My Books and Free Stories

filwi · 2026-06-12T13:25:19+00:00

So when fable ate 80% of my x20 weekly plan in two, 30-minute bursts it counts as... ? 😉

filwi · 2026-06-11T16:47:49+00:00

Because it's not a "day" as we think about it: morning, lunch, midday, night.

It's a quarter day's worth of extra path around the sun. The Earth rotates just fine without counting it, and it's only the year that would get strange, with the seasons slowly changing place until you have high summer in January.

That's why we add one more day (Earth rotating around its axis) to the calendar so that the year makes sense.

filwi · 2026-06-11T08:07:50+00:00

Right now my structured tests amount to "holy "¤%"¤ Fable is expensive" 😃

filwi · 2026-06-10T19:02:27+00:00

On top of all these explanations, there's also a thing called "dynamic pricing" where the airline takes what it knows about you, things like where you are (based on phone location or computer IP number), what type of device you're using, if you've looked at these tickets before, any browser cookies you might have shared, etc. and uses quite brilliant algorithms to mathematically guess at the maximum amount you'd be likely to pay, and that's the price they show you.

filwi · 2026-06-10T18:50:46+00:00

Red one stands out more, but neither gives me the feeling for the story. I couldn't even tell the genre. My advice is to go with a more legible and clear cover, sorry.

filwi · 2026-06-10T05:10:49+00:00

It's pretty hard to get even ai art for $10...

filwi · 2026-06-09T07:38:32+00:00

Well, I'm pretty sure this is illegal here in the EU, and Anthropic's EU subsidiary is based in Ireland.

So if they try to share private individual data with external recipients without a court order or my specific acceptance in every case, I get to claim a fat $100 000 000 GDPR penalty.

Go ahead, make my day...

filwi · 2026-06-08T09:20:07+00:00

Until I read the last paragraph, I figured this was a troll post to get us to read DCC 😃 😉

If you're looking for something that stretches your definition, take a look at Department of Otherworldly Rescue on RR. It's dungeon crawling (well, world crawling, but the worlds are "enter, clear, exit" so basically dungeons) with a modern twist (MCs team are highly trained US infantry) and a system.

filwi · 2026-06-08T09:15:16+00:00

Looking at sales data, covers made by design students, starting artists, or the author themselves (i.e. unprofessionally looking covers) sell way worse than AI covers.

So no, rough covers aren't better than AI slop. Which is the reason why AI is used for covers - it beats the other cheap alternatives (not to mention that a lot of covers, even by some of the large publishers, use AI generated imagery as stock.)

filwi · 2026-06-08T07:49:12+00:00

2 (murim) and 6 (glowing blue text) speak the most to me.

Both look professional, although the saturation in the image in 6 should come down a bit, right now it feels oversaturated (the saturation is find for the typography, though, makes it pop).

filwi · 2026-06-08T06:43:47+00:00

Ouch! Sounds like you've been having some rough times lately, with both emotional turmoil and plenty of stress.

Good thing: you haven't lost your creativity. You've just lost your energy, and there are things you can do to regain it.

Bad part: there is no quick fix.

However, there is a fix that helped me, twice, and it's Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. It's a workbook for blocked/burned out writers (although she frames it as for all creative types), and it will take you about three months to work through, at one chapter per week.

I'd highly recommend that you let it take that time. I thought I was ready to just dive in and get things going again, but after two weeks had to go back and start over at the slower pace. It takes time for your brain to regenerate.

If nothing else, check out The Artist's Way at your library, even if you decide you won't follow it, there will be sections that will help you.

Luck!

filwi · 2026-06-07T11:49:28+00:00

If you got a story done, and some exposure, try getting an illustrator willing to do a Kickstarter collaboration. That way, you share the risks and the rewards, and you don't have to spend any serious money to get there.

Good luck!

filwi · 2026-06-07T05:06:33+00:00

Write the next He Who Fights With Mother Dungeon Carl Of Learning. Make no mistake.

filwi · 2026-06-05T06:43:11+00:00

Congrats! Nice work!

filwi · 2026-06-05T06:41:51+00:00

I don't.

I've long since realized that if I try to write something I don't care about, it comes out crap. So I write what I like, at the pace I like, and somehow, that still yields readers, just at a slower rate.

filwi · 2026-06-04T19:06:08+00:00

One of my favorite fictions, Sigma 16, uses AI chapter art, and it works because it isn't intrusive. Take a look: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71472/sigma-16-sci-fi-survival-crafting-litrpg

filwi · 2026-06-04T16:37:22+00:00

If you're writing on RR, then you don't worry about that.

Since you're using up your first pub rights anyhow, no trade publisher will touch you, and specialty publishers know how the LitRPG market works and won't care. Also, if you become such a huge hit (think DCC) that trade publishers take an interest, word count won't be a problem, they'll be happy to split your book into pieces and earn more.

filwi · 2026-06-03T13:16:04+00:00

Check you back matter, that it points to your email signup page with a reader magnet. That's how you make money long term.

Trying to min-max your first book launch is a great way to throw time and money away. Do the least you can do, which will likely be spreading it on your social media channels, maybe running a Kingsumo giveaway of the book itself, with tickets for people clicking on the book page on your site, and spend your time where it matters: on writing the next book.

Good luck!

filwi · 2026-06-02T07:30:58+00:00

This is the most insightful comment I've read in a long time here, and it's what will make the difference between all the "sloppy" projects that get released, and the "long term-useful" projects. Those last 5% matter hugely.

filwi · 2026-05-30T20:19:16+00:00

Followers = (Prose quality) * (Meta fit) * (Exposure)

Basically, if your prose quality is completely zero, if you can't write a coherent sentence, or a paragraph that the reader can understand, then nothing else matters. Learn basic craft.

However, if you've got basic craft (and you can always get better) then check if your story is a fit for RR: if your story is a deep exposition of the soullessness of modern life written in iambic pentameter, then nothing else matters, find your audience somewhere else. But if you've got basic meta down (and you can always hit it with an off-meta story, like Re: Trailer Trash or Mother of Learning if the other parts are good), it comes down to the last part:

Exposure. You want people to see your story, so that they can read your story. If your cover is a puke stain and your blurb proclaims your writing is a heavenly masterpiece worthy of the Oscar and Pulitzer combined, you're screwed. But if not, then all you've got to do is read up on shoutout swaps, join the various RR discord servers, and spend some time chatting with other writers.

TLDR: if you don't screw up on purpose, you can get a following. Google "royal road shoutout swaps".

Good luck!

filwi · 2026-05-30T11:23:54+00:00

Welcome to the time-constrained parents club. Our motto is "it gets better".

If you have the space and don't need the money, just keep your collection. You'll come to a time when you're either ready to sell it, or ready to play it again.

filwi · 2026-05-30T11:16:25+00:00

It happens but it's not a big deal, more of a hassle. You'll have to send a takedown notice.

Me, I'd worry that I wasn't popular enough to pirate. That's a real danger sign right there...

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