Hi friends,
First, thanks so much for all your responses and feedback on last week’s question about the tortoise (slow and steady gains for a character) versus the hare (immediate rewards and fast action) types of stories.
The overwhelming preference by almost all of you was . . .
The tortoise!!
I totally didn’t expect that. I thought you would split more evenly, but you all like characters who struggle to overcome obstacles before reaching the prize.
A few mentioned they also enjoyed “hare” stories but mostly as an addition to the “tortoise” stories.
I hope that bodes well for my newest story and Pax’s struggles at the beginning.
Speaking of my latest book, I have an exciting announcement today:
I finally did it!
I got over my vacation hangover, did a bunch of editing and posted the first chapters of my latest book on the web serial site: Royal Road!
And check out the final cover! What do you think?
Awakening Horde – Shieldwall Academy Book 1
If you head over to Royal Road and are feeling generous enough to leave a rating, review, favorite or follow, it makes a huge difference when the story is brand new. You just need to register for a free account to post – so, thanks!!
Many of you probably haven’t even heard of Royal Road, but if you read sci-fi, fantasy or litrpg, it’s a goldmine of great stories to read . . . and all for free!
So, why would I post a story on a free website when I’m trying to turn this author gig into a livable income?
Well, this is an experiment in an alternative or addition to publishing with Amazon that I’ve been working toward for the last year or so.
How does it work?
The idea is to post chapters to Royal Road regularly for people to read for free. (I’ll be releasing every T, Th and Sa once I’m done with the 35 chapters I’ll be posting in the first two “launch” weeks.)
As readers enjoy the chapters, they comment, review, follow and favorite, which grows the number of people reading and following the story.
But where does the money comes from?
The answer is Patreon!
Patreon is a website that allows fans to support their favorite creatives so they can continue to write, draw, paint, etc.
You can explore my Patreon page here to see what I mean: M. Zaugg’s Patreon
Generous readers chip in some monthly money on Patreon and in return, they usually get access to chapters ahead of time, bonus content, to interact with the author, make suggestions, etc.
Finally, authors can remove the beginning of the story from Royal Road in order to publish it on Amazon. Then the author could keep writing the newer books on Royal Road while pulling off enough of the earlier content to publish on Amazon too.
And that’s the whole process, though I’m sure I’ll learn a lot of new things as I get going.
If you’re curious how this new venture is doing after just a couple of days, here are the Royal Road statistics for Awakening Horde as I’m writing this newsletter on Thursday (9/8):
Awakening Horde – Shieldwall Academy Book 1 on Royal Road
- About 500 views of the various chapters of Awakening Horde.
- 21 readers are following it.
- 3 reader favorites.
- 2 reviews with a 5 star and 4.5 star.
- 1 – 5 star rating.
- ~10 or so comments.
- and 2 amazing and generous readers have joined Patreon at the $10 level!
I’m pretty excited by the initial success, and you can see by the numbers above that each follow, rating or review counts for a ton this early on – so thanks to any of you who help out!!
Did my explanation make sense? Ask me if you’d like more details on the process – I’m happy to get as nitty gritty as you’d like and keep you updated.
Plus, I’m excited to get back to the fun part – writing more!
As always, I’m so grateful for your support. You are the reason I keep writing stories, especially those of you who take the time to write back, post a review or send me kind feedback.
You’re the best!
— Misty 🙂
Recent Comments