Choosing the Best Excerpt? As Easy As 4 Tips on Erotic Romance with an Edge!

Choosing the Best Excerpt? As Easy As 4 Tips on Erotic Romance with an Edge!

One of the hardest things to do when you’re beginning to promote a new book is choose the excerpts. Many authors just choose to post the first chapter of their new book, and hope that by the end of it, readers want to buy. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to choosing an excerpt, and these things will either make or break you when it comes to getting readers to buy your book.

Using PG and erotic excerpts from my own books and series, I’ll give you the top four tips for choosing the best excerpt that will make readers want to buy your book:

Choosing a great excerpt means you have to have written a great book. If your book is not your best effort, then your excerpts are going to be so, and no amount of trying to choose a great excerpt is going to help.

My best book so far is Bondage Slave For Hire, so here’s an awesome excerpt of the beginning!

“You’re free to go.”

Alone at last with Lilly, Terry spared her no glances. Simply bent on his heels and pretended to be searching for something in his bag.

Not a word escaped her lips. Lilly picked up her purse and took the first step toward the door.

“Of course, if you quit, I won’t take you back, like Kelso did every time you returned crawling and groveling, which means you’ll never find the Master you’ve been seeking all your life.” This time he snatched a brief peek.

The utter shock painted on her face was an incomparable reward.

“And that would be a real pity.” He straightened, finally acknowledging her. “For the Master, I mean.”

“How…” How the fuck can you possibly know? Lilly’s body screamed to him. “How do you know?”

“‘Cause it’s written all over you.” A few quick strides and he was on her. “For anyone bothering to read.” Close enough for his breath to play on her face.

“Most people don’t.” She was gulping air, barely controlling the arousal he felt uncoiling from the pit of her stomach and drenching her cunt.

“I’m not most people.” Same arousal that was shooting through his veins and filling his dick faster than he anticipated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Same arousal that was forcing him to extreme measures to subdue his unruly shaft.

“You’ve wasted enough of my time.” Were it up to his straining erection, he’d have flung her to a wall and impaled that perky little ass of hers.

“Tonight’s opening night.” Were it up to his straining erection, he’d have lost himself inside that compelling body of hers.

But thank the stars, it wasn’t, or he’d have spoiled the perfect Halloween slave.

“And I’ve got a show to run.” Exercising fiercer control, he broke their contact. “So I gotta get ready for it.” Picking up his bag, he went toward a door to the far right.

“No, wait.” She scrambled after him the second he took the first step away from her. “I…”

When you choose an excerpt that ends with a cliff hanger, readers want to read more to find out what happened! When your excerpt ends with readers being already able to figure out who the villain is, they are most likely not going to buy your book.

If you don’t know my Soulmate Series, here’s a real cliff hanger from Book 1 To Seduce A Soul Mate!

Martin gazed at him intently. “I bet you loved to play the pirate.”

Drake’s mouth almost fell open. “How do you know?”

The blond devil grinned. “It isn’t hard to figure out. I just added up the facts. Aline told me your family used to come here mostly in the summer when you were kids so you must’ve played in the water a lot. Now you mentioned the…how did you call it?” He frowned in concentration. “The exciting search for hidden treasures.” He kept looking steadily into Drake’s eyes. “Your name, too, has a lot to do with pirates. Wasn’t Francis Drake one of them?”

“Actually, he was only when he sailed away from civilization. England worshipped him as a war hero, their savior from the Invincible Armada.”

“Fascinating creature, like having two distinct personalities.”

Drake shifted position, unexpectedly feeling a growing erection, which seemingly had no explanation. “In a way. I’ve always had a particular liking for the man, a free spirit despite Queen Elizabeth’s strict customs,” he commented in an even tone, keeping his surprise at bay.

“That explains your fascination with pirates.” His hand played lightly with the glass, though Drake had the distinct impression he wanted to touch his hair. “And you also look the part, with your incredibly beautiful hair and black eyes.” He paused, studying Drake’s face for a moment. “Most portraits I’ve seen of pirates resemble you in many details.”

Drake’s stomach caved in at the words, even more because the Irish accent made it sound as sensual as an intimate caress. And damn it if I needed this, too! He groaned inwardly as his cock responded to the call with a sudden spasm that turned it into stone. “I don’t think anyone knew what pirates looked like.” He retorted more coldly than he intended, wondering if Martin had noticed his increased bulge. “They lived on the sea most of the time and their victims seldom lived to tell what they looked like. The only time people actually saw a pirate was when he was about to hang for his crimes and they certainly didn’t bother to take a picture of him. That’s why in paintings all pirates look alike.”

Martin shrugged. “I’m no expert on the subject. All I know is they had a hell of a good time raping, plundering and drinking their hearts out.”

Drake grinned. “Yeah, that’s probably why I like drinking, too.”

Martin’s eyes flashed in the semi-darkness. “Personally, I like the raping part better.” Raising his head, he trapped Drake’s eyes again. “I’ve always preferred sex over drinks.” A naughty smile crossed his lips. “I had the crazy notion there was a special person waiting just for me. To hop from one bed to another seemed the best strategy to find him, so I did a lot of…hopping.”

Unable to tear his eyes away from the compelling green gaze, the pirate grinned. “Not the faithful kind, I suppose.”

“Never believed in it. I always liked fooling around with whoever caught my fancy, but mostly my…dick.”

