Erotica Writing Masterclass - Write Erotica for Pleasure and Profit

1. Course Overview: Welcome to the erotica writers masterclass. I'm Tiffany Smith. I'm going to be your instructor for this course. This course is designed to help you tap into your inner goddess and write erotica for both pleasure and profit. My goal, really is to help you figure out the best genre to be writing in. Let you choose between writing a short story in a villa as well as a novel, and really just give you the tools to help you create the best erotica masterpiece that you can right from the start. So I'm happy that you've decided to take this empowering journey with me. Writing erotica is a pleasurable, creative and profitable way to add spice and residual income to your life. You're also going to learn the secrets and formulas to get your work published, as well as some of the benefits and drawbacks to self publishing. I want to give you just a little bit of background about myself. My name is Tiffany Smith. I'm currently in my dissertation phase of my doctoral degree in education. I hold a masters and bachelors in English. I'm a published erotica author under the pen name Gillian Brooks, and I've published Pirate Sex in the Sea, as well as a series called Bloodlust, currently in the process of writing a few other short stories as well as working on a collaborative project for an anthology. In My Other Life, when I'm not writing, I'm an aerial yoga instructor and I also own and operate the Align Your Light Foundation, which is designed to also help provide goddesses with tools to master their life. Create residual income as well as build a six or seven figure income within weeks instead of months. There will be a special gift for you at the very end of this course, so please stick around. I've been teaching English since 2013 and I've taught everything from English composition one and two British literature, business writing, public speaking, social media literacy and creative rating. I am also a published academic author and have several articles that have been pure reviewed for several scholarly journals, and I have over 100 paid publications. When I was working as a freelance author during my time in college. So some helpful tools here Number one a computer you will definitely be required to have a computer to successfully complete this course. I also heavily recommend the use of a notebook or journal. Keep this somewhere where you were at at all times, so something that's small enough to fit into a purse in your glove compartment and maybe a sock drawer even or something by your bed. Make sure that it's something that you feel a strong connection with. So I recommend decorating your journal as much as you want. Find something that really speaks to you that you're going to enjoy writing in. You're also going to need some sort of a word processor. I recommend Microsoft Word. Of course, you can also use pages if you are a Mac user. I also recommend purchasing Scribner. This is put out by literature and lot, and I have the link here as well for you to purchase. It's about $40 for a one time purchase, and this is something that the pros use. It is a great word processor that also helps to create your manuscript for publication, both for Kindle publications or E books, and it also allows you to create manuscripts for submissions to agents as well as publishing houses. So definitely take a look at that. It provides you also with templates to help create characters. Templates for seen development organism organizing tools to help you develop the overall plot of the book as well. So lots of great resource is located there for pretty minimal cost. You're also gonna need a pretty smutty mind. This course definitely uses some colorful language. So if you're offended easily by words such as fuck cock dick, all those good ones than I recommend choosing a different course. But if you are ready to party and really open your mind up to new possibilities, please stick around a couple of key notes about this course. There's no time limit to begin or end it. It has lifetime access to those who purchase, and additions are made regularly, so please continue to check back often. And also if you see a topic that you would like to be seen. I'm sorry if you see a topic that you would like featured here, or if you see a topic that you would like to have featured in its own course, please let me know. I'm always happy to make additions some additional notes. Each section of this course is designed to be similar to the writing process itself. So you do have the ability to jump around. Remember that the writing process is not linear. You can definitely jump around. You can go from start to finish very quickly. Or you can basically just have an idea for a specific scene that you want to build your story around. So there's a lot of different ways to go about the writing process. Remember to write what you enjoy. First, I do not recommend diving into a genre that you have never read or a genre that you have limited experience with. Write what you know first and then go and branch off later. Never, ever stop reading. The majority of your ideas and inspiration is going to really come from books and stories that you have already read. So continue to expand your horizon as much and as often as you can. And finally, don't be ashamed. We all have fetishes. We all have secret desires and fantasies that we want to see feel like they can come to life. So that's really what erotica is about, allowing you to break away from your current reality and into a fantasy world where absolutely anything is possible. So let your imagination run wild. During this course. Each section of this course contains resource is as well. So please make sure you download and use all resource is and complete all your worksheets. Thes air really meant to help you stay focused and keep you on track as well a streamlined the writing process itself. At the end of this course, you will be awarded a certificate of completion that will state that you have successfully completed the adult romance writing certificate program as well a signed and dated by myself through the align your light center. So please make sure that you follow the instructions to obtain your certificate. Once you have completed this course, Finally, let's get this shit started. So kickback, get a glass of wine, relax and begin the process of writing your first amazing erotica novel. 2. Unit 1: Let's Talk about Erotica, Shall We?: Unit One, Lecture one. Let's break down erotica, shall we? Why is erotica a multibillion dollar industry? First of all, the diversity of it, sub genres are being discovered all the time as more people become more open minded sexually than ever before with the wondrous and very, very popular 50 shades of Grey, as well as other great novelists who have become more screen adapted, such as Anne Rice Thing Back to the Vampire Chronicles in the great list at more people are becoming much more intrigued with the idea of pushing their own boundaries and pushing the boundaries of others. And, of course, sex sells. Let's face it, if you put sex in just about anything, it's going to sell. People become intrigued. It's really the taboo behind it. What is going on behind those closed doors? What is going on under those sheets? What is that person have under their clothing? It's the mystery of it all that allows the mind to truly wander and explorer reaches that they would never have thought of before. It also allows for healthy exploration if you fall into the category of feeling a little ashamed for maybe a certain fetish you have or thinking maybe. Oh my gosh, I'm so strange and so weird. What's wrong with me? Why do I enjoy this? You are not alone. I myself have several fetishes and enjoy experimenting with them regularly. And erotica has really allowed me to open up those doors and explore them in a very healthy way before choosing to dive into them full steam ahead. It also provides a very unique creative outlet when we tend to be very open to communication or at least good with communication skills. If you enjoy writing journals, if you enjoy writing letters, any kind of article, really, then you likely get a little fed up with the vanilla of it, right and erotica allows for more sexual passion, more intrigue, more mystery, more danger to really come toe light. You can let yourself explore these things in a very easy but very private way as well. And it's of course, fucking awesome. Who doesn't love to open up a book with a nice tall glass of wine from time to time and maybe have their favorite toy by their side and enjoy reading how some man is absolutely head over heels in love with this woman, and they dive underneath the sheets for some much needed arousal in playtime. When it comes to writing erotica, though, there are four main elements that every good adult romance absolutely needs. Number one, and I cannot stress this enough. The author, the author needs to create two main characters that the audience can relate to. On a personal