first post, best post.
"the early worm, does not always get the bird."

>>25058581
who digs others a pit better step away from the radioactive fallout

>>25058598
Mantis stalks the oriole, unaware of the cicada behind.

>>25058607
Chicken butchers man to warn the monkey on the tree.

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Guys, Kino-anon here.
Is it worth paying an artist to redo the covers for all my volumes?
I’m planning an Amazon release of my book, and I don’t want an ‘AI-generated’ tag to hurt sales. However, there are five damn covers, so I think it will cost a lot. (Also, I loved pic related).

Also, I have more than 90 images from the World’s End Blog…I don’t think it’s feasible. Would AI hates skin me alive for leaving them?

>>25058598
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niYtMuhvDU8
^^^
thread theme. 4chins is considered radioactive to normies.

>>25058611
If you want to be cheap you can find free use images of classic artworks, zoom in on details of those, and overlay your title typography.

Doesn't Amazon let you mark what parts are AI? Like specifically the title and not the text? Or is it all or nothing?

>>25058611
I thought AI generated was for the w-r-i-t-i-n-g, and not the cover art. Or am I mistaken. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

>>25058611
Are you selling each volume individually? If it's one book sold as one item, shouldn't you only need a single overall cover?

>>25058611
only the thumbnail cover matters, your title is a 7/10 already
the smiling red guy with the black bar on max size on the cover would be your best, better marketing than the medieval one

the second best is your golden hand stretched out guy
the volume covers don't really matter for visibillity

you put the grit and determination in that is admirable
I'm somehow getting closer to your follower number right now because I abandoned 7 other projects and learned by picking up the one that got trajection organic (it was the most wishfullfillment formulaic one)

concept is about 50% of the battle, 30% is execution, 20% marketing
assuming equal effort

your effort is wasted on that project I fear or rather you fight against friction that could be streamlined away

Baking Announcements Threads For January 2026 By Thread Date
YES (7)
1st
6th
8th
19th
21st
24th
31st

NO (6)
3rd
9th
12th
14th
17th
27th

>>25058629
Having one cover as a painting while the others are more standard was a kind of compromise I came up with since I lvoe too much that medieval cover.
It’s my book, my creation, and I’m willing to sacrifice everything for my baby. But, realistically, what kind of artist could give me a fair price? Anyone, I'm willing to go till 1.000$
>>25058632
I think there are just too many images, and honestly the AI hate is pretty strong right now. I’m afraid my book might be dismissed as cheap garbage just because I didn’t pay $10,000 to an artist for 90 blog images.
>>25058636
It’s one story split into five volumes, with all the covers also appearing inside the book to separate them. Maybe I could monetize it better by making a box set with five physical books.
>>25058640
Have you actually read it all? No, otherwise you wouldn’t call it a waste of time. Love is worth all the pain.
Also, Amazon allows you to include extra images in the description. So my medieval Kino cover could be paired with more modern ones to reassure potential buyers.

Also, post your book.

>>25058657
It is your choice, it is not a negotiation. I wish you luck, maybe you are correct and I was wrong.

>>25058627
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyV5PwQwV8Q

>>25058702
Thanks, bro.
I might be wrong, but I think that if you really want to write, you have to love what you’re doing.
If you know any good artists, let me know.

>>25058711
I'm a fan of ai stuff. At our level or lack of professionalism it is a godsend.
Some of your covers are good and marketable. Shows that you do have taste.

The medieval one is cool and fitting but it is less good than the two stand out ones which are red grinning man and golden hand stretched out guy.

>>25058653
oh for the sake of autistic fucks.
good job anon. We have battle tested military grade weaponized autism here, and we're not afraid to use it when we have to. We will one day be a force to be reckoned with, and no one will have ever seen us coming. Provided of course they never peep into out windows. I was just helping that weeb pillow across the couch, I swear. The cat was helping me. Its not what it looked like.

>>25058720
I know they’re good, but I want five covers with the same art style and the same font for the titles, creating the consistency necessary to feel and look professional.
> I like AI
Same, but right now any use of AI is seen as slop in the internet’s mind. That’s what I’m afraid of.

>>25058657
>It’s one story split into five volumes, with all the covers also appearing inside the book to separate them. Maybe I could monetize it better by making a box set with five physical books.
charge minimum KU price for each volume separately. Have a higher price, for the anthology of all five. five books plus the sixth being the anthology is like having your own little catalog. It will look at a glance as if you're not just starting out.

>>25058657
>Also, post your book.
he lacks the courage. as tom cruise said in Interview With the Vampire. "Your actions lack the conviction of your words."

>>25058706
very cute. I liked the line "contrapuntally". You don't hear that word much.

>>25058731
>Same, but right now any use of AI is seen as slop in the internet’s mind. That’s what I’m afraid of.
That's a very vocal minority. Go look at your genre competition on Amazon: there's plenty of AI book covers. The quieter majority understands not everybody can afford professional artists and even editors, and so actual customers are more tolerant than you might expect.

>>25058653
Based.

>>25058735
>Charge the minimum KU price for each volume separately:
$3 for each volume.
$12 for the book that includes them all.
$20 for the box set containing all of them.
Yeah, but wouldn’t Kindle Unlimited force me to remove my story from Royal Road?
>>25058739
True, and it fits my book’s philosophy---Only blood can move the wheel of time.
>>25058751
If so, my main strategy is to compromise with human-made art for the covers and AI-generated images for the blog posts.
> quieter majority
I believe you, Mr. Nixon.

My story's first DINKUS occurs in chapter two.
Who else here is dinkuspilled?

>>25058611
What would Spectral Soul do?

>>25058764
not a dinkus fan, use chapters

>>25058763
>Yeah, but wouldn’t Kindle Unlimited force me to remove my story from Royal Road?
you might have to stub it.

>>25058775
Unless they changed their TOS recently yes, you can't have the story up for free anywhere if it's on Kindle Unlimited (specifically that, you can still sell books as normal). Behind a paywall on Patreon seems to be permitted, as I've never seen someone stub on RR and also on Patreon.

>>25058562
Started re-reading the slob I wrote after 6 months.
No wonder viewership dropped after the first chapter, it's shit.
First paragraph is such amateurish filth:
>“Let you go? It might have been a mistake to show you kindness; I ought to have known it would confuse you,” the fattest man on the continent told Tou. Unfortunately, he was also the most powerful. “You forget your place, boy. In this tent, everything and everyone belongs to me. I should whip you for suggesting emancipation.”
I have no idea what I was thinking with this. I don't see what the reader can possibly get out of it.
It would have been so easy to dramatise the scene a bit better and reduce confusion.
Rewrite would be something like:
>"Let you...go?" the fat man pondered outloud, as if none had ever made such a request before. Uneasy silence occupied the great tent. The loudest of courtiers could but bite their tongue and wait for their master's judgment.
>"Kindness is the folly of youth, it seems. And you have taken mine for granted," the Lord of the Worlds continued. The grip on his golden throne tightened. "You belong to me. Never forget that."

Holy shit, Fiverr is so bad.
Where the hell can I find real artists?

>>25058793
SH has a bunch. Writers that can afford them use them.

>>25058787
this is the steppe horde empire one, right?
I'll be honest, neither are good because they're melodramatic and predictable. You don't need to make every line of dialogue drip with subtext either but this is just really pedestrian stuff

>>25058806
SH what?

>>25058807
>this is the steppe horde empire one, right?
Huh, someone remembers it.
>neither are good
That's fair.
>melodramatic
But I like melodrama.
>pedestrian stuff
I feel the story and world are really weird, so this sort of thing serves as the anchor that grounds the reader. That's the idea either way.

>>25058824
Maybe it's just semantics but I think there's a big difference between drama and melodrama that isn't just about realism (which is overrated anyway). What you've written isn't dramatic, merely melodramatic. There's little tension because the powerful big guy is behaving mostly as expected and ostensibly saying exactly what's on his mind. It's one-dimensional. I think you should leverage more subtext to filter and deepen his dialogue. That said, the "you have taken mine for granted" is definitely already a big improvement as it hints at some magnanimity to this otherwise tyrannical figure which could be genuine or only self-perceived (which in turn adds more interesting characterisation; he thinks he is reasonable). That's the only good line.

