u/IsekaiConnoisseur

And it's 3 stars lmfao.

But hey, at least they actually fucking bothered to leave a review. They said they liked it. But said it felt unfinished because they didn't learn what the research was supposed to be about.

Which should've been heavily implied, but maybe I should have actually revealed it. The research wasn't really the point and I thought it was obvious as to what they were researching, but maybe not. I am kind of building an entire world here connected between my short stories though. So maybe I'm a bit slow in revealing essential plot elements.

That said. For my first review I fucking love it! I've had so many 4 and 5 star ratings to the point I questioned whether or not anyone was actually going to bother leaving a review.

And they finally did.

Thank you. Is all I have to say. It gives me pause and makes me realize maybe I need to give my readers more than bread crumbs on occasion.

But just on occasion lol.

This is beyond frustrating.

I'm doing research for a new pen name. I look through the top 100 of said category, find a book that's doing really well and check out the author's profile to see if it's worth taking notes on.

Ultimately add the book to my library and start reading it. Instantly hit with a barrage of dashes I think they meant to be EM dashes only they weren't, but were still being used improperly.

Starts out the book by saying how the place the MC was going to was not like the pictures at all. Then says the complete opposite in the following paragraph.

100% AI trash.

And yet it somehow has around a 2k ranking in the overall Kindle store and 35 global ratings sitting comfortably at 4.3/5 stars.

I'm fucking flabbergasted.

Are people really liking this shit or is it being botted out the ass?

Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant. This AI bullshit is getting out of control.

One of my books has made almost $500 just by itself since I published it last year. It is constantly ranking in the top 50-10 of its main category and often hits the 80k mark and higher in overall ranking of the Kindle store. It has 17 ratings and an overall 4.5/5 score.

I've tried replicating its success by writing similar stories, making similar covers, using similar keywords, etc... but my new stuff just doesn't seem to stick as well.

I just haven't seen similar success rates with my newer stories. My newer stuff on average have each earned roughly $100-$150 per title, which to be frank, I don't consider to be that bad. I just know I can do better.

Recently took a gander at the top ten and feel like there's been a shift in my niche in terms of what does well these days. So maybe it's just a matter of going back to the grindstone and reading some more to see what's successful. I also know that my cover skills need some serious work lol.

Anyways, when you guys have found yourselves in a rut like this what worked for you?

Just curious. For now, like most everyone else, I feel chained to Amazon's ToS that seems inconsistently enforced. Even when I do my best to make sure all my books are above board, there's a voice in the back of my head going "they could nuke your entire existence off the platform if they wanted for literally no reason at all." My biggest fear is that I eventually make full-time income off Amazon, only for them to decide to wipe my entire catalogue.

But I still publish there because it has the biggest audience of readers obviously.

The biggest challenge I see navigating away from Amazon is creating a subscriber list that is separate from it entirely and on some other platform (or even a couple different platforms).

Anyways, just wanted to hear some experiences from people who may have managed to navigate away from Amazon?

I just did.

I know it's erotica and pretty low-hanging fruit in general. But that doesn't mean I've used that as an excuse to publish utter trash. Recently re-read a short of mine that consistently ranks really high in order to prep it for a bundle. And wow, after not looking at it for a year I'm kind of amazed I wrote that shit.

Granted, I found a couple typos that kind of irritated me knowing I missed those lol.

But overall, super proud of myself for writing it. Anyone else feel that way with your past works?

Trump, in an official White House statement, just declared anyone who supports transgender rights and is a "radical" leftist (I.E. anyone not bending over for the traitor) a terrorist. He said he "will find you and he will kill you."

Those are real words.

From an official White House statement.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would get this bad not even a year and a half into this traitor's presidency. His approval rating sits at 23% and will likely proceed to plummet further.

How the fuck this unhinged official message from the White House does not prompt an immediate removal from office and a trial for treason regarding this entire admin is fucking beyond me.

Well, FUCK THEM.

If these fascist pieces of Nazi shit think they're going to scare me into submission, they can think again. I will CONTINUE to be a proud vocal supporter of not only trans rights, but the rights of the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. I will shout for women's rights and the rights of minorities.

And I will continue to publish smutty, sexy, transgender erotica.

If that makes me a terrorist then come at me you filthy pieces of shit. This is me turning my fear into courage during a time when it'd be easier to just do nothing.

NOT MY FUCKING PRESIDENT!

It's also weird that piracy websites are like THE ONLY places I can find reviews of my books. I've got tons of really good ratings on my books all across the board on Amazon, and yet, not a single person has left a review.

Which frankly, given that it's erotica I suppose that's to be expected.

And yes, I know people here have their issues with piracy. Frankly, I don't. People that planned on pirating my books were never going to buy them anyways.

But yeah, maybe it's because I'm a very small ass author over here making not even rent money, but somehow seeing people go out of their way to request my books on a piracy website gives me this weird ass feeling of accomplishment I feel like shouldn't be a thing.

Anyways, suppose I should start writing that cease and desist, huh?

I'm considering bundling parts 1, 2, and 3 of a small series of shorts. But part 1 in particular still continues to rank fairly high even a year later and is often times consistently making it to the top 20 in its category. I wonder if bundling these books will somehow affect the performance of book one and if I should leave them separate?

But at the same time, it has been a year... I haven't released a bundle in a long time and figure I should probably just rip off the bandaid and bundle them anyways.

What do you guys do?