I'm jumping on the bandwagon, and I need help...

[Aaqil]

French food to the lost french people. This is very true to me.

But it's also not disheartening! Because my goal and passion in life is to spread my stories as far and wide as I can. If it's just a matter of serving different food, I know I can become a multi-purpose writer. It's the same world either way, and the same stories. As long as I'm not required to make every character fuck every other character, then I can do anything.

Thankyou for the help!

 

[melchi]

Also, some of your covers have really low contrast. On scribblehub they get displayed in small boxes so something with less detail and higher contrast pops a bit more.

 

[Syringe]

So, I was in the same boat and took the leap of faith into LitRPG and it turned out well for me. My previous story was 650k words and it didn't really get anywhere. Before that, I wrote a 1,000,000 word story for an audience of roughly 50~ people. LitRPG was my biggest breakthrough in roughly a decade of writing.

But I don't think a regular LitRPG is going to be the holy grail. To be frank with you, I think I was super lucky. I personally enjoy reading LitRPG because of the progression (and to be honest, I'm a sucker for skills, abilities, etc more than the numbers itself). In the end, you really want to appeal for a lot of people in the beginning, then slowly build up to the things you want to reach.

Since you're a good magic designer and world builder, I think you might do really well in LitRPG. The best I've found are the ones where the 'System', etc aren't arbitrary but serve a higher purpose + whatever cool skills and the way such things functions.

As a side note: I love psychological stuff that delves deep into a person's mind/ego. But that's too much for most ordinary readers. Most LitRPG out there don't really dabble on realism, so that's what I chose to do. What I did to make this easier to digest was turn the psyche into monsters to represent their hearts, inner ego, traumas, fears, etc: so basically making something I love easy to understand for others, wrapped up into a LitRPG package.

 

[georgelee5786]

The masses lack taste. I, for one, could care less about young master/isekai/litrpg.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

The masses lack taste. I, for one, could care less about young master/isekai/litrpg.

BASED.

 

[Aaqil]

The masses lack taste. I, for one, could care less about young master/isekai/litrpg.

Good George,

 

[Empyrea]

So I started with your Outsider story since it had the most chapters. When I had time to read, that was one of the first things I looked for. I have two things that I didn't see mentioned yet. First, some of your boxes are hard to read on a phone. That's not a major issue, just a little annoying. Second, in the comment section of your very first chapter you say that your MC could die at any moment based on an arbitrary dice roll. It sounds neat, but I would find it hard to invest in the character if I saw that in your comments.

 

[RavensQuill]

So I started with your Outsider story since it had the most chapters. When I had time to read, that was one of the first things I looked for. I have two things that I didn't see mentioned yet. First, some of your boxes are hard to read on a phone. That's not a major issue, just a little annoying. Second, in the comment section of your very first chapter you say that your MC could die at any moment based on an arbitrary dice roll. It sounds neat, but I would find it hard to invest in the character if I saw that in your comments.

Ah, that old debacle. Been a while since that was last mentioned xD.

 

[owotrucked]

A reader has a bullshit tolerance gauge, that fills up until they either drop that shit or until the story reached past the hook.

The gauge depends on the trust between reader and author, so don't try to write long ass multiprologues like Sanderson or Tolkien, you'll get 0 reader in SH where we're all like shady waifu dealers.

What's good writing?? Putting more details? Better grammar? More content?

Nah man. It's about knowing your target. Writing, like all piece of art and entertainment is about sending signals directly into your victim's brain to elicit emotions: craving, pleasure, suffering. Manipulate their monki neurons into reading well past 2 am to satisfy their craving even against the reader's will (their rational mind).

Since you said you're a sociopath, it might not be natural reflex but you can definitely manage with research and with feedbacks from mentally sane people

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Okay, so I feel the first thing I should say in advance is I'm sorry. I suffer from sociopathy, and I have no filter nor sense of empathy. If I offend anyone with this post, please know that I literally never mean to. I just need help.

No. You are not. A sociopath wouldn't say they are sorry. A lack of filter is because you are lazy, and it isn't a bad thing. Sociopaths have filters. A lack of empathy? Maybe. Are you confusing sympathy with empathy?

