Well, this week sees a new story in The Son of a Minister Series going up. Currently waiting on it to actually publish, I submitted it this morning. The new story is called:
Thyme's Up (Son of a Minister Series)
I'll change that to a link as soon as it comes online. This is #7 in the series.
This week, I'll have a melange of freebies available. Four different stories, each free for one day.
Mon - Jan 28th - The Rocky Horror After-Show Cast Party (The Son of a Minister Series)
Tue - Jan 29th - His Belonging - An Erotic Tale
Wed - Jan 30th - A Woman's Pique (The Son of a Minister Series)
Thu - Jan 31st - Cthulhu's Caresses - Lovecraftian Erotica
I figured I'd finish out the month with a variety of different items and styles available for free.
Jan 27th, 2013
A. Morrel
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
last change, hopefully
Okay, so I've revised pricing again. I've been looking at my figures and decided that what I'm going to do is make all of my 'Son of a Minister Series' stories $0.99 (US). The other stories I do will follow the pricing guide that I outlined in earlier posts. Hopefully that will be the last change I make to pricing for some time. Then I don't have to think about it each time I publish. Since I'm tentatively planning for twenty stories in the Son of a Minister series when it is completed that should give a good sampling of my writing at an inexpensive price for people to check out. Price changes on previous series books marked higher should occur within twenty-four hours or so of this post.
Jan 24th, 2013
A. Morrel
Jan 24th, 2013
A. Morrel
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Freebie for Jan 21-23 and this weeks story coming soon
So, I missed a Sunday deadline for this week's story. The story is actually written but at 26,000 words, my proofreaders haven't finished yet. I hope to put it up sometime tomorrow (Jan 21st). It's title will be:
The Audiophile - An Erotic Tale
I'll edit the title to a link once the story is live. Edited to include link.
The Audiophile may well border on erotic romance. The erotica is there but there's a whole lot more in there as well. It is a story about a woman who meets a man (imagine that! *grin*). The man is a musician who has been writing his own music and recording all parts of the music himself. His music is a touch different than most of what you might hear. We've all heard the songs that make us go warm and fuzzy, or bring a tear to the eye, or make us feel happy or sad or whatever, the music that triggers your emotions. The audiophile (whose name is Walter) has a degree in music, which was his major, but his minor was psychology. He combines the two to intentionally attempt to create specific emotions or states of mind in whoever listens to his music.
Our woman who meets the man is named Carla. After accidentally hearing some of the music from her new neighbor, she introduces herself the next day. She wants to find out what music it was so she can get her own copy but, Walter hasn't published his music yet and is unwilling to give out copies. He is kind enough to invite her to listen to some of it in his apartment if she would like to though. Carla willingly volunteers to test his songs with him, not quite fully understanding what some of them are intended to do.
Did she fall for him on her own? or did a romance inducing song assist in the matter. You'll have to make the decision yourself.
I'm going to let my proofreaders make the call on erotica vs. erotic romance for this one.
This weeks freebie is:
A Woman's Pique
Which is #6 in The Son of a Minister series. It will be free Mon-Wed (Jan 21 - 23)
A final note - I had listed my pricing policies a few posts back but I am changing one of those. I won't be doing an introductory price for the first week any more. Of the past four stories I've tried to change the price on, the minimum number of times I had to try to get the price changed was four, the maximum was twelve before I gave up and used a workaround . I try to change just the price and the kdp submission freezes up and gives me an error message. There is a workaround, but it involves changing the price AND resubmitting the main body of the story or resubmitting the cover. Then it seems to go right through the first time. I don't want to have to resubmit the main body or the cover for each story I change from an introductory price though. Sooner or later I'd screw up and submit the wrong thing in there, so the pricing guideline I listed will stay mostly unchanged, except the stories will come in at the pricing based on the word count and not have an introductory week at a lower price. I'll continue to toss freebies up each week though.
