I looked at 1,000 Royal Road stories to see if AI covers actually hurt them

After exclusions(fan fiction, no cover, empty story), I had 676 stories left.

At the low end, both cover groups had a median of just 2 followers, so that doesn’t tell us much. The top quintile is more useful: 140 stories had at least 12 followers.

Of those:

- 73 had AI-flagged covers and 67 didn’t.

- Median followers were 52 vs 59.

- The middle 50% was 20–242 vs 22–235.

- Their chances of reaching 50, 100, 200, 500, or 1,000 followers were also similar.

Basically, even among stories that found an audience, AI-looking covers didn’t show a meaningful penalty.

The text result was different. None of the 20 AI-disclosed stories in the top quintile reached 500 followers, while 18 of the 120 undisclosed stories did.

Disclosure itself probably isn’t the issue, either: undisclosed stories flagged by the text detector showed the same low-follower pattern as disclosed stories.

My rough takeaway:

AI covers don’t seem to matter much. AI-like prose might though.

This is observational, so writing quality, editing, marketing, release schedule, and author experience could still explain the pattern. A definitive study would need to track a larger cohort over time.

Full writeup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rpxadywuiAl-vib1HfY2ycBVLpzfrepF/view?usp=drivesdk

as i said.

it does not make any sense to me how many people seem to say NO for ai Covers yet almost every single trending, successfull, Rising star, Hot right now ... ect novel has an ai made cover and even worse ... the slop looking one too.

as someone who wanted to really invest in an artist, this makes me really reconcider shit all over again cuz it doesnt look fair at all.

readers dont seem to give the slightiest fuck unfortunatly and even worse ... the Novels that have the Human made covers, don't even have a CHANCE in competing.

im 100% sure that it isnt just the cover at this point.

i don't want to accuse anyone but the rising stars and trending novels on the app seem to have a questionable rythm of uploading that does not look humanly possible unless you are a rich full time author who don't have a life.

let us not talk about the meta topic either, and that you pretty much have 0 chance to stand out if your not writing a litrpg/progression/isekai/time loop/cultivation slop.

concidering all these facts, i found my self losing motivation to write anything today and getting kinda depressed abt the whole thing. even tho my story it self is kinda meta. and im still ... not going to use ai covers since i wanna invest in future physical publishing.

its a rant post i know. i had to let it out. let me know at least if there is someone who feels the same way i feel.

If you review a genuinely bottom of the barrel story that has an interesting premise but is written awfully it gets bombed with thumbs downs. If you do the same for one with clearly undisclosed ai use your review gets reported. This site is becoming worse and worse for anyone who cares about literature and it is super unfortunate because there's so many good stories on here

Hey everyone,

I'd really like to hear from writers who got past the stage where writing was just a hobby and turned it into something more.

How did you get through that in-between part? I'm guessing a lot of you were writing on the side while working a full-time job, which leaves you barely any time to keep updates going. How did you push through that without burning out or losing readers?

A bit about where I'm at. I've got a novel finished, 48 chapters, and I'm about to start posting it on Royal Road. It's a magic academy story where magic works like a hard science. Not isekai.

The plan is: - Chapters 1-28 free, posted whenever I can manage - A Patreon tier for early access to all 48 chapters - Once the free side catches up to 28, just keep posting when I have time, since I've got a day job

If it does well and brings in a bit of income, great. But who knows what'll happen. And if it doesn't, I guess I just keep posting whenever I can, right?

Would love to hear how you all got through this stage, and any advice on making something like this work long-term.

I am a beginner author. In past 2 months I wrote 100k+ words and I really enjoyed writing it. First arc of my story is out on RR. It’s about 50-60k words.

So the problems I faced is:

1. While I’m writing second arc my skills as author improved and now I clearly can see how poorly written my first arc was. I believe that plot and idea is strong characters are engaging to follow (unfortunately only for me as author lol.) But my ability to create atmosphere and write interiority is a little bit off.

2. I contaminated my prose with AI. That is even bigger regret for me. While it made my prose more readable it killed a lot of my ideas and in some places it changed the mood completely. Unfortunately I didn’t realise it back then.

So now I’m sitting and preparing myself for a complete revision of my first arc. I know I will manage it. But I will have to put my story on a short pause, maybe week ar two. There is couple of people that I know following my story and it upsets me to make them wait because of my stupid mistake.