A shiver ran down Drake’s back as the dream returned forcefully to the fore. Martin’s look seemed unequivocal and for a moment, the pirate wondered what it would really feel like to taste something completely different. His shaft twitched, reminding that, in the haste to get something to drink, he had not bothered with underwear. So what if Martin notices it? And a delicious thrill ran down his spine. “With your looks, I’m sure women must’ve been all over you.”

“Whoever mentioned women?”

Length doesn’t always determine the best excerpt , so be careful about how much you offer readers. Some authors think that if you provide the first two or three chapters that this will hook readers into wanting to buy their book, however this isn’t necessarily true. There is such a thing as giving readers too much. Remember you want to give them just enough to tease them, to make them want to read more, not half the book so they decide after those few chapters that maybe they don’t want to buy after all.

Now I’ve got just the right example, taken from the darkest most erotic fantasy series on the web, the Virtus Saga. Below is a very short but effective excerpt from Book 4 The Leader!

At the shock of sudden pleasure tightening his shaft plunging in her wet slit, Prince Caldwell almost lost it. Still, it was nothing compared to the clenching effect of his angel claiming her ass from behind. Penetrating easily, he reduced the slit’s space in an instant as Ylianor gave in at once to his pressure. She was theirs once more, crushed between them by frantic ramming aimed at immediate release…well, maybe a bit too fast for his princess’s taste.

Not that she disliked it.

She loved it, considering the increased moisture smearing his crotch, only needed more time than either he or Chris had at their disposal. But without her, there could be no true release. Princess, if you don’t hurry up and come—

“We’re going to leave you behind, sleeping beauty,” Chris groaned in her ear. “And that wouldn’t be fair.” A hard shove underlined his words. “Not even for a worthless slave like you.”

Whether the angel actually read his mind or simply wanted to bring her along, he did the trick. As Duncan realized he was not in his room, Chris yanked her hair to press her mouth to the prince who possessed it before her swells started. The scream echoing in his head alone swept him away with the sheer force of her come. Nothing holding him back anymore, his cock jerked uncontrollably to the last drop into her pussy, the same way Chris’s was flooding her ass.

“Better, much better.”

Think of excerpts like you did your blurb. Remember how when you wrote your blurb the idea was to give readers just enough about the story to make them want to buy? Well choosing the best excerpt is the same idea. Choose excerpts that hook your reader from the very first word. Find a part in your book where something key to the story is about to happen and then start your excerpt there. Just make sure you don’t give away too much, this is where you want to end on a cliff hanger as mentioned before.

For the grand finale, below is one of my very best excerpt from the most borderline series I’ve ever written, the ReScue Series. This is all about consecutive lives at a crossroad, and this is how my characters come to terms with it in Book 1 of the series, Re-Scue.

“Remember me now, sweetie?”

How could I have ever forgotten? That was the real question, and what he recalled mostly was the sweet, agonizing, all-encompassing love, like a mark engraved with a scalding poker directly on his heart, whether animal or human seemed to make no difference for he could never be free however many tragedies or lifecycles it took, the craving for it driving him back for more in spite of the hurt. And this life seemed no exception for he had the certainty it would take no effort, none at all, to fall in love with Leon, had already started in fact from the moment he had laid eyes on him and recognized him for the man who alone could give him what he had sought all his life, everything besides the one truly important thing. But do I want to pay the price this time, too? “Yes, I fucking remember now.”

Leon licked his lips. “This is even better than I dared hope.” And the cold sharp edge trailed back to Sean’s throat, forcing his face to tilt up.

“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on it, lover!” Because for once, Sean was Leon’s equal, no gender disparity to tip the scale in the hunter’s favor as it had in the past, and he would use whatever advantage to avoid the heavy tolls he paid in every previous lifetime. “Luckily, things change.” Shoving hard against the broad chest, they fell on the blue carpet, and the struggle turned violent with Leon fighting to hold him down in spite of his wild thrashing aimed at cornering his opponent until the dark-haired man managed to push him to the floor, his knee pressed on the back crushing his face to the carpet, and gain control.

“It’s no use, sweetie, not even now that you’re a man.” He chuckled. “Whatever form you take, you’ll always end up losing.”

Now angry, Sean jerked frantically to break the iron hold, but Leon’s superior strength kept him down.

“I said you fucking lose!” With a single sweep, Leon’s knife ripped apart Sean’s elegant suit. “And I’m really sorry about your Dolce & Gabbana ensemble.” Having done with the cloth, the cold blade reached the warm flesh. “It really looked good on you.” Unhampered, the razor sharp edge scratched Sean’s bare back, dipping to rupture the delicate skin, the incisions growing rapidly as Leon became more excited. “Although I prefer you naked.”

After a momentary pause, Sean heard his zip opening and the tip of the erection nudging the narrow hole, which did not hesitate to open wide and let what felt like a huge dick—the exact measurements he had craved for a lifetime, hard, thick and long—slam into him and fill every inch of available space. And even more surprising, Leon also knew his way inside an ass, an art not for all as Sean had learned early on, slipping through firmly but without causing pain, adapting to the hole’s dilation time until it accommodated the whole of him, every shove penetrating deeper, almost to the throat it seemed, as the pressure and pumping accelerated when Sean matched his pace. Then their dance became frantic, the faster the friction the tighter the ass squeeze and the higher the heat that in turn burned the tip of Sean’s erection, already throbbing from the need to come, to the point nothing made sense except Leon’s jerk of pleasure and his own shooting the semen all over his hand and carpet.

Forgetting these tips, could mean less sales and possible not getting contracts in the future. However, if you keep these things in mind when choosing your excerpts, you will be much more likely to sell your book to the masses, and get those new contracts too!