Writing life
Who Publishes LitRPG?
And should you pitch to a publisher, anyway?
A lot of new LitRPG authors that I come across ask a very reasonable question:
Who publishes LitRPG?
The first thing to say, however, is that for many prominent books in the genre, the answer is ‘nobody’. At least, no organisation. The majority of fantasy novels are independently published these days, and this is even more true in LitRPG than it is in mainstream sub-genres such as urban or high fantasy.
If that’s enough to convince you, and you wanna go full steam ahead with indie publishing, I’d recommend you read this article next.
However…
If you do want to pursue a publisher, there are options. In particular, there are several smallish, specialist publishers that mainly focus on LitRPG, gamelit, and perhaps a few closely-related genres such as portal fantasy.
The biggest advantage of such publishers is that they have a lot more reach than you would have as an indie. Publishers can and will do advertising and marketing, meaning few-to-zero ongoing costs for you. They have industry contacts, too, including narrators for audiobooks.
Don’t feel like building your own mailing list? No worries — they already have one.
Of course, in exchange, you’ll get a smaller percentage of the proceeds from sales. How much would depend on your contract, but it will certainly be less than the 70% you get for selling a full-priced ebook on Amazon as an indie. But they can sort out good-quality covers for you, and arrange editing, too. All of this means fewer up-front and launch costs.
Sound like a fair deal?
If so, here is a rundown of the main LitRPG presses that I have become aware of during my time writing in the genre:
Aethon Books
This should be a serious contender for any LitRPG author. As well as signing new authors, they have published works that first debuted on Royal Road. The most prominent of these is He Who Fights With Monsters.
They have some excellent authors already, and a very clear submissions process.
Find out more here.
Magic Dome Books
This is a more unusual option; based in Prague, they specialize in translating and releasing Russian LitRPG for the English-speaking market (if you weren’t aware, Russian authors played a big role in the genre’s development), as well as other fantasy genres.
They do also take submissions, however, and may be able to release your books in countries that would be a lot harder to release as an indie. Fancy having your book translated into Czech and Korean?
Find out more here.
Mountaindale Press
This publisher has grown up around the success of author Dakota Krout, and as well as Dakota’s own series — and several collaborations — they now have a bunch of successful and prolific authors and series on board, including the marvellous Touch of Power series by Jay Boyce.
An interesting recent development is that they have begun releasing books directly through their website, rather than always relying on Amazon.
Find out more here.
Portal Books
This is a very well-regarded publisher of LitRPG. At the time of writing, it looks like they have around fifteen or twenty authors on board.
Their past releases include the awesome Beast Realms series by R. P. Jones, and I also highly recommend Caesar’s Shadow by Anthony Wright (can’t wait for book 2!).
Find out more here.
Shadow Alley Press
Another growing publisher that is well regarded by authors and readers in the genre. They seem to have quite a few authors on board, and a great many titles including (but not limited to) LitRPG and gamelit.
Probably the best known of these is the Viridian Gate Online series by James Hunter. It’s a successful enough brand that there are now other authors working on spin-off titles.
Find out more here.
Wraithmarked
This is a slightly newer (est. 2020) but nevertheless interesting option. They have about a dozen authors so far, including Luke Chmilenko, author of the highly-rated Ascend Online series, though they focus more on progression fantasy than pure LitRPG.
I couldn’t see a call for submissions on their website, though that might change.
Find out more here.
Wait… I was thinking more like Random House or whatever.
Of course, the so-called big 5 publishers have a massive reach and release hundreds of fantasy books a year between them. They are certainly an interesting option. However, you would be a small fish in a big pond with such a publisher, and they are less likely to work hard on your development and on promoting your books, the way that some of the specialist publishers will.
Put it this way — you won’t be featured on their homepage (and be wary of predatory publishers, too). You also need an agent to approach them — they don’t take direct submissions.
More importantly, the reality is that most of them are not interested in LitRPG.
At least, not yet.
Perhaps you could change that, but it would probably help if you could ensure that your novel is marketable first. The big 5 probably won’t turn down a sure-fire way to make money, so if you are already selling thousands of copies as an indie, then I am sure that Random House will at least pay attention.
But then, if you are selling that much, why do you need them?
What are these other publisher names I keep seeing?
The LitRPG publishers above are commonly listed by new books in the ‘publisher’ field on bookstores, but you will see others. Most of these are micro-presses, one-person operations set up as publishing ‘companies’ purely to release the author’s own work.
A few of these micro-presses do expand, however, and may even take submissions. Many of the publishers above probably began this way, and there may be others that will join them soon. There may well be new successful LitRPG authors in the future who decide to funnel some of their earnings back into the genre by recruiting a marketing team and taking on and mentoring new authors.
All of which is to say: keep an eye out for developments, because this is a fast-moving genre.
At the same time, you do need to consider for yourself whether the pros of a publisher outweigh the cons. They probably won’t take you on unless they think your book can sell — in which case, are you sure you don’t want to do it yourself?
For some, the convenience of having everything done for you will always be worth it. But it’s certainly one of the biggest choices facing authors today.
Many thanks to several authors from the LitRPG Authors’ Guild on Facebook for some useful comments and suggestions on this article!
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