Rant: Why Is Royal Road like this?

[PancakesWitch]

I've been reading at Royal Road for years, and in comparison to Scribblehub, it has become worse over the years.
Why is it always like this with the majority of royal road writers?
You check their profiles and their first novels are all very original ones, with unique main characters, plots, or premises, most of them with non-human main characters. Sometimes they're very popular and become classics everyone knows, but usually they dont have the highest popularity and end up being dropped after years of being updated.
Then, a few months later they start to spam generic novels with male human main characters in a litrpg apocalypse setting/tower thing with the most boring, generic, crappy story that you've already read several times.
Oh, and don't forget their titles, they're always soemething like "Thing" Ascension: A LITRPG Apocalypse or "RPG Class Name": Apocalypse Progression Fantasy", sometimes "Main Character Name: The "RPG Class Name".
Holy crap man, just kill me already!
Royal Road has devolved into pure insipid, tasteless slop producing factory, and its time to accept the truth.

 

[SailusGebel]

Money.

 

[Envylope]

It's the bandwagon. It will happen until people get tired of it, and then a new trend will show up to replace it. Whatever gets readers will become the new thing.

 

[RedMuffin]

It's not that bad tho? I think you're too focused on similar novels or looking in a limited area, it's true that the most popular stuff there are LitRPG, but if you look for it, you can easily find other good stuff as well.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Always has been, tho. RR always seemed to chase the skirts of the popular.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

They like the pounding of mediocrity.

 

[melchi]

A large portion of the stuff ranking on RR is really just funnels for their patreon. So of course they'd chase whatever would get those subs numbers up.

 

[Voidiris]

All their boring mediocrity makes me know that no matter how bad my book will be I added something to the slug we call internet.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

In my opinion, platforms like Scribble Hub or even Web Novel have a much more diverse and heterogeneous user base, both in terms of origin and age, while Royal Road tends to attract a specific audience drawn to a particular niche. When you add the strict censorship to that, it becomes clear that more creative works tend to thrive elsewhere. Additionally, Royal Road encourages a hustle mentality focused on making money, and authors are incentivized to produce what’s most popular, so they can earn through their Patreon, spend on ads, and fuel the vicious cycle.

 

[RedMuffin]

When you add the strict censorship to that, it becomes clear that more creative works tend to thrive elsewhere.

Can you please elaborate on what you mean, I don't quite understand.

 

[beast_regards]

It's because of their rank / rating system.

Everything on the Royal Road is about rank, about rating, about stats.

You always have to grow.

You always need a more positive rating.

If you gained a follower today, you need to gain ten followers tomorrow, and if you managed that, you need to gain one hundred a day after, and the two hundred days after that.

You must always grow. Numbers must go up, not within the story, but on the Amazon's Royal Road (TM) system.

If you stop grow, you are dead. Story stops mattering, it disappears, being soft deleted practically, without a chance to be ever found again unless you spam the social networks with the links. Even if you do spam social networks with the link, the reaction would very likely be negative, and negative reaction demands even more growth to offset the drops. You don't longer need hundreds of followers, and positive rating, you need thousands, and eventually you reach the point until you can't grow anymore and your Royal Road journey is over. Maybe the Amazon's Royal Road will let you live a little longer, if you sign off everything they present to you, if you pay in cash for every view, but eventually, nothing helps.

Nothing could stop the system build on the premise of the infinite growth, because everything faces entropy, even the lame visibility system of The Royal Road.

So, everyone aims to appeal to the broadest audience, to stow the attrition even a tiny bit, to have their story live a little longer, because if they don't, the low ratings will get you.

You need to gather as much growth as possible, and sell as soon as you can, because if you don't, there is only oblivion.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Can you please elaborate on what you mean, I don't quite understand.

I'm sorry, muffin friend, the content you requested is restricted to those over 18. Access is impossible, please wait seventeen more years.

 

[RedMuffin]

I'm sorry, muffin friend, the content you requested is restricted to those over 18. Access is impossible, please wait seventeen more years.

I'm not asking you to describe the 18+ content!

I requested further explanation on how the censorship is related to creative works not being able to thrive.

