Does RoyalRoad Suck?

[RightThereInTheTitle]

In my experience, Royal Road readers are more likely to comment and leave reviews than Scribblehub readers, but that's a double-edged sword, because it means people are more likely to leave "here is why this thing is bad" reviews which are clearly just "not my cup of tea" comments phrased as if they were measures of quality.

It's like how sometimes people leave movie reviews on Amazon like:

There was a power surge while we were watching this DVD and so my TV caught fire halfway through the movie. 0 stars.

Not all Royal Road reviewers are like that (some of them are really great!), but I think you're more likely to find that kind of person on Royal Road than on Scribblehub. As a concrete example, the tagline of my story is

A superhero harem mystery with the most reliable narrator you'll ever meet.

And I got a 0.5 star review by someone complaining that the narrator seemed really sketchy! (I guess I needed to post a warning at the top of every chapter saying "Reminder: this is an unreliable narrator, and that is being done on purpose.")

Overall I'm really glad I'm on both Royal Road and Scribblehub - I've gotten some really thoughtful and engaged readers on Royal Road. But I'm much more likely to need to don my flame-retardant vest there, so you might prefer to stay away if the extra eyeballs aren't worth the heat.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

In my experience, Royal Road readers are more likely to comment and leave reviews than Scribblehub readers, but that's a double-edged sword, because it means people are more likely to leave "here is why this thing is bad" reviews which are clearly just "not my cup of tea" comments phrased as if they were measures of quality.

It's like how sometimes people leave movie reviews on Amazon like:



Not all Royal Road reviewers are like that (some of them are really great!), but I think you're more likely to find that kind of person on Royal Road than on Scribblehub. As a concrete example, the tagline of my story is



And I got a 0.5 star review by someone complaining that the narrator seemed really sketchy! (I guess I needed to post a warning at the top of every chapter saying "Reminder: this is an unreliable narrator, and that is being done on purpose.")

Overall I'm really glad I'm on both Royal Road and Scribblehub - I've gotten some really thoughtful and engaged readers on Royal Road. But I'm much more likely to need to don my flame-retardant vest there, so you might prefer to stay away if the extra eyeballs aren't worth the heat.

You are the second person in this thread saying RR readers can't read.

 

[KUWABARA]

I've been on RR since 2019 and my experience there has never been too bad. I've always had more success (pitiful as it is) with my stories there compared to here or even Spacebattle and I never so much wrote meta stuff.

RR sucks for readers who want something other than LitRPG and a particular style of writing. RR writing is better than SH, or at least it was, but it lacks any kind of individualism. Everything is minmaxed to suit tastes of particular group of people, if you are not a part of that group, welp, you basically has nothing to read there. On the other hand, if you are a big fan of LitRPGs RR is a treasure trove.

This isn't just limited to RR, it's like that here too. And Spacebattles. In regard to the first sentence, that is.

 

[DireBadger]

Sadly, the ambiance on the RR forum has been parasitized by a small group of self-righteous, self-important narcissists who try to crush anyone who disagrees with them through harassment over the slightest pretext. It feels like being back in high school. It used to be a nice place where people would go to share tips and tricks, but now, not so much. To be fair, though, I met the same behaviour here, and I only posted here and maybe 3 other convos, so... not sure this is any better here. Truth is, there are bad people everywhere you go and good ones too.

I bet you had the same experience I did, with a certain skull-headed Icon master debater?

I've been on RR since 2019 and my experience there has never been too bad. I've always had more success (pitiful as it is) with my stories there compared to here or even Spacebattle and I never so much wrote meta stuff.

This isn't just limited to RR, it's like that here too. And Spacebattles. In regard to the first sentence, that is.

If you don't subscribe to their politics, they do everything in their power to get you banned. Just like every other platform where they gain a modicum of power.

 

[Shorgoth]

I bet you had the same experience I did, with a certain skull-headed Icon master debater?

If you don't subscribe to their politics, they do everything in their power to get you banned. Just like every other platform where they gain a modicum of power.

Honestly, I don't know that one. I've had issues with unilateral Anti-AI factionalism because I tried to teach people how to use AI to create deeper stories with it and not just make basic slop. I use it to add music and images to create secondary narrative pillars (not for writing, though, that's all mine.)

And one of them keeps hounding me nonstop with insults and attacks, trying to make me leave.

