These are my pre-stub stats for the first series I'll publish. I signed with Podium while still at # 2 Rising Stars for a trilogy. My narrator is the fantastic Jeremy Frazier and my cover artist is the cool Barry Blankenship. Book 1 releases on November 10th, 2026. This isn't an advertising post, and I just want to write a report on what I did and what I would do differently next time for those interested. I used to love reading these kinds of posts and I hope it pressures other people into writing similar ones. I'll also toss a few opinions and advice no one asked for at the end for "new" writers as someone who "did it" on Royal Road. I consider myself small fry compared to others even though I know many would be happy to be where I am. Nonetheless, I am proud of myself. Please celebrate your wins and fuck self-doubt. Writing is a vulnerable thing to do, so be kind to yourself.

I starting writing Dungeons & Deliveries for the spring writathon in 2025. I had no backlog and remember scrambling to get to the infamous 20,000 word threshold to break into RS. Once I hit RS, I sort of sprinted up to the top but was foiled from the number 1 spot by A Modern Miner's Cultivation by Flowdens Creed and Respec on Death by Godric. I haven't seen Flowdens Creed around for a while on RR or Discord. I hope they're alright. Cool person and talented too.

I had a small following prior to releasing Dungeons & Deliveries of about 1,000 followers. There was virtually no conversion between my stories. My first series I didn't like writing and dropped and then deleted. I was trying too hard to be meta and was going through a really hard time in my life when I wrote that. I still have the chapters and maybe I'll rewrite it someday because there's some good ideas there.

During that first release though, I was an early mentee in SerasStreams mentor program for aspiring writers. I learned a ton from that. The 20,000 word drop day 1, the blurb, the shouts, ads, the cover. SerasStreams really showed me the ropes and offers a great program. I can't thank them enough and recommend their practices as likely the best to succeed for new authors on Royal Road.

Dungeons & Deliveries was written to get me out of my funk after what I considered a sub-par first release. I had a decent backlog of 20 chapters, shouts from big authors, 4 ads, and picked at the blurb forever. I had tried so hard and didn't think I did well. I think I was too hard on myself. My now good friend Dom707 and I committed to completing writathon to just have fun with our stories and get back into the swing of writing. So, I was very happy and surprised when my silly story about a delivery boy was shooting up rising stars.

One thing I did have that helped me was decent connections in the space. I don't know if shouts work as well any longer, but I was shouted by a few large authors. Whether you think shouts are ruining the site or are annoying, I'm not here to argue. They worked for me at the time of my release and I will continue to use them. If you get high on RS, you will be bombarded with requests in DMs for shouts and you'll likely just need to ignore most of them.

A massive regret I have is having zero backlog for the entire time I've written this series. It's stressful without one and I don't even want to think about what Patreon could have done. Maybe I would have had shit conversion, but still, fuck. I've had to take multiple week long breaks on posting and that really screws with your readership. You lose a ton of regular readers if you take time off, or at least I did. Half of having no backlog and taking breaks is me being lazy, but the other half is job, health, social life, family stuff. Personally, that's all more important to me, and I don't feel the crazy pressure of make or break through writing so I don't begrudge the real grinders out there.

Alrighty, what would I do differently next time/going forward? This is also what I am going to do and is not advice. Advice for new authors is after this because we're writers here and all writers love to monologue.

• Have a backlog. At least 50 chapters.
• Ignore the constant discussions about meta and what will sell best. Write what you would want to read.
• Don't use an AI cover on release
• Stay sane and ban myself from stat refreshing. Sorry RR, you're amazing and I'm thankful for the site, but I won't be purchasing author premium. The refresh dopamine is too delicious.
• Beg for shouts from your homies because you ain't ArcaneCadence. I still think that without existing readership, shouts are the best early growth strategy pre rising stars.

Now it's advice time for new authors trying to "make it".

• Join discords but focus on writing. It's the primary place to get shouts and make friends in this space, but words come first. Discord is very distracting.
• Be kind to yourself. I've seen many talented people burn out and disappear. Writing is incredibly difficult to do professionally. Consider this a hobby that may pay (at least I am). Does every hobby need to be monetized?
• Have a backlog. Now double it and give it to the next person.
• New authors with no or small followings have it harder these days. I'm sure it will only get more difficult. There are more authors starting than new readers joining the site. You're probably going to have to use all the release tricks if you want to get onto rising stars. I'm not sure what's most optimal these days.
• Rising stars is where you get the most growth. You can grow an audience without it, but for most people, this is where the numbers come from.
• RR is not the end all be all. It’s a great platform, but Amazon is what you should be targeting if you want to make money.
• There are a lot of big personalities in this space, so get used to assholes and realize you are also likely one. People are meaner online than in real life. Keep in mind that the meanest people you’ll meet in the space are trolling you or are social idiots.
• Don’t become a lolcow or scam people. Both are the quickest ways to get run out of the community.
• If you get approached by publishers and don’t know what to do, seek advice from trustworthy big authors. This is where some of the best of people comes out. I sought advice from people I'm not that close with but respected from a professional pov, and many were extremely helpful and cool in this regard. Don’t sign anything you don’t understand because you are desperate for validation.
• You probably suck at writing. I suck too. That’s ok. There are very few natural talents. If you think you're the God of Writing and know how to always keep reader's engaged, I have some bad news for you. You need to suck before you’re good, so just keep writing at whatever pace you can manage.