I wanted to take a moment to thank you and appreciate you for all the light that you shine in this world.
My first book “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems” has become the bestselling book in the Love Poems category. It’s also available on Kindle. Please download your copy on any device (with Kindle app).
If you were thinking of gifting the book to your friends and loved one, today is your day!
I love you!
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As an observer, writer, wanderer, and storyteller, I believe that to be naked is to show up, to be present, to express my truth in life. It’s to overcome my own self-imposed limitations and to transcend external influences that are often authoritarian or fear-based. To me, this expression of truth can become a sacred romance.
Therefore philosophically speaking, being a Naked Soul is a sacred romance between one person and the world around him.
When we love, we unguard our hearts. We disarm and disrobe ourselves down to the core. Whether we love to travel, to write, or to wrap our arms around another, we only love authentically. That is being truly naked.
How can you be totally naked? It’s not undressing your body. To be naked is to undress and be naked with your heart’s truth. It’s the only way to uncover what resonates with your own soul.
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Also, please check out our upcoming podcast. As we speak, a lot of interviewing and recording is going on in the background.
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Topics Covered on the Podcast and as well as this blog
Addiction and Overcoming Addictions
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Personality Types
Poetry
Psychedelics and Drugs
Psychology & Psychotherapy
Quantum Physics
Relaxation Techniques (Mind, Body, Heart, and Soul)
(Morning, Evening) Rituals and Positive Habit building
Science and Deep Space
Sexuality and Eroticism
Shamanism
Social Awareness
Spirituality
Stress Management
Sufism
Synchronicity
Tantra
Tibetan Buddhism
Transformation and Self Growth
Transpersonal Psychology
The Unconscious, Super-conscious and Sub-conscious
Yoga, Health and Fitness
Writing Life, Writing Tips
Self-publishing, Book publishing, Book Marketing
Author Brand Creation, Platform Building
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Are you a Naked Soul? How would you define one or yourself? The first 5 commenters are always my favorite and I like to personally communicate with them. So share your thoughts. Any other questions or comments please feel free to share below.
This is a blog post I originally wanted to write as “How am I going to promote my upcoming book “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems“. But I believe it is better to write this post now since the book is already out.
The Paperback was released on Jan 9, 2015. And the eBook was released on Jan 22, 2015. I am also in the process of creating an Audio Book for Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems.
How to Self-Promote Your Poetry Book
In this blog, I am not only documenting the steps that you can take as a writer but also listing the things that worked for me and the efforts that did not pay during my own book promotion.
I had a decent budget to test out my plan and here I am going to tell you exactly what I did and what I am currently doing to promote “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems.”
I am going to outline my entire plan from pre-launch to post-launch of my book. This post describes what happened to my plan of action when put into the real test. But, first let me tell you: why am I doing this?
There are two major reasons:
a.) I like being transparent and helping people. I am doing this to help fellow writers and poets who often work hard on a very tight financial budget and
b.) To outline everything that I did for “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems” which I can later use for my next book’s marketing and promotion.
Moreover, this blog post also holds me accountable to my own plan-of-action. It’s a nice way to organize a detailed plan into a checklist for anyone’s use. If you find this post helpful and informative, please link directly to my blog (this post) if you would want to share tips from my experience.
I definitely could use your little help to gain some extra momentum to bring the word out about “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems”. I thank you in advance for helping me out.
How to Market Your Self Published Book
Alright, without further adieu, let’s begin:
1. Take advantage of your author platform
I started early but wish I could have started even earlier working on building my author’s platform. In case, if you are wondering, an author’s platform is where you connect and engage with your readers online. This is great for collecting feedback and to sense the real market demand.
The book got to #1 Bestseller on Amazon for January month in New Release in ‘Love poetry’ and ‘Themes and Styles’ category. Here, check this out:
#1 Bestseller on Amazon in New Release in ‘Love Poetry’ category
#1 Bestseller on Amazon in New Release in ‘Themes and Styles’ category
– The Naked Soul blog achieved great traction from our Google ad campaign and we gained over 250+ email subscribers. Overall, this is no minor success and we have come a long way from almost close to nothing on sites such as Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter.
