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Best Royal Road & Wattpad Alternatives in 2026: Where to Publish Web Serials Are you wondering if there are any good alternatives to Royal Road and Wattpad? There are legions, but which ones are worth exploring? Web Serial Platform List Here I discuss where writers can post their fiction, chapter by chapter. I explain why so many web serial sites and apps struggle to… CalArts Character Animation Here’s what it was like to attend one of the world’s most prestigious animation schools. From getting accepted to battling imposter syndrome, competing for the coveted Producers Show, and eventually building a career in animation and video games, this is an inside look at what the CalArts… Launch Without Backlog? Big Mistake On Royal Road! Is launching a web serial with 500,000+ words already written genius… or completely insane? After launching one Royal Road series with an enormous backlog of a million words, I’m about to do it again. Here’s why. Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00 Why Launch with 500,000+ Words? 00:15 The Royal Road… Publishing’s Golden Era Is Dead | What Changed For Authors Why does it feel like everyone is writing a book… while fewer people are reading them? Over the past 15 years, publishing has changed dramatically. The early days of indie publishing offered incredible opportunities, but today’s market is saturated with millions of new books every year. In this… Hugo and Nebula Awards… An Opinion Do the Hugo and Nebula Awards really represent the best science fiction and fantasy books? Or do they reflect the tastes of a particular publishing circle? Why hasn’t indie sensation Dungeon Crawler Carl been nominated for a Hugo or Nebula? In this video, sci-fi author Abby Goldsmith shares her… LitRPG: My Favorites And A Few I Bounced Off Of What is LitRPG? And why is it taking over the fiction world? In this video, I break down this popular genre from the ground up, cover every major subgenre, and give you my honest Top 5 LitRPG series (including a couple of hidden gems most readers haven’t discovered yet). Whether you found this… Gardeners and Architects: Planning Your Novel (or Novel Series) Why most writers are actually plantsers… Are you a plotter or a pantser? Most writers pick a side. But I think the real answer is messier and more nuanced. In this video, I break down the gardening vs. architecting spectrum from a fantasy and sci-fi writer’s perspective. Whether you’re writing… The Slop Epidemic Destroying Amazon’s Book Market The rise of AI-generated books published on Amazon and Amazon’s Kindle is a growing concern, especially with the removal of the “look inside” preview feature. This trend stifles innovation, originality, and creativity. We have the literary equivalent of DR Horton homes everywhere. Does the reading… Passion For Your Project My new video is about passion for your novel/series over the long haul, when the typical “just write!” advice doesn’t cut it. Here are my secrets to staying motivated on long projects (2–20 years)! ⏱ Chapters: 00:00 What does an “excited author” look like? 00:16 Why passion matters for long-term… Agents Want Comp Titles. Do Readers Want Something Else? Comp titles are one of the most hated parts of querying literary agents. I think they are worthy of a rant.🔥 ✅ Chapters: 0:00 – Comp Titles Explained 0:20 – Why Agents Require Comp Titles 0:46 – The “Recent Debut” Rule (2–3 Years Only) 1:14 – Why Indie & Unique Books Get Ignored 1:32 – How Comp… 7 Things That Kill Your Royal Road Story Before It Starts Royal Road is the biggest web serial platform in fantasy and sci-fi. If you want a real shot at traction there, you need to write with the audience in mind. Because Royal Road is not Amazon, Webnovel, or Wattpad. It has its own culture and its own reader expectations. Some stories are an easy sell… Daydreaming Is A Writer’s Superpower Do you daydream so much it feels like a problem? What if it’s actually your greatest writing superpower? 0:00 Introduction: Vivid Imagination as a Creative Superpower 0:16 What Is Maladaptive Daydreaming? 0:41 How Daydreaming Fuels Epic Storytelling & World Building 1:24 The Daily Walk Method:… Financial LITERACY for CREATIVES If you’ve ever thought about quitting your job to pursue your creative work full time, this video is going to save you a lot of pain. I’ve done it. I know people who’ve done it. And there are things I wish someone had told me first. Whether you’re a novelist, artist, game developer, or any kind of… Are We Heading Into A POST-LITERATE SOCIETY? “Students who read for fun on their own time fell from 27% to 14% in 2012 to 2023. Those who never or hardly ever read for fun on their own jumped from 22% to 31%.