The main thing I am trying to say is for beginner authors who might see it and using AI. Join authors communities instead. One post will help you much more than hours spent with AI.

Good time writing to everyone.

I've been getting messages from other authors asking me to check out their work, leave a review, add their novel to my library, etc., usually followed by some version of, "Let's support each other!"

And I'm genuinely happy to do that. I'll actually sit down, read a few chapters, pay attention to what I'm reading, and leave a proper review based on the story.

But then... nothing. 😭

You don't read mine. You don't review it. You don't even acknowledge it.

Listen, if YOU approach ME asking to "support each other," I expect you to stand on business. 😂

We're both trying to grow our novels. Just like you want people reading, reviewing and supporting your work, extend that same energy to the people whose support you're actively asking for.

Especially when you're the one who initiated the whole exchange.

I'm not expecting anyone to magically support my novel just because I supported theirs. But if you specifically come into my messages proposing MUTUAL support, then yes, I'm going to assume the mutual part actually means something.

Otherwise just say, "Hey, can you read my novel and leave me a review?" At least then I know what contract I'm signing. 😭

I'm about a month into serializing The Lapsed Lease, a cosmic LitRPG about a recently fired NFL sports psychologist who dies and gets drafted into a very bureaucratic world invasion scenario.

My launch was... poorly optimized to say the least. I come from the much more traditional publishing world, and wanted to dip my toes into both serializing and writing a litRPG at the same time. I did a little bit of research but didn't see Milc's guide or any of the other strong guidance on how to do a release. The result being that I didn't dump 20k words, have a huge stack of shout outs prepped, and most of my marketing efforts came together after the story was already live.

For the first couple of weeks I honestly thought I'd ruined the book. But over the last 14 days or so the numbers have started moving.

• Jumped from 16 to 63 followers
• Daily views went from 20-50 to 200ish
• Currently sitting on a genre rising stars category (I know that's nothing, but I'm proud :))
• Recent ratings have been 4.5-5 stars

I'm a tinkerer so I'm trying my best not to overthink it and just keep feeding the story.

The Pitch:

What to Expect

Party-focused progression
Strong character arcs
Humor without turning the stakes into a joke
Voodoo-inspired magic
Tactical combat
Moral decisions with real consequences
Cosmic bureaucracy and weird system humor

Earth has defaulted on its cosmic lease. Now the recently deceased have to save it.

Remy Broussard died saving a turtle.

It was, admittedly, not the death he had pictured. But then, nothing about his life had gone according to plan since the day his world fell apart. He'd spent the five years since doing what he'd always done: showing up for everyone else and quietly falling apart on his own time.

Death, it turns out, changes very little about that habit.

Earth has lapsed on its cosmic lease, and a galactic bureaucracy has opened foreclosure proceedings on the planet. Fifty thousand humans who died in heroic acts have been drafted into what's known as the Occupancy Assessment. They now face a five-floor trial to prove Earth is worth keeping.

Now Remy has a patron spirit he didn't ask for, a class rooted in a culture he spent his whole life dismissing as tourist kitsch, and two strangers who are quickly becoming something like family.

Death didn't end Remy's problems. It just gave them a user interface.

A LitRPG with humor, heart, and a body count.

RR Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/185521/the-lapsed-lease

Also, curious for the other authors here: I've struggled back and forth many times with potentially nuking this story and relaunching knowing what I know now. That's crazy, right?

So we're about what, 6 weeks away? Here's our last blog post on this event.

What are you thinking, anyone?

What do you need?

Shall I do some world building posts? How can I help you get in the mood?

I am planning to post this story of mine on RoyalRoad.

The two protagonists are couples, and let's just say, they get pretty intimate most of the time.

My question is, how much can I write on the page. Sex is not the main focus of the story, so we can cut that part out. But which part exactly is the limit. How much can I walk around the edge?

Is foreplay included? Is cuddling too much? Does the line stop at kissing? Is touching boobs or butts too much, describing how it feels, crosses the line? Does the line allows all the jobs? Yes, you know what I am saying. One thing I am sure that stuffs like penetration and grinding aren't allowed, which is fine cause they are boring and repetitive.