File: 1669508368002486.gif (1.9 MB)

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>title name drop
kino
>volume name drop
kino
>arc name drop
kino
>chapter name drop
kino

>>25058850
>What you've written isn't dramatic, merely melodramatic
Isn't melodrama dramatic? Melodrama is over dramatic by definition.
I don't think melodrama is inherently bad. It exists for a reason, that being effectiveness. Granted, too much of anything will result in cheesiness, but when a character has a limited presence in a story, you have to be effective.
In this case, it is supposed be abrupt; the entire chapter begins in the middle conversation. If I could make the character more grounded and less melodramatic, but that would require doubling or even tripling the first chapter's length.
Which causes more issues like "nothing is happening"-complaints.

It's funny. When I try to make things move, it's "too melodramatic," and when I ground things, it is "nothing is happening". Seems like I cannot find the middle road.

I’ve wasted two hours looking for artists, and this is the most rigged market in the world.
There’s no centralized platform to compare the competition. Every good artist lives on their own island, surviving on a few clients who book commissions months before they even open slots.
Worst of all, on the few aggregate sites I found, it’s full of…let’s just call it ‘not very professional-looking’ art. And despite the quality, the prices are set so high that the few artists who are good enough for my goal can spike their prices as much they want, making a $1,000 budget surprisingly low.

This shit is completely rigged. I can’t believe that in 2026 a market this closed, byzantine, and inflated can still exist.

>>25058942
Just do ai but make it look drawn.

>>25058946
I remember Gabe, the founder of Steam, saying that the solution to piracy is providing a better service to the customer than the pirates do.
If this is the service artists provide, AI is going to win so hard it’s not even funny.

This is like thread 10 of someone going on about their AI cover generations with zero actual discussion of their writing, is it reportable?

>>25058913
I'm doing only one, but it's going to be the title at the very last chapter.

>>25058953
If you think cover and marketing are side issues then you are sadly mistaken.

>>25058957
it's amazing how you know everything that matters and yet have had no commercial success

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>>25058951
It actually seems like AI has just knocked the floor out from under artists good enough to get commissions. Prices were already high ten years ago for art commissions, and people simply did without. Now that AI is affordable and good enough, people just tend to generate their own images to suit their own purposes (most common by far is fap material). But this also hasn't cut down on demand for commissioned art, because even though you can train a model to copy someone's style it's still not a perfect replacement for the real thing, and the people who care enough about art to spend large amounts of money on it won't be satisfied with lesser imitations.

The only losers appear to have been slop artists: the filler artists hired by companies to produce soul-less "art" assets to decorate other projects.

To make a food analogy: what's happening in art with AI right now is like Flippy the Robot replacing fast food workers. Nobody actually liked working fast food, and people will still pay top dollar to eat at Michelin star restaurants where the head chef and his assistants are minor celebrities to people in the know.

>>25058963
I sold only 3-5 books a day way back. Got now a following of about 200 readers since I started to learn the ways of the webnovel past month.
Trying to learn and improve.

Not kinoman but nice that you mistake for such a dedicated and diligent person.

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>>25058562
Witch and Mercenary Vol.4, JP: Kaeru Chohokiteki (2023) EN: Michael Rachmat (2025)

This volume has a different translator than the first three. Fortunately that doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, at least from what I can tell. Maybe the editor has a lot of influence and the new translator intentionally try to make it be similar. The other difference is the volume's length. Every volume has been shorter than the one before it. The first volume started at ~75k words and this fourth one is ~50k. There are a few volumes out in Japanese, but I don't know how their character count will compare to the English word count.

The main reason may be because this time the entire volume is a single job. Zig has accepted a bodyguard job for a mafia don's daughter. An out-of-town mafia has invaded their turf and is trying to take over. Much fighting and misunderstandings ensue. Zig really has a way of causing trouble for himself. Meanwhile Siasha is becoming more independent has taken on her own job in town. They do more and more apart from each other. It's a mystery what the status of their business relationship is at this point. There hasn't been a single mention of further payment or how long it's meant to last since the first volume. That seems like something that should be brought up eventually, though it's also unclear how long they've been together.

I wonder if the scope will expand beyond this town they're in and the hunting grounds they go to. Some games have the characters never let the starting hub town, so it's certainly possible. In terms of worldbuilding it makes it all seem small, but there are plenty of book series where they never leave the town the books begins in. It's fine if they don't, but their progression may become somewhat constrained if it this continues for a long while. I don't mind if it keeps being how it is though. As long as I'm enjoying myself is what matters. The only issue is that it leaves me with less that I want to write about, which isn't necessarily bad.

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Witch and Mercenary Vol.5, JP: Kaeru Chohokiteki (2024) EN: Michael Rachmat (2026)

This volume has quite the tonal shift towards horror and gruesomeness. That's not what I want for this series. The daily life parts were still present, but there weren't enough of them. The monster extermination scene reminded me of Gantz, though I didn't check if there was a battle similar to this. It was definitely more gory and with greater casualties than has come before.

Then came the "Are humans the real monsters?" philosophizing. Zig and Siasha had a lot more to say than they've previously said before on various matters. Both are becoming more socially acceptable in their own ways, but also their desire to be as such is ever more tenuous. The story doubles down on that Siasha being a witch means she's an inhuman sociopath who is struggling more and more with not murdering anyone who impedes her progress in the slightest way. This is complicated by Siasha experiencing specific human emotions for the first time, such as jealousy. Zig is barely more empathetic, so he doesn't understand what's happening with her.

I already wasn't happy with the turn in direction, then it became worse. The rest of the volume is one of the most reductive and uncharitable depictions of religion that I've read. As far as the author describes it, Claritism (Human Purism in the manga), as in clarify, to make clean and pure, is a single issue religion. It's literally "What if a hate group was a religion?". Terrible depictions of religion are common in Japanese media, so it was expected. What I didn't expect, but probably should've was how Zigg and Siasha go to the church and provoke the Claritists to attack first, then they indiscriminately slaughter the entire congregation. The author doesn't specify whether they were all fighters there waiting for them, or if lay worshipers were also present. Reading this was genuinely difficult due to how gratuitously explicit it was. That scene probably decreases the chance it'll ever have an anime. Aside from that, as ridiculous as it is to say, the fights against the highly ranked adventurers and the leader of that particular church were good.

This is yet another case of a series believing it's taking a dark and serious turn, and becoming shock value melodrama instead. I hope that it doesn't continue down this path. This happens far more often for me in Eastern works than Western ones due to cultural differences. Not knowing where boundaries lie or what's permissible or not makes it more difficult not to violate norms. Context matters a lot. A single egregiously bad decision goes a long way. This is more prevalent in webnovels and self-published works for many reasons. I've skimmed through so many English indie works where the protagonist immediately goes murder hobo or otherwise displays no humanity, but that's not what I want to read.

>>25058967
I never thought I’d say this, but it’s time to seize the means of production and redistribute them to the people in need.

>>25058982
Oops, forgot to change the spoiler tags, though it doesn't really matter. This concludes my writing about Japanese releases for now. Next is English ones, whenever I get around to it. I don't when that'll be.

I was going to post one of these daily and also write more of them, but I've decided against doing so. So, here are some thoughts about various other Japanese releases.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8317430307

>>25058984
nta, you have no idea what you're saying.

>>25058984
Nobody ever stopped you learning to draw any more than anybody ever stopped you learning to write.

>>25059013
Writing is 1000× harsher than drawing. No time for that.

>>25059038
Well the options are shell out or use AI. But calling for a c*mmunist revolution about it is out of pocket and inappropriate.

