I’m afraid that I have been defeated by deadlines, and therefore ran out of time to compile a post this month. However, I did come up with a good alternative. I’d like, instead, to use this as a discussion post.
Do you have any questions for me? Ask in the comments and I’ll check back when I can and reply. If they’re big questions, I can address them in future posts.
Alternatively, do you have any topics you’d like me to cover in future?
Hopefully things will be back to normal next month!
Happy Reading,
Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
There’s been a lot of negativity in the erotica/erotic romance writing world just lately. What with discussions on how “that book” has affected the industry and the market, publishers going under, sales dropping, the affect of Kindle Unlimited… the list goes on.
Because of this, I decided a positive post was in order. Yes, bad stuff is happening (and yes, some of it has affected me, and continues to do so), but I’m doing my best to stay positive and rise above it. I’m not letting it drag me down. Some people’s muses have understandably deserted them, leaving a whole bunch of writers with no output, hopefully temporarily. But it seems to have had the opposite affect on me. I’ve been driven to write more, write faster, experiment more, research other publishers, put more eggs in my self-publishing basket. Because there’s no way I’m giving up. Want to know why?
I love it.
Simple as that. I love it, and have loved it for years. I don’t make an awful lot of money from my writing. It’s increasing as I get more books out, of course, but it’s not my full-time job. Maybe it never will be. But I still won’t stop. I have tons of new stories left in me waiting to be told, characters to revisit, and, most importantly, readers that enjoy my books and look forward to reading new ones. That’s what keeps me going. That drive to write more, and those frankly awesome people that buy my books. Yes, I wish I could have a million-selling book, hit the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists, of course I do. But in the meantime I’m going back to basics. Instead of worrying too much about what’s going to sell and what isn’t – because, let’s be honest, it’s nigh on impossible to predict, anyway – I’m just writing what I want to write, telling stories I want to tell. I just finished a novella recently, and adored every moment of writing it. It might not sell and may get awful reviews – but I’ll take it on the chin. I always do. Equally, it could be a runaway success. Only time will tell.
Either way, I won’t forget the love. So please, everyone, remember that. Remember why you write, why you’re involved in this genre and industry. Keep creating, keep going, keep loving.
We always need more positivity in this world, after all.
Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
As this post goes live, I’m at Sexhibition in Manchester, England – also known as “the erotic event of the year.” Myself, my other half, and Victoria and Kev Blisse are running the Smut UK stand, selling erotic books and generally waving the banner for smutty books galore. We also have swag, goodies and a charity raffle. Every time we do one of these events, we have a fantastic time. We get to spend time with each other, having a giggle. We get to see other friends we don’t see often. We get to meet new people, or people we may have only chatted with online in the past. Invariably, these people are interesting, and we come away from the events exhausted but inspired, and looking forward to the next time we can get together.
Which leads me to my question – what do you think of real life events? As an author, and someone otherwise heavily involved in the industry, I know what I get out of it – but I’d love to know what readers/visitors get out of it. The events I’ve been to so far are more general smutty events, or conferences, rather than pure signings (though I’m signed up for one of those next year, and am considering others), so the people that go aren’t necessarily there for the books… but they generally go away with at least one! 😉 So I’d just love to know, whether you’re into books specifically, or the lifestyle as a whole – what drives you to these events?
And for those of you that go to more traditional book signings – what drives you? Is it because you want to meet the authors? Get autographs? Buy more books? Meet new authors? See your existing favourites? Please, do let me know… enquiring minds, and all that 😉
Happy Reading! Lucy x
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
I don’t really post exercises here, but I used this recently at a talk I did at the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference in London, and it seemed to go down really well with attendees. So here goes… I hope you’re inspired 😉
I’m going to give you a theme, and I’d like you to write something down that’s outside the box. You may or may not use it in future, but I think if it sparks your imagination, it can only be a good thing!
Uniforms
Curvy men or women
Christmas
Chocolate
Sex at work
Twenty-four hours in a city
The reason I included the twenty-four hours in a city example is because I’m Managing Editor for the City Nights series from Tirgearr Publishing. These are novella length (25 – 30k) contemporary erotic romance stories that take place within a twenty-four hour time period in a city somewhere in the world. They’re all completely standalone stories, and we’re releasing one per month, with a break in December. We’ve just released the thirteenth! So if this is something you’re interested in, the full submission guidelines are on their website. I’d love to see some more submissions!