level, this is also known as connection. They need the kind of relationship that readers can truly root for. We don't want to hear about how some man is going down a bad path and can't seem to get himself up right. No one wants a Debbie Downer. Everyone wants to root for somebody who is not only finding themselves but rooting for themselves to someone that has some confidence in some flair, So create your characters. With that in mind, think about the type of person that you would want to root for yourself. Ask your friends. Do a little bit of research on the subject. Find out what your best friend enjoys reading about why they enjoy rooting for a certain character. You can even go on to groups in good reads and on Facebook and do a little bit of research there as well. Simply throw out what is your favorite character and why, and see what comes to light. Romantic suspense is also a key detail in a key element to any good adult romance novel. This allows for the relationship to develop over time. It also provides challenges things that the main characters need to overcome to evolve on a characteristic level, a swell, a good adult romance also needs conflict, conflict, conflict, conflict. Falling in love is never easy, right. There needs to be some ups and downs along the way. There needs to be, maybe the heroin becoming kidnapped and the hero needs to come rescue her, and maybe they have to go through literally Helen back. If you're doing a paranormal, for example, this is what builds that suspense factor. It helps the characters toe develop along the way. It provides great opportunity for emotional development and for internal dialogue as well. So don't be afraid of conflict. Sometimes a character has to die. That's just the way it ISS. So create those conflicts. Don't be afraid of them and, ah, satisfaction At the end of the story, There needs to be a happy ending, or at least a happy for now ending. Most publishers today that do erotica books or erotica e books absolutely, positively will request from you that there must be a happy ending or happy for now ending . Don't end it on a cliffhanger. Don't bother trying to make it into something it's not. Or think that you're creating the prologue to your next story in the Siri's. Give the reader what they want, the need to be satisfied and especially with erotica stories. Think about the erotic a short story. For example, the average reader is only going to read for maybe 40 minutes to an hour for a short story at most, so they need that instant gratification. No one wants to spend days upon days trying to get to the one thing that they want the most this sex scene. So give it to him straight, give it to him now and give it to him hard. Everybody loves that happy ending, so this is really feeding off of previously what I had just said. The happy ending is really essential to giving your reader exactly what they want your reader needs to believe that the story continues long after the fucking is over. The exception to this is the happy for now, as I stated, and this is really open ending the story itself in leading to the next book. Whatever you do, though, do not end it on a downer. This is never good for trying to create intrigue for your next book in the series. Thes typically work better for non erotica books, however, as the majority of readers of erotica are looking for something that provides instant gratification. As I said, note that publishers will toss your work in the slush pile if you're mad if your manuscript deviates from the happy ending. 3. 1.2 - Pornography, Smut, Erotica, Steamy Romance...What's the Difference?: Let's take a moment to talk about. The difference between pornography, smut, erotica and steamy romance is often times when people hear the word erotica. The first thing that comes to mind is some slutty book or some porno book, and that's exactly what it is, Not. Pornography tends to be quick lacking and emotions, shallow characters and much more unrealistic. Typically, pornography is something that erotica writers shy away from all together. This is reserved more for imagery, videos, pictures, photos and things like that. Very rarely will you see pornography tagged on a neurotic a book. Now Smuts a little bit different. This is sort of the middle ground, considered the middle ground between porn and erotica, usually short stories or no villas. Some characters develop some character development itself, and it's consistent. Profanity and colorful sex scenes are rampant through the story. Smut tends to be the shorter genres, so things that air 4000 words and under you might even see a quick little one off for a quickie sex scene in your favorite erotica magazine, for example. Now erotica itself tends to be realistic, emotional, thorough character development and plot. This is the granddaddy. This is what we came for. I consider erotica to be very sophisticated. It's very classy and sexy, and the way it's presented the sex scenes are much more detailed. There's a lot of emotional involvement, a lot of internal dialogue going on, not just a quick pounding. And everything is done. And over with erotica, sex scenes and erotica, books, novels, novellas, they tend to have much more depth and breadth to the overall character development in the plot itself. This is what we really aim for now a steamy romance tends to be a little bit lighter. The plot is not centered on sex. It's often alluding to sexual situations or contains only small number of sexual or sensual scenes in the story itself. The's you might consider to be like the Blaze books, for example, from Harlequin. I believe they also have a lighter sexual tension type book, Syriza's Well, but those tend to be the steamy romance is adult romances, not necessarily erotica itself. But I just wanted to take a few minutes to clarify. The difference is and what we are specifically talking about and targeting with this master class here, we're going to be focusing strictly on erotica itself. But of course, many of the techniques that you're going to be learning you can apply to just about any form of the adult romance or erotica genre itself. So let's go ahead and move on to talking about the different genres that you have to choose from, and we will be leading into your first exercise. 4. 1.3. - Erotica Genres: lecture, 1.3 erotica genres. Today there are literally countless sub genres of erotica romance. So the ones you see here are definitely a very small portion off the best ones out there. These are the ones that I tend to notice the most, and that tend to be the biggest money makers and sellers, the top being, of course, the BDS M genre. Thanks to 50 shades of Grey as well as the Great and Rice and her beautiful works as an Rick lair, I really enjoy a good BD SM novel. It's actually some of the first readings that I ever did and some of the first erotica is that I ever got into. And, of course, when you start out with something as great as the beauty trilogy, everything else kind of pales in comparison. So I tend Teoh make the mistake of comparing everything to my favorites, which you, of course, should never dio. But because I love that so much, that tends to be the kind of writing that I fall into when I sit down with pen in hand. The other big ones are, of course, the fantasy historical erotica as horror erotica is, which is becoming much more popular today. The LGBT and thrillers suspense basic central erotica, which is more like contemporary or traditional erotica. I would say Victorian erotica, which is actually on the rise over the past couple of years, more romantic type erotica and the paranormal erotica, which is, of course, last but not least, paranormal. Rodica would be your shape shifters, your witchy type erotic a vampire's vampire Slayer's lichens. Anything like that definitely falls within the category of paranormal. I originally wrote my first erotica as a paranormal erotica, sort of taking a cue from, of course, and Rice and her great works with the stat. However, I tended to write better in the historical or pirate themed erotica. Surprise, surprise things that I didn't tend to read, but I actually was very good at writing. So don't be surprised if you fall into that category of being a better writer at a genre you don't tend to normally read. But sometimes we tend to try to put too much flavor of someone else into our Rodica. When we write what we know really well, so it's really up to your own discretion. I know I'm probably contradicting myself a little bit by saying that, but it's really up to you. If you feel more comfortable writing something that you know a lot about, go for it. If you feel like you would be a better writer with a different genre that maybe you're familiar with, but you don't tend to read very often. Sometimes that's exactly what we need is a fresh perspective to put pen to paper and create something that is a masterpiece. A few notes about sub genres here, sub genres air really popping up all the fucking time. It's so hard to even keep up with them, especially today. We now have