– I have an active presence on Goodreads now with people adding Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems in their “to-read” list. We have 9 ratings and 5 reviews. (not bad)
– We have sold (in first 30 days) close to 250 copies in Print and eBook combined. We have stayed in the Top 100 ranking since the book launch.
Overall, I am new and my author platform (although not tiny) is not large enough to create a word-of-mouth viral outreach. I need momentum for my book to make a #1 Bestseller.
To achieve that, I need “daily” sales and more than that I need global exposure, online presence, and media coverage. So how do I do that? Well, this is what this post is all about. Keep reading.
Bonus Tips
I used Instagram and Facebook to do A/B testing for my book’s cover. I took my reader’s feedback in designing and approving the final cover of the book. See the results here.
I used google adwords to send traffic to my website and once my book was out I used adwords to sell my books. In terms of sending traffic, google is awesome but to sell your book, it hardly produces any results.
For a person to make a buying decision where someone would need to take their credit card and mane an online transaction for a book from an unknown author… you get a sense, this is highly unlikely.
Google AdWord Spend: $535 (151,348 ad impressions; 3830 clicks to Naked Soul website)
Purpose: My plan was that let the people know that a new erotic poetry collection is out. The book is unique in a sense that it was written by a male and it is a single-author collection of erotic poetry. This genre is still new and unique.
I created 2 paid book trailers (each $200 for production, casting, voice-over), 3 self-made book trailers (using my Mac and iMovie) and 3 book promotional trailers (using my phone camera) where I shared updates on how the book is progressing.
Later, I advertised the two paid trailers on YouTube and gained a lot of views but could not translate it into sales. The book trailer is necessary to create excitement and entertainment but it hardly leads to any direct sales.
Even if a sale happens, it is hard to tell if that sale came through Facebook referral or Google ad referral or from any other sources mentioned in this post.
Youtube Ad Spend: $455 (28,210 video views)
Purpose: To plant the video seeds of my books anywhere and everywhere possible. It will not give you book sales but may spread the news about your book far and away.
I started to connect with people online whether it was niche networks such as Ello, Google+, Reddit, poetry forums, etc. Unlike Facebook, you can not advertise on many of these platforms and therefore your growth will be very slow.
I got a lot of page views but people won’t connect and follow. To have people follow you, you have to follow a bunch of them at first. I also joined a lot of online forums and communities in hope of marketing my books through them.
But most often, these communities will not appreciate you posting your book on their page and will delete your posts as spam (even when your intentions are not spamming). Those who did not delete my posts did not really produce any noise.
Lesson: Google Page and Communities are “nay” for book promotion. Don’t spend too much time on it.
I started a Facebook page (Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems) for the book and initially advertised to gain targeted fans in poetry, reading, books, etc. My initial posts were just the poems that I was publishing on Instagram.
Facebook helped me initially to reach out to more people and I would get a lot of shares. That dropped after a while and I was not advertising either.
Once the book came out, I ran $30 promotion (3x i.e. three times) for book launch announcement and it did well in getting a lot of “Likes and few shares” but resulted in few direct sales, if any. Similar to Google AdWords, people won’t buy your book if you are relatively new or a no-name author.
For Facebook marketing to work, you have to develop a rapport with your existing fans first. Facebook page works very similar to how Instagram works.
Your core group of fans will support you and buy your book, but for that to happen you need to be posting and maintaining a charming presence on Facebook for a while.
In my case, I have spent too little time on Facebook and my Facebook efforts were okay. But, I hope the effort put into Facebook will pay off in time towards my second book.
My most recent next step idea is to create a Facebook group for “Writers of Instagram” and join and participate in other Book Review Groups on Facebook.
As I mentioned above, Instagram (like Facebook) is a large social network (popular with a younger crowd). Instagram users are also very active. Every post that you make on Instagram goes to everyone’s home feed without any filters (unlike Facebook).
For me, Instagram was the number one driver for sales. The reason does not lie in the fact that Instagram is better than other social media platforms for writers but that Instagram allows you more expose than Facebook and that too for free.
There is no paid advertising on Instagram (as of this writing). The only way to succeed here is to showcase your work and build a loyal following. I believe, I have had half of my sales come from Instagram. My current focus is to grow my followers base on Instagram.
Since a lot of writers use Twitter, I could not ignore it. I started my own Twitter account and spent $10 before realizing that spending any money on Twitter is a total waste. Twitter works very differently from Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, et al.
Even if you are a big name author or Mr. Somebody, people won’t follow you as they do on Facebook.
Twitter’s number 1 rule of the game is follow-for-follow. It took me a few months to figure this out before I started to connect with more people on Twitters.
Currently, I try to spend 15 min each day on Twitter. Mostly, I acknowledge any mentions made to @NakedSoulPoems and direct replies or comments on my tweets.
It is interesting to actually remember that my first encounter with poetry as pictures was not at Instagram but on Pinterest. Positive quotations, words, poetry and everything that you can imagine within the literary domain is on Pinterest.
Moreover, Pinterest platform is still young, growing and active. It is no wonder that if you want your book to be discovered by others, you have to be on Pinterest. Pinterest is so powerful that you cannot ignore that. I started out on Pinterest with my first board “Naked Soul” and started to pin poetry and images that reflected the spirit of my book project.
Over the time, I have created over 60 boards on various themes and actively pin. Initially, I was waiting for people to follow me but within 6 months I figured it out that Pinterest is like Twitter (atleast initially).
You have to follow a bunch of people before anyone will follow you back. Once you have established yourself on Pinterest, your audience size will grow on its own.
Remember, it is not a bad thing to have a lot of “followings”. In fact a good balance in following/followers ratio gives you a more human outlook and makes you accessible to your fans.
Purpose: To spread the seeds of Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems. Once people start re-pinning your pin (in this case, a book), more and more people will follow that lead and soon enough you will have your book jump up in search results and/or sales ranking.
I created 3 slideshares (pre-launch). None of them performed the way I have planned. The total views form all of them combined is just 800. It is as good as not having created the sildeshares at all.
This is so small a noise (like a coin dropping in a busy market place) that you can’t expect SlideShare to sell any copies.
But SlideShare is a good long term strategy and helps in getting a few backlinks to your site which in turn helps your web rank which in turn helps new people discover your blog and books and which in turn might sell you a few copies in the future.
Every social media is different and once you join one, you have to play according to their rules. Being on Facebook or Twitter is like renting a lot from Facebook or Twitter and then showcasing your products. This is not bad to gain visibility (especially since all major social media platforms are free to users).
But, if you want to stay in touch with your customers, fans and followers, your landlord will make it very hard for you to get any information where you can directly communicate with your fans.
Social media is great for brand development but to communicate and directly influence your fans, an email list is the best solution. When you email someone, it gets delivered in their inbox. You have a direct one-to-one relationship through email.
Also, you do not have to pay any of your landlords to promote your shop or product. Creating an email list is your own property. You are the landlord here. I have about 250+ sign ups to my blog as of today.
I am sure, a lot of these signups came from my Google AdWord campaign. Having a large email list is the best way to market your books.
My point: I am going to put more focus here in the coming months.
11. Book Reviews (Mail Review Copies)
You need a lot of book reviews (praising or critical) to make your book stand out from the noise. And you need reviews everywhere: on Amazon, on Goodreads, on Barnes & Noble, on every possible medium where you are selling your books.
The most important places to get a lot of good reviews are:
1) Amazon
2) Goodreads
A lot of people will discover your book on Goodreads (and therefore Goodreads reviews matters) but they will end up buying on Amazon or B&N. Most people will shop on Amazon Kindle or Amazon.com.
Before a person can make a wise buying decision, s/he is going to check (and read) some of the reviews. My initial goal was to get at least 50 reviews on Amazon by Feb 9, 2015 (in first 30 days).
As the time of writing this blog, I have got 21 reviews on Amazon.com and 1 review on Amazon.uk. But as you can see I am not even half way closer to my target goal. Well, getting a lot of reviews is not an easy task.
