How to Get an Erotic Book Published

Erotic books take as much time and effort to get published as do any books. Anytime you get into a specific genre, though, the competition is fierce and priority is given to established authors. Getting the attention of a publishing house or agent and getting a step closer to having your erotic novel published takes some work. Use these steps to find out how to get your erotic book published.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Do your homework. Research the book publishing industry and that of the erotic book publishers specifically. Understand the difference between romance and erotica. Learn and understand how they choose books and what will be expected of you when submitting your manuscript. A great book to read is Writing Erotic Fiction: How to Write a Successful Erotic Novel by: Pamela Rochford.

2. Write the book. This one may seem obvious, but you need to have a manuscript in order to get it published. Some publishers or agents will take a sample chapter, but most prefer a finished product before they even consider you.

3. Get an agent that specialized in erotic novels, such as Brown Literary Agency. This process is as difficult as getting your book published, but can save you a lot of time and effort. The agent will know which publishing houses are going to be interested in the style of your book. They will also handle all of the submitting and follow-up calls for you.

4. Rewrite, query and find a publisher. If you have an agent, they will work on the queries while you work on your rewrite. The rewrite is best to be done after you have put the manuscript aside for awhile; then go back with fresh eyes. Your agent will read it over too and offer ideas for the rewrite.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient and persevere. Writing takes time and a lot of effort. Even when you are a natural, as most writers are, there are the obstacles of the publishing industry to get in the way that may have nothing to do with your book or writing style.
• Erotica publishers to check out: Black Velvet Seductions Publishing, Down There Press, Sable Publishing and Twisted Shift. These are just five out of the 22 book publishers that handle erotica listed in the Writer's Market.
• If you don't have a copy of the most recent Writer's Market, invest in one today, it is the writer's Bible, if you will, of what to do with your work after you have written it.
• Be wary of anyone who charges a reading fee or if a deal seems to good to be true. It probably is.

Resources

• Writing World

[trochelle]

on 2/8/2009 Oh man, you need a publisher for everything.

[1locolobo]

on 11/9/2008 Great article! I especially urge all writers to follow step 1: Do your homework. As a former staffer for Twisted Shift I can't tell you the number of submissions we had that were 1) not appropriate for our site and 2) didn't follow submission guidelines. That being said, just because it's listed in Writer's Market doesn't mean much since Twisted Shift has been closed for over a year now. We still get submissions through the mail which was never an option for submissions so definitely research the site you're hoping to get published with, ask other writers published on it, etc. Just do the homework first.