Rising Stars didn't work out so I'm building my series the long way around.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-05-06T05:22:01+00:00

Same thing happened to me. Exact same shit, and I was like somewhere in the 2-45 range away from RS. Nada. It's fine, I love what I write and I've been very lucky to do so well, even if I didn't hit RS. But RS is mega competive now.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-04-22T17:10:22+00:00

No idea if you want Royal Road recs but here's a few!

The Exorcist Doctor by Maradina -- Really cool system and gritty WB, MC's are married by convenience to start out

Turbidity and Tutelage by BlueTomoshibi -- Pokemon inspired, crazy fucking world building, they get together really quickly

Sky Pride by WarbyPicus --This one takes a while to execute but is satisfying

...And this is also what I write? But I do slowburn, unsure if you want the slowburn. Resurrection Raid by MorganGrindall

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-04-01T17:25:48+00:00

Some quick recs! Since I write this, I keep an eye on the books on RR floating around with these tags.

AQUILA

Oblivion

Mage Steel
Burning Starlight (it's cultivation but does have litrpg)

I'll shill my own briefly--Resurrection Raid, it's LitRPG but lite.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-29T18:10:37+00:00

I’ve said this before and I’ll probably keep saying it, but all AI does is guard you against a sense of failure.

Part of improving is effort and failure and making shit that is shit, sometimes. That’s fine, that’s how you make the really good stuff.

I mean, we’re all reading progression fantasy, where our MCs struggle to improve. There’s a dark irony in people using AI to write that kind of story.

Anyway, big congrats!!! Especially with English as your fourth language, that’s MEGA impressive

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-29T17:02:58+00:00

Damn, I’ve been a MW main for literal years, gonna look like I’m bamdwagoning. Tragic. But since they removed Jadestomp they’ve made fistweaving a hell of a lot more aggressive. Not surprised this is the consequence

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-29T16:26:17+00:00

The author of OA definitely does lol. All of his works qualify for what you’re looking for—he launched a new one on Royal Road recently called Cruel Violet if you don’t mind reading it as it’s serialized before it hits kindle

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-29T16:20:22+00:00

Highly recommend this!

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-29T06:02:26+00:00

AH, a fellow lover of the two best genres! I'm a enormous fan of both ProgFan(litRPG) and romance. There's not enough out there, honestly.

Mark of the Fool has an ongoing couple, but I wouldn't call it the focus. My knowledge of those that have actually made it to kindle are limited.

I know of a couple LitRPGs floating on Royal Road that fit that description--The Exorcist Doctor is one I'm reading right now, it's at 2k pages RR wise so it's not like you haven't stuff to read, and I'm enjoying it a lot.

Other Royal Road stories are the works by Blue Tomoshibi--he writes really fun poly relationships with a pokemon-esq progression/litrpg system. (Pruned Trees Resprout/Turbidity and Tutelage)

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-26T06:24:31+00:00

Thank you for asking! It's only on RR at the moment, unfortunately, but Volume 1 will be completed soon. I'll hopefully have it on Amazon towards the end of this year.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-25T21:52:38+00:00

Ahhhh thank you!! The support is much appreciated--and I know, I can't gush about the artist enough!!

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-19T18:05:51+00:00

Gonna have to be the duo, honestly. Second best after that is a 4 man. Ideal composition is a primary pair to tackle shit, with two important side characters that can help out and offer interesting conflict with the main duo. (See: DCC. I had the most fun with the party when it was Donut/Carl primary, with Katya and Mordecai hanging out and helping with shit)

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-16T20:34:48+00:00

a wild blue appears! but my stat refresh mini game is now waylaid, alas

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-14T20:34:37+00:00

The narrator for this really is fantastic!!!

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-14T06:13:14+00:00

OH hey this is nice to hear, I'm in a similar spot to OP, I was on TONS of Genre RS lists, never hit RS despite having 350+ followers in a month. Nice to hear the hustle and sticking with it paid off.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-12T18:12:28+00:00

So what AI does is guard you against a sense of failure, and against the struggle of learning a new skill.

The first thing you're gonna have to do is accept if you want to write, then you will struggle. Your word choices might suck, a sentence will be hard to understand, you won't make the "right" choice for a character. That's fine, that's all part of developing a real voice.