I will have a separate blog post just to discuss the book reviews. I’m writing a separate blog posts just on book reviews. Stay tuned.
I have submitted the book to Kirkus indie review and the book is going to run through the Book Review Direct in their February-May issue.
I have personally contacted bloggers all over and have sent a free copy of my book in exchange for their reviews. My focus for first two months are only US bloggers. But, I am planning to do more giveaways to bloggers all across the world.
Again, if you really want your book to stand out from the crowd, you have to generate a buzz around your book. And without having a big marketing budget, the only way you can do it is by having your book covered by as many blogs (on internet) as possible.
I have done one PR through PRWeb so far. The results were not impressive for the $99 that I spent on it.
My Press Release total headline impressions was 29,914. About 10% of these impressions were also read (up to 100%). If you google search in quotes “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems by Naked Soul Press”, you will see 60+ online news pickups.
Again, it is not a measurable payback but perhaps from a long term strategy perspective, this is the best you can do. Some say PR is dead but I disagree.
The objective of Press Release is to send out news about your new book. Even if your PR is not picked up by a lot of reporters, you still make a presence on the Internet since most PRs are optimized for SEO.
However, I would not recommend spending a lot of money here. Give it a shot or two. This is also a luck thing besides what else is going on in media during your book launch.
13. Create Cool Merchandise
I am currently brainstorming what cool things can be made using my poetry or quotes and then use them as free giveaways to drive sales or bring awareness towards the book. Some of the things I have thought so far are: t-shirts, cups/mugs, calenders, etc. This is a work in progress. I will first test them on Instagram and Facebook. If successful, I will write a separate blog post covering this step in detail. Stay tuned.
14. Crowdfunding Campaigns
I created an Indiegogo and Pubslush campaign to raise both money and awareness for the book. The book campaigns were not successful in themselves but they helped me show up in the first page of Google search. No money spent here plus it is a good way to test the market demand for your work.
If I have do it again, I’ll create a campaign for a small funding target and will spend some time promoting it. Also, this can be done way ahead of your book launch.
My Point: When you search for a vague term such as “Naked Soul”, the search engine will give you hundreds of thousands of results. For me, creating Indiegogo and Pubslush was lucky.
They helped to show my Facebook page and campaign every time I searched for ‘Naked Soul’ Or ‘Naked Soul Poem’ or ‘Erotic Poetry Book’, etc.
15. Hire VAs to Help You Out
Writing is a book is hard. We all know that. But marketing a book by yourself is even harder. After you have spent a lot of time writing your book, what good it is if you can not showcase your work.
The goal is not to market your book to everybody but to those who already is a fan of your genre. But, here is the problem. How do you reach out to those readers? All the points that I have mentioned in this blog post cannot be done by one single person. You have editing and cover design going on.
You have to respond to people. You are trying to get reviews. You are busy shipping copies. You have a family and a life (hopefully) that you do not want to sacrifice. You might even feel giving up at times. Trust me, we all have been there. So what is the solution? The only solution is to build a team.
You need atleast one another person and if you can afford some extra cash, may be a team of 3 or more people. Let’s call one your team member your virtual Assistant (VA). I took advantage of Zirtual and hired a VA.
My main objective was for my VA to do research on Facebook, Youtube, Google, Amazon, everywhere to find bloggers, youtubers, et al to whom we can pitch “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems” for an online coverage.
I also had my VA email the the book reviewers and send them a review copy. Your larger team on the other hand can do simple things such as manage your Twitter or Facebook or Instagram.
In my case, I was spending my energy in building this blog whereas my team was making sure we are growing on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. As a team, we all learned a lot which I could have easily missed if I were to do everything alone.
Lesson: There is no book launch without a team. You need more than “you” or your launch will be a disaster (unless you are already an established author).
I have tried Google and Facebbok PPC (pay per click) ads and got a lot of “Likes” on FB and visits to my website (from Google Search) but hardly any direct sales. Even though, let’s say some of these visits resulted in a direct sale, it is hard for me to track. Whatever is not tracked, you can’t improve.