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/high-school-english-teachers-assigning-books.html… FIRESTARTER Book Review: Childhood Wonder vs Adult Analysis Rereading FIRESTARTER. Does Stephen King’s Classic Hold Up? 00:00 Some casual sexism, a bit dated due to it being published in 1980 01:10 When the ordinary is horrific 01:34 When supernatural superpowers was weird and inconceivable 02:32 SPOILERS from here on out! 02:43 Setting audience… Why people hate the final season of STRANGER THINGS Here’s my take on Stranger Things, spoiler-free… from an author who vaguely remembers the 1980s! This video examines the divided reception of the show, acknowledging criticism for characters Eleven and Will Byers while praising interpersonal dynamics and side characters with strong personalities. Web Series Launch Strategy: Timing Everything Right Timing a great launch window for your fantasy or sci-fi novel series. 00:00 When should you launch a novel series? 01:03 Launching during the Royal Road Writathon, or avoiding it 03:19 Which month is best for a Royal Road launch? 04:36 Is there an ideal time zone for chapter releases on Royal… Inside the Wild World of Serious ROYAL ROAD AUTHORS Royal Road EXPLAINED: Abby chats about why so many readers and authors are turning to this hot site for serialized fiction. 00:00 What is Royal Road? 02:24 When did this fiction site begin to gain notoriety? 03:12 The culture of Royal Road 04:30 How good is discovery on Royal Road? 06:08 How good… The Author Gap: What Happened to the Next Harry Potter? Ever wonder why we’re not seeing new ‘mega-name’ authors like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling? This video explores the current state of the book publishing industry and mass media, covering contenders such as Brandon Sanderson and Sarah J. Maas, while also questioning the absence of global superstar… PLURIBUS explained: Author Vs Hive Mind Vince Gilligan has a new sci-fi show on Apple+ TV, PLURIBUS. It gets to the heart of originality, creativity, and individuality … versus populism. Here is why the hive mind is so relevant and frightening. 00:00 Abby studies hive minds and the relevant social aspects of the individual versus the… Is Creative Guilt Ruining Your Holidays? Are you locked in a creative mode while your family (or day job, or dog) begs for your time? In this post-scarcity era of creative content, why do we do this to ourselves? There are enough books/films/games/art in the world. And we all know that exponential and constant growth is unsustainable.… Creative (and Passive?) Income Here are some hard truths about earning income, and passive income, as a creative in today’s Western countries. I am generalizing for all the arts, but especially the niches where I come from. Competing For Visibility When You Only Write ONE CHAPTER PER WEEK Successful web series authors often write more than three chapters per week. Here’s how you compete when you only write one per week. Abby is preparing to launch her new epic fantasy series in 2026. Review: Art of the Adept and Wrath of the Storm King Okay, it may be impossible to top my favorite fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire and the Wheel of Time, but Michael G. Manning’s work is in that league. Here I rave about his Art of the Adept series, which starts with The Choice of Magic and ends with The Wizard’s Crown. Fans had problems with… Is NaNoWriMo Dead or Undead? – The implosion of the official NaNoWriMo group. – Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write, a Meetup Group. – Royal Road’s Writathon. Review: Apocalypse Parenting I enjoyed this litRPG book series by Erin Ampersand. It’s refreshing to read a hero who’s not your typical young guy thrust into leadership. She’s a mom of 3 little kids, and she uses her mom skills not only to keep her kids safe throughout a system apocalypse where aliens pit humans against… Inside the Male Reading Crisis Here’s my inside look at the male reading crisis, which I believe is very much engendered by the book industry. Reading should be for everyone. 00:00 Why the male reading crisis shouldn’t be dismissed. 