Writing and Publishing Erotica Podcast Dean Chills

This time around, the guys discuss what they’ve been up to and answer questions from a longtime listener concerning point of view, writing group sex, and explaining why they got into this in the first place.

They also make a major announcement concerning the fate of the show.

Tune in to find out!

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Episode 25: Formatting Your Self-Published Book in Microsoft Word and Scrivener

Welcome back to Episode TWENTY-FIVE of the Writing and Publishing Erotica Podcast. I am H. K. Kiting and I am Dean Chills and we’re your hosts for the show. This is the podcast where we talk about writing and publishing in general, and include the occasional tidbit about erotica specifically.

If you find enjoy this podcast or find it helpful then review us on iTunes.  Also, check out our books at SexyFic.com

 

What’s your most recent release?



H. K. Kiting: Hanging Out at the Oasis

Dean Chills: Audio Book (Rick and Owen Get Hitched), Underwater Peril Trilogy, and Demonic Lust



 

Episode 25: Formatting a Book

 

Reader Mail:

My question has to do with formatting — specifically, how to make an attractive looking ebook after uploading a .docx file onto Amazon (or elsewhere). Quite frankly, the two books I’ve written both look like hot garbage, formatting wise. Each time I upload the .docx file into Amazon, the converted file is full of bizarre formatting errors: arbitrary paragraph indentions, words cramming together, line spacing all messed up. I initially wrote my first book with regular paragraph indentions, in size 12 Times New Roman font, with justified-aligned text. The results were a total eyesore. I re-uploaded the document after eliminating all paragraph indentions, double-spacing instead of pressing the TAB key, but even that leaves much to be desired. I seem to be the only person unable to make their .mobi files look even passable… and it is, quite frankly, a little frustrating. Do you have any advice on this? Or am I SOL?

 



* Henry’s Take on formatting his books





* Dean’s book formatting response:





* Other points and Writing Tools for making eBooks:



 



* eBook formatting vs. Print book formatting



 



* Word.





* Pages.





* Scrivener.





* Jutoh.





* Markdown/Text.





* Google Docs.



 

We really want to hear from you. If you have a comment, complaint, or topic suggestion, mail us at sexyfic@gmail.com or stop by SexyFic.com and leave a voicemail on the tab that allows you to record a message. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and leave a review for the show if you like it.

This time around, the guys discuss recent changes in the payment structure for authors taking part in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. Is this the end of the world for authors? Why did these changes come about? What are they going to do in the future? What other options exist? Where in the Hell have these guys been for the past two months?

Tune in to find out!

Dean and Henry also speculate about what they think the next big concern is going to be for authors.

 

 

 

Episode 23:

Welcome back to Episode TWENTY-THREE of the Writing and Publishing Erotica Podcast. I am H. K. Kiting and I am Dean Chills and we’re your hosts for the show. This is the podcast where we talk about writing and publishing in general, and include the occasional tidbit about erotica specifically.

If you find enjoy this podcast or find it helpful then review us on iTunes.  Also, check out our books at SexyFic.com

What’s your most recent release?

H. K. Kiting: Artist Series Complete and Welcome Home

Dean Chills: Bear and Chaser Go to the Party in completion



 

Episode 23:

Topic One: Keeping it Flowing

 Reader Mail: Do you guys have any ideas to keep the words flowing so you keep putting out consistent content for your readers?

–Writing Schedule

–Ideas

 Link to Youtube Video about writing Early: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGQMKwRy36E

 

Topic Two:

How do you convince someone to record your story as audio if you don’t want to do it yourself?

–ACX or Not ACX? If not ACX, then payment processing is a problem

–Revenue Sharing or just pay upfront?

Link to Zoom H4N Audio Recorder:



We really want to hear from you. If you have a comment, complaint, or topic suggestion, mail us at sexyfic@gmail.com or stop by SexyFic.com and leave a voicemail on the tab that allows you to record a message. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and leave a review for the show if you like it.

 

Writing and Publishing Erotica Episode 22: Book Covers and Length

 

NOTE: There was no Episode 21. I had a blank script saved with that title, and thought we’d already recorded that one. We went on and recorded this one as #22. Episode 21 will henceforth be known as “The Lost Episode.”



