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A. Vivian Vane Talks Dirty

A. Vivian Vane Talks Dirty

Monthly Archives: November 2013

Playing with New Things

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by avivianvane in Books

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erotic asphyxiation, erotica, fiction, monster, new book, new release, new story, new title, sex, snakes

It’s not quite time for Christmas presents yet, but apparently I can’t wait to play with new things!

One of the joys of offering commissions (as I do) is that you’re often asked to write things you wouldn’t have thought up on your own.

Sometimes those requests can be a little, um, startling, don’t get me wrong. Some of the things I’m asked to produce are a little too extreme to even try selling on Amazon. But most translate pretty well to e-book format, once I’ve gone through and removed any brand-specific fanfic references (waste not, want not, right?).

serpentCase in point: my new title, In the Coils of the Serpent Men, was a commissioned request for a story focusing heavily on entwining coils, erotic asphyxiation, and underwater sex. None of those are high on my list of favorites (although they’re not turn-offs — very little actively turns me off), so it was a novel exercise.

And you know what? I’m glad of it.

It was fun practice. Taking something I’d never really eroticized and looking for the right words to make it sexy was way more challenging than pounding out things I know and love.

I like the finished product. It’s a little slow and winding, which is deliberate. Form follows function, right? I wanted the eroticism to slowly twine its way into the text, rather than rushing in right up front. All snaky and seductive-like, yes yes.

In the Coils of the Serpent Men is up right now on Amazon and Smashwords for $2.99. Barnes & Nobles should follow a few days later — they’re always a bit slower about getting things up (hur hur hur), and I wanted to get the announcement out in time for everyone’s holiday travels! A little light reading for the airports, right…?

The First Plateau

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by avivianvane in About Writing

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Tags

erotica, indie publishing, publishing, self-publishing, writing

If you’re someone who’s bought one of my ebooks, and you’re reading this post — thank you!

Those sales have made a lot of difference in my writing career.

graphing-calculator-penisMy first independent title came out at the end of February this year. I won’t go into numbers or trend lines here, because the only curves we care about on this blog are the sexy kind, but progress since then has been good.

It’s been good enough that I can think of myself as having reached a sort of “first plateau” in my career. I’m off the ground. I am at a level that is significant. Erotica sales can’t pay all my bills yet, but they have moved beyond the “beer money and novelty” stage of things, and I am confident that, at the very worst, I could keep myself here indefinitely.

That’s not the goal, of course. The goal is to soar much, much higher (or perhaps “sink much, much lower” would be a better metaphor).

But this is a starting place where the book sales are a stable, significant, non-zero chunk of my income. And that’s a better starting place than “from scratch” for whatever comes next.

~

Unfortunately, it does mean that the leap to the next plateau involves a lot of stuff that isn’t just writing sexy stories and getting them out there. I’ve done that part, and I suspect I am close to reaching the limit of what that part, alone, can achieve.

Progress from here involves things like mailing lists, blog tours, review swaps, Goodreads, bundling, promo deals — all the self-publishing things I don’t like, because they treat people who you think of as your friends and peers like potential advertisers or revenue streams.

Which they are. And you can handle that reality with grace and respect, if you choose to. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being someone who is friendly and sexy and wants to sell books. To paraphrase the old joke, we’ve already established what kind of writer I am, and now we’re just haggling over the price.

So I aim to move beyond this first plateau; this stage of accepting “Okay, yes, I can do this and I have done this. I am in this business for real. It can be more than a quaint little hobby if I want it to be.”

But even if I never do, I’ve come to a nice place already. The view from up here is good. Thank you all for being a part of that journey.

Cover Artist Love

10 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by avivianvane in Books, Publishing

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books, cover art, ebook covers, ebooks, erotica, Fertile Mistresses, Lacey Lucette, new book, new release, new story, new title

You guys, I love my cover artist.

Full disclosure: no, really, I love my cover artist. We are lovers. It’s a very convenient arrangement.

But I also love the work she does, independent of the rest of our relationship. We decided early on to go with silhouettes against solid background colors for my covers, as a way of making them stand out from the gradient backgrounds with stock photos that dominate the erotica market, and I think it’s paid off.

Fertile-mistressesHer most recent cover, for Fertile Mistresses (available on Amazon, Smashwords, and B&N for $2.99, while we’re on the subject), is one of my favorites so far. It’s sexy, it’s bold, it’s visible at a glance, and yet it’s got a little class to it. I love it.

Maybe it’s just the Gothic font and the curlicues, but to me it looks expensive.

In a good way.

Especially since the book is still just $2.99.

You can get covers made for less (Lacey starts at $50 for a cover), and I certainly won’t say bad things about some of those cheaper options. But there’s something to be said for a custom, from-scratch design, and right now that something is “hot.”

Thank you, Lacey. You’re the best.

Everyone else, keep her website in mind if you need some high-quality e-book covers. And if you’re in the mood for some demonic dickgirl action, be sure to pick up the artistically-decorated Fertile Mistresses on Amazon or Smashwords…

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