Board 8 > I published a book.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So my husband has been reading the book. He said it started kind of slow, but as he got farther into it he enjoyed it a lot more than he thought he would.

He has pre ordered the sequel already.

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'Enjoyed it a lot more than they thought they would' is a common response, I've found! Glad he enjoyed it, and thanks for the Pre-order.

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Is the revenue from this actually turning out to be significant enough to be your primary income? I wonder how much you get from that paperback. I would have guessed like 3-5 dollars

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He also has a Patreon for the web version of the series where he's making a pretty good monthly income (though I'm not sure what percentage of Patreon revenues a person gets). The combined revenues are probably enough.

I am curious what the percentages are like on Kindle sales though.
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CoolCly posted...

Is the revenue from this actually turning out to be significant enough to be your primary income?

Yes.

Kindle Revenue Distribution is:
74% - Kindle Unlimited
24% - Direct Sales
2% - Paperback

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KamikazePotato posted...

'Enjoyed it a lot more than they thought they would' is a common response, I've found! Glad he enjoyed it, and thanks for the Pre-order.

That's a solid subtle burn hidden in a compliment

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LitRPG isn't a genre known for its consistent quality.

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KamikazePotato posted...

LitRPG isn't a genre known for its consistent quality.

Maybe this series can be the breakout that legitimizes the genre.

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There's been breakouts that performed very well financially - better than mine, and with more fans. The genre as a whole won't be taken seriously unless there's a BIG thing that creates a cultural shift. It took an award-winning movie trilogy for fantasy to be legitimized outside of pre-existing fans. LitRPG probably doesn't have quite that tall of a hurdle to climb, but until it'll be tough going until a pre-established fantasy author who people respect takes a crack at it.

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KamikazePotato posted...

There's been breakouts that performed very well financially - better than mine, and with more fans. The genre as a whole won't be taken seriously unless there's a BIG thing that creates a cultural shift. It took an award-winning movie trilogy for fantasy to be legitimized outside of pre-existing fans. LitRPG probably doesn't have quite that tall of a hurdle to climb, but until it'll be tough going until a pre-established fantasy author who people respect takes a crack at it.

sounds like a job for Brandon Sanderson

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It still baffles me that that's the real name of a real person

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Peace___Frog posted...

It still baffles me that that's the real name of a real person

Brando Sando

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It's been a week but i'm still surprised to see this is an established genre in english writing.

I'm *extremely* familiar with this genre... in anime/manga/webtoons/lightnovels/manwha. I've experienced dozens of isekei/tensei/wuxia or whatever that do this. But I've never even heard the term LitRPG before this topic. I'm curious to look into what the landscape is like.... What are the biggest stories?

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Branderson

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um... I just realized I went to the same high school as Brandon Sanderson.

Not at the same time though, he's older than me.

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I use Branderson all the time.

CoolCly posted...

What are the biggest stories?

https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/search?tagsAdd=litrpg

Go from there. Two of my personal favorites are Threadbare and Salvos.

Disclaimer: A story being popular and high on that list is not necessarily a guarantee of quality.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPkX84mqr38

This is fairly close to my current mental state

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Wow, that was...

Well, I'm glad for you if that's where you're at and you think you can sustain it. Good luck, at the very least. I know I had some of the same aspirations over the last decade and just never sealed the deal. (I also refused to self pub, so maybe lolme?)

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Thanks man. I'm going to try very hard to sustain this. I have plans for the long-term.

If you can selfpub, go for it. I can't guarantee you money, but getting a publisher to look at you is hard enough as it is. Self-publishing gets you something, at least.

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Most recent review I've seen starts with:

"A very underrated gem of a book, I had neutral expectations for it and came out very pleasantly surprised."

Diverting expectations is such a fun feeling.

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a book that's currently rated 4.5/5 stars is "very underrated"? >_>

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Mr Lasastryke posted...

a book that's currently rated 4.5/5 stars is "very underrated"? >_>

The site the review is on is Royal Road, where the story has over 5000 Followers, so yeah I didn't really get it either.