01:19 What do men prefer in a good story? Here it is. 02:44 The big best-sellers of the last… 5 Psychological HORROR Books That Will Knock Your Socks Off! If you’re looking for some great modern classics to read for this spooky autumn season, here are my top five Psychological Horror book recommendations. 00:00 Pet Sematary by Stephen King 01:53 Geek Love by Katherine Dunn 03:08 Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice 03:44 The Silence of the Lambs by… Tribute to Robert Jordan Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time book series had a huge influence on my story crafting techniques and the importance of research and world-building. Here I reflect on my personal memories of rereads, and also of meeting the influential fantasy author in person. Here’s my old Wheel of Time fan site. Here’s my POWER CHART for the Torth series The Torth universe has a hard magic system, similar to superpowers. Here I walk through the power chart I created as the basis for the system in my 6 book sci-fi fantasy series. A.I. Book Covers It’s not learning a skill when you just press a button, but the economic and social pressure to use it (and to rapidly iterate low effort content) is intense. Here’s my hot take on writers and other creatives using generative A.I. to package and promote their otherwise high effort human endeavors. Insight into Why Authors Abandon or Milk Series Whether professional or amateur, sci-fi and fantasy writers rarely finish the epic series they start. Abby explores the reasons why authors abandon their series, having run that gauntlet herself, as well as having studied the craft for over twenty years. You can join Epic Series Writers on Discord… What Makes FIRST CONTACT Stories So Compelling? Here’s why extreme culture clashes make for such compelling storytelling, with epic heroes, crazy villains, and powerful action-based plots. The best sci-fi and fantasy books include conquest or extreme first contact situations. So does historical nonfiction, particularly the Age of Exploration… Inside the FEUD Between Progression Fantasy Web Serial Authors Abby pays a lot of attention to the sci-fi & fantasy publishing industry, over 20+ years of taking writing seriously. Here’s her take on the latest controversy among indie authors who write progression fantasy, litRPG, isekai, superhero, wuxia, and web serials. Review: The Alex Verus Series is GREAT This London-based urban fantasy book series by Benedict Jacka is right up there with Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones in terms of dramatic tension, escalating stakes, and character interactions. Definitely in Abby’s top ten book series of all time. EXCELLENT. The Alex Verus series starts with… Is The World Economy Propped Up By Artists & Writers? Our entire global economy is bent around people’s passion for becoming creators. Strip away the financial and tech bro jargon, and this is the truth laid bare, as Abby sees it. 00:00 The global economy is driven by creative content (producers and consumers). 02:30 Not just professionals, also… Game demo of First Earth, the side project alongside the side hustle I’m ramping up my AuthorTube & BookTube channel with more frequent video posts. While I’m at it, here’s a preview of the browser MMO game my husband is solo developing, First Earth, with a lot of the 3D artwork provided by me! First Earth is a work in progress, not a final product. Does “Write To Market” Mean Write To Trend? Abby dissects the motives behind the popular writing mantra: Write To Market, and speaks in defense of creativity and originality. 00:00 Does “write to market” mean writing to trend? 00:42 Why popular tropes and trends matter for visibility and discoverability as an author. 01:33 Why Abby values… Review: The Wheel of PRIME (ugh) Book fans hate the show with good reason. The Wheel of Time TV show could have been SO MUCH BETTER. 00:00 Abby’s credentials as a bona fide Wheel of Time fan. 01:04 The root of the show’s failure: they forgot to make the main characters compelling and likable. 