/lit/ - Literature

Since I've noticed my name is getting brought up these past few threads and don't want to eventually just be known as a meme like Gardener...

I'm FortySixtyFour, I write the webfics "AnimeCon Harem" and "RE: Trailer Trash" and make decent income doing so. $4.5k USD a month or thereabouts. Both are genre fictions, and both also focus heavily on subverting their respective genres.

Harem fics are generally known to be wish fulfillment garbage with paper thin characters; I instead went full multiple POV deep dives into the thoughts and perspectives of all the characters involved and focused on fleshing out characters. Do-over fics are generally male lead and focus on taking advantage of future knowledge for personal & financial gain; I went female protag and the story instead focuses on how she misunderstood almost everything she thought she knew and is now given a chance to actually grow up this time.

Both are MODERATELY successful in their respective niches. I'm on the lower end of my Aethon peers in that regard, because I don't really cater to mass appeal progression fantasy, and honestly? I don't write fast at all. Each of my chapters gets written and rewritten and not posted up until I'm satisfied it has the impact I want it to. For perspective, the actual "success" writers in my peer circle generally make 10x what I do or much, much more. Look up Zogarth, Shirtaloon, and Defier. I'm a nobody by comparison, which is fine.

I do strongly advocate for the Royal Road & Patreon model of writing if you're looking to break away from day jobs or et cetera and be able to write full time. You may have to write genre fiction to actually start doing numbers, and that's okay. I have full confidence that you're able to find SOME genre you love enough to be able to write in it. My buddy Traitorman wrote in an old school fantasy Forgotten Realms sort of style, and didn't really become extremely popular until he dissected modern progression fantasy and was able to figure out a project that both fit with the writing he wanted to do and also the market: Mark of the Fool.

To those of you looking towards the current big moneymakers on RR (LitRPG) and thinking about making a quick buck, I'd say don't even try. You'd be trying to start a race when others have laps and laps on you, and reader market is going to just stick with the frontrunners because they're already nine books ahead of you in content. Also, most of you despise LitRPG, and your disdain for whatever given genre you try to write in almost always bleeds into the work when you force yourself to write what's popular.

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