Brie Learns the Art of Submission by Red Phoenix on Sale NOW!

Give your friends the gift of Brie Learns the Art of Submission - Only 99 cents! 

Spread Christmas cheer this year by buying your friends yummy Brie. :)

It is easy and cheap to gift Brie, just select the date you want the eBook to arrive and it will be waiting for them when they wake up!

Available on Amazon, B&N and Apple

For a limited time only: Dec 8th - 12th!

I love you, friend. Here's some Brie!

How Should You Take Bad Reviews as an Indie Author?

You suck!

Bad Reviews, Everyone Gets Them

Bad reviews are inevitable. It is the natural way of things, because people are different and tastes are different. Early on in my writing, I got slammed by readers on B&N. The reviews were harsh and made me question myself as a writer. It forced me to decide why I was writing. Was I writing for others or was I writing for my own enjoyment?

Turns out, I am writing for me. I love bringing my characters to life and seeing how their stories unfold. It is a high like no other. At the time, I chose to ignore the reviews even though they hurt. I chose not to let someone else decide what I would do with my life.

Had I listened to those depressing reviews Luke and Tesse, Dan, Jenny and Ryan, and sassy little Brie would never have been born into the world. Their voices would have remained silent.

Follow you heart, authors. Ebooks allow us to write without anyone losing money if we fail. We have the freedom to let our imaginations soar. Yes, look at the bad reviews to see if there is something you can improve on. You should always be willing to grow. However, don't let it kill your dream if you know you are meant to write.

Something else to keep in mind: The people who write bad reviews are generally not your audience. It is okay if they don't like your work, because they aren't the people you are trying to reach. 

* If you want to check out my nasty reviews (you know you want to), here's a link. FYI, Amy does NOT do her cousin.

Should Indie Authors Charge $2.99 for Short Books?

You Want to Charge $3 for 35 Pages???

I charge .99 because I am a reader as well as a writer, and I want to make my books affordable. However, I wonder if am I losing potential readers because of my price.

I really want to know what readers think on this one. If you are familiar with my work, you know I normally write novelettes (between 12,000 - 18,000 words). I personally like erotica at that length and feel comfortable charging .99. I am confident it is worth at least that much for the hot sex scenes. ;)

I have been noticing other erotica authors charging 2.99 for the same length novelettes and I am a little shocked, especially if it is part of a series. If an author charges that much for five novelettes within a series, he/she has just made the reader pay $15 bucks for what ends up being a simple novel by the end. That is a lot of money!

* For those not in the industry, an indie author makes 35% for books under 2.99 and 70% for any books sold 2.99 or higher on Amazon. There is a financial incentive for charging more.

However, I think 2.99 is too much for books under 20,000 words. Yet if you look on Amazon's erotica list right now, you will see the series Anything He Wants is doing VERY well, even though reviewers are complaining about the price of the last two novelettes.

So, my question is this:

Do you generally feel that a book is more viable if there is a higher price attached to it - no matter the length?

Let me put it more bluntly...

Do you feel a  .99 book is normally not worth reading?

Does a Smutty Cover Sell Erotica?

"Does it matter if the images are overtly sexy if the content is predominantly aimed at readers using electronic devices?" Elizabeth Woodham recently posed that question in her blog titled, Cover Art.

In the blog, Elizabeth mentioned the recent debate brought on by the success of Fifty Shades of Grey indicating that a non-erotic, artful cover made it easier to read in public. True, but for many indie authors the books we publish are only sold as eBooks. So, does it matter?

Here is my take on the subject: I like a sexy pic and enjoy some of the covers I see on erotic novels. However, most of them look the same and may or may not have much to do with the storyline. I actually had a really sexy cover of a female's butt for my "quickie" Sensual Erotica: Bottoms Up. Even though it is just an eBook, I must say I blushed every time I looked at the cover. I eventually changed it to three wine glasses.

Why three wine glasses? Because the story is about a menage a trois and I enjoy the play on the phrase "bottoms up" since one of the young ladies in the story likes anal sex.

I know people do not flock to my books because of the tantalizing covers. However, I try to be creative and artful with the design. I think mainstream women may have an easier time purchasing them even though the content is every bit as raunchy as the more scandalous covers.

That said, I may very well be losing regular readers of erotica who think my stories are as non-sexual as my covers.

What do you think?