Stop trying to put yourself in a box. You aren't helping yourself and nobody cares.

I've written over a million words, nearly every word of which is posted to this site and others. Yet I see stories with less detail, inferior grammar, and less content skyrocket up the rankings.

They beat you because they have a loyal and cultivated fan base. That's how the rankings work. Get people to post comments on your chapters and you'll rise in the rankings.

I have a number of loyal fans. Not many, but a few. Loyal enough to read the bad stuff and the good. That's what you need. One consistent commenter is worth a hundred views.

In times past, it was smut that beat me out. I hated it, but I accepted it, because I know that sex sells.

Bah. I write some of the tamest smut you can imagine, but that's the point. I give the reader the framework to imagine. People think your smut needs to be throbbing trees or unfurled meat umbrellas. It's called sexual TENSION, FOLKS. Fucking? We got tons of fucking. People want a story that includes sex, not sex with a story.

But now, it's this isekai/litrpg/"young master" nonsense that's shooting past my stuff. I don't understand it. I even read some of the stories, and it doesn't make sense! So, in my own way, I'm going to try to understand it by "jumping on the bandwagon", as it were.

If you don't understand it, then you will fail.

Here. Google encyclopedia viniculum draconus. Should be on minmaxforums. It's 112 handbooks based on 3.0/3.5 d20. No system easier to abuse. You wanna litRPG? You need to go hardcore.

Being as descriptive as you can, please tell me what you see in these kinds of stories that you love. What makes them work for you?

They have words. Serious, could you be any more vague?

What tropes/themes are popular that I can use to actually get more than 50 readers (mind you, that took me over a year). My readers all tell me that my original content is good. I'm a good worldbuilder, magic system designer, and lore spinner. But I need to know what I'm not doing that's leaving me in the dreg heaps.

Read my books IWS is the best example. What is the writing cadence?

One line.
Amusing digression and set up.
Scene.
Dramatic rise in tension.
Cliffhanger.

not every chapter, but most.

Create tension, release.

On the rare chance that you've seen one of my stories, how does it compare to one of the hundreds of copypasta litrpg/isekai/cultivation stories you've read on this or other sites? Do not worry about offending me, it's very hard to do. Be as blunt as you like.

Maybe if I'm bored. I write, I don't have time to read.

Again, apologies if any are offended by what I type. And thank you in advance for your input.

I'm offended by your apology. No two words I hate more than I'm sorry. Are there two more selfish words? I said the words, so you must forgive me. Fuck you.

How about, 'I won't do it again'.

If you say your sorry, but have no intention of actually stopping the behavior, then your words mean nothing.

Tome of the Body (Tomes of Ahya #1) - Chapter 2 | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

Wow. Where do I begin? The basics.

Your title is a promise.

Your first line should make me want to read the first paragraph.

Your first paragraph is a question that only your book can answer.

What did you promise me? What is the question?

Every great story needs an author.

Really? This is your hook? WTF? Did you get this from a fortune cookie? Nobody wants to read about you. This level of meta is an instant, knee-jerk no from me.

My MCs have parts on me in there, but that's because no author can help it. I am not Ryan, Adam, Toshi, nor Jack. They all are way more broken and fucked up then I am. They are making mistakes I figured out as wrong a long time ago.

Your first line screams at me self insert.

Yes, Ryan has my determination. Adam my playfulness. Toshi has my compassion. Jack has my drive to succeed.

But that's it.

Beyond that, each one is as alien to me, the author, as possible. To the point sometimes they surprise me.

Your first line in your book screams, self insert. Don't care if that's true, it isn't what you say, but what your audience HEARS.

I hear self insert Gary Stu.

Make your story a gift. Give something to the reader. They are paying you in time, make it a bargain of a purchase.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

If you want money, but you can do without it, keep doing what you are doing. If you need money, you've gotta find a shitty job. I don't make the rules.

 

[Temple]

People keep mentioning burnout.

