Can anyone give me advice on selling my stories? E-books, or whatever other format that works?
What's a good venue to sell them? Amazon? Here on Big Closet? Something else?
Is it possible to maintain privacy through a pseudonym?
How many sales does a decent story typically get? What's a typical price to charge?
I posted one story here (in chapters) ages ago. I have a new one nearly done, and loads of other ideas popping up. But money has become an issue, so if there's a way for me to bring in a small income by writing this kind of fiction, I'd jump at the chance.
And if it is inappropriate in any way for me to be asking these sorts of questions, please let me know and I'll find some other way to learn about the options.
Thanks!
Not a huge amount of money
Writing TG fiction is not going to make anyone rich but DopplerPress exists for two reasons, to provide another stream of income to keep this website operating and to give some money back to some authors. We do proofing, editing, formatting, cover design, promotion, advertising, and posting to Kindle or Smashwords and we keep half of the royalty income. It takes 90 to 120 days to start getting paid for a book and it might be only a few hundred dollars spread out over a year or more.
A few of our authors are making a hundred or more per month and a few books have earned their authors a few thousand dollars (also earning us money, too). And yes, we can protect your anonymity, too.
If you're interested, you can message me right here on BigCloset.
Hugs,
Erin, Publisher, DopplerPress
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Erin Is Great
Erin has published quite a number of books for me. I allow her to keep all the revenue to support the site. I do that because I don't want the possible hassle and because BC mans so much to me.
She is a wonderful artist which I'm sure helps the sales.
The only downside I've experienced is NOT Erin's fault. It seems the TG fiction world is filled with with thieves. My books are held for sale on many, many sites and I'm fairly certain Erin gets no art of those sales.
Erin is your answer.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Very few writers make enough to live on
That is a sad fact of life I'm afraid. Two established authoris I know do other things to suppliment their income. One is an Editor for a major publisher. That is her main source of income. The other does a lot of teaching.
Like Thespians, most writers are waiting for that big break to come. for 99.99% of them it won't come.
Like many here, I write because I enjoy it. If you can enjoy something and get a little income then great. Don't bank on becoming the next John Grisham, J.K. Rowling.
Samantha
Odds
Only about 2500 to 3500 fiction authors in the world make a living from their writing. Many millions try. You're much better off playing the lottery.
If you enjoy writing, like I do, the fun is in the writing. The anguish is in the asinine comments you'll get on your books. One such comment made me quit writing for eighteen months. That person told me my book was making him want to commit suicide. He said that the positive people in my story made his life seem just that much more bleak.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Don't
I can't afford any more competition!
But seriously - its very, perhaps too, easy to self publish these days - that's the easy bit. Getting someone to spend their cash on it is entirely another and as soon as you enter a niche market it gets even harder.
My basic rules are that it needs to be long enough to warrant the cost, don't be greedy when setting prices, if possible include content not available elsewhere (you don't need to completely expunge stuff from BC for example if its posted here as individual chapters). Do work on the presentation - spelling, grammar, layout, cover image and get it on as many platforms as you can.
I would wish you luck but must refer you back to the first paragraph!
Mads
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Okay -- I Give Up
What story do you have posted here?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
The Ballet Game
By Beffy Flowers
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/11353/ballet-game
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
Selling Fiction
Hello Beffy
BTW love the Dawn site and have taken one of your caps as an inspiration if you are cool with that.
Anyway, I am fairly new to TG Fiction and I write mainly for therapeutic reasons, but I have tried selling just to understand whether people value what I write enough to buy it.
I write short stories, but on Amazon I have publish novelettes and anthologies of 25-30 stories or 90,000 words in total.
I have sold less than 100 units and the royalties a just a few hundred dollars, but I am clueless on pricing.
I get more from Patreon, but there again, I am not in this for a job.
The message is that TG fiction has a limited audience. You will not make money.
Maybe try writing a thriller?
Maryanne Peters
Thank you all for the
Thank you all for the insightful comments!
For the record, I'm not quitting my day job. I could really use a little extra money, though, and if I can do that doing something I love, on my own time, then I'd like to try.
Seems like the general options are publishing here (and helping fill the hatbox), trying smashwords, or going with Amazon. I like the idea of the first two options, but am worried that the market for readers is very small. Amazon is the big girl on campus, right? But maybe that small market of readers is already well-focused here? Maybe anyone who would buy niche fiction on Amazon is already hunting down content on sites like this?
I also worry that Amazon will block my content. I have stories that are completely focused on grown adults, but they're fairly loaded with sex scenes. But maybe Amazon tolerates racy TG fiction, and packs such a big customer base that even niche authors find more readers than they can anywhere else?
If you have any further insights, I'd love to read them! I apologize for going public with my indecision, but I'd rather focus on, you know, "writing", instead of testing which venue will back me the most. Whichever way I'd go, I'd still want to hatbox a percentage of what little I make here on BC, as a small thank-you for providing such a great service to this elusive community...