 

Welcome back to Episode TWENTY-TWO of the Writing and Publishing Erotica Podcast. I am H. K. Kiting and I am Dean Chills and we’re your hosts for the show. This is the podcast where we talk about writing and publishing in general, and include the occasional tidbit about erotica specifically.

If you find enjoy this podcast or find it helpful then review us on iTunes.  Also, check out our books at SexyFic.com

What’s your most recent release?

H.K. Kiting: Bamboo and the Artist Series

Dean Chills: Demon Trilogy and Bear and Chaser. Also, first four Rick and Owen books in Audio

 

Episode 22: Topic One: covers

Reader Mail: I was wondering if you could one question I have about book covers: what websites do you guys use? I’ve looked at Shutterstock, which has the best selection but is far too overpriced, IMO… especially since I have no guarantee of making that money back. I’ve also looked at Flickr, but am not always happy with the images that pop up when  I search specifically for “Creative Commons — Commercial Use.” I’ve checked out a few other sites, including public domain image sites, but nothing seems to be as of high quality as the more expensive places. I’ve flirted with the idea of contacting the Shutterstock photographers directly and getting permission from them, but that quite literally feels like taking away from their livelihood — and I would hate to ping Shutterstock’s radar if they found out I didn’t purchase an image from them (is that even possible?). This is, all in all, the one point on which I’m a little confused about. Do you have any sites you’d recommend?

And also:

I’m a recent listener to your podcast and I have not gone through all the episodes yet so forgive me if you have gone over this question already. I listened to your episode on Cover Art and I wanted to ask how you have gone about obtaining the pictures for your cover art. Do you hire people to pose for it or is there a site that you go to that commissions out photos? I ask this because I am thinking about going into erotica and I want to know how much I should expect to be pay for obtaining attractive cover art.

 

www.dreamstime.com

www.istockphoto.com

www.shutterstock.com

www.fotolia.com

www.stockXpert.com

www.123rf.com

www.bigstockphoto.com

 

 

Topic Two: More Reader Mail:

 

Hey guys! Love the podcast and have found it to be a wonderful source of inspiration and information about the world of self-published erotica. I’m currently in the middle of my first book, and it has been a blast to write! I do have a question about the veritable “meat and potatoes” of erotic fiction, however — namely, the sex scenes. You’ve discussed many tactics to make these scenes engaging and erotic, descriptive and readymade for one handed reading, but I’m still a little fuzzy on one particular aspect — the length. How long before the reader loses interest? How short before they feel ripped off? What word count should we typically aim for? Is it better to have one long sex scene or break it up into multiple erotic sequences? Is there some magic ratio between set-up and sex scenes we should strive for?

Episode 20: Mistakes and Social Media

 

Welcome back to Episode TWENTY of the Writing and Publishing Erotica Podcast. I am H. K. Kiting and I am Dean Chills and we’re your hosts for the show. This is the podcast where we talk about writing and publishing in general, and include the occasional tidbit about erotica specifically.

 

If you find enjoy this podcast or find it helpful then review us on iTunes.  Also, check out our books at SexyFic.com

What’s your most recent release?

H. K. Kiting: Cement Shoes / Tales from the Compound Collections

Dean Chills: SexyFic Shorts – Grace Under Water, Soon to be Single, Diving for Diana ALSO in audio, Jack’s Anniversary, Gay in Galveston and Breathless Prisoner coming soon…

 

Episode 20:

 

Topic One: Mistakes and Regrets

What was your biggest mistake in this business… so far?

Chills… My Name / Gay or Straightness

Kiting… Farting around / Confusing Bi Story

 

Topic Two: Social Media

Why do you need it?

What do you do?



* Twitter

* Facebook

* Tumblr

* Pinterest

* Instagram

* LinkedIn

* Youtube



We really want to hear from you. If you have a comment, complaint, or topic suggestion, mail us at sexyfic@gmail.com or stop by SexyFic.com and leave a voicemail on the tab that allows you to record a message. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and leave a review for the show if you like it.