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.
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 twenty years cater to teen and female audiences.
04:13 Why the book industry leans female: a feedback loop of risk avoidance driven by analytics. Also…
05:34 The tastemakers of the book industry are mostly underpaid, stressed out young women.
07:12 And big publishing avoids epic series, aka big and heroic tales.
07:59 Where do men go for stories? Videogames, manga, and underground niches such as web serials.
09:27 Some hope for male-oriented fiction going mainstream.
10:48 Men who read are sexy.
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.
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.
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.
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 stapler, and a black and white LaserJet printer. From template to finished mini comic.
She gives these away for free at her vendor booth table during conventions and book festivals.
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 totaling 1,000,000 words after I discarded 2,000,000 words or so. The books were published at a far faster pace than it took to write them.
I began working on the Torth series when I was in my early twenties, expressing my worldview and diving deep into an exploration of freedom versus slavery. It was partly inspired by The Wheel of Time in terms of interpersonal power dynamics, and Star Wars in terms of universe scope and aliens, and lots of other things. I went to film school. I’m a reader.
My goal was mainstream trad pub, otherwise known as the Big Five (MacMillan etc). After two rewrites and years of bending over backwards in a futile effort to please literary agents, I finally realized this isn’t the 1990s, and they just aren’t looking for heroic doorstoppers anytime within the next decade or two.
It was hard to let go of the Big Five dream. If you want the sordid details of how and why it took me so many years to switch gears, feel free to ask. But I did, eventually, seek an audience online. That was what motivated me to pick up where I had stalled (right after Book 2) and finish the whole epic.Â
Wattpad gave me my first readership. That was the first place a reader asked me, “Where’s your Patreon so I can read ahead?” Hugely motivating. I wrote new chapters and posted one or two per week from 2017 through 2023.
As I was posting the final chapters on Wattpad, I relaunched the whole series on Royal Road. I figured my 500 prewritten chapters would enable me to gain notice quickly with a rapid launch pace. Three chapters per day turned out to be insane, since I was editing as I went. And then I went through cancer and had a hospital stay and chemotherapy. I lost a few readers when I reduced my pace to three chapters per week. It was necessary. Even so, my series went to #1 on the Sci-Fi Rising Stars chart and topped out at #4 on overall Rising Stars. That was partly due to the supportive community of authors and adventurous readers who hang out around the web serial community, particularly in litRPG and progression fantasy.Â
When my series hit the front page of Royal Road, I got an offer from a publisher and interest from another. I signed a six book contract. That publisher, Podium, put a lot of time and effort into producing my series as high quality audiobooks, ebooks, and print editions. I’m grateful.
There’s some advice floating around implying that a book series with great read-through equals a cash cow. That hasn’t totally been the case for mine. Readers who pick up Book 2 of mine tend to read through all the way to Book 6. The ones who get to the end are some of the best fans anyone can ask for. They get what I was going for, and they were on board every step of the way. I love the reactions. I’ve had some very touching letters from readers. That alone makes everything I wrote worthwhile.
Financially, though? Sales figures-wise? I think I have an intrinsically hard sell on my hands here. It’s not Romantasy, Cozy, litRPG, Isekai, Cyberpunk, or Cultivation (the hot sci-fi and fantasy subgenres that sell well on Amazon). It’s dark. It’s complicated. It’s big. It’s weird. It’s unique. This isn’t something that pops up in a quick search or in also bought lists.
I’m vending at in-person events in and around Texas, such as Comicpalooza. It’s nice to escape the trials of online book marketing and talk with readers face to face. I wish my series had more visibility, but there are thousands of new books published every day on Amazon. It blows my mind that so many people’s hopes and dreams go unread, unnoticed, and buried. We live in strange times.Â
My series is dystopian sci-fi with elements of progression fantasy and a hard magic system. It starts with MAJORITY and is available in Kindle Unlimited and Audible+.Â
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 to a whole new level.