>>25058923
I'm uninterested in a discussion about melodrama vs drama right now, let's keep it specific to your writing.
Your "you have taken mine for granted" line accomplishes both grounding and drama without melodrama. It's a good line. I know it's easier said than done but learning to tap into that reliably is key. I cannot stress this enough. You need to understand and identify when you're doing something well so you can consistently replicate it. Achieving a balance of groundedness and drama certainly isn't a matter of quantity and word count as you seem to be implying — you can do a little with a lot here if you know how to play around with the subtext.
E.g. rather than threatening violence and physical punishment outright, lean into that self-image of kind paternalism he has with
>"perhaps it would be a greater cruelty to leave a subject's naivety uncorrected."

tldr? LEARN SUBTEXT

>>25059087
based

>>25058204
>it's "This is a fantasy setting where X immediately observable expectation about how the world works is different"
Still hard to say without full context, but that's the sort of thing that could work perfectly; don't explain to the reader through narration, just drop the observation into the character's thoughts as though it were normal.

e.g. if in your fantasy world it's normal to fuck cats, you could start with
>the cat wiggled its long tail, tip playing seductively against its pussy pussy
>my bulge throbs, plateskirt crinkling at the pressure
>My girlfriend's hand pressing against my chest brings me back down to reality
>"When's my turn to go first?" Jenny says, pouting

Jesus Christ the board is blue.
This is ridiculous.

>>25058793
SH has a section of their forum dedicated to artists.

>>25059136
https://youtu.be/lvCdyEBH7Tc
the above video was pretty good. Most of us do this. Few give the examples. when they do, its very productive. since everyone appears bored, why not.

>>25058812
he told you 2 or three times. you must be new. SH = ScribbleHub. like RR (sorry, RoyalRoad) but smaller and with differences. they have a forum, and while most of it is dedicated to WN (web novel) writers and readers and their needs, they also have a smaller artist section. They have artists that range from free to commission. good art is not cheap, tho. and some/most artists want more because its a cover. if you got deep pockets, there you go. I'm sure there are other avenues but thats the only one i ran across by accident.

>>25059173
What a horrible video. No matter what or if that person had success dismiss everything they say.

Meandering, self indulgent, marketing, self promotion, non actionable and obscure advice.

It's pretty funny how nothing I follow uploads on weekends on RR because of the reputation of them being dead.
Just the uber popular Super Supportive that got big too quick to care about stuff like that.

>>25059235
Shouldn't it be the opposite? Weekends = time to read = more releases?

>>25059242
Nah, this is a medium that appeals to people reading to/from school/work and during lunch breaks.
Those are the ones actually reading chapters as they come.

>>25059248
Huh, I guess that does make sense.

After trying and failing to come up with a satisfying opening chapter, I ask for recommendations for webnovels with good opening chapters/arcs.

>>25059248
Reading at work meta is really strong actually. When I worked in an office people used to get scolded for being on facebook during work hours, and if a video was playing that wasn't a training video that was a write up. But I would read hours and hours of slashdot and eventually webnovels, have my boss walk right behind me, and he thought I was reading documentation or wikis or something.

The instant giveaway someone was fucking off was pictures. If a screen had pictures on it, that was the sign to investigate further. A screen full of text was assumed to be work related because who reads lmao

>>25059273
Just use in media res bro.

>>25058982
>Not knowing where boundaries lie or what's permissible or not
Nips will always be ahead of western WN because of this, they don't care about boundaries. Or, they care about it in different way.
The older I get the more I understand their wish to understand each other easily.

>>25059273
By definition that's everything on Rising Stars that recently launched. It's not that complicated. Just look at what they're all doing and do that.

>>25059190
>What a horrible video. No matter what or if that person had success dismiss everything they say.
>Meandering, self indulgent, marketing, self promotion, non actionable and obscure advice.
I don't agree. The first time I watched it, it sounded to me perhaps like you're saying it. But the second time, it sunk in. A simple example. I was told many times, my work was otherwise sort of okay but it had that slow start to ramp up. I needed a punchy first chapter. It sounds good to say, but it doesn't help. All you've done is restate the problem, or in my case stated the problem. Useless. Now if instead as one anon here finally did, they took the extra couple seconds to type a simple example description. I went out and made a more proper first chapter and all of a sudden I started getting a few likes and a few readers and more views. And that's all the video is saying. Stating w-h-a-t is wrong is useless. Stating h-o-w to fix what is wrong, is golden. So we had many anons just stating the problem or re-stating it. We had one anon, who described the basics of w-h-a-t to do. It immediately worked. That core concept was hard hitting. I don't see how anyone could argue against that premise.

>>25059281
explain it and sketch a quick outline of a simple example. Telling him a term isn't nearly as helpful. I know what you mean, but he's doesn't.

Gonna read reverend insanity, bros, what am I in for?

>>25059347
Sorry anon. As a prolific self help book salesman this thing doesn't work on me.

I'm not disagreeing per se, generic advice is garbage, proper guides are worth gold.
When somebody comes to me with writing advice for an ensemble cast there is only one correct answer.
Don't, it is an advanced task.

If you have to ask or want advice on it then the answer is scrap it and chose a simpler mode.

>>25059356
a lot of people die. The MC is a psycho. his numbers go up. lots of that, the end.

>>25059356
Just stop after he leaves the village and you got the good parts.

>>25059360
Do not reply to Tinashit.

>>25059360
>Don't, it is an advanced task.
oh no, I 100 percent agree with that. But the idea is golden, if not his specific example. I think if he had used a simpler example, he would have made his point better. And you agreed with that. We should start implementing the concept. A little bit longer to answer the question once, instead of hearing it ten more times. Do it right the first time, as it were.

>>25059372
>Do not reply to Tinashit.
you are who needs ignored. No one was talking to you. when we want snark with nothing useful, you'll hear from us.

>>25059382
Don't care, seethe. I will continue to warn people about wasting time with you.

>>25059377
One thing I noticed is that he adviced not to analyse what worked with major successes then with close examples of the same ones continues.

It is a silly person, the clear pitch to an advice guide for paid or tutorial is obvious too.
This entire thing falls under generic for me and useless.

The guide here in the OP for RR has genuinely helped me, reframed my thinking and it is the only useful one I found.
The others were blind to the needs of the majority for slop authors who failed to even gain some audience.

>>25059386
>Don't care, seethe. I will continue to warn people about wasting time with you.
have fun. I'll keep calling you an asshole with nothing constructive to add. Which is all you are.

>>25059387
the video could have been a lot better. someone could use a simple example to hammer the premise home and it would be 20x better.

>>25059410
it is simple, if you ask how to write an ensemble cast story, write a simpler story

that advice doesn't move guides or tutorials tho

>>25058657
>I think there are just too many images, and honestly the AI hate is pretty strong right now. I’m afraid my book might be dismissed as cheap garbage just because I didn’t pay $10,000 to an artist for 90 blog images.
Even if you pay that much, you get called ai anyway, I do janny work for a book forum, you will not dodge the accusations no matter what

>>25059515
you can dodge it if you tell the ai to make it like it was drawn with crayon or a child a certain other board made it a hobby to do that

>>25059515
at this point it seems like the only way to avoid AI accusations is to write on topics so obscene and taboo that no AI tool that exists would train on them.

however, writing on such topics would generally get you nothing in terms of wealth, and give you infamy which is generally much less desirable than fame.

>>25058581
>>25058598
"If you open your cheeks, the shit will flow easily. If you don't, it will be a mess."

>>25059536
then you run into issue number two, you cover needs to be in genre to sell books on ku. had an author bring to two covers over, one ai and one human, and despite the plebs saying the human was better it sold no copies cause an elf with tits 15 times the size of her head does not in fact move books in these parts.

>>25059402
Pot meet kettle

>>25059564
>cause an elf with tits 15 times the size of her head does not in fact move books in these parts.
why did a human artist draw this? presumably the commissioner requested it so it's the author's retarded fault

>>25059564
elf tiddies. yum.

absolutely dumbfounded a duplicate thread is on its way to the archive with 0 posts. this thread really does have higher quality posters despite the occasional melties

>>25059612
/wng/ was almost consigned to the janny sweep pile because of chinkspammers trying to hijack the thread for chinkslop

however, one anon communicated with the mods and they ruled that chink nonsense was deletable

With that the frog prince leaped down before the naked maiden, with an usually erect protrusion throbbing. The maiden let out a streak, and began to run, flattering, her ass up as the frog pounced on it like lightning

>>25058991
That's a shame I'll miss them. I don't often get to reading as many WN turned LN as I'd like and the summaries were nice to read while letting me take in how the eastern writers (who achieve sucess) are doing.

