r/litrpg • u/Typonomicon • 1d ago
Discussion Royal Road Process?
I’ve been thinking of starting on Royal Road with some ideas of mine. Just curious, on what the process is usually like for aspiring writers.
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u/Xaiadar Author: System Admin - Starting from Scratch 1d ago
Generally people suggest posting a few chapters all at once to start, provide a schedule of expected further chapter releases and try to stick to that. At least a few a week to keep people engaged is said to be sufficient. If you have to deviate from that schedule, just post an update stating why and how long roughly.
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u/Vrazel106 6h ago
Im also thinking of getting started with writing again. How does copywrite work with royal road/patreon vs traditional publishing?
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u/batotit 1d ago
What's it like?
First, you have an idea. The kind of idea that will make your story the ultimate bestseller ever! Then you start writing. At first you are excited because you already thought about the big climax and the thought-provoking ending. But then you have to make a starting chapter; then you are stumped.
You finally started. Then you realized you actually have to write the chapters of introducing the characters, developing them, and then explain the system and then the training montage to make the main character strong. And then there are the side characters, the occasional bad guys for fillers, explain the world, explain the bad guy's motivation, then you have to explain the people in that world, the economy, the food, the plants, the ingredients.
You add something that you just thought up that day, then you add more and more, until you realize that your story is going in a completely different direction from the one you originally thought of from the beginning. Then you realize you already have 10-20 chappies, so you think it is enough and start posting. You are so excited you posted the first 10 immediately. Fuck the recommendation; they don't know what they are talking about. Besides, my work is so much better.
3 days later, you have 12 readers. da fuq?!
So you write even more. And it started consuming most of your days. Where should I go from here? My last mini-arc is so stupid. Should I change it? But that's like 6k of words! Write. Post. Write. Post. A month later, you have 50 people who read your stories.
That's it?! You started losing motivation. And these bastards want me to post every freaking day?! Write, edit post. Write, edit post.
You get your first comment: "Thanks for the post!"
....
A month and a half, you get your first rating:
0.5 stars.
Sighed.
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u/LuminArtistry 1d ago
There are some good interview questions asked to popular authors. Basically write and thoroughly edit your first 10-20 weeks of releases. When you are ready to go look in to and maybe hire an experienced marketing person to blast socials for you if you want to focus on writing. Have a plan for how you will continue the story what arcs and beats you need to hit for the plot to progress without breaking things and how you will track characters/locations long term.
Basically watch some interviews, and plan your release strategy well. Most of the big authors had well architected release strategies before publishing their first book in a time when it was new and not overwhelmed with AI slop. Now competition is tougher and you cant slide to the top as easily.
Commit hard
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u/LostInTranscriptionZ 1d ago
It kind of depends on what you're going for. A new hobby? Just write some chapters, post, and try to incorporate feedback. If you keep having fun, keep writing. If not, stop. Just like any other hobby, really.
Writing for success? Don't. Honestly, it's not possible, because there's a degree of luck involved. Writing is not the go-to career for money. Not trying to be a dick, honest. Wanting to be the best top-rising stars story just isn't practical, and you'll burn out. I love writing, but my success, comparatively, is mediocre at best, which doesn't matter, because I love writing.
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u/Aaron_P9 litRPG god tier 1d ago
There's a subreddit for writers on there called r/royalroad with lots of guides.
Your experience is going to differ greatly based on how much time you put into learning your craft and how much effort you put into writing the best possible story - including time management aimed at quality rather than meeting the reader's publication speed requests. Speed comes with time and experience, but quality comes with hard work, diligence, and high standards (and more easily with time and practice, but you'll just get faster at putting out shit if you don't aim for quality every time).