Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the forum. First, a bit about me:

I'm Edward, but also go by Katica. I'm 29 and work as an Educational Assistant. I've been a writer for nearly twenty years, and recently I became a published author, which is both the greatest thing in the world and nothing like I expected it to be.

My genre of choice is fantasy; more specifically, fantasy romance. To get real specific, lately I've been writing erotic M/M fantasy and paranormal romances. For a list of my published works and information on each one, you can visit my page on the GLBT Bookshelf, listed under my pen name, Katica Locke. Since we're all writers, and many of us aspire to publication, if anyone has any questions about the process, I'd love to share my experiences.

As for current events, my second novel will be released later this year, probably in late spring, and my fourth e-book will be out in early February. I'm working on the sequel to the upcoming release, both being published as part of the Suburban Fantasy series, for which I'm contracted to write at least three books, and as many as I want.

This series is erotic M/M paranormal/fantasy romance, with elements of dark comedy and satire. The main character, Simon, is your average single gay guy living in the suburbs, until he discovers that his new neighbor is a vampire. I stole the premise from the '80's movie Fright Night, and then gave it my own twist, lol.

I'm also working on an Easter/Ostara themed M/M erotic romance for my e-publisher, who releases stories for all the holidays. Mine is sort of an original fable incorporating rabbits, colored eggs, resurrection, and sex. I don't know if I'll get it finished by the February 20th deadline, though. I'm about 5,700 words into it--around halfway, I suppose--but I've been concentrating on Truth Faerie and haven't been working on it.

I guess that's enough about me for now. I should probably go write on something. Later!

Thanks! I'm glad I'm not the only one who writes M/M (which is usually the case).

I wouldn't say it wasn't a hindrance. There are a lot of publishers who don't publish that sort of thing, so my choices were limited, as is all genre fiction, really. Especially with small presses, you find ones who accept sci-fi/fantasy, but not romance or romance, but not horror. Small presses tend to specialize. Luckily, there are quite a few publishers who do accept M/M.

While I still like traditional, ink and paper books, Ebooks are fantastic for non-traditional works. You can publish something too long for a magazine and too short for a novel. There's little production cost, so the price can be set lower. Typically, you earn 30% to 50% royalties rather than the 10% to 15% on print books. Production time is a lot shorter--it took my print novel 2 years to be released, but my ebooks come out 3 to 4 months after acceptance.

Usually, there are no advances for ebooks and once they're released you have to worry about pirates offering your work for free on file-sharing websites, and many people still don't like reading text on a screen.

Anyway, those are the pros and cons as I see them.

I love to help, so ask away. biggrin

*Are you selling more or less than you expected?
Less than I dreamed, but more than I expected. Of course I wanted a bestseller, lol, and I wanted higher numbers than I have, but realistically, for an unknown author in a niche market, I'm not doing too bad.

*How much promotion do you do, and what kind?
I try to do some promotion every day, if I can, even if it's just updating my blog or making a comment on a forum with a link to my work in my sig. The one thing I do that takes the most time is promoting my books on a couple dozen yahoo groups that allow author promos and excerpts. I'm sure I could be doing more, but with work, writing, and stopping jerks from pirating my books, I don't have a lot of free time.

*Do you feel you're earning a fair amount for your work?
Sure. I get standard rates for both formats--10% for the paperbacks and 40% for the ebooks.

*Have you found it easier to sell your short stories and novellas, or your novel length works? (Both in terms of publishers and readers).
That's a tricky one. I sent my novel manuscript to five different publishers before it was accepted. My short stories were accepted by the first e-publisher I tried. My novel sold 21 copies in the six months it's been out. My best selling e-book has sold 81 copies in two months. My novel is $16.99. That e-book is $4.50. Right now, I'd say the e-books are easier, but who knows what will happen with time.

Thanks so much, that was a big help. heart

You're welcome, Racheling. Glad I could be of some help.

Thanks, DesertRoseFallen. You're probably better than you think you are. I know I'm my own harshest critic. I'm never completely happy with any story I submit, but I've learned that there's only so much that I can do to improve a story. I'm not earning a living or able to quit my day job, but it's not bad. And I've noticed that each time a new book is released, I see a jump in sales off all my books, so continuing to write and produce seems like it will be a key to future success.

Since my erotica is geared toward a predominately female audience, I thought a female pen name would help potential readers identify with me more. It's a marketing thing, lol.

Thank you, 11linda. Well, I didn't get published until I was 26 (that's when my first novel was accepted, it wasn't released until I was 28 ) so I don't know for certain, but I think it would be just about the same process. You might need a parent/guardian to sign the legal documents, but other wise you just need to write a book, edit it, and start submitting to agents/publishers. Finding someone interested in your work can take years, so depending on how old you are now, you might be over 18 by the time you find someone.

I found another illegal file-sharing forum today. scream People make me so mad sometimes. Like I have time to patrol these cesspools to keep my stories off of them. The worst part is reading these people's comments about how much they enjoy my work. If they really liked it, they wouldn't steal it.

*Deep breath*

Good news--I finished Truth Faerie! It came out to be 23,573 words, but I still have editing to do, which usually makes the story a little longer. I know editing is supposed to equal rough draft minus 10%, but I always find places where I need to elaborate, or add another scene, or conversation.

Now I can get back to work on my submission for SFP's Easter/Ostara theme. Not sure how I'm going to manage to edit and still make my 500 word/day goal. I usually work on editing or writing, not both.

Only 20 days until my next e-book release!