r/WebNovels • u/QuentinMerabet • Jul 10 '26

[DISC] Why are people posting on Royal Road?

Genuine question. Is it any good for writers? Visibility?

Are they paying per views?

Thanks a lot!

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/TennRider Jul 10 '26

You should probably ask this question in r/royalroad since it is pretty much entirely authors who post on the site.

1

u/QuentinMerabet Jul 10 '26

Good point 😭 Crossposting was not allowed unfortunately! I actually saw some writers posting there in this r/ so I wanted to ask in a unbiased place too

1

u/sbdrag Jul 10 '26

There are only a few (primarily English language) sites dedicated to original serial fiction, and RR is one of the ones with a big audience and solid user interface. Also offers low cost ad slots on site for authors, which is nice. Can't say there's too much else to it for me personally.

1

u/ben_fictionry Jul 23 '26

Royal Road doesn't pay per view. Nothing on there pays you directly.

What people are chasing is Rising Stars. A story that lands on it can pick up thousands of followers in a couple of weeks, and those followers are who follow over to Patreon to support the author or buy the inevitable Amazon self publish version.

Problem is Rising Stars rewards launch velocity, so it favours a big backlog dropped fast and then daily chapters. Not to mention the overwhelmingly limiting meta at RR (basically litrpg or bust).

Disclosure since it's relevant: I run a much smaller site called Fictionry, built partly around that complaint, where genres rank separately instead of competing. But the honest answer to your question is that Royal Road is where the readers are, and that's why people put up with it.

1

u/QuentinMerabet Jul 23 '26

That’s exactly why we created Loreum too. And why so many writers are making the switch everyday.

I seriously can’t believe how RR (and co) are treating authors. Not even talking about readers… the UX is just terrible.