From what I've seen, the burnout is doing something different from what you're passionate about. Like if you're not into litrpg and you force yourself to write it for the sake of earning, then that might cause burnout down the line. Not sure if burnout is the term. More like just dropping it because it's not your passion.
Unless you view it as your job. Can go with Litrpg, heavy reader self-insert gearing, light NSFW. And that should be good to go with good writing. If you can have a bit of a fresh premise for the litrpg even better.

 

[RavensQuill]

No. You are not. A sociopath wouldn't say they are sorry. A lack of filter is because you are lazy, and it isn't a bad thing. Sociopaths have filters. A lack of empathy? Maybe. Are you confusing sympathy with empathy?

Stop trying to put yourself in a box. You aren't helping yourself and nobody cares.



They beat you because they have a loyal and cultivated fan base. That's how the rankings work. Get people to post comments on your chapters and you'll rise in the rankings.

I have a number of loyal fans. Not many, but a few. Loyal enough to read the bad stuff and the good. That's what you need. One consistent commenter is worth a hundred views.


Bah. I write some of the tamest smut you can imagine, but that's the point. I give the reader the framework to imagine. People think your smut needs to be throbbing trees or unfurled meat umbrellas. It's called sexual TENSION, FOLKS. Fucking? We got tons of fucking. People want a story that includes sex, not sex with a story.



If you don't understand it, then you will fail.

Here. Google encyclopedia viniculum draconus. Should be on minmaxforums. It's 112 handbooks based on 3.0/3.5 d20. No system easier to abuse. You wanna litRPG? You need to go hardcore.


They have words. Serious, could you be any more vague?




Read my books IWS is the best example. What is the writing cadence?

One line.
Amusing digression and set up.
Scene.
Dramatic rise in tension.
Cliffhanger.

not every chapter, but most.

Create tension, release.


Maybe if I'm bored. I write, I don't have time to read.


I'm offended by your apology. No two words I hate more than I'm sorry. Are there two more selfish words? I said the words, so you must forgive me. Fuck you.

How about, 'I won't do it again'.

If you say your sorry, but have no intention of actually stopping the behavior, then your words mean nothing.

Tome of the Body (Tomes of Ahya #1) - Chapter 2 | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

Wow. Where do I begin? The basics.

Your title is a promise.

Your first line should make me want to read the first paragraph.

Your first paragraph is a question that only your book can answer.

What did you promise me? What is the question?


Really? This is your hook? WTF? Did you get this from a fortune cookie? Nobody wants to read about you. This level of meta is an instant, knee-jerk no from me.

My MCs have parts on me in there, but that's because no author can help it. I am not Ryan, Adam, Toshi, nor Jack. They all are way more broken and fucked up then I am. They are making mistakes I figured out as wrong a long time ago.

Your first line screams at me self insert.

Yes, Ryan has my determination. Adam my playfulness. Toshi has my compassion. Jack has my drive to succeed.

But that's it.

Beyond that, each one is as alien to me, the author, as possible. To the point sometimes they surprise me.

Your first line in your book screams, self insert. Don't care if that's true, it isn't what you say, but what your audience HEARS.

I hear self insert Gary Stu.

Make your story a gift. Give something to the reader. They are paying you in time, make it a bargain of a purchase.

Wow that took quite a while to read. Thanks for all the input and info. Not much to glean of use there, but still, it helped me understand the issue at hand.

Good tip about the starting line of Tome of the Body. I can see how that would be misunderstood by readers. Unfortunately, I won't be changing that, as it's kinda the MC's motto. Still, a valuable lesson in making sure the message is conveyed properly to the readers.

If you want money, but you can do without it, keep doing what you are doing. If you need money, you've gotta find a shitty job. I don't make the rules.

I may have been a little indirect with my goals. I would love to make a living on my personal stories alone, but the money isn't the goal. I just love making my stories and want to spread them as far as I can.

My main income comes from the custom stories I write on commission. This is just fun for me :)

Your first paragraph is a question that only your book can answer.

This is the purpose of an introductory paragraph, according to all rules of grammar I can find.

 

[Deleted member 68927]

Okay, so I feel the first thing I should say in advance is I'm sorry. I suffer from sociopathy, and I have no filter nor sense of empathy. If I offend anyone with this post, please know that I literally never mean to. I just need help.