I don't like AI slop to be clear, I'm trying to have people push the medium in a more skilled and useful direction, and I think there is a lot of potential in the transmedia sphere. Once I'm finished with my trilogy + the planned spin-off, I'll have produced what would have cost over a hundred million USD 3 years ago in art for it. It's not something that would ever have been done in the past because it was prohibitive. 150+ chapters for the main trilogy, 200+songs, 1000+ images... This is what will be in... all of them treated not like 1 piece of art each, but a collage.

Anyway, suffice to say it didn't please the haters that I offered a tangible counterpoint to unmitigated, unnuanced hate. (I do think there is a lot wrong with how AI is used to be sure, but I am verciforously against hating other creators who do actual work with it and don't one-prompt things)

 

[DireBadger]

Honestly, I don't know that one. I've had issues with unilateral Anti-AI factionalism because I tried to teach people how to use AI to create deeper stories with it and not just make basic slop. I use it to add music and images to create secondary narrative pillars (not for writing, though, that's all mine.)

And one of them keeps hounding me nonstop with insults and attacks, trying to make me leave.

I don't like AI slop to be clear, I'm trying to have people push the medium in a more skilled and useful direction, and I think there is a lot of potential in the transmedia sphere. Once I'm finished with my trilogy + the planned spin-off, I'll have produced what would have cost over a hundred million USD 3 years ago in art for it. It's not something that would ever have been done in the past because it was prohibitive. 150+ chapters for the main trilogy, 200+songs, 1000+ images... This is what will be in... all of them treated not like 1 piece of art each, but a collage.

Anyway, suffice to say it didn't please the haters that I offered a tangible counterpoint to unmitigated, unnuanced hate. (I do think there is a lot wrong with how AI is used to be sure, but I am verciforously against hating other creators who do actual work with it and don't one-prompt things)

Heh, suffice to say, Logic has never swayed haters. And you are right, AI can actually help you do a lot of research on material subjects. Of course, immaterial ones it fails on badly, but knowing your tools is just as important as using them correctly.

Honestly, I would like some of the Chinese slop-pushers to try using an English AI to make their terminology deeper. Chinese has always been vastly more contextual than English, enough so that I even had a decent example about how much gets badly mangled even with a direct translation...but the vast majority of translated asian stuff, even if it's decent in the basic language, becomes meaningless and trite in English without expanding the verbiage enormously.

That's not to say I disagree with people hating... sometimes true understanding leads to black hatred that is utterly justified, but one wishes that the people who choose to hate have a better reason than 'because x said so'.

 

[Eldoria]

It's still better to get a one-star rating than none at all. At least it shows attention (even if it gives a bad impression), not being ignored. My novel on RR hasn't even received a rating at all. Therefore, I choose to prioritize SH, which still provides ratings, even if the number is still single digits. I don't really mind low or high ratings because it's an evaluation. We need opinions, even if they're negative (as long as they're not personal attacks, but rather content criticism). And that's far better than being completely ignored.

 

[Shorgoth]

Heh, suffice to say, Logic has never swayed haters. And you are right, AI can actually help you do a lot of research on material subjects. Of course, immaterial ones it fails on badly, but knowing your tools is just as important as using them correctly.

Honestly, I would like some of the Chinese slop-pushers to try using an English AI to make their terminology deeper. Chinese has always been vastly more contextual than English, enough so that I even had a decent example about how much gets badly mangled even with a direct translation...but the vast majority of translated asian stuff, even if it's decent in the basic language, becomes meaningless and trite in English without expanding the verbiage enormously.

That's not to say I disagree with people hating... sometimes true understanding leads to black hatred that is utterly justified, but one wishes that the people who choose to hate have a better reason than 'because x said so'.

Oh, absolutely, there is plenty to be critical about AI for sure, as long at it remains objective, I have 0 issues with that, I myself have plenty of issues relating to it, as I have issues with plenty of stuff made by humans. It's all about the nuance, really. My issue is with the unilateral categorization of the "Everything done with AI is bad" mindset and "AI is soulless" bullshit. The people who use AI are not necessarily half-assing it; they can push the AI to introduce their symbolism, subtext, and ideas. It requires more than one prompt, though, and it requires understanding these concepts well, at least on an instinctive level.

About the Chinese stuff... as someone who read plenty of poorly translated Chinese novels 10 years back and made a whole sub arc about Mianzi (face culture) in my novel... It's a mess to translate for sure; one has to rewrite it in full to do it justice. Plenty of symbolic interpretation, too, that don't translate well.

 

[lambenttyto]

Didn't admins address the clique problem? Another person here said(though it was long ago) it is now kind of under control. Did it resurface?