And if you can’t improve an ad, you are losing money, time, and opportunities. Another thing I learned was whether a visit leads to sales or not is not the right question to ask. The correct approach is to measure your cost of advertisement to your book sales royalty.
For example, if I advertise my book for $100 on Facebook and in return got sales of 10 units with $4 author royalty, then in this case I am $60 in net loss.
Same formula can be applied to any PPC ads. I wanted to try Goodreads advertisement. I have created a giveaway that is currently running (so far 65 people wants to win my book). My giveaway is going to gain atleast 200 entries if not high of 500. I also created two ads on Goodreads which is also active as of right now. No clicks and about 700 impressions so far.
I have spent $0 on Goodreads so far and my book has been added by over 50 people at the time of this writing. So far the best return on investment.
To do: Create author profiles on Goodreads and Amazon Author Central. Add your picture, bio, link to your twitter and your blog/website, and if you have book trailer videos – upload them. People love videos.
17. Active Blogging/Set up a Website
I am a first time author (although not new to writing). I have been writing for long and now hope to publish one book a year. Moreover, my first book “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems” is a poetry book. I personally feel (certainly biased here) that the book is produced in a superior way than many others (if not most) books in the market in erotic poetry (within romance, not erotica) genre.
My book and writing is different and is popular with variety of social audiences and groups as I have noticed so far. I am a firm believer in getting community’s/reader’s feedback. I do absolutely believe in product/market fit theory. Having said and understood it, my challenge is on how to get my book more exposure. The answer is “long-term vision” and a growing web presence. Setting up a blog is a must-to-do for every writer in this era of self-publication.
There is no excuse to this rule now. Since there is so much noise out there on social media, it is easy to get lost in the ocean of posts, profiles, games and what not. I believe the solution to this growing problem is to create an authority in your domain and then dominating it with your thought-leadership.
This has been my current focus. Also, by actively blogging you first give away useful, helpful information to your readers before asking them for their money in return. People will buy your book if they feel connected to your writing. This is the new age of “free-samples” and “too-many-choices”. Also, if people like you, they will willingly support you and buy your book(s).
Conclusion
I guess, what I am trying to convey here from my story is the overall result from my book marketing effort is negative (in loss) in my first 30 days. But, I am hoping to reap some rewards in coming months as my book gains more visibility. If I would have not advertised, I would have made a net-profit from my book sales. But then the question is about having a long term vision. From the long-term perspective, did I do the right things or made mistakes? Well, time will tell. (I am keeping positive, fingers crossed.)
Ideally, any author would love to break-even or make profit but I recommend to you all to be willing to take an initial loss if in return you earn plenty of exposure as a new writer/author. As a writer you always have a second or third book in you and all the effort that you put in your first book also trickles down to your future work.
On the other hand, personally speaking, I would gladly spend more in promotional and marketing of the “Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems” if it helps to generate word-of-mouth viral outreach. A much needed large scale outreach indeed. But, first I have to find out if my marketing budget is large enough to realize this goals. If not, then how big and how long should my ideal campaign be? These are my current questions and would be a separate topic for another blog post. Stay tuned.
I am currently waiting for the Kirkus and other indie book reviews to come out so that I can use them in my future marketing campaign. I did hit #1 on Amazon in New Release in Poetry for January but that’s not enough. I have hardly sold 250 copies (print + eBook all combined) in my first 30 days. I wish I sold 5000 or 10,000 copies in my first week but alas (sigh)…I am a poet!
No poet makes money when they are alive. But, can this be a proven wrong? With proper planning, strategic marketing and by your reader’s help, may be yes. Why not? Can I prove that a Poet can make a living through his writing. I will absolutely try my best! I know, I wish to hear the good news as much as you do!
Will you help me here!? Please share this blog with as many people (writers, readers, anyone into books) as many you know. I am sure, this has ton of helpful information and insights that anyone can use. Thank you for your time.
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What do you think about my marketing approach? Please leave your thoughts and input in the Comments below.
There is perhaps no literary work as tantalizingly erotic as the Kamasutra. When you visualize this book, you may only think of the sexual imagery contained inside.