Jan 20th, 2013
A. Morrel
The Audiophile - An Erotic Tale
The Audiophile may well border on erotic romance. The erotica is there but there's a whole lot more in there as well. It is a story about a woman who meets a man (imagine that! *grin*). The man is a musician who has been writing his own music and recording all parts of the music himself. His music is a touch different than most of what you might hear. We've all heard the songs that make us go warm and fuzzy, or bring a tear to the eye, or make us feel happy or sad or whatever, the music that triggers your emotions. The audiophile (whose name is Walter) has a degree in music, which was his major, but his minor was psychology. He combines the two to intentionally attempt to create specific emotions or states of mind in whoever listens to his music.
Our woman who meets the man is named Carla. After accidentally hearing some of the music from her new neighbor, she introduces herself the next day. She wants to find out what music it was so she can get her own copy but, Walter hasn't published his music yet and is unwilling to give out copies. He is kind enough to invite her to listen to some of it in his apartment if she would like to though. Carla willingly volunteers to test his songs with him, not quite fully understanding what some of them are intended to do.
Did she fall for him on her own? or did a romance inducing song assist in the matter. You'll have to make the decision yourself.
I'm going to let my proofreaders make the call on erotica vs. erotic romance for this one.
This weeks freebie is:
A Woman's Pique
Which is #6 in The Son of a Minister series. It will be free Mon-Wed (Jan 21 - 23)
A final note - I had listed my pricing policies a few posts back but I am changing one of those. I won't be doing an introductory price for the first week any more. Of the past four stories I've tried to change the price on, the minimum number of times I had to try to get the price changed was four, the maximum was twelve before I gave up and used a workaround . I try to change just the price and the kdp submission freezes up and gives me an error message. There is a workaround, but it involves changing the price AND resubmitting the main body of the story or resubmitting the cover. Then it seems to go right through the first time. I don't want to have to resubmit the main body or the cover for each story I change from an introductory price though. Sooner or later I'd screw up and submit the wrong thing in there, so the pricing guideline I listed will stay mostly unchanged, except the stories will come in at the pricing based on the word count and not have an introductory week at a lower price. I'll continue to toss freebies up each week though.
Jan 20th, 2013
A. Morrel
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Amazon KDP explains search discrepancy with book search
So, KDP got back to me. I had emailed customer support asking if there was a reason that His Belonging - An Erotic Tale was not showing up in general search results from the 'all' category you are in when you log in to Amazon.
My reply stated:
"We have found your Kindle book contains mature content and it will not surface in our general product search results."
I stopped to wonder for a second, all my other books surface in the general search results, including Cthulhu's Caresses which I would've thought would qualify in that category more so then Belonging.
I mean, why would a book that contains a person who voluntarily takes training as a personal slut, someone who willingly and gladly subsumes their will to someone else's, be considered mature when other books that focus on sex primarily don't get these classifications?
Okay, I had a problem keeping a straight face while typing that. I always intellectually understood that sex was becoming more and more a part of the culture, reaching down to an ever-decreasing younger age. I guess intellectual understanding alone wasn't enough. I understand on a slightly deeper level now. If you're old enough to understand what sex is nowadays it invariably becomes a part of your life, even just through discussion with peers.
My ten year old is beginning to show a little interest, and isn't it embarrassing to have to tell a child "No, you can't read what Mommy is writing right now, let's wait until you're a bit older," and have her tell you that she knows all about sex. At least she thinks she does; she was right on a few things and wrong on some others when we had a little chat after that. At least she isn't interested in trying it yet, or so she told me.
Now, while sex has been becoming a part of the culture at a younger and younger age, evidently some of the alternative lifestyles have not, and so they are classified as "mature content". I have to wonder if it was the willing slavery or the very, very tame BDSM portion that led to the classification though. I know BDSM took a few hits to its reputation in the recent spat on what companies would publish in Ebooks on their sites. So it makes me wonder. Maybe I'll have to write one with some BDSM and no slavery as well as one with some willing slavery but no BDSM and see which one gets classified that way. It'd be a good test by fire.
Anyhow if other erotic authors are wondering why some of their stories may not be searchable in the 'all' category with a general search but are available in the 'books' tab, this may be what you encountered as well.
