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 Road?
05:08 Weekends or Weekdays for a Royal Road launch?
Royal Road EXPLAINED: Abby chats about why so many readers and authors are turning to this hot site for serialized fiction.
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 authors in contemporary literature and books. It’s a critical discussion for anyone invested in writing and reading.
Vince Gilligan has a new sci-fi show on Apple+ TV, and 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 collective
01:28 How the friendly hive mind is like an LLM, aka A.I., and how sinister false flattery can be
02:24 Abby’s impression of the Pluribus hive mind and Carol’s suspicions
03:08 SPOILER ALERT for Pluribus episode 1, and why it’s plausible
05:10 Why this show touches a cultural nerve
06:10 The choice to make Carol a best-selling author and misanthrope and how that affects the story
08:27 How Pluribus measures up to other shows and Vince Gilligan’s other works
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.
Sometimes it’s best to step back from all the pressures, the incentives, and the societal guilt that urges you to produce and produce and generate even more content.
Just breathe.
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.
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.
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 the tragic ending, but he wrote an ongoing sequel series to address that. I enjoyed Wizard in Exile and Daughter of the Dragon.
– The implosion of the official NaNoWriMo group.
– Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write, a Meetup Group.
– Royal Road’s Writathon.
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 monsters, but also to rally humanity into defiance against their true enemies instead of fighting over loot and scraps.
Meghan’s character shows a lot of strength without being muscle-strong. She has to keep emotions controlled and her wits sharp while secretly yearning for her husband and fearful for the safety of her family. She is thrust into trolley problem dilemmas and comes through them with sensible solutions, fueled by her emotional intelligence.
I just enjoyed this whole series, which is up to Book 4 so far. There’s a lot of cleverness in terms of fights and challenges and aliens.
The downside, for me, is that these books are just a touch too cozy for my tastes. Alien monsters that can’t even kill little kids (albeit kids with powers) seem kinda incompetent, no matter how threatening they are, no matter how many adults they kill off-screen. But plot armor is a common thing in a lot of litRPG, so I give it a pass.
After reading this series, I still don’t want kids. But it’s nice to get one version of a glimpse into motherhood. Holy smokes.
