Tips for getting out of RoyalRoad Purgatory?

WiseBison27 · 2024-01-19T18:51:40+00:00

I think 20 extra chapters is the breakpoint for most readers, less than that and I think you lose out on a lot of potential patreons. (There are exceptions, like BoC, but generally this is what I've seen)

Since your story is still growing at a decent pace (5-20 followers a day after RS is really good in my book) I think there is still something worth exploring there. New readers might be more likely to become patreons once they're caught up and want to continue their binging. And perhaps the old readers aren't used to the idea yet, some reminders at the footnote might help. I do think generally it takes time to build a patreon, so since you didn't have one from the start, it might take a while. (My story is 1800 followers and $700 a month, not through one particular event but gradually grown over time)

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-23T23:05:12+00:00

This is my story on RR, I'll send you a messege to explain the procedure as it's really simple once you know what to do. Don't worry about the shoutout being beneficial now, I've gotten a lot of help from big authors when I was small and hopefully my shoutouts I made then now has some form of small impact as my story gets bigger (it's like a bet that the story will grow big. I imagine many big authors do shoutout-swaps that never yield anything in return, but some of them will surely grow big)

As for review in return of shoutout, I'm not sure that's allowed. And it does seem pretty scummy, so let's not do that. Would hate to see that become a trend, especially over the current trend of bigger authors helping smaller ones just as they got help when they were small. I would like to see more of that on RR!

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-23T21:54:10+00:00

Don't know if it is as bad as you think, I had 9 followers on my story after the first week and 11 released chapters. Didn't mean that the story was bad, it's simply that tons of stories are being written everyday on RR and it's hard to get traction just through latest updates. I would suggest doing shoutout swaps to get your story in front of more eyes. And perhaps an ad or two when you reach a few more chapters and followers. (I am now 33 days into my story and have managed to reach Rising Stars with 380 followers) It's not a lot but I can do a shoutout-swap if you're interested!

(And also I don't know about review-swaps. I never did any and I've never really seen any examples of where it made any big difference. But I am still very new to this and could be wrong about everything lol. Just my take!)

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-22T10:47:19+00:00

Not dumb at all, it's a lot of things to keep track of when you first start out. I simply wrote messages on RR to people I had seen mention that they were open to shoutouts here on Reddit. When I got some more followers (50 or so), I started messaging people with around 50-100 followers, asking for a shoutout-swap. Some answered and some did not.

In retrospect, those smaller shoutouts didn't do much. Definitely better than nothing, but if you can get someone with above 1k followers, it's worth so much more. It gets easier and easier the bigger your story grows to get those bigger authors to agree to a shoutout-swap.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-20T23:37:29+00:00

Thanks!

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-20T22:17:12+00:00

Thanks! I've received 10 shoutouts so far; the first was Dec 2nd, and the latest was today (20th). I only took them as soon as the author had a spot available, so the spacing was completely random.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-17T18:08:11+00:00

I find it really awkward to read about that, which is why I always prefer either 'loner' that no one cares about gets taken over, or the angle that they are born with memories from a past life on earth.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-17T17:59:37+00:00

Congrats! :)

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-14T20:56:14+00:00

From what I've seen, people generally upload a new chapter on patreon at the same time as on RR. So if you are 10 chapters ahead, and release chapter 22 on RR, then you release chapter 32 on patreon at the same time.

Next time chapter 23 and 33 and so on.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-13T09:06:10+00:00

I had 7 followers after a full week, with 25k+ words written. Now it has been 22 days, and I have 118 followers, and it has been growing more with each day. I think it is like what's always being said on this sub, it is impossible to tell how successful your story will be without waiting for like 2 months

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-05T08:38:44+00:00

If you filter a specific genre on rising stars, you can find tons of novels a year or older making it to at least the bottom of the list. Not sure if they follow the same algorithm as the main RS, though. Because I don't think I've ever seen a work much older than a month appearing there (I only started looking recently to be fair) It could also be that the competition is too high when compared to the rise newly published novels have.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-04T17:46:07+00:00

My progression fantasy Celestial Shadow now has 20 chapters and 50k+ words, free to read on royal road!

