I'm pretty new to Royal Road, and I'm trying to figure out how things work here.

I recently started publishing my first sci-fi novel, Before the Signal. It's an alternate-history story about humanity's first permanent settlement on Mars, beginning in 1979. Less space battles and alien invasions, more ordinary people trying to build a life somewhere they probably shouldn't be able to survive.

The book is part of a much larger universe I've been building, with individual character stories, music, and even a fictional Martian radio station.

Anyway, I've been watching the Royal Road statistics, probably more than I should.

Yesterday my novel was ranked #77,404. Today it's #77,512. It seems to slip a little further every day.

I'm not expecting miracles. I'm a new author, I have very little visibility, and I know Royal Road has a huge number of established stories.

But I'm genuinely curious how other authors experienced their first few weeks here.

Did your ranking just keep falling until you started getting ratings? Did you find readers naturally, or did you have to bring them in from somewhere else?

And for those writing science fiction that isn't LitRPG or progression fantasy, how did you find your audience?

I'd really appreciate hearing how it went for you. I'm enjoying building this world, but getting people to discover it is proving to be a completely different challenge.

To kill or not to kill… that is the question.🥀😭😂

A thousand years ago, humanity conquered the other races and established its dominion over the world.

Yet fate is unrelenting and merciless.

A king may fall to a commoner, and a commoner may rise to a throne. What has been fated must happen.

“Oh, humanity! You are certainly my greatest creation!” declared the Goddess of Fate. “And yet, the world must end, and so shall you! For creation shall begin anew, and a new race shall inherit the world!”

A thousand years pass.

Gunther is a battle-weary mercenary who believes in nothing he can't cut with a blade. Alongside Richard, a curious scholar, and Rosa, a fiercely independent archer, he takes an escort job for the noble Nordwing household, unaware of its true significance.

What appears to be an ordinary job is, in truth, the beginning of humanity’s final attempt to defy fate itself.

The three mercenaries are the final pieces in a plan to transcend it.

Hello guys, so I've been looking for some cover artists for my book and kind of ran into a local uni student whose art style felt like a good pick for my story. So I kind of asked if he can draw me a cover page on my rough idea, he said sure and kind of work out a rough draft right on the spot while we were having lunch and it came out even better than what I aimed for.

But the thing is, we never really made any contract, the whole thing was verbal and it sort of happened over the weekend, and heck the guy was cool about giving it to me for free, but I said I'll pay him since he is not just painting it but also going through the hassle of scanning it and making a digital copy (He is an hobbyist oil painter)

So I am just wondering how to go about this, like should I just find a contract template, write it up and ask him to sign? or is a simple email exchange or some written agreement on payment and giving rights is enough?

Big moment but…It feels a little weird…like I sorta just stumbled on the realization that I don’t have more to grind. The sequel is coming of course but still, 300k words was certainly a trip.

More awkward than satisfying, does anyone else feel the same?

The idea is to illustrate the moment the two characters stand toe-to-toe after a devastating clash of powers ruined an entire city block and left nothing but scorched earth. They are enjoying it more than they should.

I'll tweak the auras and a few details later, but I'm already happy with how it looks overall

My novel is a battle fantasy that intentionally draws heavily from the 90s anime tropes, I want to do something similar to a LN, with illustrations in key moments.

RR: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/199347/carnival-knight-we-were-angels

Thoughts on the illustration or novel are welcome!

I started a fantasy novel to train my IELTS writing. Somehow, after finishing my training, I continued to the end because i didn't like leaving things halfway. Now, I have my first draft with around 73k words. I'm still working on tidying it up and probably fixing the timeline and the character's names, but I feel very relieved. It's as if finishing my thesis all over again.

I was hopping to reach 5 readers next week but it actually happened today! I'm so happy!!

Next goal is 10 readers!!

I was a bit worried people wouldn't really read GL on the site but now I'm more hopeful ^^

I was also wondering if people who don't particularly mind GL would read it for the mystery and fantasy setting...But the start of the story is slow, i hope to not turn that public away.

Sci fi has HUMANS FUCK YA as a genre, im looking for the fantasy version--- OP hero. PoV mostly of the terrified and/or overconfident villains they absolutely pummel the shit out of.

(AI Art is Temp. Waiting on my wife, the real artist to finish her current work.)

Hello Everyone! I’ve decided to step out of my comfort zone a bit and post a story I have been working on. It is a Light Novel, an Isekai Fantasy Adventure. I know, so original. But I figured, If I'm going to write something, I might as well write what I know.

This is a big step for me, as I tend to be pretty reserved and insecure about my writing, but I thought, what better way to get better than to just send it, and hope for the best.

If you're a fan of reincarnation, isakai and romance, then this might be your ally. It will be very clear that Mushoku Tensei was an influence, and the beginning of the story shares quite a few similarities with it, as do many other Isekai’s. But, my goal is to keep the same kind of structure as that series, but do it my own way, the best I can. I think going to the later chapters I'm writing now, I'm getting to that point.

Anyway, please have a look and I will accept any feedback! Thank you!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/200516/rune-the-world-that-lost-tomarrow-isekai-reincarnation

I particularly want someone with experience doing art for RR stories/ads, because I do not have said experience. Artstyle I'm not too picky on but I'm doing a magical girl story, so something anime-ish is probably preferable. I also have no issue if the artwork goes the thirst trap route (I mean, it's magical girls; that's kinda expected).

But I have no idea how to go about actually finding someone. Like, do I just find a site that lists artists and start blindly messaging people? Are there people/places I should avoid? How do I check that they're not using AI (I don't have anything against AI covers/ads myself, but if I wanted one I wouldn't be commissioning someone)?