the crossovers where maybe a cowboy gets together with a vampire, a little out of the box, less popular but can be equally as thrilling. The list that I provided, as I said, is in no way complete, but I highly recommend taking time to break out of your comfort zone and experience as many sub genres as you can. This builds your mental writers toolkit and gives you a vast array of perspectives. While sex is sex, of course, a vampire fucks and titillates far differently than a cowboy or a billionaire. So why not test drive each one out if you can, you might be surprised with what turns you on as well. This brings me to your first assignment of this course. Decide on your genre for your first erotica story. Choose the genre that you're most familiar with in this case and complete the worksheet that has been provided to you in the resource is section to help you get started and get your shit focused. Now, the worksheets that I'm providing to you are ones that I actually using my creative writing courses at several of the universities currently teach at. So I think it's does its job pretty well with getting you focused and clear on exactly what is going to be your best target genre for your first erotica. Remember, this is really just your testing ground. This is your testing the waters a little bit figuring out what you really like, what you're really good at. So take your time with this. Don't try to put too much. Um shall we say worry into it? We're anxiety. This is meant to be fun, enjoyable and very pleasurable. So if you feel yourself starting to get anxious over which genre that you're trying to pick from. Take a few deep breaths, walk away, read a good book, come back and get focused. 5. 1.4. - The Pen Name: lecture 1.4 the pen name or sooner name. Let's talk a little bit about pin names for a moment before you sit down. To write, you will need to decide if you want to use your actual name, a initial version of your actual name or a completely different name or pseudo name. There are some concerns that you want to keep in mind if you choose to use a pen name number one privacy concerns. If you choose to be much more private or if you don't maybe want people to know some of your fetishes, some of the things that you're into some people are a little bit shy about that. But for whatever reason, when they choose to put that pseudo name on and sit down to begin writing as that person instead of themselves, they tend to write things that they wouldn't normally right in their normal life. So there are definitely great benefits toe having that pin name. It also allows you to be somebody completely different. I have the pen name of Gillian Brooks and Gillian Brooks. I have an entire profile on her. She is somebody that is a goddess in her own right. She isn't afraid to travel the world by herself. She owns her sexuality, and she puts it to paper. She's definitely somebody that I admire and somebody that I want other people to admire. A swell. So she is my main persona that I use when I sit down to write. It also sets your erotica works apart from other writings. If you tend to write other types of works for example, meditation books, yoga books, anything really that's outside of the erotica genre, it can help to really set that genre aside or apart from your normal works. It also provides you an outlet if you choose to have a completely separate website, maybe for your pin name author. If you choose to have separate Facebook, Page is really an entirely separate life, strictly devoted all to erotica. There may also be job concerns. Let's face it, people can be very judgmental and not all employers or understanding of the fact that maybe a up and coming manager chooses to spend her time or his time writing works that have to do with BD sm whips and chains and all the good stuff. So there may be dropped. Concerns at hand. Keep this in mind. I personally like the use of pin names, other people, other authors that I know don't enjoy them at all. But they have less job concerns. Less privacy concerns in their normal everyday life is well, so, really take time to assess which benefits you are looking for and make your choice. Based on that, it's worth noting that there are some famous authors out there who have chosen to use pen names. Stephen King being one J. K. Rowling, Also known as author Joanne Rowling, she chose to use J. K. Rowling as the pin named so that anyone could really connect with her, both male and female. When reading the Harry Potter works, she chose to use Joanne Rowling for other works that were outside of the fantasy genre that were more adult centered books and rice. On the other hand, as everyone knows, at least anyone who reads avid erotica knows an Rick lair or a enr eclair. This was the person of the persona that she chose to use when she was writing the beauty trilogy books. These books, of course, if you have read them, you know they put just about everything else to shame, right? This was really my first erotica that I got into. This is what inspired me, and this is the reason one of my main reasons for why I chose to use a pen name. I liked the fact that an was separating her fantasy and adult fairy tales by using that pen name from her normal everyday erotica. So it's a great way to not only separate other genres of writing but sub genres within the erotic details as well. So this brings me to your next assignment. So get out your journal. If you have one or your computer and start jotting down some pin names, decide if you wish to use a pen name for your erotica. You may also consider using first and middle initials as an alternative. This also helps to keep your ginger private while putting some mystery around who you are as an author. Now I've even chosen to use my initials for my adult romance that is less erotic, centered and more steamy type romance. I've used TJ Smith as that pin name and then, of course, Gillian Brooks for my hard core more colorful erotica. So take outs and pens and paper. Jot down some ideas. Figure out which pen name you want to use. If you want to use one and when you're ready, continue on to Unit two. 6. Unit 2: Is Bigger Always Better?: unit. Todo size really matter short stories, novellas and novels. So let's first start with the short stories. These are the most popular writings of today, thanks to E readers. Chances are you own a Kindle or nook or another type of e reader out there, and chances are it's filled with tons of short stories. These air typically 4 to 10,000 words in length, and they're very quick and easy to read and write. What I really like about thes is roughly a 5000 word story is going to take me anywhere from 2 to 5 hours to write. On average, this means I can write up to two or three and a day if I choose to, or maybe two or three in a week. This is substantial income it when you're trying to build that credibility because you can put a lot out in a short period of time. It's also easy to link your E books together. At the end of your current book, you can pop in a link to purchase your next e book. It's also great for marketing. Ah, lot of authors have had great success with creating several short stories for free and then creating novels and novellas at a premium price. It's also easy to repurpose short stories by bundling them into anthologies later with the possibilities for revised editions that add new never before purposed published stories. What's really nice about the anthologies is that as you begin to establish your credibility and you begin to grow your readership, you can create your first anthology and then in a year, create your addition to that has maybe one or two stories that have never been seen before . What's great about this as you're not only going to get new author, I'm sorry, new readers, but you're also going to get your current readers to purchase the book just so they can read the additional short stories. Some considerations to make here. Keep your costs low 99 cents to 2 99 It's pretty average for short stories. Anything greater than that. People aren't going to want to pay anything higher than about $3 for a 5000 word. Short story anthologies, however, can go for 2 99 all the way up to $50 or more, depending on the size and the popularity. Consider working with collaborations as well seek out authors doing the same thing that you're doing. Creating great erotica novels. What's really nice about creating collaborations as you conduce minimal work and have maybe 12 or more writers submitting short stories to your anthology? You agree to do the marketing they agreed to add to the collaboration. Everybody makes maybe a small profit. Sometimes this can be offering your collaborators $25 all the way up to, ah, $100 for 1 5000 word story that you can add. Of course, this is money out of your pocket, but it could be a really great way to gain readership. If everyone agrees to submit their link to the book for purchase on their social media site , reach out to other publishers of anthologies as well. This is a great way to gain some networking skills