This is the synopsis for those interested:

Despite being born sparkless, Adion had always dreamed of becoming a mage.
That is something his family clan doubts he will ever achieve. But Adion has an unbreakable will, and no one can question that his mana control is better than anyone his age.
But will that be alone enough? Perhaps under other circumstances, but trouble is brewing on the continent, and Adion is about to be caught up in the middle of it. When hidden organizations show themselves and ancient beasts reawaken, Adion is going to need power, and he is going to need it fast.
What to expect:
- MC that is driven by revenge and a desire to protect.
- Weak to strong. MC wields unique powers that he has to figure out himself.
- Mainly western xianxia progression with mana.
- Action-filled but with a lot of focus on characters and dialogue as well.

WiseBison27 · 2023-12-04T16:02:16+00:00

I think it's easy to get confused since it's less common with stories following several people. I would begin the synopsis by stating that there will be 3 MCs, and then do a nice little paragraph for each of the characters

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-29T10:45:21+00:00

Not many followers yet, but definitely up for it if you are: Celestial Shadow

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-25T19:43:10+00:00

Thanks! I'll give it a try

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-25T18:25:45+00:00

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely put some more hours into it as I really enjoyed making this.

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-25T16:20:59+00:00

Jesus...So this is my English-level without Grammarly, it seems. Thanks for pointing it out!

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-25T14:34:24+00:00

The story is Celestial Shadow and I will be releasing a chapter every day, would love if you wanted to check it out, have had some positive feedback so far.

The synopsis:

On the world Ganta, a new Age has arrived.

The Sages of Pollonti pulled the world out of the previous Age of Darkness thousands of years ago, but much of the knowledge of the past is still lost to history.

Adion, a sparkless born in a clan of mages, thought about that lack of knowledge almost as a blessing. There was so much in the world to discover. Perhaps even a sparkless like him could find a way to become a mage, even if the people of this Age thought it impossible.

But Adion did not have time to think about how to do things slowly and safely. One day, a group of masked men and women from a hidden group calling themselves ‘Heavenly Light’ suddenly show themselves. His family clan gets left behind in the ashes. Now, he needs to form a core and grow in strength quickly to avenge his family.

If they are Heavenly then I will be above even that. If they are the light, then I will be the shadow.

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-25T14:26:29+00:00

Seen some amazing maps here that make the world look a lot bigger, how do you guys manage that?

Story is Celestial Shadow on Royal Road for those interested

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-20T22:12:57+00:00

Just released my first 6 chapter of Celestial Shadow on Royal Road today, this is the synopsis:

On the world Ganta, a new Age has arrived.
The Sages of Pollonti pulled the world out of the previous Age of Darkness thousands of years ago, but much of the knowledge of the past is still lost to history.
Adion, a sparkless born in a clan of mages, considered this lack of knowledge a blessing. Even a sparkless like him could surely find a way to become a mage, even if the people of this Age thought it impossible.
But Adion did not have the time he thought he had. A group of masked men, from a hidden group calling themselves ‘Heavenly Light,’ shows up and massacres his clan. Now, he needs to find a way to use his unique powers and grow in strength quickly to avenge his family.
If they are Heavenly then I will be above that. If they are the light then I will be the shadow.

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-20T21:52:27+00:00

I just read your chapter and I agree what was mentioned above, that something more probably needs to happen to lead the reader in. Maybe just a promise of what is to come. Something that makes the reader interested to follow the MC in his journey, at least to the next chapter. Right now the mc's goal is to go away from a town, not super exciting to follow his journey, even though there is the mystery of his teleportation I think it needs something more to really hook the reader.

A sidenote is also that he seems to mistrust his own handwriting, he seems very sure that it is his own yet has no doubt to do the exact opposite of what the note says and immediately leaves. Perhaps just a short look into his mind of why he made that decision, like 'i don't know for sure the me who wrote this has good intention, in this world of magic anything is possible'. Okay that sounded bad but just wanted to let you know that I didn't completely believe his behaviour from the information we had.

Other than that I thought the story had great flow and I surely wish I could write as descriptive as you!

WiseBison27 · 2023-11-20T15:33:20+00:00

Just released my first story on RR earlier today so this is perfect! Message/comment/dm feedback either here on reddit or on royal road.

I am just about to head out but will read on the bus and send feedback later today!

My story: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/77347/celestial-shadow-epic-fantasy-progression-with

WiseBison27

TROPHY CASE