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Maybe it's revealing the true brilliance of your advisor. People immediately notice a book by "KamikazePotato", read it out of morbid curiosity thinking there's no way it can be good (despite evidence to the contrary), and are shocked at being wrong

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It's certainly more of an eye catching name than Brett With Atreyu

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I just saw someone say LitRPG in a topic other than this one. Now I'm wondering if I have seen the term before this topic and just never noticed.
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From a recent review:

"Also dear author your alias is absolutely lovely. It was the first thing that piqued my interest and when I got around to reading the title I knew this would be something I would enjoy."

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Seeing official company messages addressed to 'KamikazePotato' never gets old.

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KP you have inspired me to get off my ass when it comes to my narrative ambitions. I have put a lot of work into my pokemon business, but I want to write and to share it with the world and seeing this has really gotten the gears turning inside of my head.

I don't have the time right now for a new book, but when I find a pocket I am for sure ordering one for my book shelf.

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That's fucking awesome man. I wish you the best of luck in that endeavor, and feel free to ask for advice on the self-publishing process if that's the route you go. Not everything I did will be applicable but I've learned a few ways to game the Amazon system by now!

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Well my first branch into this is finishing a project I started last year of rewriting all of my Doctor Doom/Pokemon chapters and releasing those on a website. It was always a big hit everywhere so I want to polish it and make it a really fun story and then slowly do more of my original work and all of that.

I'll let you know as plans develop, going to be a journey and thanks.

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the contest fanfiction stuff was one of the things that attracted me to board 8 in the first place, chris! your writing has probably changed since 2004 (and writing a story with original characters isn't quite the same as writing fanfiction, of course) but yeah, i'm sure you can come up with something good.

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Just caught this topic, congrats!

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Bruh I just realized you have a full TVTropes page. Nice.

How did people have a page up so quickly? :O

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KamikazePotato posted...

The site the review is on is Royal Road, where the story has over 5000 Followers, so yeah I didn't really get it either.

Oh, im unfamiliar with royal road and/or the process to writing a book lol. was this/is this available as free fab fiction before?

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I'm leaving the typo

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It was posted online before it was published, yes.

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Whoops, forgot to respond to GTM. Yes, the chapters were posted online before being published, and Book 2 is going to consist of chapters that are out online right now as well.

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How significant are the differences between the web version and the book version?
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The original posting of Book 1 had 99% of the same plot structure as the current Amazon version, but a lot of the prose had to be updated as my writing style had evolved/improved since then. The updated version tacked on an extra 10k words when all was said and done. New readers getting into the story later on wouldn't notice a difference, though, as I updated the online Book 1 chapters with the new versions as I edited them.

Book 2 hasn't entered the editing phase yet, so I'm not sure how different that will be, but I don't expect it to be anywhere near as much of an effort as editing Book 1 was. Will probably hand it off to an official editor once I make some necessary minor changes here and there, as editing Book 1 myself - on top of doing everything else - nearly burnt me out.

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I have no updates, but I also don't want this topic to purge just yet.

Carry on.

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Hmm...maybe I should add Board 8 into the Dedication section. I *did* get a lot of writing experience here! It wouldn't be 'GameFAQs Contests', though, just 'Board 8'.

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KamikazePotato posted...

It wouldn't be 'GameFAQs Contests', though, just 'Board 8'.

*Vlado crosses his arms in disapproval*

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Im late to the party, but congrats dude. I published a book back in 2013 but it didnt sell at all lol. But youre inspiring me to try again. Im happy to see you have success. I also bought a Kindle copy!

How did you go about marketing/hyping your book up? That seemed to be my stumping point the first time.
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Cheers from a fellow writer dude, that is superb news. =)

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HaRRicH posted...

Cheers from a fellow writer dude, that is superb news. =)

Thanks man! Wish you all the success in the world as well :)

StifledSilence posted...

Im late to the party, but congrats dude. I published a book back in 2013 but it didnt sell at all lol. But youre inspiring me to try again. Im happy to see you have success. I also bought a Kindle copy!

How did you go about marketing/hyping your book up? That seemed to be my stumping point the first time.