as well as get your name out there to the masses. So reach out to people who are currently publishing anthologies and see if they're accepting any kind of submissions for future anthologies. Also reach out to podcast personalities in the romance genre, thes air popping up all over the place, or consider creating your own podcast to help generate authorship and readership for future works. With you join publishers mailing lists to stay up to date on calls for submissions. New publishers are coming up all over the place and all the time, and they need submissions, so calls for submissions are very popular. But they're often Onley open for a small window of time, usually because everybody begins to dram the lines and put in their current work. So definitely stay up to date and be one of first to submit your work for publication. Next, let's talk a little bit about no villas. These typically range from 15,000 to 4000 words, and they're becoming equally as popular as short stories among erotic readers. They can also be combined into collections and anthologies, typically 4 to 10 depending on the size of the anthology. These typically sell for about 2 99 and up and most often seen only and electronic format unless you have an anthology. Of course, Now these convey make really great marketing tools as well, but of course, you're going to need to put in a little bit more work. Also, keep in mind that these air going to sell a little bit better and two more premium type clients. In other words, clients who have been reading your short stories for a while are going to be more likely to purchase your no villa next. Your novels, however, are going to run about fourth out. I'm sorry, 40,000 to 90,000 words or more longer Novels of 90,000 plus are almost always guaranteed to become print publications. Usually, novels are available in both print and e book formats. If you're submitting for publication by a publisher's house, then please make sure that you're taking the time to review what, exactly, they're putting out. Some Onley work in e book format, while others will do print on demand and or require a certain word count in order to become a print book. These are often the hardest to get published, however, but not impossible. It usually takes roughly 100 submissions to get one call back for a for an interview for a contract. Prices range from 5 99 and up. They often require deeper emotional development between characters as well longer higher price novels do not often mean more profits or sales. Please keep that in mind. For novels, quality is everything. Qualities, everything. No matter what you write. But novels are vital. In order to get them sold, you're going to need awesome cover art. And you're going to need an awesome editor to make thes profitable. And, of course, marketing. No one is going to know about you if you don't market so you could have the best novel in the world. And if no one knows about it, you're not gonna have any profits from it whatsoever. So these air things to keep in mind if you're going to start out with novels, I recommend going the novel route. Once you have maybe 10 to 20 good short stories out there and you're beginning to gain some readership. So this brings me to your first assignment. Decide what size you want to make your first erotica. Ah, highly recommend for this particular course, doing a short story to start if you're brand new to the writing game. However, if you have some writing experience or publishing experience, you may choose. And now Villa, just to keep the challenge a little bit more heavy. And when you're ready, let's continue on to Unit three 7. Unit 3: Characters - You get to play God of your universe!: Unit three. Who the fuck are you? Character development. So character development is vital to a strong erotica book. The most memorable aspects of erotica are the characters you need, a hero that turns you on with every word and a heroin that owns her sexual power. You need a character who changes for the better and an unlikely relationship between two people with one key word connection. You absolutely need connection in order for people toe. Want to root for these two to get it on and get together? Remember, though sex acts don't dry Veronica, the people who engage in them dio hand blink. So please try to remember that it's not always about the sex. Sometimes it's the internal dialogue. Other times it's the personal changes and evolution of the character themselves. People want to connect with them. They want to see what's going on in their sexy little minds and what is going on with their body. When there counterpart comes to play three D characters, what separates a panty wedding erotica from a shitty one? So these are just some do's and dont's that I've learned along the way, and several of the top erotica authors today definitely agree with these. Do you think about your favorite characters and why you connect with them? Remember that no one is perfect, and neither should your characters be. Characters are going toe. Have flaws. Hence character flaw. People have them. So do your heroine and hero give some background? Let your reader know why they are the way they are. Don't just drop the f bomb and not explain why they feel profanities. Okay, don't have them do something absolutely ridiculously stupid and then not explain why they chose such a bad decision. Also, give your character some depth. This means creative writing. Tell why the character is the way that they are and give internal dialogue. Don't have your character do an action without explaining what is going on in their head and why they completed that action. It's vital, took the character development, and it's vital to the story as well. Remember, don't be arrogant. Don't be shallow. Don't be ditzy. Don't jump around these air. My biggest pet peeves with my students and they're the biggest pet peeves when im reading as well. I hate absolutely fucking hate an arrogant character. I don't root for them. I don't like them and they're just plain ridiculous. I hate shallow characters, thes air, the characters that are just doing things to do them. There's no reason or rhyme why they're choosing to jump in bed with this person. They're just doing it because it's an erotica novel. I hate that. I want to know why. What is making them make that choice? Why are they falling in love with this person? Or why are they having angry sex with them? I also hate ditzy characters. You know the type. I'm talking. Anastasia Steele here did see women who don't own themselves don't own their power freely. Give it away. Have absolutely no self confidence. I can't stand this. I want to connect with somebody who is finding themselves. At the very least, if they start out as ditzy, fine, at least have them changed by mid point in the book. And don't jump around from scene to scene. You need to have transitions from scene to scene. How did your two characters just get from bed to the couch? Where did that transition happen? Why did it happen? How did he take her? There be very descriptive, and this will also cut down on the jumping around or the choppy feeling that we tend to see and really shitty erotica as let's talk about some elements of great characters as well. So remember, I just said, Give them depth. This means to allow the storyline to bring out the inner person, set up situations or even a single situation for shorter works that give your character a chance to show their inner strength and their personality. Give them Brett. Everybody has corky trades and unique qualities. Thus, to make your character stand out and be memorable, they need them to think about the people who have stood out in your life who have stood out really the most to you and jot down some of their qualities, the good and the bad. How can you apply these to your characters? Next, cut out the shit. Whatever you do, do not make the mistake of adding details that don't add to the overall character development. For example, you may want to refer to the sexy blonde at the end of the bar that caught the heroes I, but don't give her any dialogue or any other place in this story. It serves no other purpose than filling the word count in your reader will notice, as will your publishers. If you're writing doesn't add value, cut it from the story. I cannot tell you how often I say this to my students on a daily basis. This is true for academic writing. It's true for journalism, and it's definitely true for fiction writing of all sorts. If the sentence doesn't add value or move the story in a progressive way, cut the shit out. Next. Your assignment, my dear, complete the character development worksheet located in the Resource is section. Please note that this worksheet is best if you're creating not villas or novels. Short stories and quickies do not allow for deep character development, however, but you should still stick to what is relevant to the story so some of these things will be very relevant to you. Other things may not be if you're choosing to write a short story. Still, take a