Post-mortem on Torth

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. 

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. 

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. 

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+. 

To the unsolicited book promoters…

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. 

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. 

Against the incentives that drive rapid release

There’s a myth going around the online spaces where creatives hang out. That myth is that consumers are all incredibly voracious beasts who just want moar and moar and moar, and that no matter how many thousands of books/films/games are published each day, the consumers can never be satiated. Every reader must be reading 100,000,000,000 words per day.  It is therefore every professional creator’s duty to deliver as much content as possible. Anything less and you (as a creator) will be ignored, left behind, and relegated to obscurity forever.

I first began to hear this myth circa 2010. When I pressed one of its propagators for an explanation–“But why? How do you know this is true?”–she responded with insults. If I dared to question her sage advice to rapid release, then I had zero chance to become a bestseller or anyone of note. She didn’t know why. She just knew it was so.

She is mostly right, it turns out.

Most income earning creatives (authors, etc.) stay in the black by hewing to the principle of rapid release. As of 2024, the common professional advice to indie authors who want to earn a full-time living is to produce more than 400,000 words per year. That’s equivalent to four or five novels.  Any less than that, and you won’t be able to capitalize frequently enough on Amazon’s new release category. Your brand name will get buried in the nonstop deluge from fellow authors who are also releasing new books. You will not be noticed. (And sure, you can attempt to land a trad pub Big Four sweetheart contract, but everyone knows that’s pie-in-the-sky. Gaining Big Four marketing clout is like winning the Olympics or the lottery.)

The principle of rapid release doesn’t just apply to major retailers like Amazon. It pervades all spaces for creative works, including free fiction hubs like Wattpad and Royal Road. It is not solely a problem created by megacorporations. Indie game developers and indie film makers and indie comics creators and indie musicians are dealing with the same thing, even in their underground free incubators.

And now we have LLMs, aka “generative A.I.” empowering creatives enabling uncreatives to produce even moar content faster. Rapid release is skyrocketing. Rapid release rules all. Rapid release is everywhere, and how dare you question it. Conform or die.

I’m not questioning the fact that rapid release works. Everyone knows that it is, by far, the most effective way for indie creators to gain viable income streams. It clearly is. There is no denying the ever-increasing mountains of proof.

I’m questioning the reasons driving it.

There have always been bookworms who love pulp fiction (I’m one of them), but I don’t believe that’s the key driver in demand here. I think the demand is being artificially inflated by visibility algorithms that favor fresh releases and frequent releases. Consumers would have to dig very deep in order to surface content that’s older than an hour on Amazon, or older than 17 minutes on Royal Road. Consumers are constantly presented with the latest new release. With thousands per day, they can scroll endlessly, so most only see the top ten titles above the fold. Therefore, every author is scrambling to game the visibility algorithm so their work appears on top of the ongoing heap as frequently as possible.

And I question the benefits of rapid release, both to society and to the individual creator.

There is always going to be someone who writes faster and produces more. Is this really the best vector to compete on? Does high volume production make for a healthy lifestyle? Is this how you want to live, long-term? Maybe it is, and that’s fine. But I don’t like the fact that all of the incentives in the publishing industries are aligned towards super high volume rapid content production.

Speaking from the other side, as an avid consumer of fiction … I prefer the epic stories that were decades in the making. There are some pulp fiction rapid release authors I admire and like. But I would hate for that to be all there is. By de-incentivizing in-depth world-building and slow crafting, I think we do a disservice to the future of art in general.

I guess there will always be slow, careful crafters in the writing world and in all other creative industries. Some crazy idiots like me will ignore (or try to ignore) the pressure to write rapidly and to up their word count targets. They’ll plod along and hope someone, anyone, notices their staggering work of creative genius that never shows up in the latest release list on any website.

We’re heading into a dark time in the arts. I don’t want to be a doomer. But.

I’ll keep writing at my own pace. I’ll seek out others who do the same. But I suspect we will all remain underground and we will rarely, if ever, get noticed by mainstream consumers. This is the world we live in.