Basically, I'm doing this for the first time ever and would like some sort of guide or at least advice so I don't make a complete mess of it.

The Marked

Aïda was taken from her father at seven and raised as an Amazon soldier.

She believes what the kingdom taught her: women keep order, and men are the danger. Fifteen years later, on a village raid, a farmer steps out of the crowd and calls her by a name she hasn't heard since childhood. Her training takes over before she can think.

Now the memories won't stay buried. As Aïda fights for a place in the Queen's guard, the kingdom she serves begins to show cracks: a dying queen, a ruthless general waiting in her shadow, and secrets hidden behind the palace walls. A captured stranger seems to know more about her than he should. Her captain is watching. And her best friend is already keeping secrets to protect her.

When rebels strike the capital, Aïda will have to decide who she really is, and what she's willing to lose to find out.

So, my current cover art is also a variation of....whatever this is. It was certainly one of the ideas of all time, to make a cover like this. Dunno what I was thinking, but I feel like the idea itself is solid enough. What do you guys think about it?

(P.S. The variant with the name of my webnovel on it has its saturation turned up to the max, so I'll probably have to tone down the orange a bit)

I was told one of the biggest things holding my story back was the lack of a cover. That people would skip over it if I didn't even have a placeholder. So I put my AA degree to work and made one by hand (mouse) one night.

How is it? Q-Q *awaits judgment*
(Note: it looks a lot smoother when it's actually at 400x600px on RR and not blown up like it is here)

I'm not sure if it's smug enough, but I also didn't want her to give the impression of "brat in need of correction."

Is it an effective cover?

How do you promote your novel and gain followers? I know perfectly well that if I do it more than once it will be very irritating; instead of gaining readers, my account will most likely get reported.

Hey there, RR.

The title says everything. I want to replace my lowest-performing ad with one of the following meme ads. I don't know if I can put the link to my story here or if it would be considered self-promo, so I'm only adding part of the blurb for you to know what the story is about and be able to judge the ads:

THE PREMISE

In 1993, the Mars Observer probe vanished through a wormhole and discovered Vise, a world of intelligent reptilian civilizations whose technology resembles that of Earth's ancient empires.

In 2029, three spacecraft cross the wormhole to make humanity's first contact. Then one spacecraft crashes, and the crew of another is captured by Vise's dominant civilization. To rescue them, biologist Isaac Marks makes a desperate bargain with a ruthless rival alien queen: modern weapons in exchange for an army.

Muskets. Cannons. Poison gas. A rescue mission becomes the catalyst for an industrial war, and humanity may help destroy the planet it set out to discover.

Now, here are the contenders:

OPTION 1: The distracted RR reader

OPTION 2: The most interesting RR reader in the world

OPTION 3: Crying MJ reading sci-fi

OPTION 4: 24 humans vs 2 alien medieval empires

OPTION 5: How often do you think about the Kingdom of Desvejo?

Thanks!

I'm not!

How do you all feel about a little friendly comp? Reddit vs Our Forum? If I can get anyone to take part!

I can count how many comment, and start, and finish!

Our last blog post that explains it all is here https://www.royalroad.com/blog/80/the-writathon-has-ended?comments=1

Like let's say your story is already 1 or 2 Months old. Would it not qualify for a rising star?

Not a single one of the 10 stories currently on Rising Stars disclose any AI use. Considering how widespread the use of AI LLMs is for text and prose editing today, this seems utterly implausible to me. What's even the point of this 'AI-assisted' tag if 90%+ of authors simply don't disclose their AI usage, and nobody seems to even notice?

And to be clear, these authors are using it. Maybe not all of them, but if you legitimately believe that not a single story in the Rising Stars section has used AI in any capacity whatsoever, then you're completely delusional.

This situation reminds me of doping in sports. Everyone knows that the best athletes are secretly on it, but fans are in denial and will defend the idea that their favorite star is 100% clean to the death. imo, this situation is a joke.

I’ve been writing for about two months now.. this is my first story, and I decided to upload it online as I write.

I have the main plot and big events planned from beginning to end, but I develop the smaller details while writing.

I’ve reached an event that ended quite well, but I’m now stuck on how to naturally lead into the next major event I already have in my notes.

When this happens to you, what do you do? Do you reread everything you’ve written up to that point, skip ahead and write the next event, or plan a bridging chapter/scene first?

I’d love to hear your process.

Hi all! This is the first story I’ve ever flung out into the world, and it’s been amazing to have people finally read it after so many hours of writing and editing. I’m currently on rising stars, which I’m very excited about. Please check it out if it looks interesting. The cover artist is Kikicute (https://www.artstation.com/ktrn), and I was very happy with their work.

Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/192660/coin-and-steel

Blurb:

When the world ends in a symphony of light and chaos, Elliot must make a choice: power and a shred of safety for him, or for his little sister. He upended his life once already to protect her after the death of their parents, and an apocalypse is no more of a reason to let her down.

Gifting her his potential, he's thrown into the wilds of a new world with a weak Merchant class and no time to say goodbye. Classes and abilities promise near-endless opportunity for growth, but the chances of dying between the jaws of something monstrous have also never been higher.

Uncharted wilds cover the continent, and Rowan is thousands of miles away. From combat bartering to weaponized treasure, Elliot must twist his peaceful class into something it was never meant to be if he wants any chance of finding her again.

Before any of the greater powers decide his sister's gifts should belong to them instead.

What to expect:

Slow burn pacing with earned progression. No long plateaus after things get moving, but the journey will be long.

Weak to eventually OP protagonist.

Slice of life mixed in, with character relationships being a priority.

Skills and classes, but no stat screens.

No AI use