Saturday, February 11, 2012

What's been going on since epublishing


In November I e-published my first book. I only did it because some fool had stolen my story from Literotica and published it on Amazon. To compound the insult he began getting good Amazon reviews! So after a big headache I accomplished 2 things. I made a new friend in author Kalamazoo707 (whose story Ethan was also stolen by the same person), and I finally began the process to publish my own work.

Now it's February and I've been published for nearly three months. I've received my first royalty checks from both Amazon and B&N and I realize that I will probably not get rich from this (though luckily for me I wasn't writing to become rich), but I find that I really like doing it myself. That's not to be mistaken with I PREFER doing it myself. I'd prefer someone else do it--but since I wanted all my own royalties (minus Amazon's 30%) I have done it all on my own. With help from such authors as Violette Dubrinsky and KZ707, who are already published, I was able to transition pretty smoothly.

Self publishing an e-book is about a simple as it gets. The first time it's tedious because you do have to read everything and try to understand it (best just to watch the tutorial that takes you through the process in 5 minutes and it's real time. Five minutes to publish a book! No joke!), but once you do it once, it's like the proverbial bike. 

One of the drawbacks is that you have to do your own marketing, and you have to rely on word of mouth and good reviews. So you HAVE to put out your A game. I go back and re-edit previously published books all the time as I become more comfortable with the process.

But I still want to be published in the traditional way--you know, the way where you get an advance and are sent on book tours and provided an expense account for researching Italy because your next book is going to be written there but in actuality you are just eating a whole bunch of Italian food and chilling--okay, and occasionally writing. Yeah! I want that kind of life!

Amazon does offer new exposure and has expanded my fan base. But where I write is a very small niche in the big picture. Do 'mainstream' readers cross over into the realm of IR erotica/romance? Not many do, and there seems to be a stigma attached to author's like me; black authors that self-publish in this genre. Some think that writers like me are not talented enough to be published in the traditional way. But in some ways 'we' are more lucky than some of my unknown proteges that try to write 'mainstream' novels without a comfy little niche that 'our' genre affords us.

I believe the publishing world recognizes this genre and respects it even if some of the readers are slow to give it a fair chance. Well, that's my progress report. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress. And thanks again for all your support. Truly, it's appreciated!

13 comments:

  1. Thank you Pep for publishing. My love for IR came from when I was about 14 y.o. drowning in a community pool and this young boy jump in and saved me. Later that night at the park he thought kissing me would be his payment. He was my very first kiss and he was very WHITE. That summer is for ever in my memory bank. Fiften years later my friend introduced to Literotica and I havent been right since. I was looking for stories that had bbw's as the heroines and then found were white guys!! Finally something that I could relate to, some one out there was writing about what I was thinking. Okay all that to say. Thank you for writing, publishing and being courageous to do so. AANNNND you're great!! So many times I've bought books not even worthy of being free! it was either no plot or bad grammatical errors on top of typos with a non consistant time line, characters change physical characteristic, how did she become creamy butterscotch after starting out dark chocolate? But you write consistant stories. Stories that are not a reproduction of stories before. Stories that make you look at a guy in a wheelchair and think he's cute and wonder how to ask him out. And even though I've read all your stories for free, hell ive read them 10 time over, that still didnt stop me from going out to purchase them, doing so has afforded me many different endings. So Thank you. Keep writing and keep publishing. Right here you have a dedicated fan.

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  2. Wow Kali, thank you. What you just said made me feel awesome.

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  3. lasoeurafroallemandeFebruary 12, 2012 at 2:41 AM

    I can't remember when exactly I got hooked on Lit but I know why...I was looking for erotic stories with black woman/white man protagonists...I wanted to read stories that featured couples like me and my man (whom I've been with for over 10 years). Ever since, I've read and appreciated many, many stories but one of yours was the first to move me to contact the author and even to start following her blog, her Facebook page (you might rememeber me contacting you about "Juicy").
    True to the promise I made, I got Juicy for my Kindle as soon as it came out. I know I can get your stories here for free but I admire your writing so much, I admire how open you are on this blog, I genuinely just love your work so much, girl, that I will spend the $ to show that admiration.
    Keep on doing your thing but don't give up Lit (have been reading your posts on how unsure you were about putting Martier's story up on there) - there will be jackasses but I seriously believe that you shouldn't let them lose the trust you have in readers.
    Hugs from Europe, G.

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  4. Thank you G from Europe. I do remember you because I had to cut and paste your name when I responded to you! LOL! I like what you had to say about Lit...but I do wish that they could think of some way to better protect their authors. After all, getting a reputation for being the site to steal from will sacrifice the quality of work that they do receive. No, Literotica will not disappear if they lose their best writers, but it won't be the best that it can be.

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  5. Found you on Amazon 2 days ago and I've already read Stranded!, Crash, and Juicy.OMG! I cannot tell you that you blow all other IR writers out of the water. You write about characters who are flawed and have real problems-men I wouldn't even think twice about, and midway thru the story, I am in love! Keep 'em coming! I'm about to start Wheels of Steel then Urban Vampire. I'm sure I'll be finished in no time.

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  6. WOS has to be my most popular story. Urban Vampire was the first one that I wrote that developed a big following. I hope you like them, and thank you for the support!

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  7. Congrats on your stories being e-published. I happened upon your work on Literotica a few weeks ago and I've read every single story I've seen posted. I actually became hooked after reading "Beast."

    As of now, I don't have a kindle; can't afford one at the moment because of exchange rates and me being unemployed. But when I'm able to, I'll definitely purchase one along with your stories. For now, therefore, I'm depending on Literotica to read what you've written. You've made me interested in reading, which is saying a lot because I usually can't read more than two lines of a book without zoning out. Yet with your -and a few other authors'- stories, I've found myself reading them multiple times. Doesn't hurt that they feature interracial -with some being May-December -couples either.

    I'd love to be a writer, but I don't consider myself to be very good at it. Who knows though.

    Anyway, congratulations again and I wish you much more success in the future.

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  8. I also found you on Amazon. It offers free books (books you can borrow and later decide to purchase) to its prime members. I borrowed Crash and was hooked. In a matter of days, i've read everything that you have on Amazon.

    When will you be publishing other stories? And can you please please please do a few sequels to Wheels of Steel? Pretty please!!! :)

    I look forward to reading more from you.

    R in Finland

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  9. Hi R, and for you I will do an update to WOS. Give me some time to get a handle on some of my other projects but I miss Robin, Top and the gang

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  10. Hi Pepper,
    :D You don't know how happy that makes me. By the way, if you check out the amazon comments on WOS, myself and another person have an ongoing conversation about future sequels :).

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    1. Haha! I didn't even notice that until just now and I call myself going in each day to check the messages. Are you guys trying to give me ideas for the next WOS? Excellent!

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  11. LOL we were trying to guess what would happen if you continued it. We're really hoping Robin and Jason get married and have a baby:D
    I've read WOS 1-3 about a gazillion times now. My husband thinks i'm crazy :). I don't know what, but the series struck a cord with me. Well and all of your books are so different from the other IR romance out there. There's actually a story and a build up to sex and not just wow you're white i'm black let's do it and call it love.

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  12. Thanks and I am happy to know that the story grabbed you the way it's grabbed me.

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