The truth is that this book while sexual in nature also has a rich history and contains beautiful poetic language.
Kamasutra: A Treatise on Pleasure
Erotic Poetry of Kamasutra
Let us begin by exploring the history of this book before adventuring into its poetic nature.
The book was compiled in the third century by an Indian sage, Vatsyavana. He believed that this text that contained past sexual knowledge helped him to meditate and contemplate the divine.
The book was written in Sanskrit and its translated title means “a treatise on pleasure.”
Senses and pleasures
The book explores pleasure both sexually and intellectually by discussing various topics including Society and Social Concepts; On Sexual Union; About the Acquisition of a Wife; About a Wife; About the Wives of Other Men; About Courtesans; and On the Means of Attracting others to Yourself.
It essentially serves as a crucial primer on the physical and psychological aspects of romance including how men can win over women; what women can do to win over men; the states of a woman’s mind; the role of an intermediary; and why women might reject men.
The book contains charts that organize male and female physical types into categories and show how physically compatible they are with their partner.
Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is considered the first study of sexuality but due to the complexity of the Sanskrit it was written in it was considered obscure.
It was translated into English in the late 19th century by Sir Richard Burton, a well-known linguist, and Arabic translator.
Burton had originally been working on translating a 15th-century revision of the work, the Ananga-Ranga, but wanted to learn more about Vatsyayana who was cited numerous times in the Ananga-Ranga.
First translation
He orchestrated the effort to refer back to the Kama Sutra and translate it into English. He fulfilled his desire to publish a Western translation and stimulated widespread interest in India and other countries.
Since then it has been translated numerous times and been published in multiple versions.
The book at first begins analytically as a series of instructions on how a man should live a life dedicated to religious observance and learn to live according to the principles of what is referred to as dharma, artha, and kama.
Dharma is obeying the principles of Hinduism, Artha is based on acquiring material items and friendships, and kama is enjoying pleasure according to the lessons of the Kama Sutra. But then there were those who objected to pleasure and wished to keep the ideal human pursuits limited to dharma, stating:
“Pleasures should not be sought for, because they are obstacles to the practice of Dharma and Artha, which are both superior to them, and are also disliked by meritorious persons. Pleasures also bring a man into distress, and into contact with low persons; they cause him to commit unrighteous deeds, and produce impurity in him; they make him regardless of the future and encourage carelessness and levity. And lastly, they cause him to be disbelieved by all, received by none, and despised by everybody, including himself.”
Indian Caste System
The book does explore the caste system in India by describing the three classes of men including the Pithamarda, the Vita, and the Vidushaka.
The Pithamarda was described as a poor man who has few personal possessions but comes from a good country and is skilled artistically.
The Vita is a man who is a wealthy married homeowner who is honored by citizens.
The Vidushaka is only skilled in some of the arts but is trusted by all of the citizens.
Vatsyavana believed that men should really only get to know men of their own caste.
The Kama was practiced by following Hindu principles and marrying virgins who belonged to their own caste.
The Naked Soul Partners
The Treatise on Pleasure
The more sensual aspects of the book begin in the second part when men were categorized according to the degree of passion they had and it was stated in the book:
“A man is called a man of small passion whose desire at the time of sexual union is not great, whose semen is scanty, and who cannot bear the warm embraces of the female. Those who differ from the temperament are called men of middling passion while those of intense passion are full of desire.”
Females were said to have a different kind of passion then men as the book explained that females wish to enjoy sexual relations with men for a longer period of time then men need to have sexual intercourse. One writer in the book was quoted as saying,
Females do not emit as males do. The males simply remove their desire, while the females, from their consciousness of desire, feel a certain kind of pleasure, which gives them satisfaction, but it is impossible for them to tell you what kind of pleasure they feel. The fact from which this becomes evident is that males when engaged in coition cease of themselves after emission and are satisfied but it is not so with females.”
The various types of love were explored and were categorized as love gained from continual habit and performance, imaginary love, love derived from belief, and love derived from perceiving external objects.
Couples engage in different kinds of embraces to express the kind of love that they feel for their partner.
