3 months posting on Royal Road - my experience & learnings with the 'Turtle Method'🐢🤓

Source Credit

Original Author: AlekAundra

Original URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/comments/x4jd68/3_months_posting_on_royal_road_my_experience/

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Following the trend that other authors have done on this sub, here's my experience and learnings so far on RR.

For context, this is my first time publishing any kind of story online, and I've been publishing 2 chapters a week for the last 3 months, with 30 Chapters currently up. So far, it's been really fun! :)

I call my approach the 'Turtle Method' because it's a slower approach compared to how other authors have published on RR. But it was the right method for me and might work for others. So hopefully, this post helps other writers on this sub. 乁(ツ)ㄏ

I’ll cover a few areas:

- 🔴Story planning / platform research / setup

- 🟠Cover art

- 🟡Backlog creation & release schedule

- 🟢Engagement

- 🔵Reviews

- 🟣Stats so far

- ⚪Additional notes (Grammarly/Patreon/Marketing)

🔴Story planning / platform research / setup

I read an ungodly number of web novels during the pandemic. My favorites are LitRPG, Isekai, Time Loop, Regression, Portal & Progression Fantasy. And I especially liked ones where the MC is surrounded by interesting friends and allies and is willing to protect them at all costs.

[Player 0.4 \[You have died.\] \[Reset in progress.\]](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/54840/player-04-you-have-died-reset-in-progress) came about because it was what I wanted to read.

For 3 months, I diagramed and plotted the story until the novel's end and set a schedule for myself with goals to produce the chapters leading up to launch day (I write out of order, so I had written CH 1-20, but also CH 34-37, CH 158-164 and etc., but now am forced to write in order).

I then looked at where to publish. I checked the sites I liked to read on, looked at what popular tags existed on each platform, and read reviews by other authors that published on them.

I decided on RoyalRoad & Scribblehub because LitRPG, Isekai, Regression, & Progression Fantasy are familiar and popular among them. And other authors had good things to say about them.

I picked out ahead of time what tags made sense for my story on each platform, and also decided to have my chapters roughly at \~2,000 words/per since that seemed to be a comfortable length based on my own reading preference.

🟠Cover art

I bundled up all the web novels I enjoyed reading and reviewed what about the cover worked for me in piquing my interest. This gave me an idea of what I wanted my own cover to look like.

That said, because I had a very specific idea for my cover, the royalty-free and Fiverr art didn't quite work for me. I also didn't have the funds to pay an artist (this being my first ever novel, and I didn't know how it'd do). So I spent a few hours a few times a week for 2.5 months after work learning digital art/Photoshop through YouTube/TikTok. I'm pretty happy with the final result (and it was fun doing it), but I might hire a proper artist down the line if the novel does well enough.

🟡Backlog creation & release schedule

What I did do: Build a backlog (albeit aside from the first 20 chapters, the rest were out of order)

What I did NOT do: Do a mass release of a chapter a day as others recommend

The reasoning is that I wanted to have enough buffer room for myself and get into the habit of writing/publishing two \~2,000-word chapters weekly, Tuesdays & Saturdays at 3PM PST / 6PM EST.

The obvious downside is that my story has been rising and gaining attention relatively slower than if I had done a burst. But that's fine with me since I plan to write/publish this novel for quite some time, so it's more of a marathon than a sprint for me (hence the 'Turtle Method').

I've read recommendations to do daily or 3x/week, and it makes sense why, but for me, 2x/week is a comfortable pace to ensure consistent releases. Also, as an added benefit, this slower pace has allowed me to gain fantastic feedback from readers (I'm still chewing on some of the feedback and plan to make mild edits for a few chapters).

🟢Engagement

I add a little author's note at every chapter. As a reader I loved reading notes made by authors, so I decided to do them too. I feel it might help encourage engagement too.

After each release, I check my page throughout the day. Well, honestly I check every day of the week. I love reading about readers' predictions and questions and don't want to miss anything. I get so excited when someone hits the nail on the nose or points out a breadcrumb I put in intentionally. Reading all the incorrect/super wild predictions is super fun too. They also help gauge if my novel is progressing as I intended. Also, like I said before, there's some really excellent feedback.