>>25058974
This is what I expected from Zig really, taking a job from a less than reputable client. And it's a mafia dons daughter so we can get another cover feature of a cute girl with a rare Zig.

I'm having dissonance with the idea that Zig would even keep Siasha company if he wasn't being paid.
Does he ever hint that he enjoys her company?
Does Saisha just hang out with him because he's the only person who wont judge her for being a sociopath becasue he doesn't care?
I don't think they will really leave the area, it would be nice to see a different town and area but I feel like the author might perhaps take the idea as a grand adventure type of story.
Which he seems vehemently against.

>>25058982
Finally a Zig on the front cover at the forefront, we've transcended. this oji-san is truly living the life.

there's a light novel I really like is Kizumonogatari in where the main character helps a woman (only to realize she something much more) after getting to know her he realizes, he really didn't know her at all, he an had an idea of her that was unrealistic..
The relationship initially reminded me of how you describe Saisha's constant homicidal thoughts, that maybe the irony is that however barbaric Zigs homeland is killing witches due to their inherent lack of humanity is a an objectively good idea, even if the people are doing it are immoral.

Evil, must defeat evil, yea not really the way I expected the author to do it, I really expected Zig to have to stalk and kill a villain out for revenge not that he'd take the only other sociopath he knows and ragebait them into a massacre.
Honestly it's something a cultivator would do.
Credit where it's due it's unique for non cultivation stories.

>>25059180
I know ScribbleHub; I just didn’t know about the artists.

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>>25059669
here.
PIC RELATED

>>25059708
looking for work, commissions open.

It is simply impossible to find artists to commission.
Almost as hard as petting a dog.

New /wng/ video essay kino just dropped
https://youtu.be/ngTm-dH_42c?si=FTXdYp2VIjuHgcyE

>>25059739
I have no idea what this tranny shit is

>>25059739
most of the video is missing

ill gen your cover, no charge

>>25059741
>>25059745
>she hasn't read the Korean answer to R*verend Ins*nity
https://youtu.be/TldeiC0Hz-E?si=LWb9QROapCv0xpy_

>>25059647
something something swan meat

>>25059248
>reading to/from school
I don't get this, if authors (and other media producers, like film, tv, series, anime, game etc makers) want to make money, why are they targeting the population segment that is literally the smallest and with no disposable income.

>>25060019
Think about it more holistically
Those same money-poor kids are time-rich and contribute a lot to online word of mouth, memes, etc
So even if it's the commuter salarymen and career woman fujos etc who have disposable income for nendoroids and keyrings, the zoomers and alphas and cheeky memesters who don't buy anything still have value

>>25060019
Kids stuff does great all the time.

>>25059061
>"you have taken mine for granted"
You don't you think that's overly formal? I feel being formal and subtle is often considered pretentious.
E.g. here is an example from my other story where people complained about it:
>“Bold words from someone who endures on breadcrumbs and never aspires more,” Zad mocked as his startled brother fought to force him back to the floor.
>Zad plucked the plum from the dagger and raised it for the whole court to see:
“Stop fattening my father with rotten fruit like this…” He demonstrated his unexplained disdain for plums by crushing the one he was holding, which, to her eyes, looked fine from afar, but perhaps her brother somehow knew it to be rotten from the inside. “...for he is a lord with the mind of a lamb. He must secretly crave something…more earthly. A patch of grass, perhaps?”
>“Enough of this sewage! Go ahead and die a fool’s death, if that’s what you truly desire,” the Lord grunted.

>read back on some of my own shit after a long time
>"what the fuck, this shit rocks"

>>25059739
human sex is not a construct, the good ole motte and bailey of first saying gender is a social construct to then reverse gotcha into denying the sexual binary which is genetic and fundamental

>>25060072
You've misidentified formality and subtlety as inherent problems when the real issue is your execution. Those excerpts are stilted simply because they're badly written.

>>25060223
>badly written.
doesn't itself help

>>25060031
>the zoomers and alphas and cheeky memesters who don't buy anything still have value
If they don't buy anything then they have no value.

>>25060253
Feedback and actionable suggestions for improvement were already given in previous exchanges.
The only suggestion I have for this specific issue of badly written formal language is to read more so you can develop an "ear" for it. In fact, most of the problems exhibited so far —including the misidentification of good and bad elements of one's own writing— are usually symptoms of not reading enough and/or not reading with enough intention. Developing a better sense of taste makes everything else easier.

>>25060284
you can't just say nuh uh without addressing the point he made, silly goose

>>25060297
Fair enought.
I also think that the sample looks a lot worse without context.

>>25059739
You're probably not ment to like the trans inter-dimensional rapist.
The video doesn't go into enough detail about how the MC reacts to it to really understand what the problem is, but rape is weaponized constantly in Xianxia.
>Fight a haughty heroine?
rape her
>Fight a female demonic evil cultivator
rape her and steal her cultivation via your ying yang dual cultivation technique.
I can never tell if the author didn't do a good enough job demonizing the people he intends to do these punishments to or if the cultural gap between east and west is just so massive it's impossible.

this guy should just read cradle it was made for people like him.

>>25060337
The meaning of "rape" has change drastically over time in the west and other cultures don't have the same taboos or hangups about it.

>>25060457
the video is deeply hypocritical since xianxia just in general operates on strength=justice
murder is casual that he got such a hangup over rape is the anomaly when they slaughter cities and civilizations

it is like getting made at zeus for doing zeus things

>>25060487
erm, you're meant to get mad at Zeus. He was a dick.

>>25060317
turns out he can?

>>25060490
Okay John Milton, okay.

>>25060490
sorry no, it is pointless to get mad at gods

>>25059650
>That's a shame I'll miss them.
I'm glad that they were useful for you. I appreciate your responses. The problem was that I couldn't find really any that I wasn't already otherwise involved with that I wanted to read. It's very possible that my usual tactic only reading a bit before deciding whether to commit to reading the whole first individual work, a book or volume, works far worse for these.

>Does he ever hint that he enjoys her company?
The closest is a sense of satisfaction that he's doing his job well. Another part of it was to teach her how to be human, which has no idea about, but still feels like it's going well enough somehow. This comes across more like daughter feelings, which is complicated by the sexual feelings that neither really understand, or how they do emotionally intimate stuff without even realizing they are.

>Does Saisha just hang out with him because he's the only person who wont judge her for being a sociopath because he doesn't care?
Yeah, basically. She tries to do stuff with others, but they quickly develop strong feelings about her behavior.

>Kizumonogatari
I've watched all the Bakemonogatari anime releases and read that specific light novel volume. Araragi really does have problems with understanding them.

Resigned to their bleak fate, the townsfolk gathered to witness yet another head mounted on the wall. The misty eyes of the Prefect stared back at them from above. "What did he do?" some people asked each other, but none knew for sure. Perhaps there was no reason; the judgment of the occupiers followed little logic; even looking at them the wrong way might foist such a fate.
Raled could but wonder how things had come to this. The town, with pride and vigor to overcome anything, existed as a pigsty.

>>25060487
I think the difference is that murder can sometimes be construed as righteous or "necessary", whereas rape rarely can
Also the fact that modern western morality is dictated by women

>>25060555
xianxia logic and protagonist make no attempts to make murder seem moral, it is a fundamental amoral world
most "good" characters in xianxia are villains by western standards, so the villains would have to step it up

that they can stomach the murder logic but not the body autonomy one is a fault by the reviewer

>>25060547
>Resigned to their bleak fate
Opening with negative emotions and passivity, I'm bouncing off already.
>foist such a fate.
Awkward, incorrect usage of an uncommon word; sign of a pretentious author whose reach exceeds his grasp. This is a big enough red flag that I would drop precisely here to avoid subjecting myself to someone's incoherent purple prose.

As an exercise, try rewriting your sample in simple sentences: subject, verb, object only, no propositional phrases or clauses. Adjectives and adverbs used sparingly, no more than one per sentence. Don't use words you don't know the meaning of.

One last thing: I don't care about the town. You have your paragraphs out of order. Put the paragraph with the named MC first, and then go into the talk about the town. Readers of popular fiction latch onto named characters and their emotions first, and only THEN start to develop a connection to the setting or plot. Doing that alone makes the sample much more tolerable.

>Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it; and Scrooge's name was good upon 'change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Opening with the death of a named character is strong, and the insistence about the factuality of the death implies not all is at it seems. Another character is named and described as a man of honor and reliability makes one wonder what is going on. What was the relationship between Marley and Scrooge, that Scrooge would sign his burial registration, and what kind of man was Marley?

This is like the 4th time someone's defended bad writing in this thread with Dickens

>>25060605
>Opening with the death of a named character is strong
its weak, opening with a named protagonist and role then have somebody close to them die when got the faintest emotional investment maybe

>>25060578
>negative emotions
I do not get this complaint.
First line in AGOT is:
>"We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.”
Does that not evoke "negative emotions"? It talks about retreat, darkness, and death. Kinda negative.
>incorrect usage
Foist means "to bring something unwanted".
Dictionary example: "to foist political views into a news story."
>As an exercise, try rewriting your sample in simple sentences
Well, I like challenges, maybe I will give it a try later. But I feel the result will be trite.
>Put the paragraph with the named MC first,
That's an interesting idea, too.

>>25060589
>>Marley was dead
Passive voice dropped.

>>25060606
Mounting evidence that Dickens might have been a hack.

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>>25060610
>>"We should start back,
Urging an action is fundamentally active.
>It talks about retreat, darkness, and death. Kinda negative.
That all sets the mood, yes, but AFTER positive action has been taken (urged) and promised (starting back, returning to home/safety).
>Foist means "to bring something unwanted".
You literally skipped the important second half of the definition. From MW, picrel


>>25060615
>Marley was dead: to begin with.
The promise is right there six words in. Marley STARTED dead. How can one start dead, and what happened after that? Perhaps he wasn't really dead? No, the narrator assures us, Marley was super dead: dead as a doornail. Can't get deader than that. Also, that's not even passive voice because it's a description.
>confusing copulas and non-copulas
ISHYGDDT

>>25060624
He's great, it's just very silly to give writing advice based on what a victorian with a unique style did.
Like there was a whole semi-viral thing a while back about students getting confused by the Bleak House opening and thinking he was being literal about floods and dinosaurs.
And those are the level of most of the readers this thread is targeting

>>25060642
Nobody is saying to write with Dickens' style; they're deflecting from their own bad writing by posting his archaic style that appears to break modern recommendations, but in fact doesn't, and they're too dumb/uneducated to realize that.
They make this mistake because they can't actually parse sentences and don't even know what all the words mean semantically.

>>25060547
I think besides what the other anon said my main take about this writing is that if you're going to affect a style like this you have to be disciplined and cut out the redundant words.
>bleak fate
>yet another
>some people
The first word of all of these and "each other" can all be cut with no damage to the writing or the effect it creates.
Besides that the entire second half of the passage is just awkward and needs to be entirely rewitten. Try reading it aloud and you'll see the problems.

>>25060639
Could you not put : everywhere for no reason?

>>25060677
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M94ii6MVilw

The back and forth between the anons who go YOU MUST BECOME ONE WITH THE SLOP and the others who say YOU MUST HAVE SUCH AN ADVANCED STYLE THAT THEY DON'T EVEN REALIZE THEY AREN'T READING SLOP! is fun to read.

>Vivi opened her eyes to the Burial Room of the Ashen Hierophant.

>Having run the final boss fight of Seven Cataclysms at least a thousand times, she instantly recognized the scenery surrounding her. She groggily pushed herself up against the armrest of the massive obsidian throne, blinking around at the yawning spires enclosing the arena. Lava bubbled a dozen feet away, heat licking at her face, the sensation strangely vivid.

>“What?” she mumbled, head foggy. “Where…how…?”

Hm hm! Lemme guess... You need more?

>Lu Ri stared at the disciple. The boy had his arm in a sling, a black eye, and several other wounds marring his body. A quite pitiful sight, all told.
>“You wish to leave the sect?” He asked, repeating the disciples request..
>“Yes, Senior Brother,” The disciple said. “This Jin Rou’s abilities are lacking, and I was defeated by others two years my younger. I would leave before I bring greater shame upon this Cloudy Sword Sect."
Let me guess, you need more?

>>25060708
>>25060711
Both of these are dogshit but make more money than I'll ever make with my sophisticated masterpiece........

>>25060719
both are functional, your code doesn't slap when parsed by the compiler known as a human mind of emotion and brain

>>25060639
>AFTER positive action has been taken (urged) and promised (starting back, returning to home/safety).
I see. It's a subtle thing appareantly important. But I do think you are emphasizing the negative emotion a degree too much.

>You literally skipped the important second half of the definition
Okay, I made a mistake there. It's just that many dictionaries do not include additional definitions of it being unjust, random, or stealthy.
For example, Cambridge Dictionary defines it as:
>to force someone to have or experience something they do not want:
And the example they give it is:
>I try not to foist my values on the children but it's hard.

>>25060668
Bleak fate is fun, it sets the tone. But yeah, I'd agree others are redundant.

>both open with the name of a character and that character doing something, and then some kind of description that expands on their character
>both immediately promise what the story is about
>the first is a mystery about how the character got where they are and what's going on
>the second is about a disciple quitting his sect after getting his ass kicked
Imagine not being able to recognize patterns.

>>25060547
>foist such a fate.
>Raled could but wonder how things had come to this. The town, with pride and vigor to overcome anything, existed as a pigsty.
Stopped reading there. It was good until 'foist' (whatever the f that means)

>Zorian’s eyes abruptly shot open as a sharp pain erupted from his stomach. His whole body convulsed, buckling against the object that fell on him, and suddenly he was wide awake, not a trace of drowsiness in his mind.
>“Good morning, brother!” an annoyingly cheerful voice sounded right on top of him. “Morning, morning, MORNING!!!”

Maybe it is a pattern.

>>25060735
I checked four more dictionaries and half of them were wrong, with overly simplified definitions. Great, I've lost that much more faith in language as it continues to decay. brb killing myself

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Why do people post good advice in the most toxic way possible?

>>25060756
I know the feeling. Some definitions annoy me, and I feel like they are politically motivated.
Like one of dictionaries defined homophobia as:
>Hatred, or fear, or prejudice of homosexuals or transgender people
This annoyed me because transphobia is already its own word, but clearly, they want to bundle homophobia with transphobia, because homophobia carries more stigma.

>>25060570
why is xianxia so good, bros?

>>25060743
>Stopped reading there. It was good until 'foist' (whatever the f that means)
to be put, or placed, upon.
I can foist an object onto you, or I can (metaphorically) foist a hurdle onto you, for you to deal with it. Vocabulary lesson over. So you stopped reading there, at foist. You were filtered.

>>25060763
dumb question/dumb people fatigue

>>25060773
if you read 20 you read them all and stop
the first one I read was desolate era which is an isekai

>>25060763
I'm sorry your feelings were not accounted for in my top tier writing craft advice

Damn, I was originally tempted to leave the names of my MC and the female deuteragonist a mystery until chapter 2 or 3..... Guess I'll switch it up and go with the meta with this. No harm done... My vision remains intact...

Okay, let's try again.
As instructed, focus is on keeping it simple, one-clause sentences, and without negative emotions.
>>25060547
Raled rested on the wall when the crowd began gathering nearby. "What did he do?" an old wife pondered outloud. A mounted head looked down on the frightened citizen. At a glance, Raled recognized the face: the Prefect. The man had been known by his smile, and yet it was nowhere to be seen.
"Who knows?" someone said. In truth, it could have been anything or nothing, but the brutes would always find an excuse. They did not have the strength to occupy the town. At least, they wouldn't have without their greatest ally: fear.
Observing these terrified folkmen, Raled curbed his desire to incite a riot. He would not be the next head on that wall. All he could do was wonder how it all came to this.

Raled rested on the wall. A mounted head looked down on the frightened citizens. "What did he do?" an old wife pondered outloud. Raled glanced up at it. The Prefect had been known by his smile, and yet it was nowhere to be seen. "Who knows?" someone said.

In truth, it could have been anything or nothing, but the brutes would always find an excuse. They did not have the strength to occupy the town. At least, they wouldn't have without their greatest ally: fear.