02:29 It wasn’t just the… How To Make Your Own ZINE! Abby walks through each step of the process, from arranging the graphics to easily folding the 8.5×11 paper. Fold a sheet of paper into a cool little zine, otherwise known as a mini comic booklet! Abby makes her own zines at home with Photoshop (although any graphics program will do), scissors, a… Post-mortem on Torth It’s embarrassing to listen to a sex scene I wrote, narrated in George Newbern’s irreverent tone. Not sure I will ever write a sex scene again. That scene is in the audiobook edition of the final Torth book, which just launched today. These books were a massive undertaking, with the whole series… To the unsolicited book promoters… What inspires you? Wow, you must spam a lot of people. You’re so uncreative. Oops, did I fail to match the empty platitudes you opened with? Anyway, as so many of you book promo “specialists” say in your scripted bot language: Are you open to a few suggestions? I might be able to boost your spiel… Against the incentives that drive rapid release There’s a myth going around the online spaces where creatives hang out. That myth is that consumers are all incredibly voracious beasts who just want moar and moar and moar, and that no matter how many thousands of books/films/games are published each day, the consumers can never be satiated.… Review: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge In honor of the late Vernor Vinge, I read Rainbows End. What a wonderful visionary. In Vinge’s future (which is now), machine learning and internet search engines have made everyone smarter instead of stupider. Social media has made everyone kinder and more understanding of different cultures.… LitRPG & Progression Fantasy w/Matt Dinniman, Shirtaloon, & Abby COLOSSUS RISING has risen! Available now on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, Audible, and as a print paperback, this is a sci-fi odyssey you won’t want to miss. In the gripping second volume of this electrifying sci-fi fantasy series, the battle for survival reaches new heights in the unforgiving depths of space. A ragtag group… On Bullshit Jobs and Enshittification I’m working on a new series about a country bumpkin who reverses the enshittification of magic. So I just read and reviewed Bullshit Jobs, a nonfiction book that touches on a phenomenon that a lot of Westerners can observe. Big business seems to have a reverse Midas effect, where it turns good… Publication day for MAJORITY Today is the day! I am now a published novelist. What a journey it has been! I will have more books published, including the sequels to this one, which are already written. But this one is special. It’s the one I spent the most time on. It’s my first novel on Amazon. It’s the one with all the… Cover Reveal for MAJORITY This is what the first book of my series looks like! Cover by Jeff Brown. Contact me if you’d like to request an ARC (advance reader copy)! I will remove all online versions of this book this month. Publication will be in audiobook, ebook, and print, on September 5, 2023. Signed a 6 book deal with Podium!!! I have very incredible and awesome news to share. I’ve signed a 6 book series contract with Podium Audio!!! My epic 1+ million word Torth series will be coming out in print, ebook, and audiobook editions, probably starting late this year or in 2024. This is super thrilling for me. My magnum opus… Review: Rings Of Power (my thoughts on Amazon’s LotR prequel TV series) Meh. Okay, I need to explain my reaction. The production value of Rings of Power is top notch. They have a stellar art department, music by Bear McCreary, great actors, incredible costume design. The only thing that isn’t awesome is the writing/story. And it’s not bad. It’s just… I don’t even… Review: The Wandering Inn, by Pirateaba I just marathoned the audiobook editions of The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba, one of the largest web serials ever. I am agog. 10.1 million words, so far. 2.5 million of it is in audio, so far. That’s like 200+ hours of listening material. The TWI series is actually bigger than my Torth series, which… A.I. Artwork And Writing: a writer-artist’s perspective. From what I’ve seen, A.I. generated artwork has a certain aesthetic to it. Faces are rarely defined. Imagery may be riotously detailed, which gives a superficial impression that it was lovingly worked on by hand for many days, but it lacks a coherent theme. That gives the impression that it is… Review: Beware of Chicken, by CasualFarmer Beware of Chicken: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel by CasualFarmer My rating: 5 of 5 stars As a writer, one can learn a lot from this breath of fresh air in the Fantasy genre. One can write secondary world fantasy without war. Without prison scenes or gladiator scenes or slogging through a hellscape… Review: Umbrella Academy, best show on TV When it comes to media, I read far more than I watch. The last show I binge-watched was Breaking Bad. I’ve also adored Game of Thrones (except for the