LitRPG & Progression Fantasy w/Matt Dinniman, Shirtaloon, & Abby

COLOSSUS RISING has risen!

Colossus Rising

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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Publication day for MAJORITY

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!

Majority by Abby Goldsmith

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.”

Kirkus review

Signed a 6 book deal with Podium!!!

I have very incredible and awesome news to share. I’ve signed a 6 book series contract with Podium Audio!!!

My epic 1+ million word Torth series will be coming out in print, ebook, and audiobook editions, probably starting late this year or in 2024.  This is super thrilling for me.  My magnum opus dark sci-fi series is going to hit Amazon & Audible in a big way!  (Books 1 & 2 will be combined.)

I owe it to taking a chance on serialization.  I’m having a blast on RoyalRoad + Patreon.  Feel free to ask me anything.  Now I’m diving into edits! ❤️

If you’re unfamiliar with my Torth series, here’s a brief blurb:


In a galaxy-spanning utopia where societal leaders are networked together for instant communication, nothing goes unnoticed.

There’s no crime. No secrets. No privacy. And no way to escape.

Until Thomas unintentionally captivates the top super-genius influencer.  If he’s going to help his enslaved friends, he’ll need to trick her… plus her audience of thirty trillion mind readers.

And so Thomas’s galactic conquest begins.

A.I. Artwork And Writing: a writer-artist’s perspective.

From what I’ve seen, A.I. generated artwork has a certain aesthetic to it. Faces are rarely defined. Imagery may be riotously detailed, which gives a superficial impression that it was lovingly worked on by hand for many days, but it lacks a coherent theme. That gives the impression that it is dreamlike imagery, or slap-dabbed together by someone in a creative frenzy. It is a certain look.

Perhaps that aesthetic will always be appealing. But I wonder if it will wear out its welcome? I’m already getting worn out on it. I feel as if I can recognize it when I see it, and it’s not what I want for my finalized novel covers. (Short stories, maybe.)

And I think the same applies to Jasper A.I. and other A.I. writing tools. People who read a lot of blogs and articles are learning to recognize overly emotional language that is incongruously used for conveying generic or low-value content.

I’ve seen A.I. performers, where people pay a service that simulates an actor to read lines. There is an uncanny valley effect with those. The “actor” looks quite human, but they blink a bit too often, and their smiles are quick and small and weirdly constrained.

I don’t know how the arts will adapt to these things. But speaking as a writer-artist, I’m not thrilled about it. I think this is all part of the race-to-the-bottom in the arts. Companies don’t want to pay artists and writers. Now they don’t have to.

The question is: Will the public accept A.I. art and writing as equal to the real thing? Or will they tune it out eventually? Will they tend to gravitate towards art and writing created by real people? Or will enough people fail to see the difference, or fail to care, so that the money flows towards A.I. tools more than it flows to human writers and artists?

Epic Series Writers group

A lot professional advice aimed at novelists doesn’t quite apply to writers of epic series. Everything about a major series is different from stand-alone novels. The approach, plotting, and methodology are different. The pitching, audience building strategies, and marketing are different.

I want a place where we can find on-target advice and support, without needing to dig through a morass of posts aimed at other types of novelists. So I made a focus group.

Epic Series Writers on Discord

Epic Series Writers on Facebook

Come join if you write epic series! Lurkers are welcome, but I want this group to stay very focused on the unique challenges and concerns of writing a series with 3+ books, totaling more than 150,000+ words collectively, that has to be read in the correct order.

Written Serialization Hubs

Where can you reach readers with your written serialized fiction? Here’s a list.

NON-EXCLUSIVE SERIALIZATION PLATFORMS with MONETIZATION OPTIONS

 

NOT MONETIZED SERIALIZATION and CRITIQUE FORUMS

 

MONETIZED ONLY / ROYALTY-PAYING SERIALIZATION

 

And what if you want to self-host?

