Remote Control for just 99c

Book pricing is always a mystery to me. It seems to be unrelated to quality or volume, influenced more by publisher policy and market demand.

Amazon recommends that the best pricing point for my e-book "Remote Control"  is $2.99. Sure enough it has been selling at that price and getting very positive feedback from my readers (although it would be VERY nice to get some reviews - but I realise people don't want to admit publicly that they read anything remotely like erotic romance or erotica).

The thing is, making optimal money is one thing, but encouraging new readers to try my book is a much more important target for me. Natalie's adventures with instant messenging and giving up control to an anonymous stranger could easily be the start of a series books, tracing how her experience develops and the sexy twists and turns involved on the way.

After a lot of thought, some encouragement by a couple of my author friends, and a little research, I've decided to drop the price for a while from $2.99 down to just 99c. I don't want to give it away free. Free books, more often than not, get downloaded and forgotten. I want people to read it, so a token payment of 99c means everyone is a LOT more likely to take some time to read it.

I'll keep the low price offer in place until Boxing Day (26th Dec) and then look at raising it back to the normal $2.99.

Don't miss out on the fun, download "Remote Control" from Amazon now!

Stephen King sums up Harry Potter & Twilight

 

Sounds about right.

Time to get a Facebook account?

I used to have a Facebook account a few years ago. It was a waste of time. I constantly received "friend" requests from people I'd never heard of, comments on my profile from people who were rude, pushy or perverted, and it was wasting an ever increasing amount of my time. When I realised that I was being slowly depressed by the hours I spent on Facebook I decided it was better to simply close the account.

I am, and always have been, happier to write and not so hot at being social, especially online.

Recently a friend of mine built (if that's the right word?) a page for my erotic romance novel "Remote Control". That was great until he suffered the misfortune of having his Facebook account deleted because Facebook no longer believe he is a real person. He has no idea why after almost two years on their site they decide that he's not real. (He is, I can vouch for him). The only way they offered for him to recover his account is unrealistic and clearly hasn't been thought through. He's very depressed about it and I don't think he's going to use Facebook again in the near future.

Now I'm left in the silly situation where I have a Facebook page, but my page manager can no longer get into it, and if I start a new account with Facebook, I don't think they will allow me to take control of my page? Would I have to create it again? Is that even allowed?

The more I think about it, the more I feel I should just let it go. The thought of getting into Facebook again, fills me with dread. I'm happy writing books and writing blog posts. The book is selling better than I ever expected and I'm working hard on the sequel. Things outside of Facebook are good and I don't want them to cast another cloud over everything.

Observation or warning?

Scarily true. And if you're invoking either you're doing it wrong!

How much control can you exert via Instant Chat?

Most of us have used one or more of the myriad instant chat programs out there. The majority will have some point have chatted with a stranger or someone you have never met in person. You may have tried to influence their actions or encourage them to buy your product, but have you ever tried to completely control them? Or have you ever wanted a complete stranger to take control of you?

That is what 29 year old Natalie experienced, when she gave a stranger on messenger control of her.

Master: You’re getting the hang of this.

Nat: i try Sir

Master: Good girl. Let’s put that to the test.

Nat: how Sir?

Master: Simple. Take off your panties.

Nat: what? now!?

Master:  Right now.

Nat: but im in work!!!

Master: Is anyone in your office right now?

Nat: just me Sir

Master: Can anyone see you through your office door?

Nat: no Sir

Master: So, take them off. Now!

Nat: omg yes Sir

Master: Done?

…

Nat: around my ankles Sir

Master: Step out of them.

Nat: completely off Sir?

Master: Put them in one of your desk’s drawers.

Nat: omg . ok Sir

Master: Done?

Nat: yes Sir

Master: See, not so difficult!

Nat: please can I put them back on Sir?

Master: No. How do you feel?

Nat: scared Sir

Master: Scared someone will notice?

Nat: yes Sir

The stranger began with simple stuff, easy tasks to test her compliance and train her into giving him total control. Days of training, exploring her fantasies and pushing her beyond her perceived limits followed, resulting in her ultimately acting out a humiliating fantasy that she never believed she would experience in real life.

The account of this experience is presented in the same style as an instant chat program, putting you right there in the conversation as it happened. It's currently available on Amazon and has so far proved to be so popular that I'm working on a sequel. I wonder just how far her Master can push Natalie?

Use the #Shakespeare Approach to Words

Originally I thought inventing words was just plain lazy, after all surely there are enough words in existence already. However life moves on and the language must develop. New words are added to the standard dictionaries with every edition, so why shouldn't we suggest some possible additions to the language?

How Rude is Too #Rude?

This question applies to many genres and media. Television executives probably face this question on a daily basis and all movie directors have to consider it when it comes to certification and their target age rating.

My genre is mostly erotic fiction, exploring new themes, the ways modern technology can influence sex or make it more fun, and some of the less well-known ways for individuals to explore their desires and kinks with others. The question of rudeness is always in my mind.

If something I write is too rude, causes offence or outrage, then my sales may suffer. Of course if I can cause enough outrage it my give my book sales a major boost, but then I run the risk of Amazon kicking me off their site. If my novels are not rude enough my readers might get bored and may not read my next novel. I'm acutely aware that I need to land my novels somewhere in the middle.

If you are here looking for an answer to the question I posed in the title of this post, you're going to be disappointed. The only guide I have to go on is feedback from my readers. I know my writing is racier than some erotic fiction out there, especially when it comes to the psychological aspects of arousal and desire, but I know of other authors who go into far more graphic detail than I would dare. After hundreds of sales of my first novel (Remote Control), I have received a few lovely compliments and one delightful "demand" for a sequel" but not one complaint saying my sexy scenes were too soft or uncomfortably explicit.

If anyone knows how to balance what readers are expecting (which they will rarely admit to) with what you put down on the page, I would be intrigued to hear about it. I think, so far at least, I have been using gut feeling more than anything else. My aim was to allow readers to fit themselves into whatever part of the fantasy they most prefer. They can imagine they are in control, making Natalie do the things she so badly wants to do but has never been brave enough to try, or they can imagine they are Natalie, being encouraged and coerced, against her better judgement, to explore her exhibitionist tendencies and sexual fantasies.

In that sense my writing avoids the whole point-of-view issue. Readers are free to assign whichever point of view suits them. I don't know any other authors who allow that in their writing. Too much graphic detail might actually be unrealistic given the scenario I present, so the art is to find the right balance to make the reader feel that they are actually there, without cluttering the dialogue with too much detail.

#Freedom of Book Choice

I read books because I want to read them. I tend to choose books by authors I already know or other authors within the genres I enjoy. I never choose books because they are what other people will expect me to read. Nor do I avoid reading books because other people expect me not to read them. Now you've probably just read that and thought "me too!".

Seems perfectly normal and rational, but it's just not true. FAR more people would happily buy books with erotic content, racier romance novels and even fantasy novels, thrillers or scifi with nudity and sex, if they were not worried about what their friends, family and society at large would think about them.

Freedom is important. Not just something we should fight for and defend, but something we should exercise. Read what you want to read. Don't feel constrained to what your friends and relatives expect you to read. Don't feel that you shouldn't read certain books because people you know might be offended or think less of you.

E-readers like the Kindle and tablets are a wonderful tool to explore that freedom. No longer do you have to worry about your friends finding an "embarrassing" paperback in your bag or on your bookcase. There's hardly any risk to being "caught" actually reading full-on erotica. So exercise your freedom, read what YOU want to read and don't feel an obligation to fit with the expectations of society.

You know you're a writer when...