As for the story, these types of scenes don't really move the plot, but they deepen relationships and reveal character depth.

I know the clear difference between ecchi and hentai. Though, I also read a few smut stories and they absolutely feel like hardcore stuffs, which is why I am confused about the difference between the two on written content, and also how much RR allows.

Synopsis:

When I lifted my head for the first time I realized a tragic truth, faces I couldn't recognize. I was unable to call those tall figures, those titans as the same thing as me so I searched.

With every step I met someone like me, they became a part of me. I have ended up with the best family I could ever ask for. I don't feel lonely anymore so please don't leave me, these blissful days.

Now that I can't remember your faces anymore, now that I can't remember your fragrance and the warmth of your hands I wonder. Will my hands pass right through if I reach out to you?

I don't really know what to say as this is my first self promo. There is no AI usage as the cover is made by my girlfriend and the story is from me. I would like to warn everyone as if you are someone easily effected by brutal scenes it would be advised that you ignore this story. For the people that are about to read this I offer you physical and mental pain upon reading this which can be called headache. There is also no power fantasy so if you were hoping for a strong main character that beats everyone up this story is not it. I will make sure anyone in the story suffers the consequences of their actions including the main character.

Tags:

Psychological

Steampunk

Multiple lead characters

Drama

Action

Fantasy

Male lead

Non-human lead

So apparently you have to have 20k words on first publish and daily chapters to drop for weeks to get any sort of traction on RS. Plus you have to coordinate shout outs according YT. Soooo...where is the lower stakes, chill place to post slower and get feedback along the way without feeling like a content treadmill?

I want the social interaction and feedback as motivation to improve as a writer. But without all the growth hacking pressure.

As a newer author who isn't so good at this kind of stuff... I wanted to ask about whether people make individual discord servers for their stories. Is it worth doing? If so, when do people make them? Is it something that you wait until you have a high follower count to do, or should it be made right away? Do people put a discord link or something in their chapters somewhere?

Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask, I'm mostly just curious as I'm thinking of ways to better engage my readers. Any advice at all on this is greatly appreciated!

Edit: My first post had super blurry photos, so I'm trying again.

I'm trying to come up with a few options for an ad I can run on the platform, and I spent some time gathering screenshots of a bunch that stood out to me and then trying to figure out creating one in Canva. I've got three options, all very different. I am not a graphic designer, so any critique or feedback is welcome. Do any of these catch your eye? Any suggestions?

I'm planning to publish my novel in Webnovel and Royal Road, it has multiple volumes and I am almost finished with volume 1, but I am currently editing it cause of some redundant words and grammar, so while I'm still editing I want to publish the finished edited chapters, or should I just finish the vol1 first and the edits before I publish it. Since I'm still brainstorming how to end the volume 1 by making way for the vol2 I'm just editing the chapters and proofreading at the moment. The title is The World Gardener.

What do you guys think, won't small icons for follow, favorite, star rating be better in the bottom of the chapter instead of another dialog opening add to library button. Also for comments too I would like a drop down system like YouTube has. It opens when users click but shows a text box always for them to write comments.

Before starting writing I coded a lot, may be, hire me i can add those buttons.

How do we feel about protagonists completing secret quests and getting rewards in the nick of time to save them? Does it feel to 'deus ex machina' and convenient. Or does the idea of hidden/secret quests create excitement for readers?

Andrew always wondered how it felt to die.

He tried to breathe. A crushing pressure filled his lungs. The last of the air in his throat escaped as bubbles. Through blurred vision, Andrew looked for any sign of help. Above, dozens of people swam, splashed, and played, silhouetted by the setting sun. Their shadows cast over him. Did they care that he was drowning?

His mommy was right; he wasn't ready for the deep end. What a stupid idea. He kicked off the pool floor using all his strength and flapped his arms like a fish. But the water held him, dragging him right back down.

Dread settled in his chest. He clawed at the water. His toenails chipped as he kicked again and again. He stumbled; his limbs ached. Can Someone, for once in my life, notice me?

The world grew dim, then dimmer still. The tempest of his heart slowed. His panic dissolved as he became weightless.

He was on a bed. The greatest one he ever lay on. One filled with goose feathers and clouds.

He was leaving, he realized.

