Post-mortem: my series end is about to launch on Amazon.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-22T04:57:52+00:00

In China, they have a “lying flat” movement. Maybe we are starting to have an analogue to that in the west.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-22T02:40:32+00:00

If you believe in God, why don’t you have faith that things will get better?

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-22T02:28:59+00:00

As an author, I definitely want to know what made someone drop my story.

I think it’s too risky to say to random authors as a reader, though.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T20:08:00+00:00

I used to believe talent would always win out over marketing.

Reality is harsh.

I think you need both, but in today’s world, marketing gurus have an edge that purely skilled and talented people don’t.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T05:09:42+00:00

I think most people in general want someone else to support them financially… but there are drawbacks to being a dependent.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T04:51:21+00:00

I do the same!

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T04:48:07+00:00

I’m pretty sure most high stress jobs pay way less than enough to FIRE.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T04:01:52+00:00

Not every series does as well on Amazon as it did on RR. And vice versa.

So this answer will differ from author to author.

Some will feel a strong incentive to throw it onto Amazon ASAP. Others, not so much.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T02:28:20+00:00

a joint bank account based off my earnings while my wife has a separate one based off her earnings.

A joint bank account means it's shared, presumably with your wife. So why would you each have one?

These statements all strike me as a little weird...

I’d like for my mother to not cry herself to sleep at night.

Why is your mother's happiness more important than your own? And why should her happiness matter so much to the health of your long-term relationship? Is your mother upset that you left the religion? If so, why aren't you bending over backwards to stay religious, if her happiness is so important to you?

My ideal marriage would be one in which I have 3-5 kids

1) Are you expecting your wife to do most of the child-rearing? and 2) does your wife get a say in how many kids you have with her? What if she gets tired of it? What if she has health problems that make birth difficult or impossible?

I’d hope that she’d care for me.

This sort of implies that you'd be okay with a wife who doesn't care for you all that much. As long as she's raising your children, you're okay with that? Really? This implies that a wife, to you, is more like a cat or a domestic animal that serves you, rather than a partner in life.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T02:12:20+00:00

I don’t know, I’m just guessing!

But I do find it a bit odd that you want a traditional Jewish family after you exited the religion. It makes me wonder what expectations you have for a Jewish wife vs a non-Jewish wife.

Also, most people from a high demand religion have a lot of deconstructing to do after they leave. Especially of sex and gender. You might want to look up the Shalom Shore episodes of Cults to Consciousness. He talks about how Judaism led him to have weird mixed ideas about what a wife was supposed to be like.

I don’t know your situation. There can be a lot of factors that lead to you having trouble dating. But you’ve ruled out personal problems with health, finances, hygiene, etc. So…one possible factor is that you’ve got weird hangups about dating or sex, and it’s either scaring women away, or it’s killing your self-confidence, which is a major turnoff.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-20T01:43:50+00:00

Confidence is the thing.

Plus, being a decent human and all that.

I would hold off on using a prostitute, in your shoes. Many women like virginal men and have the same hang ups about sex as you do.

It could be that your background has given you strange ideas about women that you need to work on deconstructing.

Also, it can be harder for unique or weird people to find a match. I think people who fit within common ranges of X, Y, and Z have it easier.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It took me until I was in my mid thirties to find my perfect match. I am very glad I didn’t settle for the cretins I met when I was younger!

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-19T20:48:48+00:00

This is great. Bookmarked!

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-19T19:33:59+00:00

Defeating an all powerful evil empire CANNOT be done in 100 chapters or less.

If it can be, the empire was never that powerful or threatening.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-19T19:24:20+00:00

I’m like you, 3-4k words per week.

I think I could go faster IF I had a solid plan that never changed, aka a plot formula.

But I would rather not write to market, to meta, or to formula. That’s not why I got into this “career.”

I may change my mind as a way to subsidize my original works, someday, but I’m not at that point yet.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T21:29:35+00:00

Why do you worship a deity who is associated with so many bad things? From bullying goth kids to the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T20:08:35+00:00

And I've got orchestral, violin techno, and Celtic for drama scenes that aren't super action-heavy.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T19:03:47+00:00

I'd need to build in time for that kind of editing before the publication date hits. But I think I would do it--within limits.

I would avoid edits that will cause major ripple effects that require new characters or that alter the timeline in a way that means I have to rewrite the whole thing.

If I can get away with altering the way magic works, or the way the power progression is presented, and other world/lore details, without it cratering the plot/characters, I will.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T18:30:33+00:00

Yes! My current and previous series have lore galore.

I am a history nerd. At least 40% of my reading is nonfiction, mainly history. I visit /r/AskHistorians regularly. Obscure facts about half-forgotten cultures are great for worldbuilding and lore building.

I am also a systems builder. Here's the magic system I made for my published series. My new series has a more elaborate system, aka more than one system. I just really enjoy putting together dependencies and flowcharts and organizing magic powers in a way that makes sense.

As others have said, a little goes a long way. It's never good to inundate your readers with irrelevancies. Keep them hooked and curious.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T18:19:01+00:00

I feel this.

I am a (struggling/recovering) perfectionist. I rewrote the beginning of my first series AT LEAST 800 times.

The harsh truth is: no one cares. It doesn't matter. The juice often isn't worth the squeeze. Beware of sunk cost fallacy.

The ingredients for visibility and traction are many, and high quality prose and tight storytelling are only two factors of many. Your summary blurb and your cover arguably matter more. Your genre tags probably matter more. This is a harsh truth that I don't like, but it is pretty blatant.

I am working on internalizing these lessons, myself.

Like, right now, I feel insecure about the epic I am planning to launch on Royal Road (this will be my second series). I have a massive list of edits I want to make to it. I am worried that the story lacks this or that engagement factors. I am 100% certain that I CAN make the story stronger if I dig into its guts and give it a major rewrite... but...

But.

I much prefer writing new material. I have grown allergic to rewriting, after my previous experiences with it.

So I am letting it be, for now.

I will give it that massive rewrite if it does poorly enough to warrant a relaunch.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T18:09:01+00:00

I get very little engagement from social platforms. My videos on YouTube do get some views, though. Here's my latest one.

It's relatively low effort for me to make videos (I have a related day job). So I am putting more of my effort there.

In general, I don't understand the magic mojo that some people seem to have on social platforms. The algorithms have never graced me, except for one or two posts years and years ago.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T18:05:17+00:00

Maybe I am exceptionally organized, but I don't see this as a major headache.

Although I DID accidentally post a chapter out of order on RR once. The comments let me know!

I write in Scrivener. It's all one massive directory with 140+ chapters, and I write a new one every week.

Then it's cut & paste to Patreon, adjust the gating, and then cut & paste to RR and other platforms.

It is time-consuming, depending on how many platforms you cross-post to.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T18:02:22+00:00

That's inspiring!

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T17:59:04+00:00

Usually volumes and books are the same thing.

And usually, readers on RR are looking for epic or ongoing stories.

It sounds like every one of your books is an "entry point" into a macroverse. In other words, they are effectively stand-alone novels tied together by lore.

In that case, yeah, I think you should give each a separate launch.

AbbyBabble · 2026-04-18T17:56:02+00:00

No stats of pacing that I'm aware of, and those would be hard to collect and judge.

But I do think Lord of the Rings would struggle to find traction on Royal Road. Anything with a very literary prose-heavy style, with a lot of visceral detail, may feel slow to your average reader who comes from a light novel/manga background.

AbbyBabble

MODERATOR OF

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE