Pretty successful first two weeks for off-meta and how you can do it, too.

Hey. 👋 

I have completed my first two weeks since (my story) has launched on Royal Road. It was also my debut as an author. 

The initial results (other than the picture)

**Genre RS #s**

low fantasy: #11

psychological: #18

multiple lead characters: #18

strategy: 33

dungeon: #35

148 comments 🥰- half of them mine replying to others, the vast majority of the comments being thoughtful and requiring significant engagement.

Here are some things I have learned and what you can do to take what works for you and do even better.

1. **Write a backlog.** This is so huge. I started with 39 chapters and more than 70,000 words. I wish I had more. 😲 If you release 20,000 words early (more on that next) and if you drop 5 chapters per week for the first few weeks (a good idea to see if your story can gather momentum for Rising Stars), that's a ton of chapters you would have burned up early. And we are not even talking about whatever amount you want saved up for your Patreon. I think 60 chapters would have been a better number to have started with. They could also have been used to simply increase my posting frequency by 1 chapter extra that I am able to write, so when I go to a sustainable release model it would be 3 chapters per week, not 2. 
2. **Drop 20,000 words early**. If not on release day, maybe over the first two days? Genre RS only becomes accessible after 20k gets dropped. That means more eyes on your story. This means momentum could be build for an RS run as a result. This was probably the biggest mistake I made - I “only” had 39 chapters and it would have taken 13 of them to reach 20k and I wanted a 20-chapter Patreon. This would have meant only one week of posting 5x/wk before I have to post at whatever rate I can write (2x/wk). So, as you can see, I should have had more chapters to start and dropped the 20k earlier. 
3. **Network before you drop your first chapters.** I have written about this in depth already [https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/s/Swk5K5QWZq](https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/s/Swk5K5QWZq) . I have noticed that on r/royalroad, the Royal Road forums, and various RR Discords, people want to become active *after* they have posted chapter one. *It’s too late then!* If you provide thoughtful content on a regular basis for a couple of months prior to launch, people will get to know you are root for you. I am a debut off-meta writer and I got 49 followers in my first two days because of people I had built anticipation for my story with this way. You can do it, too. It just means asking questions, being nice, and trying to be as helpful and friendly as possible wherever you choose to network. It is better to pick a couple of places and do well there than it is to spread yourself too thin. You are aiming for name recognition, positive feelings, and people growing an interest in what you are writing. This also helps with shoutout swaps. 
4. **Arrange shoutout swaps well in advance.** When I launched, I had more shoutout swaps than I had chapters written (I am of the school that there is no reason not to have shoutout swaps as early as you are comfortable in your story). Now, they are completely unpredictable. For example, I have two shoutout swaps from two respectably big LitRPG authors. They have a similar following, similar stories, and have me placed in a similar area as far as depth in their story. One is my #1 shoutout referrer of readers to my story, the other is almost dead, as far as traffic. 🤷 Other things to consider is similarities between stories. I have a shoutout with another epic fantasy with progression - it is killing it! I have also received traffic from smaller stories with a similar vibe to mine, so don't be afraid to arrange shoutouts with smaller stories. But, from my experience, shoot for stories similar to yours that are as big as possible. Another thing to consider - new stories can be a wise investment, especially from authors with experience. Your shoutout gets placed earlier (the earlier in the book, the more people read it and see the shout) and you never know - it can blow up. Shoutouts are one of the bigger sources of eyes on your story.
5. **Ads are dominant when it comes to attracting views.** Shoutouts are good (and free) but ads are absolutely dominant. I get multiple times more views from my worst performing ad than I do from my best shoutout swap. They are totally worth-it. And my computer skills are on the low end compared to you guys, so if I can learn Midjourney, Sora, and Canva enough to have ads produce a 1.2% CTR, you guys can probably blow me out of the water. I know not everyone has $55 to chuck on an ad. But if you do, it's well worth it. Something you may want to consider is who you are marketing to. For example, my first ad (I posted it here) was very clearly aimed towards an off-meta audience. It has brought in views and follows and I had gotten relatively few bad ratings. I then made an ad that appeals to the general readership, and I suspect that I attracted some readers who are not into my type of story and several poor ratings resulted. It is important to consider what types of readers your ad is attracting. If you are writing a romance, don't make an ad about and OP character with a harem. 
6. **I was wrong about “Recently Updated”.** I had spent some time applying “Recently Updated” into my strategy. Don't do that. If you gain one follower from “Recently Updated” when you drop a chapter, that is a win. It simply does not last long enough to gain meaningful attention. This puts even more pressure on shoutout swaps, ads, and dropping 20k early to get on the Genre Rising Stars lists to at least get *some* exposure. Are there better times to post? Yes. I simply post when I have noticed that I tend to get my most followers as far as time of day is concerned (premium will tell you that). But you can't rely on it to do anything for you. 
7. **Premium is worth it.** At least for launch month. It’s $5.99. You get to find out how your shoutouts are doing, which chapters are doing well and which are doing poorly as far as reader retention, what time of day you are getting followers, the pattern of your rating bombs. All sorts of useful information. I just totally think it's worth $6. 
8. **Readers who comment are to be cherished.** Without a doubt, the most pleasant aspect of my experience has been the readers who have loved my story and leave thoughtful comments on almost every chapter. *I realize how rare this is!* If you have a reader that leaves a comment other than TFTC (which is fine), it behooves you to reply to that comment. These are people whom your story has impacted enough for them to take time out of their day to give you feedback - especially if they are telling you they love your story. 
9. **There will be rating bombs.** Not everyone will like your story. You will get poor ratings. Then, when your story has some success and gets more exposure, you will get more poor ratings. Don't sweat it - it has no impact on your ability to make Rising Stars, whatsoever. It effects your overall ranking. But I don't think we are going to be threatening Mother of Learning any time soon. It just counterproductive to get bent out of shape about low ratings. I think it's wise to focus on the readers that you do have and seek to being them joy with your writing. Everything else is just noise. Remember that poor ratings - and even the success of your story - are not a reflection of your worth as a person. 
10. **Have fun!** It is important to not burn out during this process. Make sure you leave time for the things you love to do so when you're scrambling to keep up your writing schedule because you are pushing yourself to release as often as possible and you have other things going on in your life you can chill, decompress, and enjoy life a bit. 

I hope that someone finds this useful. Keep writing what you love and it will shine through your work!

[Off-Meta] A Good Start for the 1st Two Weeks and What I've Learned