This is a passionate expression of love as a union of this kind is a special one that cannot be broken by others. The book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems expresses this in the poem Bound For Me when it says:
She comes and looks deep into my eyesHer beautiful majestic eyes, mesmerizing meThere she stands on the doorpostWaiting for my moveI take her hand into my handPressing softlyShe takes off her clothes gentlyTo the last pieceThere she stands in all skinIn all her gloryShe offers me a rope and stretches her armShe is bound for meThere she waits for meWarmExhilaratingLifting each otherBlindfolded warriors in a fieldFingersTongueSoft lipsOur weapons of loveAnd our bodiesOur shieldsShe satisfies me in waysMy words failI love her
Kamasutra portrayed on the walls of the temple of Khajuraho
Vatsyavana wrote about the power of embraces when he wrote:
“The whole subject of embracing is of such a nature that men who ask questions about it, or who hear about it, or who talk about it, acquire thereby a desire for enjoyment. Even those embraces that are not mentioned in the Kama Shastra should be practiced at the time of sexual enjoyment if they are in any way conducive to the increase of love or passion. The rules of the Shastra apply so long as the passion of man is middling, but when the wheel of love is once again set in motion, there is then no Shastra and no order.”
Embracing transitions into kissing which is an even more sensual type of love.
There are many different ways to kiss your lover including a straight kiss which is contact between both sets of lips; a bent kiss when the lovers are bent towards one another; a turned kiss which is when one turns up the face of the other by holding the head and chin; and a pressed kiss which is when the lower lip is pressed forcefully.
Kisses can express love in a much deeper and personal way than merely embracing.
The book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems expresses this while exploring the nature of kissing when it says:
Go kiss her from her forehead to her feet
Let this poor heart
In you
Become courageous
Now you are ready, my friend
Now you know
You bring love with love
You make love with love
Love knows no desperation
Love knows no boundaries
No limitation
You have charted the earth well
On the surface of her skin
With your beloved by your side
Hand in hand
Lips to lips
To the glorious birth
Of a new love
The Sexual Freedom
Women were said to enjoy other kinds of physical contact including biting, pressing nails against one another, and striking one another.
Vatsyayana wrote about this kind of contact when he said:
“Those which increase passion should be done first and those which are only for amusement or variety should be done afterward.”
In addition to more physical expressions of love, there were also different ways to form sexual unions with one another. This was explained by stating:
“An ingenious person should multiply the kinds of congress after the fashion of the different kinds of beasts and of birds. For these different kinds of congress, performed according to the usage of each country, and the liking of each individual, generate love, friendship, and respect in the hearts of women.”
Sexual intercourse was analogized to a dispute with your partner. It is a way to truly express opinions about each other and is very physical and romantic.
The book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems expresses this the following poem, stating:
Love
Like youngsters
Running around, restless
So naive at heart
And hands
Without blame
Don't come and try to stop us
That we celebrate
Our sacred dance
In our preserved innocence
Tonight
Women were said to express their pleasure in the process of making love by relaxing their bodies and showing great willingness to be united with their partners. Men should interpret pleasure by the mood of their partners during the process.
Vatsyayana wrote of this when he said:
“Though a woman is reserved and keeps her feelings concealed, yet when she gets on top of a man, she then shows all her love and desire. A man should gather from the actions of the woman of what disposition she is and from what way she likes to be enjoyed. A woman during her monthly courses, a woman who has been lately confined, and a fat woman should not be made to act the part of a man.”
Men helped women get in the mood for sexual intercourse by conversing with them and embracing them with affection.
This would help a woman to be filled with love and desire for her partner. There were said to be different kinds of sexual partnerships including the loving congress; congress of subsequent love; congress of artificial love; congress of transferred love; congress like that of eunuchs; deceitful congress; and congress of spontaneous love. Vatsyayana said that men who were skilled in the arts of love were admired and respected.
From sexual unions, the relationship transitioned into something much deeper and into a permanent marriage. Vatsyayana said:
“A man should fix his affections upon a girl who is of good family, whose parents are alive, and who is three years or more younger than himself. She should be born of a highly respectable family, possessed of wealth, well connected, and with many relations and friends.”
