Six Snippets I Wish I'd Sussed Before Writing and Publishing Saucy Stories on Amazon KDP*

*(and they will be relevant whatever books you write!)

1 Start as soon as possible and keep going.

I still earn royalties every month from stories I wrote over 15 years ago. Imagine how much more I could be earning if I hadn't stopped.

If you are just starting out, start as soon as possible. Hone your craft as you go.

2 Remember, they stay up until you take them down.

Once you start receiving royalties every month - and having that "Wow! Someone in Japan is reading something I'VE written!" feeling - you might not WANT to take them down.

3 Amazon KDP changes the rules.

KDP can be fine with certain words and terms one minute, then the next those same words and terms will get your book blocked.

Don't rely on excessive use of four-letter-words.

Use the story to create the impact, not just a barrage of swear words.

4 Kindle Unlimited for fiction, promoted by ads - wide publishing for non-fiction.

I had this message rammed home to me while I was at Ireland’s Publishing Show two weeks ago. Different beasts: different strategies.

5 Use pen names - though this is something I DID do, and I am so immensely grateful I did.

Remember, you don't know where your life will lead you. Would I want my friends now reading my saucy stories from back then? Possibly not.

Also consider the impact on the people close to you. When I was writing my stories, my children were very young. Then, they would have been horrified, as would the mums at the school gates, but now they are in their twenties they think it's really cool.

6 Reviews matter. And yet they don't.

You want reviews. They help prospective readers to make their buying decisions.

You want them from genuine readers, not your auntie's dog's next door neighbour who just likes to support you. You want the Amazon algorithm to know who to show your book to.

But don't get despondent if you get a bad review. It happens.

If you get quite a few, and they're all saying the same thing, learn from it. Adjust, if you can.

Are your cover or description promising something that the story doesn't deliver?

Plus, if you have all 5-start reviews, people will just think you've bought them.