Happy Writing! Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
I have a question: what are your thoughts on authors that write in multiple genres and pairings under the same pen name? Does it bother you? Will you still read that author? Will you just pick and choose what genres/pairings from that particular author that you like? Or do you read anything and everything from your favourite authors, no matter what they write?
I’d really love your opinion on this. I’m asking because there seems to be no standard in the publishing industry. I “know” lots of authors because of the wonder that is social media, and some of them (myself included) write lots of different things under the same pen name, whereas others create new pen names when they branch out into something new.
I wouldn’t say I write different genres, exactly, because so far I’ve only written erotica and erotic romance. Though I write in lots of subgenres; contemporary, paranormal, femdom, maledom, BDSM, etc, etc… but I do write different pairings. It’s waaay too late for me to start splitting those up now, and I wouldn’t, anyway, because it’s hard enough work maintaining various websites and social media accounts for a single author name, let alone adding more to the equation. I just make sure to emphasise genres and pairings when promoting new releases, and I always put that information on my website. I can’t control what details my publishers put on their websites and third party retailers, but wherever I can, I make the information available. So hopefully I’m providing my readers with the details they need to ensure they’re only buying books they’re interested in.
So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you wish authors would use different aliases, or doesn’t it bother you?
Also, just for the record, if I moved into something like crime fiction or mainstream romance, I would start a new pen name. But while it’s remotely smutty, I’m sticking with this one 🙂
Happy Reading,
Lucy x
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
A while back, I posed the question on my Facebook page about whether, if I put one of my self-published titles into print via Createspace, people would want to buy it. I got various responses, most of which were favourable, so I did indeed go through the process of putting the title into print on demand.
But a comment one person made really made me think. I can’t remember the exact wording they used, but it was something along the lines of, if an eBook is also available in print, it makes it appear more professional, less like a self-published title. Even if it is self-published. Apparently, it just gives the impression of more professionalism, probably something to do with that if the author has gone to the trouble of putting the book into paperback format, that they’ll also have gone to the trouble of getting the book properly edited, formatted, etc. I can understand the thinking – we all know how many crappy quality books are out there, and not just self-published ones, either. We have to battle against opinions that eBooks are somehow inferior to print books, and also, that indie published stuff hasn’t been professionally produced. It’s infuriating, but there it is. All we can do is hope our books get into people’s hands, and that those people will then leave positive reviews on Amazon. Or even negative ones, if they didn’t like the story – you can win ’em all, after all – but at least if they make no comment on terrible formatting, spelling, grammar and so on, then at least other readers can rest assured that the book’s been done right.
But simply selling a book in both eBook and print format – does that give it extra credence? Make you more confident you’re buying a quality product? There’s no right or wrong answer here, guys, I really want to know what you think. As I said, the original commenter really gave me pause for thought, as it wasn’t something I’d considered before, so your opinion would be much appreciated. And please, share the post and encourage your friends to weigh in, too. It’s a very interesting topic, so the more opinions, the better.
Happy Reading!
Lucy x
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
I had a conversation with someone recently that went something like this:
Woman: Oh, you’ll have to lend me one of your books to read.
Me: I thought you were buying one? (I’d previously given her a business card with a link to my website, etc)
Woman: Oh, I was. But then I thought I didn’t want to spend any money on it, in case I didn’t like it.
Me: (in a jovial tone of voice) That’s my livelihood you’re taking away.
Woman: I’m not! I just wanted to lend one, then I’d give it back.
Me: What, with sticky pages?
This then, fortunately, diverted the attention away from the conversation and made everyone giggle, and it wasn’t brought up again. But it made me think: what value is put on books? And I mean in all genres, not erotica specifically.
From what I can see, not much. Why do people balk at spending a couple of quid/dollars on an eBook (paperbacks, of course, are a different kettle of fish as they’re usually more expensive) which will hopefully give them hours of reading pleasure (and maybe other kinds of pleasure, too!), and possibly then be read again sometime in the future? Yet they’ll think nothing of spending more on a cup of coffee, which will be gone within half an hour, and not have any lasting impact on their life. The cup of coffee would have been made very cheaply, quickly and easily. Sure, it probably tastes good, but that’s it.
A book wouldn’t have been written cheaply, quickly or easily. Writing isn’t any of those things. Yes, some people can write much faster than others, but that still doesn’t make it an easy task. It’s hard work. Enjoyable, yes, but still hard work, and, most importantly, a valid job/occupation.
