How do they do it?

[LeilaniOtter]

The only "pay" I accept for running games is in the form of comped convention access, free or discounted rooms and free or discounted food myself, but I know a few people who make some supplemental income from running games. The first "professional DM" identified in the US kept his day job for his first two years and still works as, IIRC, an IT consultant when needed - but also owned his own home outright and sank tens of thousands of dollars into a miniatures room and a van he can transport a lot of his gaming stuff to game stores and conventions in before he really started.

OMG, yes, the money all goes into the miniatures. lol My friend creates miniatures, sets, dice, and gets help from someone who builds whole tables with built-in designs. Remember when it was just a bunch of kids huddled on the floor with paper, pencils, and a few dice? *^^*

 

[beast_regards]

This isn't traditional publishing.

It operates under different logic and different business model.

Bar of entry is very low, anyone even an amateur without skills, education or connection, could start posting, but the odds of success are very low. For most, it's a hobby, and the chance of turning the hobby into the paid job is very low. Vast majority don't even try to make it a job, and most who try to make money out of it fail. Sites like Royal Road exploit naïve writers who think they could break through, but in reality, odds of success are very low. Why do you think Royal Road is so eager to backstab each other?

It is not one wholesome book turned into bestseller like in traditional publishing. Web novels are scribbles turned into subscription service, then sold as an anthology on sites like Amazon, and it could tumble down anytime like the house of cards.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Maybe its methamphetamines or cocaine?

 

[Clo]

I post about 3 chapters a week.

1 more my new story, which gets posted day-of, because this one is mostly a project I started as a fun experiment.

2 chapters get posted on State of the Art. But I edit them before I post.

I also write ideally 2 new chapters for State of the Art, so my backlog doesn't dwindle to nothing.

Considering I make no money from this, and I have a full-time job, how I do it is by sacrificing all my free time, and hours of sleep. An unmaintainable proposition, long-term, but one I have somehow kept for nearly a year now.

I think the important part is to know your pace and limit, and follow that, instead of following the guides to success you can find online.