PAYWALL HELP FOR WEB SERIALS / SELL ADVANCE CHAPTERS

 

FANFIC FOCUSED SERIALIZATION

    • Ao3 / Archive Of Our Own (popular fanfic site with a section for original fiction, apply to join)
    • Quotev (old community)
    • FictionPress (pre-dates Wattpad, may want exclusivity)
    • Mibba (section for original fiction, young writers)

 

NON-ENGLISH / FOREIGN SERIALIZATION MARKETS

    • Belletristica (mostly German)
    • Pratilipi (Indian)
    • Novello (Hong Kong)
    • Joara / Full Novels (Japanese)
    • Honeyfeed (Japanese)
    • KakaoPage (Korean)
    • Snack Book (Korean)
    • Bagle (Korean)
    • BookWalker
    • Livory (German, owned by Tapster)
    • MoboReader (Changdu’s English outreach, requires application)
    • CreativeNovels.com (webnovel translation site, requires application)
    • WuxiaWorld.com (China webnovels translation)
    • Gravity Tales (China/Korea translation)
    • Scribay (French)

 

EXCLUSIVE / INVITE-ONLY / TOWARDS TRADITIONAL DEAL

    • Galatea (an Inkitt venture)
    • Realm / SerialBox (SFF audio, hard to get in)
    • FierceReads (rebranded Swoon Reads, Macmillan YA sourcing site)
    • ThePigeonHole (sources from trad publishers)
    • Boke Technology (romance only)
    • Episodic Reading (2yr exclusive)
    • Alexi Books (sources from trad publishers, looks defunct)

 

CHAT / TEXTING STORIES

    • Hooked.co (texting style stories)
    • Tap by Wattpad (texting style stories)
    • Lure Fiction
    • Viber
    • MessageInk
    • Peep.jp (was Taskey.me; Japanese; crowd-sourced translation if you serialize for free, texting style stories)

 

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE / BRANCHING STORIES

    • Episode (primarily romance)
    • Scripts: romance episode
    • Sana Stories
    • Dorian ($2m funded, Lionsgate Films)
    • Tales (learning curve)
    • Choice of Games / Heart’s Choice
    • 4thewords.com (Costa Rica based, international)

 

SKETCHY / SCAMMY / POSSIBLY ABANDONED

    • Webnovel (China, Qidian’s English site) and Boxnovel
    • Tencent / Qidian.com (huge serialization platform in China; they may take all rights)
    • EMP Entertainment and A&D Entertainment (3rd party distributor, Singapore partner for Webnovel)
    • GoodNovel
    • CreativeNovel (foreign, iffy on rights)
    • NovelHD (steals stories from Wattpad) owned by contabo.de
    • Foxteller (ghost town, may be iffy on rights)
    • HiNovel (rights grabby, contact [email protected])
    • iReader, Fictum, Bytedance Group (reports of selling work without permission, Writer Beware)
    • NovelFull
    • EStory (grabby contract)
    • authorbitz (founder: Lucinda Hawks Moebius, looks abandoned)
    • www.orton.io (sketchy w mispellings)
    • Movellas (looks sketchy, possible plagiarism?)
    • taylz.com (short fiction critique site, free, UK-based)
    • 2Tale (may be abandoned)
    • EGlobal Creative Publishing
    • Tapfun PTE
    • BabelNovel
    • Libri (will take all your rights)
    • BravoNovel (theft)
    • Friver group
    • NovelBee (plagiarism)
    • BeeNovel (red flag, they steal)
    • NovelCat
    • LITeReader (nonpayment)

 

CLOSED / DEFUNCT

    • Curious Fictions
    • LitHive.com (fanfic)
    • Describli (seeking backers on IndieGoGo)
    • ReaderCoin (audio focus)
    • Sweek
    • JukePop Serials (crowd-funded)
    • SparkaTale
    • WriteOn (Amazon; more like a critique group)
    • Book Country (Penguin Random House; more like a critique group)
    • Authonomy (HarperCollins)
    • CloudyPen
    • Figment
    • Story Pony
    • Readitt.com
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