The book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems expresses the sentiments about the bond of marriage when it utters:
When my friends ask
About you
I tell them
That I met you today
My friends marvel at this
But to me
You are a new
Beginning
Every day
There is no end in such love
Nothing is old here
We age
But our spirit remains the same
And we become
The part of eternal sky
Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems (a modern day Kamasutra)
Once the couple has been married, a man then had to make an effort to instill a sense of trust in their partner. Earning her trust involved embracing her, kissing, and engaging her in conversation. The husband would then ask his wife if she liked him.
Vatsyayana wrote about what she should say to such a question:
“She should remain silent for a long time, and when at last importuned to reply, should give him a favorable answer by a nod of the head.”
Once the wife became more comfortable with her husband, he would then touch her whole body and teach her about the arts of love.
The book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems expresses about the arts of love in verses from the following poem:
What will you give to your lover?
Do you possess a moonstone or stardust?
Have you planted a thousand roses?
Have you mapped the earth?
To take your lover
On a journey full of mirth?
No—
I don't have a moonstone
Nor do I have stardust.
I am poor but have roses and flowers
In all colors
I will be kind to her limbs
I can fill her life with passion
Her organs will thank mine
Her eyes will peck at mine
Her hairs I will brush
Igniting the passion in her soul
Her vale merging with my knoll,
A hummock,
Just for her pleasures
Ever waiting, ever desiring
It is now evident that a romance is something that requires great effort on the parts of both partners in a relationship.
The Kamasutra describes the stages of romance extensively and how the couple should act towards one another. While the book is an ancient text, some of its advice still holds true today and can be adhered to by all couples.
The below book trailer video was shot in New York. The story presents two lovers meeting each other after a long separation while they recite two poems from the book.
Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems
The book will be released worldwide both online and in stores. Naked Soul book is available for purchase starting February 2, 2015, in both ebook and print (soft paperback). The audiobook will be released soon.
Please visit Naked Soul’s Facebook and Instagram page for more pictures, videos, and quotes.
Official Book Trailer
Did you like the book trailer? The story? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Being a Naked Soul
Being a Naked Soul is more than just using a catchy phrase. Being naked means being as you are, as your true self, without any covering of ego. A person who loves without any expectation is a naked soul. True love is unconditional. True love is the essence of all life and the universe.
Every soul needs a touch of such love. A deep, unconditional love is what every heart truly desires. True love is passionately erotic.Here, once again, I am both happy and excited to present to you another awesome video on the upcoming book Naked Soul: The Erotic Love Poems. Love is all.
Hope you enjoy this short video as much as we have enjoyed filming and making it. Remember, true love is when you’re kept up all night thinking of someone, and then when you fall asleep, you find your lover in your dreams.
No three words have greater power than “I Love You“.Let your heart speak its own poetry and feelings. Let your desire be touched by these words. Let these poems stir the passion in you.
Once this passion is aroused and strengthened, you will live in the moment, fearing nothing, living for no one but your own soul and the duty that it has carried since the time of your birth.
This book is all about getting in tune with our deepest, most intimate feelings.
Like it? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
The Naked Soul blog is finally online. We have just launched it. There might be few minor glitches (and that is what I need you to find out). My goal this month is to collect feedback for the website.
Tell me all about it. Do you like the colors? Do you like the font size and style? Do you think the sentences are too long? Are the paragraphs too long? Is the content interesting? Are they boring? What is your favorite page? Which page is Um..meh?
What else would you like to see on this blog? Tell me anything & everything. For next four weeks, I am all ears and I’ll make those changes at the end of November when we will finally release the blog for the rest of the world.
The purpose of the blog is threefold:
1. To do book reviews on books being written and produced by young and new writers.
2. Feature interesting, new and upcoming authors who have a following of 1000 or more.
3. To publish high quality, well researched “how-to” articles on writing, publishing, audience building, life in general, love & romance, travel & culture, and random fun topics.
If there is any topic that is particularly interesting to you, please contact me and I’ll give them higher priority!!