I've written over a million words, nearly every word of which is posted to this site and others. Yet I see stories with less detail, inferior grammar, and less content skyrocket up the rankings. In times past, it was smut that beat me out. I hated it, but I accepted it, because I know that sex sells. But now, it's this isekai/litrpg/"young master" nonsense that's shooting past my stuff. I don't understand it. I even read some of the stories, and it doesn't make sense! So, in my own way, I'm going to try to understand it by "jumping on the bandwagon", as it were.

Being as descriptive as you can, please tell me what you see in these kinds of stories that you love. What makes them work for you? What tropes/themes are popular that I can use to actually get more than 50 readers (mind you, that took me over a year). My readers all tell me that my original content is good. I'm a good worldbuilder, magic system designer, and lore spinner. But I need to know what I'm not doing that's leaving me in the dreg heaps.

On the rare chance that you've seen one of my stories, how does it compare to one of the hundreds of copypasta litrpg/isekai/cultivation stories you've read on this or other sites? Do not worry about offending me, it's very hard to do. Be as blunt as you like.

Again, apologies if any are offended by what I type. And thank you in advance for your input.

Look, everyone thinks their stories deserve to be the ones in the sunlight. We are all biased that way. I suffered from that delusion as well. Until I got some reviews on RR which snapped me out of it. Now, I have more than 2 million words under my belt, but I have a chip on my shoulder.

I am not the best. But I am enough. Don't look down on writers who are struggling. Even if they are ranking higher than you, they still have an imposter syndrome hanging over their heads. We all do.

So, just smile at the accomplishments of your stories, and tell yourself:

I am enough!

 

[RavensQuill]

Look, everyone thinks their stories deserve to be the ones in the sunlight. We are all biased that way. I suffered from that delusion as well. Until I got some reviews on RR which snapped me out of it. Now, I have more than 2 million words under my belt, but I have a chip on my shoulder.

I am not the best. But I am enough. Don't look down on writers who are struggling. Even if they are ranking higher than you, they still have an imposter syndrome hanging over their heads. We all do.

So, just smile at the accomplishments of your stories, and tell yourself:

I am enough!

Now that's a very positive message. Thank you for that!

Unfortunately, I have this addiction to typing my stories and spreading their reach. Free stories for everyone!

 

[Shianelle]

I personally tend to avoid any story which posits a question to the reader in the summary instead of a fait accompli type ending with a solid conclusion at least vaguely offered.

I don't want to reach the end of the novel, after a long journey, with a long buildup of an expectation, and emotional/mental investment, only for everything to be shattered, reversed, abandoned, or given a 'shocking twist ending', only to be justified by the author stating that they didn't promise anything because the summary was a question, not a guarantee of a conclusion. (Yes, this has happened to me before.)

Also, I tend to not want to know 'can they', or 'will they', when it comes to the MC's journey. I want to know 'how they...' instead.

So no matter how good a story sounds, unless I run out of all other options, my first instinct is to skip or backspace.

When a story summary has lines like 'Can he continue to grow as a mage and find triumph again?', or 'Can he fulfill his purpose when he doesn't know where his allies lay?', or 'Will he be able to forge his body, mind, and soul into the ultimate weapon and guide for an ancient force?', my mind immediately believes that the author is evil unless proven otherwise. I don't dare to become invested in an unstable and unsure conclusion.

That being said. Your stories do sound interesting, and incredibly well thought out.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

Sianelle has a good piece of advice here that I should cover for my own work.

And i can commiserate. As someone who mainly writes for herself, and who was... quite hurt in the past, I started my work as a proof, to myself and any who would listen, that I could write a decent story too. I had some storytelling experience from before my social transition and so sought to apply it to webnovel form.

It honestly went better than Id expected, but I do wish I would have had a consistent commenter. I was a raging bitch at the time so I get it, plus I vanished for a year.

Now Im back, and im going to damn well finish what I started, readers be damned. Then I can worry about figuring out whether I want to tackle a different avenue.

I have ideas for scifi/hacker, litRPG, and even some slice of life side stories with a dash of tragedy.

I just need to actually stick to it.

