain sales traction.
Once you publish your book, you can add more categories to your book to make it more discoverable.
You can do your Amazon keyword and category research for free by using Amazon and Google.
You can do an occasional free ebook giveaway and use social media or your website or blog for your book promotion.
But your chances of sales success are far higher if you use well-researched Amazon keywords and categories.
Kindle Unlimited is a winner for erotic ebooks
Another point to consider is that erotica readers can be ravenous.
They may use a subscription service such as Kindle Unlimited or be an Amazon Prime member.
Are you writing erotica or erotic short stories?
If you have your ebooks with KDP Select and available on Kindle Unlimited, consider your ebook price.
If it’s too low, it looks less of a bargain for subscription-paying readers.
I had one of my ebooks (not erotica) listed at $0.99 for a couple of years. After Kindle Unlimited started, my sales died very quickly.
But when I increased the price to $2.99, it started getting KU reads immediately.
My $0.99 ebook is now making good money at about $1.40 for each full KU read instead of $0.33 per sale.
Check your metadata
If you write and publish erotica ebooks, take a little time to check your book metadata.
You can edit your book description or include a new subtitle.
You can also add editorial reviews to your Amazon book page using your Amazon Author page.
Take another look at your Amazon keywords and categories for your ebooks or books.
Check how they perform in Amazon Search and how high your titles rank by search keyword rather than sales rank.
You can use the same process of keywords and search on Smashwords, B&N, or any other publishing platform you use.
Invest your time in keyword research and price points.
These may well be far more financially rewarding than free book promotion opportunities, which will probably attract very few sales.
Related Reading: How To Promote Erotic Books – 9 Tips To Help You Sell Your Erotica Stories
While in college, decades ago, a friend moved to L.A. and became manager of an adult paperback publishing company. He knew and appreciated my poetry and writing skills and asked me to write for him. I did. He paid by MS. He commented my works were his best sellers. No, I am an elder man, retired, and could use some extra income. I have basic computer skills but lost in the www thing. Question: Should I even bother? As a side note: I have, for some time, been writing explicit erotic shorts for a number of women around the country, at their request. They always want more. So, I’m assuming I have something to offer but not the expertise to wade-into this market. Do you have some suggestions?
If you want to self-publish, Clay, you do need some technical skills.
It can also be a bit of a learning curve, even with some computer skills.
My advice would be to try and find a friend or family member who could help you if you don’t think you have the technical knowledge.
Help!! I’ve gone into the Amazon dungeon and have no idea how to get out. I’m not tech savvy at all and wished I knew that trying to market erotica would be so difficult on social media platforms. I changed my keywords as suggested but now you can’t search for my book title at all in Amazon. I changed the keywords and now my ebook is saying that it is live with unfinished changes. Should I try to go back and delete the new keyword changes somehow? I’m so scared- every time I touch something it does something terrible. I have a web site so I can be found on google which is a plus but… How do I get out of the dungeon? A very confused, naive writer that is not at all a tech marketer.
Here are a few ideas, Kelly.
Firstly, make sure the changes to your book are published on your KDP dashboard.
You could also change back to your original keywords to see if it helps.
Then check your book on your dashboard. It should show as “Live” and not “Live – with unpublished changes”.
If you don’t have any luck, the best would be to contact KDP help and see if they can help you solve the issue.
Sirs, Oh phooey. KDP can’t find it’s ass with both hands. They are useless. Too many authors trying to epublish. You get lost in the KDP. Amazon mess. Forget them. All they are interested in is who is selling this week, And forget all the keywords bull, and all that. Too many people going down the same road. Which is why some authors are making videos at youtube on how to make money at KDP. Phooey! You might make money a while at KDP until all the copycats catch up to you. I had over 225 titles at kdp and could hardly make $10 dollars a month. And KDP didn’t list all my ebooks, or advise me on one thing. I closed my account. Forget them. I was stupid waiting this long to close my account. Jsav.
You really have to be so careful with keywords in the Erotica genre on Amazon no matter how many times you may read you can freely put anything in there.. I decided to change a few and it got me tossed into the dungeon the very next day. I went back in and removed the new words and it was back in search 24 hours later. The scary thing was all I added were voyeur, raunchy, ribald and risque. Not sure which one triggered their dungeon bot, but obviously they aren’t some awful words. Now I am afraid to change anything after that experience. Again, be very careful. I was afraid I was going to be there forever after.
That’s quite odd, Savvy.
When you do a search on Amazon, there are some really provocative words that appear in the results.
So I’m not sure why you ran into problems. But Amazon is always changing its algos, so who knows?
Great general article which confirms research I’ve gathered from a number of sources so thank you Derek. That said, I have just started out within the erotica category over the last month of so and have had some minor success with my series of short reads (between 60 and 100 pages each), but have also certainly made some serious missteps (ie. changing categories to try and goose sales higher, to only see them fall to zero ~ ack!). I can see your point about erotica readers being of the voracious sort (and therefore more pre-disposed to going for KU) and raising the price of his book from 99¢ to $2.99 gave you more visibility and by extension – increased sales. My question is what are the length of your $2.99 books and do you feel I could do the same with my (60 to 100 page) short reads?
Thanks in advance!
JS
I don’t think there is a set formula for ebook pricing, JS. But in my case, I usually set $2.99 for an ebook novella of around 30,000 words.
Thank you Derek. So would you say 99¢ per 10,000 as a general rule of thumb…? ~JS
No, there’s no number of words to price ratio.
What a disappointing misleading BS article with no advice. Amazon Advertising does NOT allow you to pay for erotic content books on their advertising platform and telling that you need to do research on a book title is absolute BS – a book does not itsell itself just based on a book title only and waiting and keep your fingers crossed. CLICK BAIT article for the search engines. Sorry guys, that was a waste of time to come here!
I think you missed the point. There is no mention of Amazon advertising. You’re right, there’s no hope of getting ads approved. The article is referring to using search keywords on Amazon, which do work.
I have multiple erotic books on Amazon. Title is everything. The shopper can’t buy if you can’t get them in the front door of the store and the title does just that. My books with clever titles fall short in sales to those with commonly searched title words. I thought your article was spot on. I too have found social media very limited on sales compared to good titles and good blurbs.
(Now once you get them to give you a look there had better be some substance)
I have tried these ans your are correct, Sites do not like to promote Erotica so I am having trouble getting traction.
I will look into Whizzbuzz for the advertising. Thank for the help
AC
Hi there. I have to admit the advice is very simplistic but it does really seem workable. Will put it into practice with my next book in January. The challenge is coming up with a title that is not already exhausted. In the meantime you can see my first entitled ” Getting The Neighbor To Work” at Smashwords. I would love for you to read the free sample on the site and give me your feedback. ;-)
Thanks for the information it is very informative and useful with good valid points. I am looking into the ones you have made, although I have already worked out the pricing. However, its the linking that I have trouble with, what will work and what won’t. Once again thanks for the blog hope you are well my friend
rgds
Michael