▲ 28 r/royalroad
Lessons learned: 30 days of off-meta crayons later
Hello again,
A little over a month ago, I began publishing my first book in Royal Road. In this post, I'll share a rundown of my experience, my expectations going in, and the lessons learned.
ORIGIN STORY
- I started working on a novel about 3 years ago now.
- I was 25% into a traditional novel when I discovered RR thanks to r/fantasywriters
- Realized this platform would be a better way to get ppl exposed to my work.
- Drafted an outline for RR book around June 2025, using my already written world.
- To honor my original novel, I wanted to attempt to write something off-meta 1st
- I devised a compromise: litRPG exists, but it's been disabled. Reincarnation has occured, but the MC does not remember it. So in the end, for the MC, he's living through "Lord of the Rings", but for the reader, they are aware of litRPG elements not available to the character.
PRE-LAUNCH PREPARATION
- Originally, I meant to conduct extensive research and set up many shoutouts and other platforms way before launch.
- I underestimated the amount of work required to set up everything AFTER writing, foolishly thinking I could set up all the shoutouts a month before launch (LOL).
- I read the megathreads too late. Take my advice: Read them NOW!
- I credit the megathreads for 75% of any and all successes.
- I thankfully have some marketing experience that helped me make up for my lack of shoutout/blurb/cover preparation. But most people don't have that.
- All in all, I did what I could and scheduled maybe 2 or 3 shoutouts and planned for a 11 April release. However, tragedy would soon strike...
THE LAUNCH DISASTER
- Launch week had finally arrived. I was nervous, excited, frantically finishing up my patreon.
- I submitted my first chapter and it got approved. I thought: "what could go wrong?"
- Two days before launch, I was polishing chapter 1 when, like a celestial prank, I hit LAUNCH by mistake. So, on 9 April, my book launched.
- I panicked. Frantically taking to my social media and work colleagues, pleading for them to give the book a look. I didn't even have ads set up.
- But I did not despair. I looked at every possible angle I could improve on and began asking friends, discord and anyone that would listen for ways to improve the presentation.
THE GREAT HUMBLING (WK 1)
- I quickly found out I was not even remotely as ready as I thought. My cover was bland, boring and uninteresting. My blurb was a bunch of vague statements strung together by flimsy punctuation. My first few chapters were full of tense issues.
- So, I adapted. I changed what I could, revised what I couldn't. I began aggressively pursuing shoutout opportunities, while inserting my story into every corner of the internet I could find.
- I also decided to begin an AD campaign, to add some more eyes on the story.
- Week one was rough and humbling, ending with 6 or 7 followers and about 400 views.
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE (WK 2)
- My efforts began to bear some fruit. On day 9, I found myself at 21 followers and a handful of good reviews. I began to think all the changes and extra work had some impact.
- I also noticed my AD, which I thought was clever and good, was severely underperforming. I got some advice that changing it too early was premature, but looking back at the end result, I don't regret my decision. I changed the ad to a "memey" stick figure AD that still sells the story beats. That accounts for about 20% of my followers as of this writing!!
- Overall, week 2 was great and I just felt dopamine overdose from seeing the numbers go up, and I finally understood why litRPG is popular. I finished week 2 at 60 followers.
- At this point, I understood that Main RS was probably unrealistic, but I did not let that affect me at all. I lost a whole week due to my own lack of preparedness, so I just told myself "Get better."
A VILLAIN APPEARS (WK 3)
- Sometime shortly after week 3 began, I was targeted by someone with a bot farm. They gave me like 8 0.5 ratings in the span of a couple days. This was all confirmed and shoutout to the RR mods for actually helping.
- However, this whole ordeal caused me to go on a downward spiral. I started feeling unsafe, since I didn't know who or why I was being targeted. I even started to look over my shoulder IRL. It was one of the worst feelings ever. I even thought about quitting over it.
- I even began to suspect some work colleagues, who have very technical computer knowledge and such, and became quiet and reserved, even getting a few "Hey, are you okay?"
- But after a phone call with my brother, he told me to remember myself. And I'm not someone who gives up easily. So, I decided to say "F U" to the harassers and keep writing as usual.
- Even so, I did a lot less marketing that week since I was so depressed. In the end, I finished WK 3 at 78 followers.
A PORTENT OF FIRE AND SMOKE (WK 4)
- This final week, I finally felt like my old self again. I continued to blast my story through all social medias, talking to anyone IRL that would listen, and setting up more Swaps.
- My ad REALLY began to pop off this week too, perhaps due to the chapter lenght being more robust now, people feel more safe committing.
- And then, against all odds, I became a meteorite: I hit genre Rising Stars. It was short lived, but it happened. I burned brightly, a portent of fire and smoke. And then, I was gone. But not forgotten.
- Now, I'm looking at 87 followers, and growing steadily. My story is not going anywhere, and the second half of book 1 just started.
LESSONS LEARNED
- READ THE MEGATHREADS.
- WHEN YOU THINK YOU'RE READY, GO LOOK AT IT AGAIN. YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT.
- ADAPT. POSSESS NO EGO. CHANGE THINGS DECISIVELY.
- LEAVE THE SHYNESS TO YOUR MC, TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR BOOK.
- HARD TIMES WILL COME, OVERCOME. IS THIS NOT WHAT PROGRESSION IS ALL ABT?
- SHOUTOUTS BUILD NOT ONLY VIEWS, BUT GOOD AUTHOR RELATIONSHIPS.
WAY AHEAD
- I plan to use everything I'm learning and implement it for book 2 of this series, as well as a very special project titled [REDACTED], but I'm not ready to share more on that just yet.
- Book 1 is about halfway done, and it's only going to get crazier as the secrets begin to untangle and the stakes expand beyond a continent to involve the world.
You still here? Really? Well, might as well link my story then. Thanks.
u/Hlodvik — 7 days ago