 

[Dearest_Violet]

Being as descriptive as you can, please tell me what you see in these kinds of stories that you love. What makes them work for you? What tropes/themes are popular that I can use to actually get more than 50 readers (mind you, that took me over a year). My readers all tell me that my original content is good. I'm a good worldbuilder, magic system designer, and lore spinner. But I need to know what I'm not doing that's leaving me in the dreg heaps.

I'm not quite qualified to answer your other questions but I think I may be able to tell you why isekai stories do it for me.

I personally don't find much time to sit down and fully enjoy a book nowadays, but if I do I'd hope it would be a good one; something that captures my attention and doesn't grow stale as the words pass me by.

But such books aren't the easiest to find, and I only have limited time on this earth so I opt for the instant gratification that isekai stories give.

The most page-turning aspect of any book would be the tension between the each of the characters within as well as the world they reside in. Though this tension can be naturally built up by a slow burn of a well-built world and a drip feed of lore and dialogue, it can also be artificially created by simply dropping an ordinary person in another world.

Such a person is already innately relatable, and furthermore the knowledge chasm between a modern person and a past alternate civilization is an inherently interesting interaction that builds a dynamic that is fun to read so long as the grammar isn't awful. We already care about the main character, perhaps not his person himself but the actions he will take and how he will cope, and, by proxy, we'll care about the immediate world around him.

And look! The story is half built already, and without the need to trudge through thousands of words!

Other aspects, as others have noted, also make it well directed towards young adults. The self-insert experience being probably the most popular. If you think about it, isekai stories may be popular the same reason character customization is? Or perhaps that is a stretch haha.

If you find yourself to be a good lore spinner than try building those worlds but center the story around a person from our world. I would say make a relatable person in that universe but it wouldn't be the same even if their characters are exactly similar; the tension between man vs world just isn't the same there and thus a lot less generally enticing.

You don't have to make it, as others have said, 'isekai trash'. A compelling story can be created even from an overused setting such as this. Just like some people may prefer romance to action, I'd like to think most of us simply appreciate the dynamic this scenario provides.

 

[Sweetmeat]

The key appeal of the litrpg/isekai/young master tropes, and indeed most of the popular light novel tropes in general, is the completely unapologetic wish fulfillment. Not only does the reader's surrogate character (the MC) get a second chance at their crappy life, they get one in an exciting fantasy world. Not only do they get a beautiful significant other, they get a whole harem of them that cater to all their specific fetishes. Not only do they get to become rich and powerful, they get to beat up and humiliate all their bullies afterwards while everyone claps.

Wish fulfillment. That is the key.

 

[mitkopom]

So I started with your Outsider story since it had the most chapters. When I had time to read, that was one of the first things I looked for. I have two things that I didn't see mentioned yet. First, some of your boxes are hard to read on a phone. That's not a major issue, just a little annoying. Second, in the comment section of your very first chapter you say that your MC could die at any moment based on an arbitrary dice roll. It sounds neat, but I would find it hard to invest in the character if I saw that in your comments.

Wow if author says that the mc can die any minute now, and it will be as random as a roll of dice i will definitely evacuate asap. Very few can do what Game of thrones did - killing the MCs like insignificant bugs and still rock.

Now looking at overall word count and page views it really startles me why is it so underperforming. I am comparing yours to my story which is totaly amateur, full of flaws, written by non native speaker and obviously yours have way better prose. Why is it that way ? My best guess is you are not selling what readers here are buying. If you want to be popular? Go for what is popular like Hollywood style - blood, violence, sex (in moderation), add some echi (GL and/or GB and/or Litrpg) and you have a cooking formula for a shallow but a successful and popular story.
Bad idea to put a male portrait as a story cover. (The Saga of Robert Samson) (Heroes in the Making). I as a reader certainly am not hooked up from it.
Bad cover (Mech & Magic) where the hell is the cool mecha that will hook the fans of mecha genres?
It is obvious that you fail at the click bait process. Your stories may be the best of the best but they swim in a sea of many others. If people click on other more flashy covers yours will be simply ignored...
I also noticed that your stories are on shor length size. Don't know if it is a flaw but most of the trending ones have much more chapters.

Ps:not so popular tags : mystery, Historical,