Making money selling erotica (on Amazon) is one of my favorite side hustles. This little side hustle reliably brings in several grand of profit every single month like clockwork.
And best of all? It doesn’t require that much work. In fact, I haven’t written a new book in several months and the cash flow is still coming in.
This side hustle has been able to fund many of my trips over the past year, including my trips to Paris, Copenhagen, and Aruba.
So if you’re interested in a truly passive income side hustle that can fund your wanderlust, then you’ll want to read this blog post.
How Did You Get Into This?
So how in the world does someone stumble across selling erotica?
Well, I read a blog post from Robert Koch’s blog, 30 Days to X. He had a short blog post about how he made money selling erotica.
Well, I figured it wasn’t rocket science so I gave it a try!
I started writing my first book and published it about a week later. And guess what? I sold my first copy that night when I went to watch a football game at a friend’s house.
Even though I only made $2 from that sale, it got me HOOKED. I wanted to make more money.
So I started publishing more and more over the next few months. It was a few months of growing pains.
I made a lot of mistakes and some books I published never even sold a copy.
But I learned a lot through that experience and pushed through.
It has been a few years since then, but my erotica publishing income has grown considerably since then and I’m quite happy with the results.
Why Sell Erotica?
So, this has got to be one of the most unique side hustles you have heard about.
And many of you are probably wondering why in the world someone would want to write erotica?
Well, I think there are three reasons why:
Nearly 100% Passive Income
Most passive income streams aren’t really 100% passive. If you own a rental property, you have to deal with repairs, tenants, and even showing the house.
If you own a niche site, you have to deal with things like the website crashing, affiliate programs going out of business, and so on and so forth.
But my erotica income is almost 100% passive.
I only spend a few hours a month managing this business and it brings in enough money to cover my rent (and then some).
Once you hit publish, you’ll be able to collect royalties as long as Amazon is in business.
That’s right…you can make money 24/7!
Amazon Sells A TON of Books!
I don’t know if you have noticed, but Amazon sells A TON of eBooks. In fact, they are the largest retailer of eBooks in the world.
I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that they sell a few million eBooks every week.
And this market is not going away.
More and more people are switching from physical books to eBooks (for better or worse).
And selling erotica on Amazon is allowing you to tap into this lucrative market.
Anyone Can Get Started
One of the really cool things about publishing on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is that anyone can get started.
That’s right….today anyone can become a self published author if they create an account on Amazon KDP.
In the old days, you had to go through big hoops and get a publisher to sponsor you. That sounds like a big headache if you ask me.
Amazon has really lowered the bar to getting started. And it doesn’t cost much to actually publish an eBook as well.
In fact, it can cost less than $2 bucks to publish a book. This means that you don’t have to invest a ton of money to get started.
Sounds great, right? 🙂
How To Get Started Selling Erotica?
So if you’re interested in making money selling erotica on Amazon, I’m going to give you a quick little guide to get started.
However, if you want more in-depth information, be sure to check out my erotica writing website.
I give out a ton of FREE information to help you get started.
Step 1: Pick A Pen Name
So the first step to making money selling erotica is making up a pen name.
Obviously, you don’t want to use your real name, so come up with something that is really easy to remember.
I like to use pen names where the first letter of the first and last name are the same…something like Jessica James.
It’s catchy and easy to remember (in case people want to look up your profile).
Step 2: Pick a Niche
Now, there are many different types of erotica stories you can write. In fact, there are so many niches that I could go off for days describing them to you.
But you want to do some market research and read books by top authors in the niche.
This helps you figure out how the stories are structured and give you a guide on how to write your own books.
Niches are important because you don’t want to pick something that’s way too saturated. On the other side, you don’t want to pick a niche that is too small.
Step 3: Start Writing!
Depending on your skills, this will either be the easiest or hardest part of the process.
After you have picked out your niche, it’s time to write!
I find it’s helpful to keep a detailed outline of all of the scenes in your book.
I think this is super helpful because the outline becomes your guide. If you already have the plot of the story figured out, it’s much easier to write the book.
I use this strategy to write 2,000+ words every day. And it’s much better than trying to come up with a story by the seat of your pants.
Step 4: Cover Design, Description, & Keywords
After you have finished writing (and editing) your book, you need to do a lot of the “back end” stuff.
This includes making a cover. A lot of customers DO judge a book by its cover. So try to make it as professional as possible.
Personally, I use PicMonkey to design my covers because it is super easy to make them look professional. I used to use PhotoShop, but it was a bit too expensive.
Secondly, you’ll need to write a description for your book.
Most people gloss over this step, but it’s really important. Think of the description like a sales letter for you book. You need to hook in readers and get them to smash that buy button.
Finally (and one of the most important things) is your keywords.
If you have ever blogged, or built websites, or created niche sites, then you know what I’m talking about.
When you publish a book on Amazon KDP, you are required to have keywords. These are basically words or “tags” that will help your book get discovered.
Think about what a customer would search for a book in that specific genre and use them.
Making Money Selling Erotica On Amazon: Final Thoughts
I hope this guide was helpful if you were thinking about making money selling erotica on Amazon.
This is a great side hustle, but it’s not “easy” by any means. You need to put in a ton of work and publish consistently.
But if you are successful, you can make a pretty decent amount of passive income.
I look forward to my passive income from Amazon KDP every month as it is one of my most reliable streams of income *knock on wood*
And if you want to learn more about making money with this unique side hustle, check out my erotica writing website and join the email list!