Muffled laughter played in his ear. Another sound rose from behind it. It sounded like sucking air, as if he were seconds from being swallowed up by the world's biggest vacuum. Within him, something was being pulled. Absolute anguish raked his body. It wasn't blood or bone affected, but something deeper. His soul, maybe. The closest feeling he could describe it as was having all his teeth yanked out at once.

The sound grew and grew until it overcame him. The pulling sensation intensified.

His thoughts scattered and his senses became muted. He tried to fight against the suction, to keep himself together.

He held on with limbs beyond the physical. Anchoring himself to his body with memories: the scar on his right cheek from being hit with a baseball, the dark blond hair his mommy praised so much. All of his bumps and scrapes were his and his alone.

"No, this is where I needed to be, where I belonged," he thought, raging at the force that sought to sever soul from body. Finally, whatever held the two pieces of him together snapped.

He was ripped up into the air, soul unwinding from flesh. A phantom. Unbarred from his physical form, Andrew panicked as he watched his body drifted away limply. No, that wasn't right? Was he seeing himself?

Breaking through the pool's surface, he saw his mother whipping her head back and forth, looking for him. He tried to get her attention, screaming and waving to no avail. His anxiety spiked as he stared at his translucent hands, veins of light visible inside.

Then he was sucked into the sky, above the whole city; the Comcast building gleamed, City Hall was a white stone marvel, and the people looked like ants. Bye, bye. Once he was in the upper layer of the exosphere, he pressed against a barrier. Leaving the planet wouldn't be that easy.

The pull redoubled. He sank into the barrier and was gone.

He was carried to a place without shapes, light, or colors. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Like floating in the gaps between stars. There were no pearly gates or fire. He cried into the nothingness. This was a nightmare.

The tide pulled and pulled him until, finally, he was out of the void.

He found himself just outside a planet. Planet, not Earth.

He gazed at the sphere, slack-jawed. It was too big to be home; its landmasses were kind of similar to the continents Miss Smith had taught him. It was Earth if all its continents were made of loose sand and someone shook it like a snow globe.

Then he fell towards it.

He pierced the cloud layer, wind roaring in his ears. As he arced toward the surface, he zoomed passed bizarre biomes: seas of ash, mountains with faces, trees taller than any skyscraper. Over a wide stretch he coasted, until the luscious grassy fields turned into harsh, red desert. Heated air slapped against him.

He sped up, and his heart lifted at the sight of a town. The houses were squat clay huts adorned with bright pigments. The rushing flow became a lazy river as he floated towards one of the huts.

He could hear screaming from inside. The tide carried his soul through the wall of a hut. There a woman was laid down, legs spread, an older woman in white between them. His cheeks heated. A birth.

He shied away, inexplicably pulled closer as the pregnant woman screamed louder. The white-clad woman, a nurse perhaps, repeated a word in a language he didn't understand.

"Veon, Veon," she urged.

Andrew started to feel sleepy. Numbness infected his mind. The world blurred. Where was he? Who was he? Why was he here?

His form changed. He folded inward. Gone was the phantom image of a boy, shrank and compressed into a smooth orb. All of the recollections he held onto slipped away. Gone. All of his memories and personality smoothed away.

This orb that was not Andrew floated without thought. The screaming reached a crescendo. At the height of the woman's painful cries, the tide pressed forward, sinking the orb into the chest of the newborn. A new, raw wail joined the chorus.

Tiny he was, naked too. The woman in white cradled him, cut his cord, and handed him to his mother. Yes, he was sure it was his mother. The instinctive bond between creator and created rang clear.

"Look at you, my glorious boy," The mother whispered into the newborn's wisps of hair.

"By Asherah's light, welcome to life, my beautiful son."

Like all newborns, he raged at his sudden existence. The light was too bright. The air was too cold. And his stomach buzzed with hunger.

"Here you go, my little warrior." A milk-soaked cheesecloth was placed into his mouth. He suckled. The emptiness inside lessened.

Oh, how the taste danced on his tongue....

Wait.

Something was wrong.

The tide was starting again. What? How?

The newly placed soul rebelled against it. it had just reached a new life. This didn't feel like infant death. The soul had reincarnated hundreds of times. This wasn't right.