Reading/responding to comments is my favorite part of publishing on RR.

🔵Reviews

2. I haven't had time to read novels since starting to write my own novel. And if I want to provide an honest review, I'd need to read 10+ chapters first. Whatever free time I have, I'd rather spend it working on my novel.

3. To top off, I felt it was pretty obvious when a review came from a swap (and now it really is evident with the badges), and personally, as a reader, I've always taken swapped reviews with a grain of salt (because of point #1).

I just crossed my fingers that some readers would (hopefully enjoy) and leave a review. Not exactly a plan, but hey! I have 2 so far on RoyalRoad (and 3 on Scribblehub)! I got so excited about each one I texted all my family and friends to go read the reviews.

Also, getting reviews is cool because readers can summarize/describe my story better than I can (see at the bottom). So if someone asks what my novel it's about, I just ping them to the reviews my readers wrote.

That said, I probably should, at the very least, ask if my current readers could write a review. I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask. (ー\_ーゞ

🟣How’s it going on RR given the above? Stats so far:

- Month: Month 1 --> Month 2 --> Month 3

- Chapters: CH 10 --> CH 19 --> CH 30

- Pages: 85 --> 155 --> 240

- Ranking: 6,000ish? --> 4,025 --> 2,729

- Total Views: 2,307 --> 6,134 --> 15,889

- Avg. Views: 210 --> 323 --> 530

- Followers: 49 --> 85 --> 140

- Favorites: 11 --> 17 --> 24

- Ratings: 7 --> 15 --> 27

- Reviews: 0 --> 1 --> 2

- Average rating: ? --> 4.73 --> 4.65

I'm a huge data nerd and kept track from Chapter 5 onwards on how the novel's progress has been. It's pretty cool (and encouraging) to see where I came from till now. (´◡\`)

https://preview.redd.it/mv4ovwb2yjl91.png?width=1707&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc7ab4c558dc62886e4ed68d51584d14ba3a8a6b

⚪Additional notes:

1. Grammarly

2. Patreon

3. Marketing

1. I got a Grammarly premium account to proofread chapters when I decided to publish my novel. I decided it was worth the cost because grammar mistakes can cause readers to pause and fall out of the story. I would recommend for anyone else to at least get the free version (what I used before) because it's great for catching things you might not otherwise. It's not perfect tbh, but better than not having it.

2. I started a Patreon a little early. The general advice I read is to create one after getting a good following. I started it to claim the user name, and to get into the habit of publishing 2 chapters ahead. To my pleasant surprise, I actually got 3 Patrons so far! It totally made my day when each one joined. ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜

3. Marketing. I've just been posting chapters and haven't done any kind of promotion yet (this is the first kinda promo, I suppose), but since readers seem to like the novel thus far and I have 30 chapters up, I'll start to post/promote it in relevant subs/threads. Recommendations/suggestions welcome!

⭐ Self-promo for Player 0.4:

https://preview.redd.it/u97taugfsjl91.jpg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=063f7911fb3a601a31314f9a355974b7bcebb8ef

What's it about?:

(Based on Poison\_Ice\_Blade’s and BLIC’s reviews on Scribblehub + librarysmiles on RR... because readers can summarize/describe my story better than me):

Quote: Player 0.4 begins like many "second chance" stories. Luca dies in battle as he watches his nation and comrades fall to the enemy's hand. Full of regrets, he accepts a mysterious System's offer to "restart the game" and become a "player" instead of an "NPC."

Quote:

Quote: He finds himself in his 19-year-old self again, and the System explains that he has been made into a player (but with only 40% of the features unlocked) of a dead game with no more players due to the game's insane difficulty.

Quote:

Quote: Luca doesn't really understand what's going on but is determined to grasp this opportunity to rescue all of his loved ones, even if it means dying multiple times to do so.

Main Tags: LitRPG, Progression Fantasy, Looper, Weak to Strong, Mystery

Read more about it [here](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/54840/player-04-you-have-died-reset-in-progress).