final two seasons) and Stranger Things. I can name other shows that amused me pretty well: Bosch, Reacher, The Venture Brothers. But I think… Chemotherapy Update: Infusion #4 I’m about to undergo my fourth and final infusion of oxaliplatin. This is hardcore stuff. It’s a “platinum agent” that goes directly into my arteries through a medical implant called a “port”, like I’m some kind of electronic device. What does ox do? Well, aside from making me feel awful–anemic,… Feeling Seen, Not Yet A Marketing Machine I am becoming loud & proud about my self-pub procrastination. I was ashamed of it for a long time. I was constantly making excuses, and assuring friends/readers that yes, I will have the books for sale soon. No. In reality, here it is: I hate the concept of turning into a marketing machine. Once I… Review: Wheel Of Time: Ep01—03 on Amazon Prime I watched the first three episodes of the Wheel of Time, which is an adaptation of one of my favorite book series. Is the internet ready for my hot take? First off, let me acknowledge that a lot of time and work went into creating this show. That is true for any show, but it is particularly true… Wedding! August 2021 We got married! Here’s our wedding website, if you want details about how we met and all that. Adam has definitely changed my life for the better. He challenges me intellectually and creatively, he gives me excitement and a sense of peace, and he reads my books and supports my author career… Epic Series Writers group A lot professional advice aimed at novelists doesn’t quite apply to writers of epic series. Everything about a major series is different from stand-alone novels. The approach, plotting, and methodology are different. The pitching, audience building strategies, and marketing are different. I want a… Icepocalypse 2021 Greetings from the disaster zone that is central Texas. Don’t worry about me. We were in a better position than many Texans, since we had camping gear, plus we grew up in cold climates. So we endured several days without electricity, heat, or running water, but we found workarounds. I even managed… Written Serialization Hubs Where can you reach readers with your written serialized fiction? Here’s a list. NON-EXCLUSIVE SERIALIZATION PLATFORMS with MONETIZATION OPTIONS RoyalRoad (litRPG focus, monetize via Patreon, here’s my work on RR) Wattpad (65+ million users) Inkitt (may want exclusivity, glitchy, Germany-based)… Self-Publishing Before E-Readers And Apps: 1998—2006 In the early years of the internet, before Amazon was open to self-publishers, distribution for independent authors was very limited. Print was still king. Ebooks and Audiobooks did exist, but they were quite niche. Tech-savvy people might read a PDF on their computer. There were no smart-phones… iLasik Post-Op, Day One I’ve needed glasses since age six, with -10 vision (which translates to 20/1000), plus mild astigmatisms. Yesterday I got Lasik surgery to correct my myopia and astigmatisms, with an Intralase Wavefront excimer (molecular) laser. From what I understand, this super-accurate laser was developed in… Putting the Science in Fiction I’m stoked to be part of this anthology! It’s wonderful when real life crosses streams with my writing, proving that my job experience in animation counts for more than just having an income (pshaw). Thanks to Dan Koboldt, the editor who put this together. And thanks to Writer’s Digest Books for… The Wheel of Time Turns, and Here Comes Amazon Prime I was thrilled when HBO picked up “Game of Thrones”, one of my favorite fantasy series of books. But my all-time favorite fantasy series is “The Wheel of Time,” and I figured that would face bigger hurdles to TV adaptation. It’s a much longer series (yes, much longer than GoT). It’s going to… Adventure in Italy: Milan and Home It was time to check out and head to Val Calmonica. This was going to be most offbeat part of our trip, in an obscure mountain range, to see neolithic rock art. We packed up our stuff, checked out of the Verona apartment by 10 AM, and proceeded on the two hour drive through Brescia and past Lake… Adventure in Italy: Bolzano We slept in a little bit, and decided to venture forth with our trip to Bolzano, a city close to the border of Austria. However, I checked the traffic map and was dismayed to see traffic jams lit up everywhere; the 90 minute drive would take more than two and a half hours. We decided to go for a… Adventure in Italy: Sirmione Since Brian had already been traveling