DWinchester
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Lessons Learned
🕑 Added 2023-06-29 14:00:07 +0000 UTCSo, in the last couple months I've been hanging out in some author-centric discords and I've learned a lot of things that have helped current stories and will help future stories. Things like Ads and shoutouts have really moved the needle on some of my existing stories. Tenebroum is closing in on 2200 followers, but even Letter of the Law has benefited. It might break 100 before I finish writing it, and after spending six months without growing at all, that shocks me a little.
Beyond commercializing/advertising, I've learned two main things, the first is that my structure isn't fast enough for web novels (it doesn't hook readers), which is probably true, and the second one is that I'm a failure. No really, a failure. (I disagree, obviously.)
I've seen several conversations like this recently, but the most recent one, where writer A told writer B, "Look, your story only has 50 patrons. Wrap it up and throw it on Amazon and try something else." This conversation really bugged me. This isn't because I have less than 50 patrons (though I do,) but because of how clearly so many of these people are in the story telling business simply to cash in. Don't get me wrong - I'd love it if one day my writing made enough that I could do this as a full-time thing, but not on these terms.
The idea that people just crank out stories for thirty chapters and toss 'em when they aren't wild commercial successes, all so they can write something popular and then drag that out indefinitely? That's a little sad.
I hate to break it to you guys, but all my stories will eventually end. Letter of the Law will end in October, Golemancer will end in January, and the current volume of Death After Death will end at the end of the year (though there will a new volume that follows in that case.) Even Tenebroum will end one day... in, I don't know. 2025? It's harder to say there. It was supposed to be a short that ended where act 1 ended, and well - when you read the end of act 2 you will understand why it has some longevity to it.
This chapter in my life - where I can write as much as I want because I'm in school is a short one. In a year or two I will have to cut my writing time way back, and I've got a ton of stories I want to write, so old ones must finish to make way for new ones, and those will be finished in turn, even if they never get popular because a shelf full of unfinished stories is the saddest thing I can think of.
I will however be making more efforts to promote my Patron in the near future, because I feel like I could be doing more there, but I don't see spending too much time focusing on the writing as a negative honestly. I will eventually make something like this for all my stories on RR and post them now and then. I haven't decided how to handle this for SH yet. We will see. Feedback welcome!
Comments
D. Winchester
Excellent feedback, thank you. I like learning from authors about things like marketing, but beyond that... Their advice can be iffy. As far as shouts, I'm definitely new to that game, but I have a lot of bigger ones coming up. The one I just got from The Cabin is hungry grew Tenebroum by 10% by itself. Personally, I'm pretty happy with my growth. Tenebroum has increased 10x since April. It would be ungrateful to complain about that. Horror will always be niche on RR. Personally, I am hopeful that my next few stories will garner more readers to my older ones as well, but time will tell. All I can do is write, get better, and be patient. Fortunately, that alone is enough for me to have a blast.
Jimmy J.K.
Tbh I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what those authors are saying, I think what some of your more successful novels need is just shout outs on other larger authors novels (consider dm’ing other authors who regularly sit on the top of the weekly popular and asking them to shout your novel out) I think tenebroum in particular could benefit from this as it seems currently a lot of your novels are well written and interesting but perhaps lacking exposure
EsZeus
Yep. Most of the things I picked up myself because I read so much, that I have a very good idea on how I like it the most and what I think is the most immersive writing style. But that was back then, I think some other things I would definitely change today if I would go back to writing. :) Maybe I will continue Devouring, but who knows. Maybe that's a story for you, because it's also very dark ^^ But yeah, hope you find your way! If you can make money out of your novels with KU, do it. Worth it I guess :) and a lot of extra Motivation for you, too.
D. Winchester
Oh, I actually read a few chapters of your healing dungeon story after you left your wholesome review. I remember now. I like your style. The italiced first person inner dialog is actually a thing I'd like to try at some point. I think it would make for a good narrative tool.
EsZeus
It was my first ever writing, ever. To be honest^^ If you are curious, look into the fictions of "EsZeus" on RR 😂 The first one was pretty weird in the beginning, because I am from Germany and it was the first ever story from myself. The second story is a lot, lot darker and the quality is so much higher, because second novel ^^ I am thinking about trying to continue the second, dark novel. And then throwing it to KU. If it's bringing in a little bit of money, I can work with that and write a lot more. In this case, I understand the issue with novels that are not bringing in cash for your living. So some Authors need to drop the novel. I also read a LOT on webnovel, where you pay per chapter. There it happens a lot that novels get dropped. I guess its the same reason, because not enough money comes in and they already need it for living, maybe 🤔 So much stuff to think about haha But your thoughts and problems you encounter here are really similar, so I can relate to them totally. But you continue writing, and also 3 novels right now! So huge respect from my side for your tenacity:3
D. Winchester
That's excellent feedback. Thank you. Just to be clear - I don't have a problem with people that make money AND write something they love. The and is really key for me though. I think it's incredibly disrespectful to your readers to throw away a story you started just because it's not doing well enough. 100 chapters is pretty impressive. I'm only just now getting to that point with Letter of the Law next week. What did you write about?
EsZeus
Totally understandable. And I mean, also the "cash stories in" from other authors. It's a hobby, but also a business. If you earn your living with it, you somehow have to search for a novel that works and brings in money for your living. So, writing a story and then "cashing it in" is totally fine, too. But also writing out of a hobby perspective. I think if this novel here especially had some more finetuning, than it would easily be something you could live off. And I mean writing on RR, using Patreon for extra money and motivation, then starting to cash in the first chapters for the first book on KU and so on. That's good! And it's a similar Business to influencers. So, if you can, go for it. Of course. I myself have written around 100 chapters a few years ago back then, and then just stopped writing because of time and real life :) But why shouldn't you cash in that? (Didn't do it, yet?) Just more motivation, and money out of something you have FUN doing. Why not combine both then? :)