Raled observed these terrified folkmen and curbed his desire to incite a riot. He would not be the next head on that wall. All he could do was reflect on how it all came to this.
Overall the sentences are contorted and don't flow well in English. Consider just writing in your native language.

>>25060845
Why did you ever think that was a good idea?

>>25060763
because the ability to show some class and not engage back to a negative commenter (it will happen) with a screaming match, is a needed and useful skill in the writing game. You are being taught early, you should be grateful to have experienced so much chan-fu, so early in your training, anon-san.

>>25060970
>Consider just writing in your native language.
Never.
And at this point, I have written more in English than in my native language.

whats a decent views to readers percentage.

>>25061030
>readers
how would you even get this stat? did you mean followers?
and do you mean total views or per chap views?
in any case i think all of those ratios are nonsense, only retention matters

>>25060801
To be honest I read the rest and the later part just wasn't as good as the beginning. Excellent start but midway you messed it up.

>>25061037
under my stats, I get views and readers among others. I was gonna divide and get the percentage. Was just curious what a decent percentage was of people that looked (views) read something (readers).

>>25060920
>>25060970
Okay let's compare them.
You split the first sentence in half.
>Raled rested on the wall.
Is really boring sentence. It tells nothing about anything. Who is Raled, and why is he resting on the wall?
You removed "when", which kinda ruins the flow of the sentence. The goal is beginning with something simple and moving it towards action, which in this case is gathering.
>A mounted head looked down on the frightened citizens.
It's all supposed build curiosity, but you are just giving it all up. This sentence is supposed to be an answer to a question, which is completely lost when you put "What did he do" after it; you might as well omit it altogether.
>Raled glanced up at it.
Another stump sentence that no longer serves any meaning.
>The Prefect had been known by his smile, and yet it was nowhere to be seen
I mean, merging the identity reveal with it is fine.
>Raled observed these terrified folkmen
Interesting to change "observing" to "observed." I feel observing is more active.
>All he could do was reflect on how it all came to this.
Maybe reflect does work better here than wonder.

Overall, I don't think you improved it; you just changed it to fit your preferences.
It's fine to have preferences, but you really should not act like yours is the standard.

>>25061055
I didn't write it. I was just commenting.

>>25060845
whoa that sounds like a cool idea?

>>25060970
Frightened should be enacted, shivering, huddling, dropping things, looking around in the distant road where the bandits comes from, fainting, patting their hidden dagger. Whatever you can come up with.

If Raled is the prefect then state it directly. Raled the prefect pierce the head on a pike.

Hollow eyes, removed by vultures? if you want to make it darker, maybe a bounty? maybe Raled didn't qualify for the bounty as he was the prefect doing his duty?

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>>25061074
>you just changed it to fit your preferences.
My preferences for more natural phrasing and more correct grammar as a native English speaker.
Don't worry, you'll get no more critique from me.

>>25061055
>Excellent start
Well, I'm glad someone liked a part of it.
Anons here are generally hard to please.
I feel like half the content on RR would be torn to shreds by these threads.

>>25060920
>had been known by his smile, and yet it was nowhere to be seen.
KINO

>>25061103
How is it unclear that Raled and the Prefect are two different people? If that's unclear, the entire sample has failed.

>>25061133
Because we get position, actions etc. of raled then prefect is dropped like a synonym without location, introduction or anything and as if it was narrowing on Rales facial expression

>>25061133
I agree that it is unclear

>>25061110
It's a very short excerpt so kind of hard to judge it but the the first half is brief and direct but at the same time just descriptive enough to keep the reader engaged. With latter part that balancewas lost.

>>25061109
I didn't mean to offend you. I want you to know, I appreciate your thoughts and the time you devoted. Though you could have presented them in a less self-righteous manner.
I have a lot to learn, and my writing will always be more or less clunky, but maybe I will eventually write something decent.

>>25061144
>>25061103
In fairness the original is here with a contorted clause gangbang of a sentence making it clear that Raled is not the Prefect. >>25060920
>At a glance, Raled recognized the face: the Prefect.
Now, there's a small ambiguity as to whether Raled is looking at the head on the pike or the woman in the crowd speaking 'outloud' (sic) but the ambiguity is cleared up in the next sentence, talking about a man known by his smile.

>>25061156
Raled is the man with the smile and the Prefect mounting the head on the pike obviously.
Why would we get a description with more detail than the protagonist so fast?

Raled leaned against the wall and watched the crowd gather. By ones and two they shuffled in, came to a stop, and stared up at the town's newest gory decoration. The Prefect had been known for his smile once, but his severed head displayed none of that charm now.
"What did he do?" an old wife murmured.
"Who knows?" the husband whispered back.
Raled held back a derisive snort. The Prefect's innocence - or lack of it - hardly mattered. One way or another, the brutes would have found an excuse. Their greatest weapon was fear, and without wielding it often, they couldn't have occupied the town to begin with.
He observed the terrified folkmen milling about, their soft tones and nervous postures, and his anger grew by the minute. They could recapture their homes if they but tried - together. But he bit his tongue. He knew how that would end. His wouldn't be the next head displayed upon that wall.
He just wondered how it had come to this.

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Took the feedback from last thread to try and improve the cover I posted. The AI model has a hard time not just slapping the pen in an odd place for some reason. Does it look better?

>>25061167
I'm liking that scratched up silver. Good contrast wtih the dragon peeking out. The orange eye pops.
Only thing left is a darker, and maybe slightly thicker border around the lettering so that it's legible in the thumbnail. It's like right on the cusp as is. I'm a retard at photoshop but I'm pretty sure there's a tool that'll to that kind of touchup easily.

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Pic related is Peak, and it's not even an original text but a translation by some anonymous group on the internet.
It's sad state of western wn scene when a google machine translator produces better prose than an average rr author.

>>25061178
>a translation by some anonymous group
>a google machine translator
you can't keep the story straight and it's two sentences long

>>25061166
this is much much better

>>25061167
I like it much better, 6-7/10 now I would give it
the contrast is good. The shapes and textures are clear and focused.

You got a clear color contrast between the eye and the book cover. That pulls attention to it and gives
it some focus despite the small nature of it.

The gold and silver looks valuable and elegant. Another contrast to the dragon inside, a thematic contrast.

>>25061184
Correction. In lightmode I might score it an 7-8 because it breaks the column and might stand out from other covers due to the silver nearly merging with the light color of the website.

It would draw attention to the eye and scratch which look "free floating". This is for the meta rating how it stacks up against the other covers.

Is Raled , the author, the dragon or the prefect?

>>25061176
The text really doesn't matter (for thumbnail optimization), it is legible at medium size that is enough
my opinion on it this is a serviceable cover and think I would be fine with using it myself.

>>25061197
The prefect was the head it turns out.
>The Prefect had been known for his smile once, but his severed head displayed none of that charm now.
>>25061166

>>25061164
>Why would we get a description with more detail than the protagonist so fast?
Because I subscribe to something called "observationalism", which means only things the protagonist character observed are communicated. Visual details about the protagonist are not disclosed unless he looks into a mirror or something.

Either way, I'm trying to hint that the Prefect had more going on.
The story here is that a former city-state has been occupied by a foreign tribe, and they have installed a local bureaucrat as the civilian governor.
The prefect's job is essentially to mend the gap between the unpopular occupiers and the local citizens.
This particular prefect was quite good at his job and liked by the citizens, hence why his sudden execution is exceptionally depressing.

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>>25061176
Something like this? Don't have photoshop (Or know how to use it) so I just traced along the lines myself.
>>25061184
>>25061195
Great! I like the sound of that.

>>25061241
Yeah that looks better to me. Might be a good idea to A/B test it though since I'm picky about art.

o.O my thing made it on rising stars and I didn't notice, the suspicious amount of traffic should have told me
the bad quality keeps it from really being leveraged but that I made it there is kinda goodish.

>>25061243
A/B test?

why would Raled recognize his own face?

>>25061245
congrats anon

>>25061245
congrats anon

>>25061252
>>25061254
thank you

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>>25060605
The ghost of Christmas future got him!

>>25060816
Why would I stop?

>>25061480
because they are all the same

>>25061246
>A/B test?
AryanBrotherhood

>>25061245
fucking A. good showing.