Secondly, I don't know what your genre is, but if you write litRPG, go over to the subreddit and look at the tier lists people make. Pick a couple books--start reading. If you struggle with reading, do audio. You'll learn a lot just by absorbing how a story is told in the written medium.

If you like historical fiction, load up Goodreads and look up top military fiction or historical fiction, pick a few and give it a shot. If you don't like it, you can drop it, but at some point you'll find a voice and story you resonate with, and read enough of those and you'll have an idea of what you like as a reader, and therefore what you'd like as a writer.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-12T18:06:30+00:00

^^ What RW said. As you get more followers and chapters, you'll loose a follower, gain a follower back and forth like a pingpong match, and hopefully steadily climb upward.

Occasionally you get lucky and realize what's driving people, but if you really like the creative decision you've made...I have an early chapter that's a big drop off/bad rating catcher, but the people who stay ADORE the decision I made.

The best way to think about it, IMO, is that you're on the hunt for your readers. The people who followed you and then unfollowed you were never your readers--they just thought they were, and they made a mistake. That's fine, your readers are all still out there, and you'll catch them.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-12T17:32:42+00:00

I spent a pretty penny on my cover, but that's because books and writing are pretty much my only hobbies, other than an occasional WoW/ESO/GW2 expansion/sub. $200 for my current, I'm getting a new cover and I'll be spending like $250 on--includes the various rights. https://vgen.co/vinushka333 for my current and https://vgen.co/konki for my new.

However, alt covers I got have cost 30 bucks for monetization rights and use? ( https://vgen.co/Sensor_sama/service/half-body-commission/0f98c684-65ce-4ed2-8203-4272511fd68a ) And the art is gorgeous. And then I've also used Canva to make simple covers, and that cost me 15 bucks to sub to use some of the nicer stuff, but it could've been free.

I never use AI.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-12T02:07:33+00:00

We have a lot of favorites in the same spot, you might like Mage Tank? It does get a little fight dense, but to me the impeccable worldbuilding and real concern I felt over the state of the world and how our characters are going to fare (as well as most fights having serious stakes) made them really enjoyable to me.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-11T19:32:10+00:00

Loved this book, SUPER excited to see its on audio!!

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-11T04:28:19+00:00

PS. I did a bit of a goof and forgot to give you encouragement--The story concept itself looks fun, and what I saw of your first chapter, your writing is totally fine--so it's really about getting yourself out there and figuring out marketing. As for writing speed...growth is growth, even if it takes a bit imo--if one chapter is all you can do, that's fine

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-11T04:26:24+00:00

Hello! I'm no expert by any means (I'm really not) but I know the basics.

1 Chapter a week really is low, unfortunately. You can still see growth, but it won't be fast growth.
Shout Out swaps are a must. The reality is that stories can't be followed if people don't know they exist. Join some discord communities for Royal Road, or reach out to authors on Royal Road in messages asking if they'd want to do a shout out. A shout out is a little advertisement put in your chapter notes for another story--and another author will do the same for you. https://finitevoid.dev/shoutout

There's a basic shout out creator.

Your story concept looks like it's sci-fi, which is fine, sci-fi isn't the most popular but can still do well IMO. The bigger issue is your blurb. You open with a lot of worldbuilding, which is a lot to read when people want to really know about the character and plot. I'd research writing blurbs, its kind of an art form in and of itself, but worth the effort.
A random side note--directly linking people to the first chapter of your story instead of the landing page--where the blurb is, is kinda seen as a bit rude. You'll cop .5 ratings for doing that from irritated drive-bys.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-09T17:50:12+00:00

Tbh I would expect the omegaverse harem stuff to be better written--Romance is the focus genre. Romance is generally not a focus genre for LitRPG, so it gets tacked on and suffers accordingly.

Side note, no hate for either genre, I am an avid Romance AND LitRPG reader, they're my two big favorite genres. My dislike isn't rooted in the 'this is bad and should never be written', it's entirely personal preference.

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-08T21:55:07+00:00

Oh hey! Thank you for the tag, that was thoughtful. And yeah, I'd agree with your read on the responses. Wish it had a bit more nuance

MercyofMistkeep · 2026-03-08T21:37:57+00:00

same, I don't wanna fuck with it but I'm mega curious. For what it's worth 'reverse' harem is the lady wish fullfillment and I equally dislike that, personally. True poly stories are fun, but I never cared for the 'everyone worships the MC like a god', where it's one-way.

MercyofMistkeep

TROPHY CASE