look at this character development worksheet. It's an awesome one. I've used it so many times for myself and successful writers across the world have used it as well. It really helps to hone in on exactly what traits you're going to use, why you're going to use them, how they got there, how they're going to change, how they're going to propel the story. It's an awesome worksheets to take your time with it. And if you need help, if you need feedback, message me. I'm always happy to work with my students and my clients on helping them with character development. You didn't think you were going to get away that easy, did you? This is your second assignment. Complete the opening scene work she also located in The Resource Is Section. This opening scene worksheet is designed to help you start the first page of your erotica. That's right. You get to start actually writing now, so the first line or the hook is often the most difficult for people to start. I'm hoping that this opening scene worksheet will be helpful to you as it's been very helpful to me breaking through that initial wall of just getting started. This is also known as the drop in seen, so if you choose to use a drop in seen, this is referring to starting your story in the middle of dialogue or action. I absolutely love a good droppin scene, especially for shorts in quickies. The drop in scene is awesome to just jump right into bed with your two main characters Really good technique. Not so easy to get really good at writing. So this opening scene worksheet will also help you develop that. And when you're ready, go ahead and continue on to unit for 8. Unit 4: Conflict Conflict Conflict: unit for conflict, Conflict, conflict Let's talk about sex. Angry sex makeup. Six. How conflicts add heat to your erotica at the start of your story. If you're writing an erotic no villa or novel, for example, your readers are going to be introduced to your characters. Reactive behaviors. Great characters are challenged with internal and external conflicts that push your characters to adapt, change, grow, evolve personally and in the relationships. Think about how this is going to affect the sexuality of your characters. Remember that your characters core beliefs must be challenged. But first, let's get one thing straight. Conflicts in erotica novels do not mean violence or battle. It means domination. The dominant conflict that IHS This is the internal battle. Think about Louis and Lestat. In Anne Rice's novels, Louis is deeply scarred with internal conflict because of his desire for life and for Children, as well as his desire to see the sunlight once more. He is driven by this. He is so driven by this that Lestat takes it upon himself to give Louis a child of his own by creating a new small vampire. In the end, this challenges everything that he believes and it changes the entire story in the end as well. Conflicts must do this, but there is a place for external conflicts, too. This is the problem or situation that is the driving force between the two main characters and what keeps them apart. Logic pushes the main characters away, while their hearts will do anything possible to reconnect. The external conflict thus causes a gap or severance of some kind, for example, and my short story Pirates Sex in the Sea. The external conflict of my hero William was the soldiers looking to kill him for stealing from the king. Internal conflicts, internal conflicts forced the beliefs of the hero and or heroin to be challenged. There eventually comes a point where the main character must make a choice that causes the behaviors to be. I'm sorry, the barriers to be torn down. The internal conflict is what makes the characters three dimensional. The's grow out of the characters past, so please remember to keep your character development worksheet close by. It provides the motives as well for everything that your characters do and say this brings us to vulnerability without vulnerability. There is no connection with your reader. Readers need to know why characters act and do the things that they dio when vulnerabilities achieved, sex always follows. There's just something about traumatic past that gets a dick hard panties to drop in legs to spread. There is truly nothing more sexy than vulnerability. This brings us to your next assignment. Complete the conflict development work she located in The Resource is section. You're going to use this throughout your story as you develop the challenges that your characters must overcome, and finally, when you're ready, continue to Unit five. 9. Unit 5: Structure - When Do You Need It?: Unit five structure. What is structure structure is taking you from point A to point B and exactly the path that you choose to make it. The writer has a one on one relationship with the reader. It's very intimate. Think about the details that you would tell your most trusted, loyal and long time friend or lover. How would you describe scenes and characteristics to them? I want you to think about the biggest, best orgasm that you've ever had, and you're telling your very best friend about it. How would you describe it to them? What imagery would you use? What metaphors would you use personifications Sensory details. This is helping to create the structure, to take you from point A to point B and build the image in the mind of your reader. One option is to create your plot. Now I don't want to remind you guys of school. This course is, um, it is, of course, meant to be fun after all. But if you remember how to create an outline, your you can definitely create a traditional plot for your story line. I used the same method and in fact I used the same graphic organizer. When I'm developing my novels and Avila's here, you can see at the very bottom. You're starting with the beginning of your story. This might be a scene. It might be a sex scene. Even next is the rising action. These air, the conflicts. Does your heroin get stolen away? Kidnapped? Is there some sort of a grand battle beginning to take place? The climax might be the battle itself, the decision point, whether or not the heroin is going to be killed or murdered or hurt. And then you, of course, have your conflicts that are resolved during the falling action. Is the heroine saved? Is there a change in the hero? Is there some sort of internal conflict happening? And he's forced to make a chain our choice to make a change. And then finally, what is the resolution? This is the end of your story itself. Option number two, instinct for short stories and for many others who were born writers, they have a deeply intuitive sense of plot and structure. They know exactly where they want the story to go, how they want it to end, and right as it comes to them, rather than plotting it on paper. For example, my short story Pirates Sex in the Sea was written this way, actually, with a bottle of wine and about two hours of uninterrupted time after my kids went to bed. So if you feel the urge to write, do it, let it flow. And don't stop often times at least for short stories, this is the best method. If you have longer stories and you just have that innate internal drive to right, you may be the type to go on instinct as well. So for your first assignment for Unit five, it's time to free. Right now, this is the same exact assignment that I give to all of my English comp one and two students, and it's fantastic. You're going to choose a writing prompt now, just as a caveat. I, of course, don't use the same writing prompts for my classes, But for the purposes of today, we're going to use thes new ones that have developed. You're going to set a timer for 15 minutes and write whatever comes to mind based on the prompt that you choose. Do this a few times a week, and with different prompts. This is designed to help you think intuitively and focus on specific techniques that you want to improve upon each week. So for some writing prompts number one, what the fuck do you think you're doing here? Her eyes flashed his herd to rental in spiked into overdrive. Option number two. I can't live without you. I need you. I need all of you! Option Number three His ice fell owners. She slowly walked into the room without missing a beat. She smiled and his heart nearly spring out of his chest, as did the throbbing cock, pressing against his jeans, desperately wanting to be released. Before we move on to 5.2, I want to quickly point you in the direction of the bonus material section. There, you're going to find a fabulous list of over 300 erotic writing prompts to help you get started. If you're finding trouble breaking down that first barrier 10. 5.2 - 5 Key Turning Points to a Best Selling Erotica: 5.25 Key turning points to an erotic romance Whether you're work is 4000 words or 40,000 words. There are six major stages made above sequences of scenes with five turning points where new decisions have to be made and the story spins off into a new direction. Michael Hughes six stage plot structure is fabulous at describing exactly where each of these turning points need to take place. This is how the wonderful screenwriter and coach Michael Hue provides a fantastic example of plot structure. As you can see, Stage One is, of course, the set up. This is your first turning point, about 10% into your story. Please ignore the acts one and two and three, as this is really written for a screenplay, but for the purposes of creating an erotic novel, it's equally as beneficial. Stage two. This is the new situation, the rising action, the beginning of the initial conflict. Turning point to this is the change of plans where things begin to veer off and some sort of a plot twist begins to happen. About 1/4 of the way into the story. Stage three. This is the progress turning 30.3 usually happens at about 50% or the mid point of the story itself. This is the point of no return. Someone's about to be killed. Something amazing is about to happen. A battle is about to be waged. Stage four. This is where some complications and some higher stakes begin to arise, turning point for the major setback or some major challenge that happens at about 75% or 3/4 of the way into the story. Stage five. This is the final push. This is the end point. The battle is almost over. The the light at the end of the tunnel is there. Turning 0.5 happens at about 90% to 99% towards the very end of the story. This is the climax, the ultimate culmination. The battle of good versus Evil is about to be over. And then finally, the aftermath, the end point of the story. This could even be a epilogue of some sort, but something that tells the reader that these two are going to end up with either a happily ever after or at least a happy. For now, some key things to keep in mind here. Novellas and novels are a little bit different, but short stories and short novels this is the best example. I confined typical size for no villa or short novel is about 12 chapters or so and have broken this down into sequences, so you know exactly what each chapter should contain to help you reach each of those specific turning points. So sequence number one. This is setting up the ordinary world for your hero and heroine. At some point in Chapter one, something happened to interrupt the normal world of the main character. There is new opportunity or challenge, which has to be addressed. Sequence number two Chapters two and three provide the characters with the opportunity to evaluate the challenge. Chapter three typically provides the decision that will be made in order for them to commit to the plan of action or goal sequence. Number three characters leave the ordinary world behind and start on their plan to reach their goal. This is typically chapters four through six and provide the majority of the falling in love and most exciting and explicit sex scenes. Sequence number four Chapter seven through nine provides opportunities for complications. Revelations and high stakes sequence five, which is Chapter 10 is the battle to save their relationship, leading to the climax. Scene choices must be made that make or break the relationship in some way and finally sequence number six chapters 11 3 12 which provide the climax and resolution as well as any epilogue that shows the couple later in life. So your first assignment? I'm sorry. Your second assignment on there is a type of there second assignment for this unit to create an outline of the turning points for your erotica story, and when you're ready, continue to Unit six. 11. Unit 6: He Said, She Said: Unit six, he said. She said the importance of point of view, the first scene in your erotica is the most important, because this is the scene where you were going to grab the attention of the reader and never let them go. You can choose the hero or the heroin to kick off your story. But be aware that this is the character who the reader is going to root for the most. So make sure that they are well motivated with a clear goal which will carry them through the entire story. So remember, catch their attention. Her point of view first person perspective from her point of view, allows the female reader to put herself right into the shoes of the heroin. Often, this is the perspective that most erotica writers start with because it is less challenging . At first, my first erotica was actually written in the first person point of view. From the male perspective, I personally find that the male perspective is easier for me to write in. I have no idea why. It's just my personal preference. Many others feel this way, many others don't. So please don't take it one way or the other do what feels the most natural to you. And often writing in the first person from the female perspective is just that. So, whichever one you choose, just know it's whatever fetish that floats your boat. His point of view. My personal favorite point of view is the male side. Don't ask me why, but there is something fucking amazing about knowing what is going on inside the mind of a man who is getting turned on and hard on by. Everything is female Counterpart is doing. This can be a bit more difficult if you're not used to writing from the male perspective, though less straight erotica exists in the male perspective. So this might be a niche for you. Third person. Point of view. Ah, the dreaded third person point of view. The all knowing author holds the key to all knowledge about their characters and thus has the ability to omit or reveal anything at any time and thus is charged with the responsibility of how to reveal and win to reveal things at just the right time. This is harder than writing the first person, but it allows for more flexibility and what happens emotionally between both characters as an English professor. Myself, third person point of view typically is the absolute most difficult thing for new writers to get used to. So if you fall into this bracket, have no fear. I am here. Please reach out to me, and I can provide you with some coaching to get you into the third person perspective, if that's the direction that you want to go. So this brings me to your first assignment for Unit six. Use the list of writing prompts in the Resource is section under the bonus material to complete a two 15 minute free riding activities, number one in the first female person point of view and the other in the first person male perspective point of view. This is going to give you experience with writing from both sides and see which one feels the most natural to you Next. When you're ready, continue to Unit seven 12. Unit 7: What you have all been waiting for... SEX SCENES: Unit seven. Yes, yes, yes, your guide to sex scenes. So let's talk about sex number one. Don't be ashamed of it. Love your fetishes and remember that you are never alone. For every fetish that's out there, there are million's with the same one. Own your sexuality and be proud of it. Be fucking proud of it. Do your research on fetishes read until you can't read anymore. The more you read outside of your comfort zone, the more well versed you're going to be in the different fetishes that exist and be more willing to try new things. Remember, don't just go with what's popular right now, right about what really turns you on, and sometimes it may surprise you, so let's talk a little bit about foreplay. Foreplay is vital to a panty wedding dick hardening erotica Sex scene. Preheat the oven before you stick in the turkey Right. Details are everything. Get into the mind of your characters and describe their emotions. How many of the five senses can you build into each of their internal dialogues? Let's talk about oral sex from her point of view. What does she feel as she begins to prepare to blow him from his point of view, described the hardness, the ache, the thoughts, the feelings taste breathing pattern site, how his body is reacting. If he is eating her out, what does it feel like to her? Tastes like to him. How does it make him feel? The Turner on what metaphors can you think of that are going to be best used to get everyone a little wetter and a little harder? Suspense. The build up There's nothing worse than an erotica that gets right to the penetration and makes no attempt to put the reader into the fantasy. You know what I mean, right? The lame dialogue that goes, Oh, yes, Oh, baby, Give it to me. I'm going to come. She does. And then that's it. Or the same Oh God, Oh, yes, Oh, God, Oh yes, Over and over again for three full pages. Instead, think about every sense, as it anticipates to the touch the feelings, the wetness, the throbbing ache of the clip waiting and wanting for the sweet surrender of the most slightest of touch. Mm, that's what I'm talking about. So let's talk about these sex itself after your characters are on the verge of bursting physically and emotionally. You can finally allow them to have penetrating sex. Describe the physical act in detail. This is where language gets very colorful. Describe how it feels inside and out the throbbing member as it slides inch by inch, making every nerve ending stand on end, filling her up to the core, causing the nipples to harden and clip to swell