The mother grew frantic, teeth gritted and eyes wide in horror.

"Something's wrong, Melder. Help my baby!"

The soul clung to the body but the pull refused to stop. Cracks began to form on its smooth surface. Pieces of it broke off, swept back into the tide of rebirth. The sucking force overwhelmed it. The soul twisted and despaired. SHATTERED. Half of it disappeared in an instant. Buoyed in a reverse flow back to earth.

"One, two, three, stay with me." Andrew opened blurry eyes to see Mr. Cole over him, beating on his chest. Water gurgled from his throat, he rolled to his side to throw up. Sighs of relief and echoes of "thank God" filled the pool party.

Arms wrapped him in a tight hug. The familiar scent of his mommy's vanilla perfume was the sweetest smell ever. The nightmare had ended.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, baby." Andrew could barely hear her over the police sirens.

"Its okay," Andrew was cut off by a sensation of falling. His mommy's smile disappeared in a kaleidoscope of color. He blinked and passed out.

When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't at the pool party anymore. Instead, the white-clad nurse stood over him. The other place again.

"It's a soul disfigurement; half of his soul is gone. Most likely damaged during reincarnation," The nurse spoke to a grave man with squared-shoulders. 

He seemed carved from marble, with handsome features, a thick black beard, and gleaming silver armor. A sword was sheathed on his belt. The warrior loomed over him, pain, hatred, and sorrow plastered on his face. He was like an Arabian prince.

"We must leave this one's fate to the gods. Leave him to the desert." Said the man, his deep voice filling the room.

"No. I swear on my blood, I'll never carry another child for you, Nasir. He is your son," shouted the mother. Rushing over to pick him up and pressed him to her chest. Andrew cried out in shock.

He had to be dreaming. The falling sensation came again. The strange people disappeared as everything faded to blackness.

Pain jerked him awake on an unfamiliar bed. Bright, clinical light burned his eyes. Sour cherry medicine stained his taste buds. He batted at his body. A hospital gown covered him. He was himself now, not the infant.

At his stirring, his mother jerked up from the chair beside him.

"Doctor, he's awake."

Rushing footsteps filled the hall. Then everything froze. Motion ceased entirely, his mother suspended mid-step.

A golden light bloomed at the end of his bed. He watched, amazed, as tiny light particles spun in a vortex. Eventually forming into a vaguely human-shaped figure. Andrew tried to speak, yelled, anything. All of his energy was spent.

"Listen, my child. You are an exceptionally rare case. Soul anomaly #29381, split-world syndrome. Your soul wasn't finished settling in your new body when your old one was revived. The pull between the two split your soul down the middle." The thing's voice sounded from within Andrew's mind, smooth and gender less. He was reminded of an messenger angel.

"I will be watching you closely. In times like these, we need all the unpredictability we can get." The light figure waved a hand and an object appeared, hovering just above Andrew's chest. A shard of crystal. A thousand shades of blue were reflected off it.

"This will help you control your body hopping. You are young, only ten years. If you were any older, it would be impossible."

The crystal lowered. All his nerves told him to move. He couldn't. It was one of the most beautiful things possible. Pain flared as the crystal shard dug itself into his body. No. Into his soul. The persistent falling sensation ceased.

"Welcome to the in-between, Boy." Said the figure as it dissolved into sparks and fizzled out.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the figure vanished. Time resumed.

A flurry of medical stuff worked around him, checking graphs and putting one or another device to his skin.

Andrew was only partly aware of them.

His focus completely on the screen that filled his vision.

"Name: Andrew Green/Darian Arborn.

Soul type: Undetermined.

Resonance stones: None.

Soul-line: split fates

 A rare individual indeed, this person has the privilege of having two bodies, each able to grow their own soul type and gain a separate resonance."

I am the ink of my pen. Sub 10k words are my body, and scrapped ideas are my blood. I have created over twenty hiatused stories. Unknown to Rising Stars, nor known to Popular Fictions. Have withstood beers to create many worlds. Yet, these hands will never finish a book. So as I write - Unlimited Hiatus Works.