>>25061480
Starting to and write a personal project story of mine. Im putting it on a03 as a sort of beta area.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/76116386/chapters/199182661

Any thoughts anyone can give me. Last time i did this here the only words that were sent my way was from an anon that i assume was raped in a diner.

>>25060805
It just comes down to this.

>>25060547
I finally gets it. You guys are learning from sci-fi/fantasy novels.
Stop it. Webnovel is about you. Trying to write like tradpubs will only exhaust you.

>>25061677
how do i write web novels if not from tradpub.

>>25061763
Try read the og webnovels.
Re; Deity, Bound Dungeon, Mother of Learning (arc 1 is the best), etc.
There's much more, but those are the one I like the best.

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Genuinely curious.

Are there any examples of really decent AI books on RR? Obviously most people won't be disclosing use of it, but are there any that do?

>>25061770
every book is made with AI I cant prove it. But I don't trust any author post chatGPT becoming mainstream.

god I could kick myself. I'm used to getting nothing when I post up. I'm so used to that I dumped the first 8 chaps in one go. Then I remembered to release the next 9 I'm up to 17 now. I got a little biut of performance out of it and if I had released like I was supposed to without the initial dump I'd have twice as much of everything now. Oh well live and learn. At least I'm doing this on a smaller winny site, playing. So when I switch over to RR I'll have my act down pat. I mean RR has to be ten times as much as compared to a little one, right.

>>25061778
Just use the schedule release feature. It's not hard.
I truly do not understand authors, even very successful ones, who do not simply use the schedule release feature.

Was reading a decent EFL story on novelpia. Latest chapter gets uploaded and it's doing the "not this, not that just this" bullshit.

>>25061770
anything that starts with the letter 'Z' or 'X' is AI. I'd start there

>>25061782
>Just use the schedule release feature. It's not hard.
I am, now anyways. I never used it before because there was no point. I never used to generate clicks. Now that I had to start using it though, I see the value of it. What do I do to keep the views going after I'm done releasing. I'm gonna miss the daily little boost. (releasing daily) Does it all end after I release the last chap.

we need more cultivation stories.

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>>25061908
christian cultivation

>>25061908
do you actually mean cultivation or do you mean xianxia

>>25061919
fellow cultivator what is the difference?

>>25061908
You could check out the Divine Dungeon. It's pretty good for the first two books at least, provided you can actually stand the snarky fairy/wisp/whatever that's mandated for these fucking stories apparently.

>>25061927
Lord of Mysteries and Shadow Slave are are cultivation but they aren't Xianxia which is when it's Chinese themed with younger masters and stuff.

if it's not chinese then it's not cultivation

Archmage meta is waning
Lord meta is rising

How much will readers seethe if I do a fakeout romance? My MC is too much of a sigma male to actually care about women.

>>25061984
Top 3 cultivation stories outside of RI:
>Western Occult themed one
>Dark Fantasy written by a Russian
>Chinese themed one written by a Korean
Oh no no no
And RI is extremely subversive of typical Xianxia because it doesn't even pretend the protagonist is a good guy.
Then you have Er Gen middling works and below that all the generic stuff like Martial God Asura and A Will Eternal

>>25061993
not "written by the chinese" you drooling retard

chinese setting

>>25061996
Yeah and the first two I listed are not Chinese setting.
They're cultivation but not xianxia

>>25062002
they're not cultivation

>>25062003
They are

>>25062004
nope

cultivation is just "you meditate to progress", that's all there is to it at the end of the day

>>25061993
rtoc is unbearably mid

>>25061677
> Webnovel is about you
You mean 2nd point of view narrative?

this shit is absolute slop, I feel bad for the people writing it and even worse for the people not only reading it but paying money to support it (why?)

>>25062067
prove it

Is the age of thrilling adventures and plot twists over? Looking at RS stories and the reviews, it seems what people value is "comfy". No conflict, no tension, no struggle

>>25062203
People are looking for a simpler, more straightforward experience. Also keep in mind that as generations grow less and less literate, they'll simply devolve into the basics, which is exactly what RR provides.

see >>25059248

>>25062203
RS seems super weak atm, maybe because of Immersive Ink dying and most authors avoiding Jan because they thought the deckbuilder push was gonna happen.
I think it's just a lack of good writers putting anything out rather than any real trend where something else is being overlooked.

>>25061677
Okay, I think what you are saying is that there should be more character-focus and the flow should be much simpler.
Time to give it another go...

Raled rested on the rampart, looking down on the town. He enjoyed smoked salmon. A treat like that, he could only afford once a fortnight. Tomorrow, it would be back to the monotony of brown bread. Did the garrison not deserve a bit more? Even the street wenches earned more.
He had barely taken a third bite when a hand appeared on his shoulder.
"What do you have over there, comrade?"
"Fuck off, Lemrug!"
"Don't be like that, friend. Boy, I haven't had fish for months. Surely you would—"
"Sharing my quarters with you is enough; sharing my meal is out of the question."
"Just a small bite," he said, already reaching for the fish.
"Are you deaf? I said no."
Lemrug grabbed the salmon, but Raled didn't let go.
"Listen here, buddy. I think you owe me this one."
"How's that? What have you ever done for me?" Raled asked.
"Well, that's really..." he began, but lost the cart of thought. "The truth is, I just want the goddam fish, please."
"No."
Lemrug did not take it well. He resorted to jerking the salmon off his hand. For a moment, Raled lost his grip, but he quickly regained it. He pulled back, much harder than either of them had precipitated. The fish slipped and fell to the busy town beneath. Five meters separated them and the fish. Before they could descend the wall stairs, a stray cat claimed the reward. Raled gave Lemrug an uneasy look: "This time, you have gone too far.

>>25062212
It wasn't really an observation from today, but from several months. The kind of stories that go high most share the same features: the author makes it clear upfront nothing is going to challenge the MC. The MC doesn't have a clear goal beside "get stronger", or "take it easy", which also means there are no stakes or losing conditions. The fictions that do involved conflict and weak-to-strong progression also receive significantly more trash ratings and complaints.

>>25062203
The fact is that plot twists and the like cost effort and might upset viewers. Safer not to bother and provide a frictionless experience.

>>25062217
>>25062226
This makes me sad
Why can animanga get away with weak sauce losers getting stronger and running into trouble?

>>25062203
> Is the age of thrilling adventures and plot twists over?
Of course not, and simple, easy to read comfy stories that make the reader feel good. RR and the like are simply supplying a demand that has always existed but wasn't being provided by existing markets.

>>25062234
Most isekai (presumably what you're referring to) don't actually have the protagonist ever face any major trouble, and any minor trouble is just an excuse to aurafarm as the youths say.

>>25062203
>it seems what people value is "comfy". No conflict, no tension, no struggle
remember RR is a big bubble. its not necessarily what people value, its what people value -there-

>>25062203
>No conflict, no tension, no struggle
That explains why so many power fantasies like Tensura thrive.

>>25062238
No I mean shonen where getting your shit kicked in is a crucial part of getting stronger

>>25062203
those stories are a diamond dozen, who cares?

>>25061992
>sigma male to actually care about women.
I dont know what psych books you've been reading, that's /pol/ bullshit. The defining feature of the sigma, beyond intellectualism, is the rigid personally developed code. once a person lives up to their inner code there's nothing they wont do to reward that. that's only how they treat people that have no code or morality of their own or clashes bad with their own. crack a book instead of trusting memes to do your education for you.

Rising Stars will become less and less over time. It has to. The focus is on length. There's not an unlimited amount of new and promising authors. Eventually most of them will have ongoing series and Rising Stars will almost entirely be new authors who aren't going anywhere. The idea that there's some huge churn rate among the most popular is false. The deeply established authors will continue to take more and more and thus stagnation begins. This is no different than anything else.

>>25062244
People are champaign at the bit for reel content these daze. It's eye ron nick that you don't sea this.