First of all, if you’re commenting on a post where the author announced their book alongside an image, and you say “Wow, is this your first book?” well, that doesn’t land the right way when the text of the posted cover image says Torth Book 5. You’ve just signaled that you never looked at their book cover. Your disregard for basic due diligence proves that you are either using a script or you lack basic comprehension skills. That’s not a promo specialist that any professional would want to hire.
Also, displaying cluelessness about an author’s genre is not the way to gain their trust. Book trailers, social media graphics, and book promo need to be tailored to specific genres and audiences. Professional authors spend years studying these things. We can’t avoid it. Your generic offers are a huge red flag that you either don’t know the genre of the author you’re spamming, or you don’t care. Either way, you’re a time-wasting nuisance and I will not respond to your low effort message or comment.
You might begin to actually profit from professional authors (as opposed to scam victims) IF you took the time to intimately learn a genre and subgenre in the book world. Engage with the art. Try being a human being. Stop relying on scripts and stop trying to lazily make a quick buck. Otherwise, any author with a brain will clock you.Â
Typos & idiocy are not the way. Greeting an author by misspelling their name is not the way. Generic, scripted offers full of impossible promises are not the way. When you approach me like a bumbling amateur looking for a victim, I am not going to respond.Â
Colossus Rising
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 of escapees hurtles through the vastness of space, pursued by armadas, saboteurs, and kamikaze armies. The Earth they once knew is blocked by the relentless Torth Majority who now threaten all of humanity.
Among the escapees is Ariock, a powerhouse of a gladiator with illegal superpowers, a legacy from his legendary great-grandfather who defied the Torth. Ariock is determined to follow in his footsteps. Then there’s Thomas, a brilliant supergenius, physically challenged but gifted with a mind that’s both awe-inspiring and enigmatic. His resilience is shrouded in mystery, even to his foster sister Vy.
Their common thread is fear of the unknown. Crash-landing on a distant, toxic planet, they discover it’s the ancestral home of the Torth, their galactic enemies. The remnants of the Torth era of origin still haunt this poisoned wasteland.
As they face mutant horrors and relentless galactic foes, Thomas envisions only doom and despair. But for Ariock and the streamship exiles, it’s a do-or-die struggle for survival—a quest to uncover light in a city trapped in eternal night.
With over 750,000 views as a web serial, the Torth series begins with Majority. Superpowered mavericks and supergeniuses vie for galactic dominance against a collective armada composed of 38 trillion personalities. Higher stakes than Red Rising or The Expanse. One of the 100 Best Indie Books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews.
If you read these books, please rate them or leave a review!
Goodreads: Majority | Colossus Rising
Amazon: Majority | Colossus Rising | World of Wreckage
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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 pressure on it, as a series starter. And it’s the start of a series that I stand proudly behind.
Reviews and sales are immensely important to authors. I really appreciate everyone who bought a copy, and those who are planning to write a review, or who already wrote one on Goodreads or Amazon.
If sci-fi isn’t your thing, I would appreciate it if you tell a friend, or perhaps gift it to someone who loves thoughtful sci-fi! For freebies and peeks into my life, you can subscribe to my newsletter.
Thanks for being part of my life!
abbygoldsmith.com/majority
Also, I gave a bunch of interviews for this one! If you’d like to see what I’ve been up to, check out John Scalzi’s blog, Rune S Nielsen’s blog, Jendia Gammon’s substack, Bookishly Jewish, Queen’s Asylum, Bryan Aiello’s YouTube channel, Hinterspace podcast, NFS podcast and a Reddit AMA!
★★★★★ “Engaging from the start, this complex space opera features relatable, believable characters; highly original, meticulous world building; and difficult moral and ethical dilemmas.”
Booklist review
★★★★★ “Thoughtful explorations of morality, altruism, justice and mercy, and the idea that godlike powers come with godlike responsibilities add depth and breadth to this auspicious entry in SF literature’s mutant-superman genre.”
© 2025 Abby Goldsmith DBA Fiery Press