for two months, he opted to take a day off, so Amy and I went on our own to see Sirmione on Lake Garda; a spit of land that extends into a mountain lake and features a beach castle and the ruins of a Roman villa. The Sirmione Peninsula One thing we did not… Adventure in Italy: Verona and Venice Thanks to my friend Amy’s navigation skills, we drove the 3 hours from Turin to Verona without getting lost on confusing unmarked highways and spaghetti-shaped interchange ramps. We checked into the Residence Viale Venezia on the outskirts of town. This dormitory-style apartment was a welcome… Adventure in Italy: Isola Bella, Sacra di San Michele, and Turin Three days go quickly when you’re having fun! We arrived in Turin, checked into our hotel, then visited the Sacra di San Michele, which is a 10th century monastery on a mountaintop west of Turin. Like most tourist attractions in Italy, there is a lot of walking once you park. We hiked up for a… Adventure in Italy: Val d’Aosta As I write this, I’m sitting outside the ristorante at the base of the Hotel Au Soleil in Saint-Vincente, Italia. We just spent the last two days in the Val d’Aosta, and we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for Torino (Turin). I think I’ve leveled up as a driver in the Italian Alps. The rotaries are… Adventure in the Italian Alps: Flight Day My adventure begins. I’ve looked forward to this trip to northern Italy all year. It took a lot of planning, and I hope that will pay off. We ruled out Rome and Naples right away, since it’s the heat of the summer and the height of summer tourism. I will make a separate trip to those places,… It’s 2018? Holy Crap, Life Got in the Way. Happy New Year! It’s 2018, and I’ll turn forty in a few weeks. Some of my peers have enjoyed major leaps forward in their career, or their family, during the past year or two. I don’t feel as if much has changed for me. That’s a frustrating feeling. When I look back at what I accomplished in a… Interview by Brian Donald Wright Thanks to Brian Donald Wright for the interview. There are some tidbits in here that I don’t usually share on social media. Direct Link Book Review of “The Circle” by Dave Eggers Mob rule with constant surveillance The glamour of a Silicon Valley tech utopia rings true, and so does the emerging mob rule, and the shifting values of society, and the wedding of big corporation with surveillance government. These are all things that I think about a lot, since I explore mob… Short Fiction “Across an Aeon” — Futuristica Anthology I’m pleased to have a short science fiction story featured in Futuristica vol II, just published in May 2017 by Metasagas Press. “Across an Aeon” is about a woman who breaks laws to take a one-way trip to the far distant future in search of her missing husband and daughter. There she finds the… E-Reader Simulator Across All Platforms Apparently, there’s no such thing as a simulator for testing .epub files (e-books) across all e-reader platforms and devices, because that would make life too easy. Kindle has their Kindle Previewer tool, but where’s an equivalent simulator for testing .epub files on Kobo, Nook, and iBooks? Well,… Maximus Post-Mortem I had some great times and lived a lot of life in my 2000 Nissan Maxima. There was that road trip through New Mexico in 2010 with my friends Amy and Brian, when we visited George R.R. Martin at his home office, and explored Taos and White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns. And that 2009 road trip around… Book Review: Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen by Daniel Bensen My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book explores domination/subordination in a light-hearted way, there is some truly brilliant dialogue, and it also teaches you about dinosaurs. It’s not your typical rah-rah-brah testosterone fueled sci-fi, despite the… My Blog is Special I’m not the sort of person who overshares about my mundane life. I have a day job that I enjoy, I have wonderful friends, I have a love life, I come from a family, I used to own dogs, and I’m fully aware that all that stuff is irrelevant to a complete stranger. Sure, I could spice it up and make… The Time Has Come Thanks to developer Adam Thompson of First Earth Game, my website was converted from a hacked-together HTML framework to a professional-grade WordPress site, hosted on Digital Ocean. Artwork is by the ridiculously talented Byzwa Dher. I did the visual design. I’m so excited about this change!…