 

[Voidiris]

I requested further explanation on how the censorship is related to creative works not being able to thrive.

There are pseudo censorships where the algorithm becomes your enemy, your story isn't recommended as much or even no longer is recommended, you would've to search it or scroll long on the list to find it. At least that is how it functions on YouTube and probably applies to RR too.

 

[Lysander_Works]

I don't pay too much attention to it, possibly because I never have time to sit down and read books especially from RR. If I had to guess, it could be that their advertising algorithm encourages this kind of behavior from many authors, dumpster publishing as I call it.

If you stop grow, you are dead. Story stops mattering, it disappears, being soft deleted practically, without a chance to be ever found again unless you spam the social networks with the links. Even if you do spam social networks with the link, the reaction would very likely be negative, and negative reaction demands even more growth to offset the drops. You don't longer need hundreds of followers, and positive rating, you need thousands, and eventually you reach the point until you can't grow anymore and your Royal Road journey is over. Maybe the Amazon's Royal Road will let you live a little longer, if you sign off everything they present to you, if you pay in cash for every view, but eventually, nothing helps.

Nothing could stop the system build on the premise of the infinite growth, because everything faces entropy, even the lame visibility system of The Royal Road.

When you mention this, are you referring to the trending list? Cause it was my understanding that as long as regular chapter updates are made there, you still make the "recently updated" list, which should boost visibility even with low stats. I'm asking because, you mention soft deletion, and I wonder if you mean by means of the author or by means of site moderates. If it is the latter, I'd be concerned and look into it.
Your initial point is easy to understand though. Many big business models have this kind of trap build-in with the way big investors see things: Red Profit Line must always go up, no matter the cost.

 

[RedMuffin]

Holy crap man, just kill me already!

Your request shall be granted.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

I requested further explanation on how the censorship is related to creative works not being able to thrive.

The censorship affects creative works by imposing limitations on what authors can express. When platforms enforce strict guidelines on content, it can restrict themes, language, and ideas that might be considered controversial or inappropriate. This stifles creativity because writers are forced to adjust their work to fit within the boundaries of what is allowed, rather than exploring their ideas freely. This results in a more homogeneous output, where many stories begin to resemble each other, lacking the boldness that can only come from unrestricted creative freedom.

On more open platforms, where censorship is less strict, authors can take risks which can leads to more creative diversity and the flourishing of innovative content.

 

[beast_regards]

I requested further explanation on how the censorship is related to creative works not being able to thrive.

Well, one could argue that from the legal perspective, the censorship is the act that could be committed by the state, and only state, thus Google (and by extension, Royal Road) does not censor their works because they are private enterprises, not a state actor. They merely exercise their right to conduct their business freely what they do and don't trade ...

 

[SailusGebel]

I'm not asking you to describe the 18+ content!

I requested further explanation on how the censorship is related to creative works not being able to thrive.

There are pseudo censorships where the algorithm becomes your enemy, your story isn't recommended as much or even no longer is recommended, you would've to search it or scroll long on the list to find it. At least that is how it functions on YouTube and probably applies to RR too.

There is the most direct connection between the two. You want to write GL, GB(gender bender), BL, or smut on RR. Before you can do it, you have to pass anal moderation. What if your story is, I don't remember the percentage, let's say 20% smut, BL, GL, or GB? If it is, you can't post your work there. Simple as.

You want to explore gender bender stuff? Welp, explore it somewhere else. You want to use sex scenes in a new way, and not as fanservice? Welp, use it somewhere else. Do you get what I mean here?

 

[Bluebery]

They are just riding the trend. One author find the formula for success so people just follow. It's like how many JP isekai have such long and cringy titles. Or so many generic isekai being written after slime and mushoku tensei became big hits. After all, to many people, making money is the biggest motivation to write. It's also easier to write hundreds of chapters for a generic story than a totally original one.

On the reader side, those books are exactly what they are actively searching for. Yes, it's generic, but it's a craving that to some will never be satisfied.

Also, as someone who wrote original stuffs too, it's hard and painful when you just keep writing and no one read, and nothing sell. Writer's block is also a pain in the as.