Comp titles are one of the most hated parts of querying literary agents. I think they are worthy of a rant.🔥
âś… 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 Titles Create a Publishing Echo Chamber
2:04 – For Readers Seeking Fresh, Original Books
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 to the RR audience, and some are a hard sell no matter how talented you are.
Here are 7 likely reasons why Royal Road readers quit reading your story.
📌 In this video, you’ll learn:
✅ What Royal Road readers consider “amateur writing”
âś… What genres are easiest to sell on Royal Road
âś… Why power progression dominates the platform
âś… Why infodumps and slow openings kill retention
âś… Why multiPOV is a bigger risk than most writers realize
✅ The hidden reason “too much suffering” turns readers off
✅ What kind of romance and comedy works (and what doesn’t)
I’ve read many of the top trending Royal Road series (and I rate them on Goodreads), and I’ve personally hit #4 on Rising Stars. This is my analysis of what the platform rewards right now, and which writing styles (including multi-POV, present tense, and overly literary prose) might quietly sabotage your launch.
🔥 Happy writing! And good luck reaching for Rising Stars.
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: Visualizing Scenes Before You Write
1:54 Crafting Emotional Waves in Your Story
2:18 Building Characters You’re Obsessed With
3:07 Using Music Playlists as Creative Cues
3:33 Keyword Triggers & Getting Into the Zone
4:12 You Don’t Have to Walk, Other Routine Activities That Work
4:27 When Daydreaming Bleeds Into Lucid Dreams
5:18 Keeping a Healthy Boundary Between Fiction and Reality
5:47 Let Excitement & Characters Lead
6:08 Pantser vs. Plotter: Why Daydreaming Is Both
Are you a creative with a vivid imagination, or maybe even a daydreamer who can’t seem to turn it off? In this video, author and artist Abby shares how she transformed her lifelong habit of intense daydreaming into a powerful writing tool. From daily walk-and-daydream sessions to mood-cueing playlists and lucid dreaming, she breaks down her exact process for visualizing scenes, building emotionally resonant story arcs, and crafting characters you can’t stop thinking about. Whether you’re a pantser, a plotter, or something in between, this video will help you unlock the storytelling superpower hiding inside your own imagination.
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 maker, this is the financial literacy crash course built for how creatives actually live and work.
0:00 Introduction: financial mindset for creatives
0:47 Quitting your day job: what nobody tells you
1:43 The real competition you’re up against today
2:42 How algorithms favor rapid content generation and volume over quality
4:04 The psychological trap: passion becoming pressure
5:19 What successful creators actually do differently
6:09 Finding the right day job as a serious creative
7:11 Sustainable creative habits that actually last
7:47 Passive income reality check for artists
9:01 Basic investing: ETFs, Vanguard, dividends
10:37 Tracking your creative income like a business
The honest truth: your creative work and your financial health don’t have to be enemies. This video explores how to make money as an artist while striving for financial freedom, acknowledging that everyone’s personal journey is unique.
“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%.”
Here’s my AuthorTube take on the decline of literacy.
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.
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.
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.
– The implosion of the official NaNoWriMo group.
– Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write, a Meetup Group.
– Royal Road’s Writathon.