Jan 15th, 2013
A. Morrel
My reply stated:
"We have found your Kindle book contains mature content and it will not surface in our general product search results."
I stopped to wonder for a second, all my other books surface in the general search results, including Cthulhu's Caresses which I would've thought would qualify in that category more so then Belonging.
I mean, why would a book that contains a person who voluntarily takes training as a personal slut, someone who willingly and gladly subsumes their will to someone else's, be considered mature when other books that focus on sex primarily don't get these classifications?
Okay, I had a problem keeping a straight face while typing that. I always intellectually understood that sex was becoming more and more a part of the culture, reaching down to an ever-decreasing younger age. I guess intellectual understanding alone wasn't enough. I understand on a slightly deeper level now. If you're old enough to understand what sex is nowadays it invariably becomes a part of your life, even just through discussion with peers.
My ten year old is beginning to show a little interest, and isn't it embarrassing to have to tell a child "No, you can't read what Mommy is writing right now, let's wait until you're a bit older," and have her tell you that she knows all about sex. At least she thinks she does; she was right on a few things and wrong on some others when we had a little chat after that. At least she isn't interested in trying it yet, or so she told me.
Now, while sex has been becoming a part of the culture at a younger and younger age, evidently some of the alternative lifestyles have not, and so they are classified as "mature content". I have to wonder if it was the willing slavery or the very, very tame BDSM portion that led to the classification though. I know BDSM took a few hits to its reputation in the recent spat on what companies would publish in Ebooks on their sites. So it makes me wonder. Maybe I'll have to write one with some BDSM and no slavery as well as one with some willing slavery but no BDSM and see which one gets classified that way. It'd be a good test by fire.
Anyhow if other erotic authors are wondering why some of their stories may not be searchable in the 'all' category with a general search but are available in the 'books' tab, this may be what you encountered as well.
Jan 15th, 2013
A. Morrel
Sunday, January 13, 2013
New title available, plus a freebie
I have my newest title available, it went live within the past hour or so. It is the 6th story in the "Son of a Minister Series". It is:
A Woman's Pique
(m/m) (m/m/f)
In this story Alice is finally speaking to Tim and Walker again. Since she has been after both of them all semester they arrange a private party for the three of them. Tim meets up with Walker much earlier in the day and they spend a portion of the afternoon familiarizing themselves with each other.
When Alice arrives, she is stunned by some perceptive observations by the two men. The same observations allow her to relax a little more. After that they move on to other, more interesting, things. Will having Tim and Walker at the same time be too much for Alice?
Also, the story I published last week will be free for three days: Mon, Jan 14th - Wed, Jan 16th. Fair warning in advance. This story is well out there and may not be for mainstream readers. Be sure to read the entire description to see if it could be to your taste or not. The story is:
Cthulhu's Caresses - Lovecraftian Erotica
I think it's possible that I may break my '1 star review cherry' on this one if someone picks it up who isn't familiar with Cthulhu or Lovecraft and doesn't read the entire description.
Jan 13th, 2013
A. Morrel
A Woman's Pique
(m/m) (m/m/f)
In this story Alice is finally speaking to Tim and Walker again. Since she has been after both of them all semester they arrange a private party for the three of them. Tim meets up with Walker much earlier in the day and they spend a portion of the afternoon familiarizing themselves with each other.
When Alice arrives, she is stunned by some perceptive observations by the two men. The same observations allow her to relax a little more. After that they move on to other, more interesting, things. Will having Tim and Walker at the same time be too much for Alice?
Also, the story I published last week will be free for three days: Mon, Jan 14th - Wed, Jan 16th. Fair warning in advance. This story is well out there and may not be for mainstream readers. Be sure to read the entire description to see if it could be to your taste or not. The story is:
Cthulhu's Caresses - Lovecraftian Erotica
I think it's possible that I may break my '1 star review cherry' on this one if someone picks it up who isn't familiar with Cthulhu or Lovecraft and doesn't read the entire description.
Jan 13th, 2013
A. Morrel
Saturday, January 12, 2013
How I Price
I was asked, today, why His Belonging - An Erotic Tale had its price go up after it came off of its free days. So I figured I'd explain how I'm doing my pricing.