Thanks so much for the support man! I'll be happy to give any marketing advice I have, although not all of it will be applicable.

Posting my story as a chapter-by-chapter serial is what led me build up the fanbase I needed to help with marketing. The #1 biggest success factor, more than any paid or grassroots advertising I did, was to ask my fans to give support the book on Amazon and give it early algorithm success. This only mattered so much because I'd gotten a fairly large following by that point, though.

Other than my fanbase, I advertised on several different sites, subreddits, twitter, imgur...I actually made a quick marketing guide a while back, I'll fish it out and post it here tomorrow for anyone who's interested.

P.S. If you self-publish, put it on Kindle Unlimited.

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Hmm. I like that serial idea. Never considered it before because I thought it would cause people to not want to buy it later. But youve shown me its actually the opposite. Did you create your own website for the serial or is it a community thing you joined?

At the time I self-published my book, I dont think Kindle Unlimited was a thing yet. Ill definitely use it when I try again.
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I find that, in practice, the amount of sales you 'lose' from posting a serial and then transitioning it to Kindle Unlimited - especially if you're a new author - is very low. Generally speaking, the people that are reading lots of free serial on websites are the people that don't like spending money in general. And the people that ARE fine with spending money will be more likely to support your work if they have an emotional investment towards it.

Creating your own website isn't a bad idea if you have the expertise, but it's not going to be anywhere near as helpful for a new author as making use of sites that are already popular. I got my start mainly on Spacebattles, but I also posted everywhere I could think of as well. Royal Road, Reddit, Scribblehub, and An Archive of Our Own are just a few examples. The story won't take off everywhere, but that just means you end up focusing on the places that did, which for me ended up being Spacebattles, Royal Road, and Reddit.

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You can also run a patreon to support your serial (which KP does). Some people make their money from writing entirely that way without even publishing it as a book later.
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https://justpaste.it/8vqax

This is a (non-comprehensive) marketing guide I made for an author discord. It's geared towards serial LitRPG authors, but there's some tips in there that would help everyone.

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Here's a story I'm not sure I shared: several months ago, I was approached by a publishing company who specialized in LitRPGs. They were super interested in Outcast, and even offered me a deal right away!

It was bad. Really bad.

I didn't know that at first. Getting courted by a publishing company felt like a dream, and I definitely had stars in my eyes. They said they would get me cover art, an audiobook, an editor, and advertising - how could I not take that? Would I ever get another chance?

Then I talked so some people. Authors and non-authors who I trusted. They took one look at the royalty deal I was offered and told me it sucked. I won't name the company in question publicly, which means I can totally say that they were locking me into 30% royalties, after Amazon takes its cut, for three books straight. So for every $1000 of profit the book produced, I would get $300. 70% gone for...what? Basic support that, with hard work, I could accomplish on my own?

The thing that worried me the most was when I asked them what my advertising budget would be. They refused to commit to a hard number. I also learned that other authors were being offered better deals, which was a hilarious fact because the company said that the deal they offered me was the best in the business. From the start, they had no desire to be straight with me and no real faith in my book.

I looked it over, thought about it, and eventually came to the conclusion that I was being shortchanged by a ton. And maybe I could have argued for a better deal - my story was already pretty damn popular on Royal Road by now - but should I bother? I knew that self-publishing would be much harder, sure. I would have to advertise for myself, get my own cover art, and re-edit Book 1 without assistance. But the profits would be mine. The success would be mine.

The next few months were easily the busiest time of my life. And it was absolutely 100% worth it. Take your 30% royalties and shove it, Company X.

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KamikazePotato posted...

Thanks! And it's the same story, actually. Took Chapters 1 through 38 and put it into book form. It's a common strategy for successful web serials to use their fanbase as a springboard to amazon. My fanbase is pretty amazing - they've turned out to support my work whenever I asked. Can basically attribute this successful launch to them.

So you'd say the web serial thing is why you had an audience for the collected edition? Any advice on starting a web series, where to post it, how long of updates to make, how often? That kind of thing. Feel free to throw me a mention or a pm. I've been curious about this kind of thing myself.

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