I was away for a time, so I'm not even aware this existed!

Lol, no, this alternate Penname exists for a reason, I've just seen some nasty things in that community, and well I'd rather not be a part of it.

This most recent time is not the first I've stirred up a hornet's nest.

Is this because you said white men can't get their books published anymore and a few people on those forums keep raking you over the coals for it

Cause lol. Rofl even. Legit had to make a burner account just to be able to laugh about it without my main getting caught in the drama of your severe copium addiction.

No, it was another post, but I do keep getting raked over the coals with that one. You're free to laugh and disagree, but I've been paying attention to publishing for a long time (and I do mean mainstream traditional publishing) and there's quite a few people who agree with what I said.

I bet you had the same experience I did, with a certain skull-headed Icon master debater?

This made me laugh so hard. Yes--that exactly!

 

[Enkiari]

Is this because you said white men can't get their books published anymore and a few people on those forums keep raking you over the coals for it

Cause lol. Rofl even. Legit had to make a burner account just to be able to laugh about it without my main getting caught in the drama of your severe copium addiction.

What's this? I wanna learn more. Does that thread still exists?

 

[lambenttyto]

Lol, but why?

 

[MutantJumper]

No, it was another post, but I do keep getting raked over the coals with that one. You're free to laugh and disagree, but I've been paying attention to publishing for a long time (and I do mean mainstream traditional publishing) and there's quite a few people who agree with what I said.

Quite a few people thought the rapture was supposed to happen the other day. That didn't make them right. People agreeing with you doesn't make you right. They were stupid to believe the rapture was coming, and it's also stupid to think white men can't get published.

It's especially dumb to believe for something like writing. Do you not understand what PEN NAMES are for? You're using one right now! It's not exactly difficult to be anonymous as a writer. You can even get someone else to put their face on the cover instead.

Why do you think other white men get published all the time, but you don't? Are you just the special snowflake getting singled out while tons of other white men get to succeed and get published?

You being a white man isn't stopping you from getting published. You're deluding yourself. Stop huffing the copium.

What's this? I wanna learn more. Does that thread still exists?

Sure but it's mostly just LT saying something insane and then completely ignoring when some people ask wtf he's talking about. He mentions it in this thread here. Then LT made another thread here and it's mostly the same people that eventually bring it up again.

 

[lambenttyto]

Sure but it's mostly just LT saying something insane and then completely ignoring when some people ask wtf he's talking about. He mentions it in this thread here. Then LT made another thread here and it's mostly the same people that eventually bring it up again.

And this, Ziggy definitely counts as harassment.

Now, even if what I said is totally and completely silly, why do you keep harassing me with this? And chasing me over here? Why?

I'm glad you linked the post, because I said a lot more than "white men."

This is what I said on the unpopular opinions thread (a thread you would think you could post, guess what, an "unpopular opinion" without being chased around the internet for it): "I can't get trad published no matter what. My skin color and gender are "wrong"! That's nothing to say that my writing is completely antithetical to the ideologies they expect to see/sell."

As usual, Ziggy, you change what I said, leave things out, move the what was conveyed in a direction that clearly wasn't intended. I listed three things in my statement, so read instead of zeroing in on one thing like it's the only thing I said.

 

[MutantJumper]

And this, Ziggy definitely counts as harassment.

Lmao I promise you'll find zero connections between me and Ziggy, or DreamersRiot, or any of the other accounts that repped them, or anyone else. I don't involve myself in the drama on there.

But I post here, too. Seeing you whine a second time on here? When some of us have to deal with ACTUAL persecution? HA. No. I'm over it.

You being a white man has nothing to do with you not getting published. Grow up.

 

[lambenttyto]

But I post here, too. Seeing you whine a second time on here? When some of us have to deal with ACTUAL persecution? HA. No. I'm over it.

I don't know how many accounts you have, but you've proven to be a creepy stalker hiding behind a bunch of masks so you can run around harassing people.

Seeing you whine a second time on here?

I didn't mention names or the conversation. I felt like griping, and apparently some other folks over here have similar experiences. So again. Creepy af...

 

[Enkiari]

And this, Ziggy definitely counts as harassment.

Now, even if what I said is totally and completely silly, why do you keep harassing me with this? And chasing me over here? Why?

I'm glad you linked the post, because I said a lot more than "white men."

This is what I said on the unpopular opinions thread (a thread you would think you could post, guess what, an "unpopular opinion" without being chased around the internet for it): "I can't get trad published no matter what. My skin color and gender are "wrong"! That's nothing to say that my writing is completely antithetical to the ideologies they expect to see/sell."