First, I define the stories by word count:
Shorts: up to 10,000 words
Novellette: 10,001 - 20,000 words
Novella: 20,001 - 40,000 words
Novel: 40,000 + words
Technically I should have epics and what not listed also but I have no intention of writing anything that long for release as a single Ebook.
Now, my pricing is based on length plus a couple of other variables.
Base pricing:
Shorts: $0.99
Novellette or Novella: $2.99
Novel: $3.99-$5.99
Variables that can affect the base pricing are niche and effort involved. If there is less demand for a certain niche that I write something in I am liable to price it higher. If something takes me five times as long to write because I had to research information for it repeatedly then it is liable to be priced higher.
Finally, when I introduce a book I'll normally drop its price category by one level. So 'His Belonging' which is priced at $2.99 because its word count is over 10,000 was dropped to $0.99 for its first week, then it had a few free days and once it came off of the free days I put the price to its normal level.
When I was asked the pricing question I was also asked why "His Belonging" isn't searchable from the 'all' category on Amazon. Even if you search by author name in the 'all' category it doesn't come up. I don't know why that is occurring unless it is a side effect of editing the price. I'll have to contact Amazon support about that in a week or so if it stays that way.
Jan, 2013
A. Morrel
First, I define the stories by word count:
Shorts: up to 10,000 words
Novellette: 10,001 - 20,000 words
Novella: 20,001 - 40,000 words
Novel: 40,000 + words
Technically I should have epics and what not listed also but I have no intention of writing anything that long for release as a single Ebook.
Now, my pricing is based on length plus a couple of other variables.
Base pricing:
Shorts: $0.99
Novellette or Novella: $2.99
Novel: $3.99-$5.99
Variables that can affect the base pricing are niche and effort involved. If there is less demand for a certain niche that I write something in I am liable to price it higher. If something takes me five times as long to write because I had to research information for it repeatedly then it is liable to be priced higher.
Finally, when I introduce a book I'll normally drop its price category by one level. So 'His Belonging' which is priced at $2.99 because its word count is over 10,000 was dropped to $0.99 for its first week, then it had a few free days and once it came off of the free days I put the price to its normal level.
When I was asked the pricing question I was also asked why "His Belonging" isn't searchable from the 'all' category on Amazon. Even if you search by author name in the 'all' category it doesn't come up. I don't know why that is occurring unless it is a side effect of editing the price. I'll have to contact Amazon support about that in a week or so if it stays that way.
Jan, 2013
A. Morrel
Monday, January 7, 2013
Darkness of the Soul
You know how they say everyone has a little darkness in their soul? Well, I decided to share mine this week. This week's addition to my erotica available on Amazon is a Lovecraftian Erotica piece entitled:
Cthulhu's Caresses - Lovecraftian Erotica
My hubby's comment was a simple: "That is beyond creepy." after he proofread it. When our friend Tom did the second proof his comment was: "Ooohhh, creepy tentacle porn, Cool!". Tom's a bit out there but I give him kudos for doing proofreading for me and for liking, and adding tags to, my stories on Amazon.
For Mon.-Wed. of this week (Jan 7th-9th) I also have:
His Belonging - An Erotic Tale
available for free download on Amazon.
Currently working on the next book in The Son of a Minister series. It is titled "A Woman's Pique" and deals with Tim, Walker, and Alice. Hubby told me he is very much looking forward to proofreading this one after reading "Rocky Horror After-Show Cast Party". Hopefully I'll be publishing 'Pique' on either Sunday the 13th or Monday the 14th of Jan.
Jan. 7th, 2013
A. Morrel
Cthulhu's Caresses - Lovecraftian Erotica
My hubby's comment was a simple: "That is beyond creepy." after he proofread it. When our friend Tom did the second proof his comment was: "Ooohhh, creepy tentacle porn, Cool!". Tom's a bit out there but I give him kudos for doing proofreading for me and for liking, and adding tags to, my stories on Amazon.
