Should I delete & relaunch my Royal Road story or just re-edit in place? Looking for experienced RR opinions

Hey everyone,
I’d like some honest feedback from other Royal Road authors and readers about my current situation.

My project, Tales of Skyland: Legends of the Soul Wards, has actually been in development for around 2 years. Since January, it’s grown into a much richer production. I now have a team of artists and voice actors working with me (still missing someone to help me review and edit the book). The plan is big: the novel is just one branch of an IP that also includes a comic adaptation, an audio drama, and eventually a print-to-play tabletop game and a card game.

When I first started posting on RR, my writing style was still developing. The early chapters leaned more toward a standard, old-school fantasy narrative. Over time, I’ve shifted toward a grounded, POV-driven style, with stronger, more mature scenes and a personal touch, including occasional sound effect flourishes in action moments.

Current stats:

• 7,993 total views
• 2 ratings
• 8 followers

The follower count feels low for the views because I ran some ads at launch, which boosted early chapter views but didn’t translate into long-term retention. My later chapters (before I paused) only have 150 views each. I haven’t posted for about two months because I’ve been heavily re-editing for tone, pacing, and consistency.

Here’s the dilemma:
Should I delete and restart to take advantage of the “new work” visibility boost, or edit in place so I keep my existing follows, reviews, and bookmarks, then do a big “remastered” marketing push when the edits are done?

I’m also adding illustrations from my art team into the chapters and debating whether to invest $300–$500 in a professional cover now, keep the AI-modified placeholder I created, or draw one myself (but that takes time away from managing the rest of the project).

Main questions for the RR community:

1. For long-term projects, have you seen more success restarting fresh or reworking in place?
2. Is a professional cover worth it at this stage, or better to wait until I’m ready for a heavy push with ads and cross-media releases?

I want to make sure the time and money I invest now help the project grow in a way that will actually connect with readers. Any advice from authors who’ve been through this kind of rework would be hugely appreciated.