as she grips her round firm ass, lighting one finger inside for the most filling and surprising sensation. What was I talking about again? Okay, back to the project in hand. Make the action. Go faster and faster. Let the characters lose control emotionally and tell the readers how the characters feel and what they're thinking at all times. I'm coming. The climax. Sex and Climax isn't just about bodily fluids. This is the fulfillment of someone's wildest dream. That's a huge occasion that's going to affect them emotionally. Take a moment to dwell on the emotional and physically satisfying experience that the characters air, having describe in detail how it affects them, say how relieved and fulfilled its bathe them ill straight. The emotional impact by how the characters air acting some final considerations here. Spare the rod. The throbbing rod that IHS don't say rod. If you mean dick Coy little euphemisms for body parts are not a turn on and will never make your reader turn it turned the next page or and that will make them turn up their noses. Please don't write about your heroes member or manhood or hard hot tool or battering ram. Likewise, don't refer to our heroines, mound or tunnel or center of her womanhood When you mean pussy and vagina. Don't say pounding if you mean fucking. Don't say that he pounded her like a jackhammer, or that she's laying back spent Tell me something I haven't heard before. Make me think about something that wouldn't occur to me otherwise. Humans don't say the right thing at the right time, and neither should you. Characters. Don't be afraid of injecting a little humor again. The old in and out is not compelling in itself. What is the fantasy these lovers are enacting? What is the power dynamic between them? What secrets, Longings, grudges, insecurities and memories are at play here the one time you should hold back a tip from the pros is that you will notice in Anne Rice's work as well as others, such as The Story of O and 9.5 Weeks, bring a straightforward, understated narrative style to the outlandish tail and, I believe, take on potency and credibility for having done so. The tip. Here, the more extreme the scene, the more restrained language should really be. One off sex scenes, quickies, short stories, etcetera. Go ahead, get filthy settings. Let's set the stage. Shall we stay in line with your theme? Don't overdo it. Don't spend more than half a page on describing your settings, so choose your words and descriptions wisely. My advice. Get it the Tauruses or download one on your computer. This is going to be your best friend When you begin getting into the old standbys reference . The change and setting as he moved through the story. Don't hop from scene to scene. Definitely provide transitions between each scene as much as you can prepped for your next assignment, choose your setting right down the key details of it era place what's in the room, what time of day it is. What is the geographical location as it real or made up. If it is a historical place, is it accurate? Isn't an alternative universe? How will you convey this to your reader description? Exercise Here is an exercise that I do with my composition to students. Pick your favorite food. Now. Describe it using the five senses without telling what it is. What does it look like? Smell like tastes like, How does it make you feel? What does it sound like? What emotions doesn't bring up? What memories does it bring forth? Why do you love it? Let's go even deeper and stretch your creativity a bit. Now choose two of the following and write five sentences that describe it to someone who can't taste. Describe it to someone who can't see. Describe it as someone who can't smell. Just describe it to someone who cannot here and describe it to someone who cannot feel. The idea here is to get your mind working overtime and use new vocabulary in metaphors, similes and imagery that you would not have thought of otherwise. Use the same exercise as you write your sex scenes, and you will give a very detailed, juicy dripping with description seen sure to send your reader and a hyper drive your next assignment. Now is the time to get to writing. By this point, you should have your genre main characters have a good idea of where you want your story to go and how you need it to end. If you choose to plot it out, you should also have your outline on hand. Get your first draft of 4000 words and put it together. Don't worry about editing and all of that and seek feedback notes on this. Next. Remember that erotica is using a feather. Pornography is using the whole chicken. Let's talk for just a moment about beta readers. Before we move on, I want you guys to get a beta Rieder thes air readers who agree to review your manuscript or sections of your manuscript or chapters and give you honest feedback for review. It's highly recommended that you find one in work with one. Often beta readers may be free. Other authors who agreed to trade feedback or review or professional beta readers who charge per page or by chapter see my list of resource is in the bonus section for a place to find beta Readers show me yours and I'll show you mind. And finally, when you're ready and continue on to Unit eight 13. Unit 8: Publication - What are you options?: Unit eight. Congratulations. You fucking did it. Now what? So now you have a juicy new manuscript ready to go? Let's talk a little bit about self publishing. Where Kindle is king. I highly recommend Katie P for many reasons for self publishing, Amazon KDP offers authors a full range of technical support articles and information on how to publish your manuscript with it being constantly kept up to date with best practices. See, the resource is section for links to can't kindles 80 p resource is and there you're going to find a full range of guidance and support online articles at Amazon for this part of the process. One thing to note here is Scribner allows you to export your entire manuscript into KDP format so you don't even have to think about it. You just have to choose your cover art Some notes about editing There's some different types of editors out there that you may want to keep in contact with. One is the copy editors. Copy editors check for overreaching, grammatical structure, layout, punctuation and references. Proofreaders, on the other hand, are independent people who can spot spelling and punctuation errors and mistake. I recommend getting onto fiver as fast as you can and find a copy editor. These are people that start at $5 a gig, and this maybe $5 for a page $5 a chapter. They range in all sizes and keep in contact with one that you really like. Now let's talk for a moment about beta readers. Beta readers that do more. Some beta readers, for an additional fee will also use tracking your comments. Justus, an English teacher, would mark up a paper. Some beta readers also offer editing services for an additional cost. If you have a good handle on your grammar and punctuation, you don't need an editor if you submit your work to a publisher. On the other hand, the reputable ones provide in house editing at no cost. You should never pay for editing or for cover art. If you're contract ID with the publisher now for my first erotica novel, I went with cobblestone press. I submitted a manuscript to them, and I also submitted a cover letter to them, asking them to please accept my manuscript. They went ahead and took care of all of my editing. I worked very closely with their in house editor. They were very kind and worked with me on all of my very specific revisions and things that I wanted to keep. True to the article, I'm sorry. True to the short story itself, I also worked very closely in house with their cover artist. Recover Artists was fabulous and used all of my requests in the cover art. So you do have options out there. But if you can find a publisher that does everything in house, they're going to be your best bet. So let's talk about cover art. My philosophy is Weissman hours trying to do something that a professional conduce in minutes. Yes, you can save money by doing your own cover art. But if you factor in your wasted time learning new software and figuring things out for yourself, you might as well pay $10 to professional on Fiverr to do it for you. There are plenty of high price professionals out there. Just do a Google search for cover art designer for an example, but I highly recommend fiber great artists start at $5 a gig and go up to a few 100. You really can't beat the price and the affordable affordability of it. Important elements to note the front matter the first few pages of your book. The front matter is going to consist of a title page, which gives the title any subtitles. The name of the author and the publisher of the book copyright page. Usually the page, which carries the copyright notice and a dedication page. This is where you can dedicate your book to whoever you wish And finally, the introduction or prologue, the main body of your work chapters or sections. And finally, the back matter. This is where you're going to have on your last few pages of the book. Any reference material. You used the authors, biography and photo and any additional links that you want to include thes air. Just key things to keep in mind when you're putting your manuscript together for publication, an in house publisher may change one or all of these things. But if you're publishing for self publication on Katie P, these are all things you will need to include for yourself. Let's talk about e books. Short books and stories should never be put to print. Simply put, they just won't sell. Save the paper for larger books. 