Promoting Your Book: The Sleaze Edition
Promoting a self-published book is hard work. Hell, promoting a commercially published book is hard work. What works for one author or one book may not work for you. I've had books that sold crazy numbers of copies without any promo at all from me. On the other hand, I've had books that sold dismally low numbers of copies despite purchasing banner ads on major review sites and doing the rounds on reader loops. It's a crap shoot.
The best advice I've ever gotten on the subject: Write another book! No, really. Do it. I'm telling you, backlist is the way to grow your audience and your income. I've also had good luck with placing books at different publishers. It allows me to have a full release schedule and reach readers who may not shop at, say, Ellora's Cave or Liquid Silver. Amazon and Nook have changed some of that, of course, but by and large, erotic romance readers tend to be publisher loyal.
Anywho.
In the last few days, it came to my attention that some loser author has decided to use the names of bestselling and more well known erotica and erotic romance authors to flog his books. How's he do that, you ask? Like this. He basically puts the title of his book followed by "In the tradition of (Insert Mega Author Here" hoping to attract readers through keyword spamming. It's like SEO (search engine optimization) only, you know, grosser.
I've read Cherise Sinclair and I can guarantee you this line from his book:
"I like f**king old broads. Grabbing them by their flapjack titties and just banging away"
…is in no way "in the tradition of" her writing style. Cherise Sinclair and Melissa Schroeder (two of the authors used by this jackwagon) write beautifully crafted tales that are engaging and entertaining. I own every single one of Cherise Sinclair's books in digital AND print. Master of the Mountain still gives me butterflies when I read it and I've probably devoured it eleven times by now.
So, please, self-publishers of the world, don't do this. It's sleazy and sneaky and will piss off readers. Find a less shameful way to promote your books. Take a little pride in your work, yo.
The best advice I've ever gotten on the subject: Write another book! No, really. Do it. I'm telling you, backlist is the way to grow your audience and your income. I've also had good luck with placing books at different publishers. It allows me to have a full release schedule and reach readers who may not shop at, say, Ellora's Cave or Liquid Silver. Amazon and Nook have changed some of that, of course, but by and large, erotic romance readers tend to be publisher loyal.
Anywho.
In the last few days, it came to my attention that some loser author has decided to use the names of bestselling and more well known erotica and erotic romance authors to flog his books. How's he do that, you ask? Like this. He basically puts the title of his book followed by "In the tradition of (Insert Mega Author Here" hoping to attract readers through keyword spamming. It's like SEO (search engine optimization) only, you know, grosser.
I've read Cherise Sinclair and I can guarantee you this line from his book:
"I like f**king old broads. Grabbing them by their flapjack titties and just banging away"
…is in no way "in the tradition of" her writing style. Cherise Sinclair and Melissa Schroeder (two of the authors used by this jackwagon) write beautifully crafted tales that are engaging and entertaining. I own every single one of Cherise Sinclair's books in digital AND print. Master of the Mountain still gives me butterflies when I read it and I've probably devoured it eleven times by now.
So, please, self-publishers of the world, don't do this. It's sleazy and sneaky and will piss off readers. Find a less shameful way to promote your books. Take a little pride in your work, yo.
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