How the LitRPG industry is taking off… and why you should publish
I‘ve never been more motivated to publish a LitRPG novel than I am now.
Let me explain.
Two years ago, I landed on a poorly written blurb that advertised a book-gaming hybrid. The page screamed “indie author,” and I could already feel the spelling errors. It was also free, and I was broke.
What the hell, I thought, fingers crossed.
After five hours of intense reading, I purchased the next two books in the series. I was scratching an itch. An itch I didn’t know I had.
LitRPG’s
That first book? It’s called The Land. And despite its warts, including (but not limited to) punctuation errors, misspellings, and a binder full paper-thin characters, it topped charts. The year it released, it ranked #1 in Epic Fantasy on Amazon, and its audiobook was voted #1 on Audible.
It falls under the genre called LitRPG.
According to Level Up Publishing, a LitRPG, or Literary Role-Plating Game, is “a novel in which the main character is playing or inside a game and where the reader can see game messages”.
Some LitRPG’s involve math. Others present colorful text boxes that somehow call to mind futuristic holograms like Tony Stark’s holographic AI. Many contain neither.
Why LitRPG’s Matter
The LitRPG genre is brand-spanking new. Underdeveloped. Novels that succeed now are going to have some major implications down the line…for better or for worse.
Type ‘harem litrpg’ into your Amazon search bar and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, I’m not saying there’s anything innately wrong with wish fulfillment publications that stereotype and objectify women (okay, so I’m a little biased) and when they begin to clutter an emerging genre, we start to have a problem.
Which is why now is the ideal time to publish a LitRPG.
Indie authors like Ryan DeBrun and L.M. Kerr are topping the charts; #10 in cyberpunk fiction and #6 humor and entertainment, respectively. Authors aren’t just tiptoeing around their niche’s: they’re receiving some serious screen-time.
Authors have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shape an entire genre.
The LitRPG fanbase is passionate, too, lauding their favorite LitRPG’s that rival traditionally-published books like Samantha Shannon’s Priory of an Orange Tree, which ranked under best books of the year in 2019 and carved itself a spot within the New York Times bestseller list. Companies like Portal Books, Shadow Alley Books, and Level Up Publishing are advertising themselves as “LitRPG publishing houses” to harness the explosion of self-publishing authors.
LitRPG authors are already challenging traditional modes of monetization. Thanks to public storytelling platforms like royalroadl.com, which hosts thousands of stories tagged “LitRPG”, publishing isn’t as straightforward as selling your published work to publishing houses or on self-publishing platforms and hoping for the best. On RoyalRoadl, readers become an integral part of the writing process.
These stories, called Webnovels, are published in chapters, sometimes daily. Popular authors can ask for sponsorship from their readers via funding platforms like Patreon, similar to a Kickstarter.
Web Novel: written work of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. -Wikipedia
While Patreon sponsorship isn’t always lucrative (top earners make anywhere from 1k to 5k a month) it helps writers earn much-needed income; according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the writing/authoring field is projected to stagnate over the next decade.
This from an indebted college student: a little extra grocery money can go a looong way.
The gaming industry isn’t flagging, either. Sales are up; as of September 2018, the NA hobby game market plugged in at a staggering 1.55 billion in revenue. Roleplaying games valued in at 55 million, a staggering 22% growth from the previous year. And considering the genre’s target audience is role-playing geeks like myself, that’s important. (Find the full report here.)
The time to publish a LitRPG is now.
Two years ago, I wanted to be a fantasy-writer; I still do. So I’m working on my own fantasy LitRPG. One that will, ideally, add a little depth to the genre I fell in love with. And I doubt I’m the only one.
Fingers crossed. (-;