40 k words or more. Katie P offers the most detailed step by step guide for getting your e book created yourself because I don't have the experience with other software methods and prefer to stick with what is guaranteed. I only recommend KDP currently see Resource is for important Katie P Re sources such as the Manuscript Guide, Publishing Guide, preview or software, and even more print caution. Many direct to print sites are scams. Do your due diligence and check out any direct to print sites before choosing to spend your money. You should never be charged up front for anything. Amazon also offers director print services that I highly recommend to please be sure to check those out as well. Remember that e book publication and print publication in terms of manuscript and creation ? Very drastically. So please make sure that you do your due diligence once again. Review. If you are going to be using Amazon both sections for print as well as for a book creation working with publishers. Some key things to note is that publishers will typically pay you based on royalties or commissions. This may range from 15% all the way up to 90%. And there are literally thousands of publishers out there. Some are scams. Never pay for publication. Never pay for your cover art and never pay for your editing. Read the fine print. Some will work with you. Others may require an agent more fine print. Once you sign, they own your work, not you. Some will require that you keep your work with them for a minimum of three years or more. Others will allow you to submit to other places. So be sure to read each and every detail carefully and work with your editors. Your editors know their stuff. I cannot tell you how many times I got frustrated in the editing process because I felt like my editor was pushing my my book in a different direction than I wanted to go. But they know what sells. So please take your time. Take a deep breath. No, they're not trying to change your work or piss you off. They're trying to get your work sold as badly as you want your work sold, so work with them and use their examples. Submit, submit, submit When submitting to publishers. Most have an online submission form, and you don't even need a cover letter. Some still required email submissions, so include a short cover letter that provides a synopsis of your story. Remember to be passionate when you're talking about your book, you love it, and you want them to love it, too. When submitting the publishers, tell the publisher if you have submitted to more than one place, this is vital. Some publishers don't even want to look at your work if it's been submitted to other places . Others want to know that you're doing what you need to do to get your book out there and will still work with you. But it's important to note it because what if, by a miracle by happen stance to publishers want to publish your book, you're going to need to let them know that there each in a competition at this point, so be honest and upfront at all times. Keep it short and sweet when submitting short stories in No Villas and see your see My resource is for an example of an erotic a submission letter that I used to get my first piece published within a day. Reviews Reviews are vital to a successful book. Launch. Get your beta readers to provide a review, ask friends for honest reviews and spread that shit around like glitter. Nothing sells books faster than word of mouth. Get on good reads and join author groups. Beta Rieder groups make your authors page both on Amazon and on good reads and stay connected and engaged with the masses. Use social media, create a call to action and ask for honest reviews in exchange for free copies of your book and finally created Giveaway. People love free shit, and I'm in the detail in the bonus section. How to create your first giveaway that is guaranteed to get you many faller followers and get your book sold. So assignment time research publishers in your genre and get to know their preferred submission guidelines and methods. Create your submission letter and start submitting that manuscript. Need some additional help If you want some additional help and support, I offer manuscript and submission, letter reviews and coaching support on my main site, dreaming toe living dot com. Message me on here or drop me a line at hello at dreaming to living dot com. If you're interested and finally, when you're ready, continue onto Unit nine. The bonus material 14. Unit 9: Spread the love! - Marketing: Unit nine Bonus features Social media Marketing, Social Media Marketing is the bread and butter of all marketing. Create your authors page and start adding to it. Connect all your social media accounts using Hoot Suite. Hoot Suite is a software that is both free and paid for more premium subscriptions. But what you do is you add all your social media accounts toe one platform. You schedule your announcements, your posts, your images, your videos. Set them all up to run on a schedule so you don't even have to think about it. So if you have a week where you don't feel like being on social media but want to look like you're still being active and engaging, set it up on Hoot Suite. Run it on a schedule. You will look so professional and fantastic. Next, join groups and get active. Don't just comment on somebody's picture and say, Hey, I love it. It looks great. Add value to conversations. Add value to your engagement. Join groups such as erotica readers, group, beta readers, group authors, groups, anything that happens to spark your interest and start posting and commenting as often as you can. You can also hire a virtual assistant to do these sorts sorts of things for you. You can make it look like you're engaged by hiring a virtual assistant to be engaging for you. Granted, this can run you some serious dough anywhere from $10 an hour, all the way up to $50 an hour. But hiring a V A. I have personally found to be extremely beneficial in saving my own sanity, and for me, that is worth $25 an hour any day of the week. Next, create giveaways and challenges and hash tag the shit out of it. This is the number one way to number to get followers on your pages, to get engagement on social media networks such as Instagram and to get seen and add value to the community. Remember that you don't need to spend a ton of money to promote your work and to get sales . So let's talk about those challenges and giveaways. Create a seven day challenge and make it creative. One example is I'm an aerial yoga instructor, and I was coached by an amazing woman named Margie Party, and she creates these awesome challenges such as Thean version challenge or the creative challenges I'm currently in the process of creating a sex up your life challenge and an orgasmic theory challenge. These are meant to be very provocative, to be seen to catch people's attention and to get people wanting to participate. You're going toe lineup sponsors. Ask other authors, maybe to get involved with you. Everyone gives away one book and agrees to share on their social media site the challenge every day for those seven days, create a hashtag that participants must use to be included in that challenge. This is how you're going to keep an eye on who is participating, how often and really what's going on with the challenge itself. I have maybe 1 to 5 winners and a grand prize and me before smaller prizes create personal , exciting images for this challenge. I can't stress this enough. If you're using dull and meaningless challenges, doesn't matter how great your book is. No one's gonna be engaged in your challenge and want to participate, so make it creative and make it exciting. Finally, the very end. Yes, a shameless plug for those who have completed this program. I'm offering the following discounts on my packages to help you skyrocket your writing career and teach you the tools that thousands have used to create massive six and seven figure incomes in weeks, not years. It's a number 13 month writing coach program. Normally, I sell this for $497 for my students through to me. I'm offering it to them for 2 97 a 50% discount with this program. I work with you through all aspects of the novel creation and publication process over three months, with one on one coaching worksheets, exercises and tools that I've used to teach literally thousands of successful students in my courses across 12 universities. 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