I wonder if this is what it comes down to: people thinking writing isn’t a proper job. Because, for the most part, we can set our own hours and have some freedom, it means it’s not real. Therefore, if it’s not a proper job, then we shouldn’t expect to be paid properly.
Naturally, people “in the know” realise this is a load of rubbish. Although I don’t write full-time, I’m gradually building up my volume of writing to boost my overall income. I don’t rely on it, because I can’t. Not by a long stretch. Therefore, it’s important that my work (and every other writer’s) is valued. Even if it’s not a full-time job, it is still a job. Just because we enjoy it, love what we do, doesn’t mean we should do it for free, or a pittance. Folk mistakenly believe that all published authors earn a fortune and therefore, what’s one freebie here or there?
Sorry, not happening. I already run quite a few giveaways on my site, in my newsletter, as part of blog hops, and so on. And they are for people actually interested in reading my work. I hope that they will read one of my books, like it, and buy another. Maybe recommend it to their friends. If they don’t like it, fair enough. Reading is subjective and, as much as I’d like to, I know I can’t please everyone. But at least there’s a chance of gaining another valuable reader. In the case of the woman above, I’m not sure I would have, regardless of whether or not she enjoyed my book. After all, if she’s not willing to spend money, take a chance on a book/writer, then she clearly doesn’t value writing.
I would love to hear your comments on this. Am I crazy? Over-sensitive? What? Should I just lend her a book?
Happy Reading,
Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
Following on from my little rant last month about the dreaded sucknopsis, I thought I’d better do something more useful this time. And since, as you probably gathered if you read the previous post, synopses (??) are not my strong point, my natural progression was onto blurbs. Something I can do.
Yes, I am one of these rare writer-types that actually likes writing blurbs. Crazy, eh? I’ve even had folk pay me to write or re-write blurbs for them. I suspect my blurb writing skills come from the marketing side of my brain (my creative and marketing sides seem to live in a lovely harmony up in the old grey matter). When I graduated, I ended up in a PR & Marketing role and was immediately pointed in the direction of press releases, sales sheets and advertising copy, and told to “go create!”
Okay, those weren’t the exact words they used, but the bottom line is I was thrown in at the deep end. Fortunately, I discovered I did have an aptitude for writing copy that would entice consumers and retailers to buy products, and I think this is something I’ve continued to improve on over time. So now, when it comes to writing a blurb, I find it pretty easy. It does require a certain amount of distancing yourself from your work, though. It’s simple to think to yourself, oh well, this book is about X, Y and Z, if I just write that, people will get it, and buy the book.
But the thing to remember is that blurbs are meant to entice, to tempt, to intrigue. Not just tell people what the book is about (which is the difference between a synopsis and a blurb). You want to hint what the book is about (while giving enough information so that they know what the genre is, and if it’s their kind of read), but without giving away any major plot points or twists. Try and pick out the most important themes of your book and find a way to include them in the blurb. If possible, ask a question, as many people’s brains will be wired to want to know the answer to that question. And, of course, the way for them to get the answer… buy and read the book!
This may seem obvious, too, but mention your characters – or the main ones, anyway. Blurbs are fairly short and to the point, so you can’t give any great detail, but if you can present potential readers with enough information about your characters and your plot to let them know whether it sounds like a book they’d be interested in, with characters they’d like to read about, then you’re onto a winner.
Here’s one of my own blurbs as an example:
Their love is forbidden by rules, religion and risk. Yet still they can’t resist. [a lead in. Not necessary, but the publication the story was originally written for wanted a short, enticing strap line. This is what I came up with, and I liked it so much I kept it. It immediately tells you that it’s a love story, then goes on to indicate forbidden love, and risk. But then it teases – they can’t resist. So you know pretty much straight away that this is no straightforward love affair, and not a simple story.]
Captain Hugh Wilkes is on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. [Now you know the name of the lead character, and that he’s military. You also have the setting of the story, not always necessary, but when it’s as interesting as a war zone, it’s probably worth a mention!] The British Army is withdrawing, and Wilkes expects his posting to be event-free [Now you know the character is a Brit, and that he’s expecting no drama on his tour.]. That is, until he meets his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, who awakens desires in Wilkes that he’d almost forgotten about, and that won’t be ignored. [Now you know that the potential love interest is an Afghan national, which goes some way to explain the part about their love being forbidden by rules, religion and risk. The fact that the story is M/M is now fairly obvious from the names, but the cover has two men on it – so there should be no confusion there!]