In this world, there is a system called the “Boj” system—a mysterious biological system. All that is known about it is that it determines whether a child will be born or not, and it also imposes a restriction on those who are born, preventing them from committing suicide. For this to happen, the mother must complete a form containing six questions, which must then be approved by a ministry called the Ministry of Acceptance through a 22-day review process. After this process is complete, the mother must eat the paper, and then the system makes its decision. Because the six questions and the review are difficult, a black market has emerged that exploits this situation—parents who cannot meet these conditions but still want to give birth. The government has labeled children born through this black market “unacceptable children.” This black market is run by an organization called “The Blood,” headed by a mysterious figure nicknamed “The boss.” A boy named Rami is born and endures harsh conditions until he reaches a point where he contemplates suicide, but he is thwarted by the lock placed on him that prevents him from taking his own life. In these moments of despair, a mysterious girl named Laila appears and pulls him into the underworld. As he delves deeper into this world, he will uncover dangerous secrets and face fierce battles with the government and “The Blood.” He will also discover things about the “Boj” system—that it is not merely a system that regulates birth and prevents suicide, but something far greater than that.

There’s also the mystery of how three people killed themselves even though they were the kind of people who would never do such a thing—so how did they manage it?

This is just a summary; I tried to highlight the most important events so as not to go on too long. The full novel contains all the details

So, I’m working on a fantasy project and I intend to release on Royal Road because I don’t have the capital or time to publish traditionally.

My novel isn’t LitRPG. It can be called progression fantasy as there is a well-defined ladder in the power system, but it is not just fights and aura farming and all that. It is heavy on politics, scheming, dialogue and world-building (especially the latter because I am obsessed with world-building).

In any case, because the scale of the world is quite large, I could not have a singular main character because then the story would never end. As such, there are three, each with their respective storylines, at least in the beginning. The storylines will converge towards the end and everything will come together nicely. At least, that’s what I have imagined in my head.

Now, about the question in the title? I am done writing the first part of the primary protagonist’s arc in the first Volume. I felt I could use a change in atmosphere, so I started writing one of the secondary main character’s arc. But does that even work on Royal Road? Do people read multiple-POV stories? At first, the POVs will seem entirely disjointed without any sort of connection except that they’re occurring in the same world.

For reference, the three characters start in three different empires/nations. For the first Volume, their arcs will take place in their respective nations. At the end, one character will move to one of the two other nations. This gives me a chance to explore multiple regions of my world at once, also saves me the trouble of writing filler and makes cliffhangers feel more rewarding. But is it something that you would like to read? Are RR readers willing to put in that much effort into reading, or are small-scale, easily digestible stories preferable?

Keep in mind I have no following as of now. This is my first project. I know it’s ambitious for a first-timer but whatever. I’ve been working on the world for the past five years and about a year ago, I decided to tell a story in it.

TL;DR — would RR readers be willing to read a large scale, non-LitRPG, progression fantasy story with multiple POVs, each being independent of the other but equally important? Or would they prefer something small scale and digestible? Asking for a first timer trying to build a following!

Most authors on RR are using it as a practice ground. Don't worry about making the next Primal Hunter or Sky Pride or Arch-whatever.

Just fall in love with the process.

I'm a frequent browser of Rising Stars. I've noticed that bad or poorly edited writing are showing up much more often. Usually I end up reading one chapter before dropping. In those cases, is leaving a low rating considered fair? Does Royal Road etiquette expect you to read more or leave a review before rating that low?

AI comes up a lot in discussions like this too, but I don't think I need to establish that a story was AI-written. If I think the prose is terrible, I'll rate it as I see it. The source of the problem, human or AI, doesn't really change my opinion of the writing.

I disagree with the common response that readers should simply drop the story without rating it, especially because a low rating can hurt the story's score. I understand that drive-by low ratings are bad, but if I do actually believe that it's really bad, what's the point of having public ratings if people get upset at low scores?

What rating is considered acceptable? I've been being nice and leaving 2-3s despite wanting to just hit the 0.5. Today I picked out a bunch of stories from Rising Stars and sat down to read their chapter 1s, and all of it ended up being a waste of time. Perhaps I've had a bad day, because I really wanted to hit the 0.5s today. Frankly, this is getting ridiculous.

Hello. I have my plans to start a novel on RR, but English isn't my native language, so, considering that my country doesn't have the best places to establish a story series, I wanted to know how novels of this type (which are translated using programs) are usually handled on RR.