For Mon.-Wed. of this week (Jan 7th-9th) I also have:
His Belonging - An Erotic Tale
available for free download on Amazon.
Currently working on the next book in The Son of a Minister series. It is titled "A Woman's Pique" and deals with Tim, Walker, and Alice. Hubby told me he is very much looking forward to proofreading this one after reading "Rocky Horror After-Show Cast Party". Hopefully I'll be publishing 'Pique' on either Sunday the 13th or Monday the 14th of Jan.
Jan. 7th, 2013
A. Morrel
Friday, January 4, 2013
Why?
Someone asked me why I decided to start writing erotica. As I answered them I thought to myself that it might be a good subject for a blog post.
A while back I got a Kindle. My hubby and I both read (a lot) and we have thousands of physical books in the house or I probably would've gotten one sooner. Anyhow, being me, I decided to download some of the erotic shorts that Amazon has available. I thought that maybe I could find something fun to share with the hubby. What I found disappointed me.
The hubby and I did indeed find something fun to share, or at least something funny to share. We looked through those I had downloaded and a major percentage of them had poor formatting, horrendous spelling, inappropriate grammar (and no not the sexual kind of inappropriate, just inappropriately used), poor or no plots, lack of continuity in the stories, and so on and so forth. We pointed out the most egregious errors to one another for a good laugh. At one point my hubby looked at me and said "This is horrible, we could write better erotica than this."
Since I had been writing on and off for years, and have a multitude of unfinished stories (not erotica) on my hard drive, when I told him I'd give it a shot he was somewhat doubtful about my following through. I have seven stories published now and I'd like to think that the spelling and grammar are all significantly better than the average found in an Amazon erotic short. I do try to put at least some plot and story line into each story and try to maintain continuity, especially over the course of "The Son of a Minister" series I've been writing.
So, the short answer to why I started writing erotica was because I was disappointed in a large percentage of the existing erotic shorts I came upon. I decided to see if erotic shorts and longer erotic stories (because me being me, I will run over a word count goal frequently) that have good spelling and grammar, that have plots and storylines, would be appreciated or if people didn't care about those things.
As an aside, should you see a spelling or grammar error in one of my stories please let me know in a comment here or through some other means. I'll abashedly fix it, if I agree that it is an error, and then resubmit. If I don't agree, I'll reply explaining why I used something as I did.
Jan 4, 2013
A. Morrel
A while back I got a Kindle. My hubby and I both read (a lot) and we have thousands of physical books in the house or I probably would've gotten one sooner. Anyhow, being me, I decided to download some of the erotic shorts that Amazon has available. I thought that maybe I could find something fun to share with the hubby. What I found disappointed me.
The hubby and I did indeed find something fun to share, or at least something funny to share. We looked through those I had downloaded and a major percentage of them had poor formatting, horrendous spelling, inappropriate grammar (and no not the sexual kind of inappropriate, just inappropriately used), poor or no plots, lack of continuity in the stories, and so on and so forth. We pointed out the most egregious errors to one another for a good laugh. At one point my hubby looked at me and said "This is horrible, we could write better erotica than this."
Since I had been writing on and off for years, and have a multitude of unfinished stories (not erotica) on my hard drive, when I told him I'd give it a shot he was somewhat doubtful about my following through. I have seven stories published now and I'd like to think that the spelling and grammar are all significantly better than the average found in an Amazon erotic short. I do try to put at least some plot and story line into each story and try to maintain continuity, especially over the course of "The Son of a Minister" series I've been writing.
So, the short answer to why I started writing erotica was because I was disappointed in a large percentage of the existing erotic shorts I came upon. I decided to see if erotic shorts and longer erotic stories (because me being me, I will run over a word count goal frequently) that have good spelling and grammar, that have plots and storylines, would be appreciated or if people didn't care about those things.
As an aside, should you see a spelling or grammar error in one of my stories please let me know in a comment here or through some other means. I'll abashedly fix it, if I agree that it is an error, and then resubmit. If I don't agree, I'll reply explaining why I used something as I did.
Jan 4, 2013
A. Morrel
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