The Business of Writing About Sex: February 2016

Welcome to March! February didn’t go by in a blur, but it was still a whirlwind. Things are starting to happen in my kinky, sexy writing life, so I thought I’d add a few more stats and numbers for you to check out. Some bloggers out there have better numbers and others have worse. I don’t know what’s normal, but for those who wonder if you’re doing well or not, this is one example of what it can look like.

Here’s the deal – we’re not competing against each other. Me? I’m trying to improve on the month and year before. I want to beat myself at this…not you. I think if you go into it with that attitude, and you always seek to improve and write more meaningful content, then you’ll always find some type of success – whatever that may look like to you.

A Sexual Being

Total views: 12,843

Total posts: 22

Top post of the month: Mid-Day Delight (from Masturbation Monday, of course!)

I’m a Top 100 Sex Blogger for 2015! The amazing, wonderful, never-sleeping, makes me look like I’m standing still Molly Moore took over Rori’s Top 100 list when she could no longer manage it. It’s out a little later than in years past, but that’s completely understandable. Molly is an amazing woman and community-builder for even taking it on. I’m number 57 but guess who’s number 1?!?! Hyacinth of Boobday fame, who’s also amazingly honest in her writing. She’s raw and real, and I adore her. And if you’ve never checked her out, you totally should.

And special shoutout to Melina Greenport (a big supporter of mine) for being named a new voice of the year!

Masturbation Monday

Total views: 14,315

Total posts shared: 83

I love that Masturbation Monday is actually more popular than my own website. Thanks to all the authors and bloggers, we’re reaching more people every single month.

Erotic Author

Amazon: 17

iBooks: 1

All Romance: 6

Well, it’s not great, but it’s much better than in the past few months. Good news! I am working on my next book release – my erotic haikus and other poetry, with some erotic imagery thrown in (not much but a little). I’ll be talking more about that in the upcoming weeks!

Sex Writing

Where was I in February? Let’s see….

I had my first post on KinkCraft – How to Have a Sexy Kinky Valentine’s (feel free to use the tips for days other than Valentine’s Day).

I wrote several articles for Fuck.com including “No One Goes to Hell for Masturbating!” and a few for Fetish.com like “Why You Should Drop Your D/s Stereotypes.” Plus, I was on Submissive Guide with a few pieces of advice, along with a short piece called 5 Myths of Submissives and Submission (I know there are more than 5, but those were the big ones.)

Loving BDSM Podcast

I finally figured out the stats, and the month of February was the first time I have numbers to share! Woohoo!

Total podcast downloads in February: 3081

Top podcast in February: Disagreements and Arguments in a D/s Relationship (503 downloads)

I have no idea if these are good numbers or not. Since I’m just now starting to track my stats, this is the baseline. But, as of March 8, the March downloads are already over 900 so maybe we’re steadily increasing. We shall see.

Earning a Living as a Sex Writer

I thought I’d add in a section about the amount of money I’m earning as a sex writer. Some months are better than others, of course, and this is something mainstream (read: vanilla) bloggers are starting to do – they call this kind of thing their earnings report. If you read this post with an interest in being a writer or making money as a blogger, this will tell you what it’s like – sort of.

Affiliate Earnings: $0.00 – but I did receive an email with an update for March so it’s already improving.

Patreon Support: $32.97 ($35 from patrons minus fees – thank you to my kinky patrons!!)

Writing Jobs: $412.88 (this is what I got paid minus the fees PayPal charges)

Book Sales: $9.51 (some places pay monthly and some quarterly)

Expenses:

Monthly Graphics Subscription: $4.95

Podcast hosting: $5.43 (this fluctuates monthly depending on downloads and will go up over time which is a great problem to have)

Monthly Newsletter Hosting: $9.98 (this will increase as my newsletter subscriptions grow – not a bad problem to have, either)

Buffer Subscription (yearly): $102

This isn’t a bad haul, but as you can see, I’m definitely not living off of this income. Most of what I make gets added to the pot to pay our bills after covering my kinky writing expenses. Some months are better than others, of course, but it’s taken me a year or so to get to this point, and while others make more and many more people earn less, I’m very proud of what I accomplished in February and what I’ve built so far.

Okay, y’all, so that’s it for my kinky, sexy writing in February. I firmly believe in watching your numbers (and tracking them) so you can see if you’re improving, stagnating, or decreasing. If you don’t know your stats, you won’t know if you’re on the right track or not or what (if anything) to change.