And there you have it – hopefully my notes in brackets all made sense, and pulled out what I believe are important points for a blurb. Basically, keep it short and to the point, don’t give too much away, distance yourself from the story enough that you can see what will appeal to potential readers, and remember, you’re selling your story to someone, making them think “Ooh! That sounds interesting. Click.“
If you can, get someone you know and trust to be honest with you to read the blurb. Even better if they haven’t read the story already – if they then want to read the story based on your blurb, then you know you’ve done a good job.
As with most things, writing blurbs takes practice. All publishers are different – some will literally take what you’ve written and use it, others will work with you to improve it, and others still will write something themselves. But the person that knows your story the best is you, so you’ve got the knowledge, the background, to know what will excite readers and pull them in. So it’s definitely worth spending time on your blurb, especially if it’ll be used word for word. You only have a short amount of time to make them want to click that buy button, so don’t waste the opportunity!
I hope you find this useful. Of course, things like this vary from person to person, but you may find this works for you.
Happy Blurbing!
Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
Ahh… the dreaded sucknopsis. Otherwise known as the synopsis. I’m sure many of the writers reading this post are already groaning or resembling the man in the photo at the mere mention of the word, and I don’t blame them.
A necessary evil, the synopsis is basically one big fat spoiler of your work. Describing your tale from beginning to end, including any plot twists, surprises and things to make your readers gasp. I hate writing them. There are several reasons for this. One, because of the spoiler aspect. I know that a synopsis is not something ever intended for a reader to see – otherwise what would be the point of them reading your book? They already know what’s going to happen. No, these are aimed at publishers who may potentially publish your work – they want to know that your work has a plot, a point, a beginning, a middle and an end, and so on. And they’re absolutely right. They don’t want to end up contracting something that’s crap. But it feels so wrong to me to write something down that’s saying what’s going to happen, especially since, for the most part, a synopsis is written before the actual story.
And, following on from that, often with my work I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen until I start writing. Even if I’ve done character profiles, chapter by chapter planning, etc, my creative brain often throws things in at the last minute, literally flowing from brain to fingers to keyboard, which may alter what happens next, throwing me off the line of the synopsis. Mostly, it’s a change for the better, too, so it makes sense to go along with it.
Also, writing a synopsis for something, especially if you haven’t written the book yet can make you lose all enthusiasm for the work. You’ve written four pages on exactly what’s going to happen, ending and all, and now you’re bleurgh about writing the thing. Hence the term sucknopsis – which I didn’t coin, by the way. It’s been around for a long time, and it’s easy to see why 😉
So, how do you feel about writing a synopsis? We’re all different, so maybe there are some of you out there that actually like writing them. Speak up!
Me… nah! Give me a blurb any day. Let me tease you, taunt you, and, above all, not give the plot and any surprises away! I want to make you gasp… in the best possible way 😉
Happy Reading,
Lucy x
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
I don’t talk about personal stuff online, really, so I’m sorry for being vague when I say the second half of 2014 was really tough for me. On a positive note, I got through it and came out the other side, and now, the only way is up.
But, the crappy few months had a knock on effect. I managed (somehow!) to keep on top of all my client work, my editing, etc, but my writing output went waaaaay down. My time was less, and because of all the stress and worry, my inclination wasn’t there, either. So, when I did my round up post for 2014 on my own website, where I tot up my achievements, publications, etc, my total word count for the year compared to 2013 was much lower.
I’d expected it, of course. Yes, I was disappointed, but I certainly didn’t beat myself up. How could I? I had a damn good reason for not writing as much. Plus, somehow, I actually ended up with more publications in 2014 than 2013! (32 vs 30, if you’re interested). I also bagged my very first writing award – a Golden Ankh for my erotic short story, A Taste of Rome.
So, while 2014 wasn’t a complete loss, it could have been better. And I intend to make sure 2015 is lots, lots better. And how am I going to do that?
Yep, that’s pretty much the plan! I can’t change what happened, and I can’t get that lost word count back, but I can do my best to make it up for it this year. I’ve already had one book release, and another three will be hot on its heels, with others lining up as things fall into place with my writing and my various publishers.
So, look out for what will hopefully be a very productive writing year from me! And, as the title of my post says… Keep On Keeping On!
Happy Reading,
Lucy
*****
Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and
erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100
publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several
editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic
Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and
co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house.
She owns Erotica For All, is book
editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth
of The Brit Babes. Find out more
at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
From Adam & Eve - Based on the Book by New York Times Bestselling Authors Selena Kitt
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