I just got my second fan mail. I honestly don't know how to deal with this. I thought this was never or much later. it feels weird. copy paste with redaction.
Hello,

I just want to thank you for your story. I'm not even finished {redacted} yet but I am absolutely addicted. There is very little erotica, even in this genre, that actually appeals to me without making me cringe like hell in the down beats. You have this coy, euphemistic style of dialogue that I find intriguing. It really builds anticipation. I really hope this doesn't come off as gross or creepy but the punishment scenes are intensely exciting. You have a dark aspect that is strikingly authentic and moving and it makes me weak. Please keep writing!

—Instant Fan

(editors note: this isn't one of the form spams for art scammers. this isn't the only one of these I've gotten)
I'm honestly afraid of how to respond and what to say to these people. I have zero experience with promotion PR and all that.

>>25062248
I miss the paperbacks I get at flea markets. There were once real books on bookshelves. Imagine that.

>>25062216
Honestly, this is much better.
I actually read it to the end. Twice even.

>>25062254
There's a nonzero chance that this fan will read this.

>>25062254
>erotica
Thanks for wasting my time

>>25058562
>Anon's guide to success
>rentry.co/RRBasicGuide
>Post twice a day for the first week, once a day for the next three weeks. This means a 35 chapter backlog. After this, you can settle into your regular posting schedule.
What is "regular posting schedule"? Is it still one a day?

>>25062217
>several months
before that was writeathon, which favours zero-friction easy to write sloppiness

>>25061927
>>25061984
>>25061993
>>25062002
Cultivation should be about cultivating the Dao. The Dao and Daoism are Chinese but it could also be argued that while the concept origin is Chinese it can be applied and used everywhere.

>>25062245
tina...

>>25062264
lirRPG is a slop and those outside of it don't care. This is no different. No one cares outside of their own personal niches genres they read or write. The work is still a winnie, tho

>>25062274
Robert...

>>25062245
Is Fang Yuan a sigma male, or is he an alpha? (Could he be a beta?)

>>25062277
erotica has its own thread on /trash/

>>25062264
>>erotica
>Thanks for wasting my time
sex sells, anon. update on this breaking scoop, on our evening news broadcast.

>>25062282
>Is Fang Yuan a
or could he be insane

>>25062284
which board is that a nickname of. never been there. i'm a former /pol/tard turned /lit/izen dual-citizen.

>>25062285
I don't know about selling. All I saw you was you rambling about things that don't matter

>>25062289
>I don't know about selling. All I saw you was you rambling about things that don't matter
all things web novel. reader engagement is part of the deal. if cover art and release schedules count, engagement counts as well.

>>25062288
there's literally just a board called /trash/, that's what you put in the url, it's hidden because it was initially used to move 'bad' threads from other boards.
It has its own culture now of porn generals including erp and writing.

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what's /wng/ thoughts on this work?

>>25062294
kino sounds like the only 4chanboard left with some worth.

>>25062294
did, not know that. porn and erotica writing and degenerates, you say? interesting. thanks.

>>25062295
I'm not reading your shit, Krout.

>>25062216
The dialogue is still bad, it's just too long, dumb and fake, it doesn't feel real. The rest is quite good.

>>25062295
I don't think you could design a work to appeal to me less.

Thinking about going to traditional book route because I hate adhering to a schedule, but my story is firmly in the progression fantasy genre even though it has heavy focus on philosophical elements. Is it even viable?

>>25062329
try it. what do you have to lose. from a pondering perspective? These WN tropes are viable. Why wouldn't they be in trad book format. then you can get the KU market.

>>25062295
I don't read krauts and I don't read Krout either.

If Tina says something is a good idea you should immediately reconsider your stance

>>25062323
>The rest is quite good.
what is the rest?

>>25062323
The parts that aren't dialogue (the beginning of the paragraph and the end)

>>25062359
See >>25062421

>>25062295
>murderhobo
>written by a female author
Pick one.

so I've been thinking is it best not to write paragraphs longer than 3 sentences?
you know for readers on their phones?

>>25062421
I think otherwise. The dialogue is better.
>feel real
Horseshit.

You know, I've noticed this funny correlation that people only complain about long paragraphs when it's a character they don't like speaking, or the topic doesn't interest them, but at all other times are mysteriously fine with them

>>25062436
Obviously, if it's something I like, I would read them no matter how long.
If it's something I dislike, I would not focus on it and goes on. If I need it later, then well.

>>25062434
Unless they are gay and they are having a playful conversation. Even bros wouldn't talk to each other like that.
One guy is having fish which he can only afford to have twice a month, and the other tries snatching his food. They also seem to be soldiers of some kind garrisoned in small town, they use words and phrases like 'fuck off', 'please', 'just a small bite' in the same conversation

>Surely you would—
This is just terrible writing

Ravensdagger:
>If you're going to participate on Royal Road, then that means being part of the culture and community. If you want to do that, and you want the readers to appreciate your work, then you need to be 'in' on the jokes, tropes, and zeitgeist that Royal Road has developed over the last few years.
>If you haven't read half of the top 20 stories on the site, then I will expect you to fail
Discuss.

>>25062453
>gay
Never even passed my mind.
>bros never
Speak for yourself.
>phrases
Doesn't matter.
>terrible writing
I don't think so. It's comfortable to read, and though it tells little, it still feels lively.

>>25062457
Depends on what he considers top 20.
I already re-read MoL and Breath of Creation thrice.

>>25062457
The only "culture" on RR is relentless, desperate self-shilling that drowns out any actual discussion. I don't read the dogshit stories, or participate in the retarded community in any way, and my work was in the rising stars top 30 for almost two months last year.

>>25062457
>then you need to be 'in' on the jokes, tropes, and zeitgeist that Royal Road has developed over the last few years.
That only applies to shit authors who can't write, who just regurgitate rr memes and tropes every paragraph.
If an author can write well (like those people who after initially publishing on rr went to traditional publishing, signed contracts etc) they don't have to include a single rr trope or be in on the jokes and they are still going to succeed.

>>25062457
People (and I) will disagree on the details, but I agree with the core idea. Understanding the general culture of RoyalRoad is very important. However, there will be occasional exceptions where talented outsiders come in and write a popular story.
I also think, rather than having read half of the top 20, you just need to have read a smattering of the niche you intend to write in. RoyalRoad is pretty diverse. You don't need to have read Primal Hunter if you're trying to write something like Super Supportive

>>25062472
>The only "culture" on RR is relentless, desperate self-shilling that drowns out any actual discussion.
I doubt he meant the author culture, but rather the reader culture. What readers like, don't like, etc. So like browsing the /r/progressionfantasy or /r/litrpg subreddits & reading popular stories and their comments
How else would you find out that something like a slave arc will make genuinely 20% of your readers quit the story and give it 0.5 stars?

>>25062479
fuck the story I'm backlogging has 3 slave arcs...

>>25062463
>>terrible writing
>I don't think so. It's comfortable to read, and though it tells little, it still feels lively.
It is not comfortable at all. A dialogue with interruptions that require an em dash is not even worth being transcribed/written down. If it's absolutely vital to the story then as a narrator you could rewrite it without interruptions or just describe what was said by each partiy from narrators pov.

>>25062479
>I doubt he meant the author culture, but rather the reader culture.
They're not somehow separate from each other. If every channel is full of authors tooting their own horn, there's no real space for readers to talk about their preferences.

>>25062487
>A dialogue with interruptions that require an em dash is not even worth being transcribed/written down
What an incredibly autistic take

>>25062457
You missed his important tldr closing remark which was something about failures writing what they want to write and not what people want to read
the slop-pill is bitter

>>25062491
I stand by what I said, I could that add such writing would be very juvenile, if you are targeting kids and young teenager audiences then that's ok but don't expect patreon bucks with such writing.

>>25062488
They're not somehow separate from each other.
They very much are.
I gave reader comment sections as one example, and authors aren't shilling there for obvious reasons. I also gave a subreddit like /r/progressionfantasy, and while some posts will have authors flock to them, most are memes and discussions about books and what they like in the stories they read. The median user in a reader space has never written and has no interest in writing.
You're just in a writer's bubble it sounds like.

How did Worm become so popular without any platform? It's just on its own old school website

>>25062499
Sure bruh

>>25062505
Word of mouth on reader platforms like Reddit, SomethingAwful, Spacebattles, etc over a long period of time. Thriving fanfiction community where every fic further boosted visibility.