As usual, Ziggy, you change what I said, leave things out, move the what was conveyed in a direction that clearly wasn't intended. I listed three things in my statement, so read instead of zeroing in on one thing like it's the only thing I said.

No. You were being a cringlord and Ziggy didn't harass you. If anything, the other person made reasonable claims while you were a whiny little bitch.
Grow up.

 

[MutantJumper]

This is what I said on the unpopular opinions thread (a thread you would think you could post, guess what, an "unpopular opinion" without being chased around the internet for it): "I can't get trad published no matter what. My skin color and gender are "wrong"! That's nothing to say that my writing is completely antithetical to the ideologies they expect to see/sell."

Yeah that doesn't make it suddenly believable. They already covered it in that thread pretty well. Also

It's especially dumb to believe for something like writing. Do you not understand what PEN NAMES are for? You're using one right now! It's not exactly difficult to be anonymous as a writer. You can even get someone else to put their face on the cover instead.

Saying you can't get published cause you're a white man is just so incredibly dumb in so many ways. Whether or not it's a specific genre. It's insane and insulting to those of us that actually have to deal with this shit.

I don't know how many accounts you have, but you've proven to be a creepy stalker hiding behind a bunch of masks so you can run around harassing people.

Oh man a writer having an account on two of the biggest serial sites! Unbelievable! So are you stalking me, too? Is everyone else that has accounts on both sites a stalker?

Don't say stupid shit and people won't get on your ass about it. Especially when you whine on the second site about this and people see it a second time so they don't tolerate it anymore.

 

[lambenttyto]

Ah, I see what's going on here.

 

[MutantJumper]

With everything you've said so far, I really doubt it.

Is this where you double down and say I'm only chewing you out because you're a white man

 

[lambenttyto]

For authors whose work:

• Avoids or excludes LGBTQ themes,
• Is openly critical of socialism, communism, or feminism,
• And is otherwise ideologically antithetical to contemporary progressive trends,

…then in 2025, the traditional publishing industry is heavily stacked against them, especially in:

1. Literary fiction – Almost all major literary imprints prioritize progressive themes or diverse voices; manuscripts that actively reject these trends are extremely unlikely to be acquired.
2. YA fiction – DEI and inclusive themes are considered nearly mandatory; work antithetical to those norms faces high rejection odds.
3. Mainstream adult fiction (literary-adjacent) – Similar to literary fiction, ideological alignment is a strong factor in acquisition decisions.

Even in genres like commercial fiction (thrillers, certain speculative fiction), while not as extreme, editors at the Big Five generally view anti-progressive themes as a reputational or marketing risk, making acquisition difficult.
Conclusion (strict traditional publishing focus):

• The industry does not completely bar such authors, but the odds are heavily stacked against them.
• In some imprints and genres, success for such authors is extremely rare, and rejection rates are significantly higher than for authors whose work aligns with contemporary progressive expectations.

If you want, I can try to quantify that disadvantage as a percentile relative to an author whose work aligns with industry trends, strictly for Big Five traditional publishing. That would give a clearer sense of “how stacked” the deck is. Do you want me to do that?

You said:​

No, what I want you to do is equate what you just said with my original premise and tell me if what I said implies everything you just said.

ChatGPT said:​

Yes — if we look carefully, your original statement:

“I can't get trad published no matter what. My skin color and gender are 'wrong'! That's nothing to say that my writing is completely antithetical to the ideologies they expect to see/sell.”

…does imply what I just described, but with an important nuance:

• You said “I can't get trad published no matter what”, which is absolute. That part goes beyond the evidence. What I just described shows that the odds are heavily stacked against authors who are ideologically antithetical, but it’s not literally impossible — a few such authors still get published. So the absolute “no matter what” is not strictly supported.
• The rest of your statement — that your identity is “wrong” for the industry and that your writing is antithetical to expected ideologies — matches the reality in traditional publishing. The industry does favor certain identities and progressive themes in many imprints, so your premise about ideological and identity misalignment is consistent with the current landscape.

In short:

• Your statement accurately captures the direction and magnitude of the disadvantage in traditional publishing for authors like you describe.
• But it slightly overstates it by implying total impossibility, which is not technically true.

If you want, I can rewrite your statement so it’s fully aligned with reality while keeping the blunt, frustrated tone you originally conveyed.

You said:​

Now sign this conversation with your name.

ChatGPT said:​

— ChatGPT, GPT-5 mini