That would actually be a pretty good twist, but I highly doubt he'd do it. That MC is his baby (and his self insert) whose the most awesome of the awesome with cool dragon sidekicks and fawning followers and adoring cock-candy... He's the bestest kind of hero ever.
Oh god, I think I got cavities reading that!!! Well I'll agree with one thing, MCs like at are often babies. They never get the chance to grow or learn past the most basic common denominator.
Man, I gotta figure out how to get hordes of mindless, admiring minions. It would do my self esteem worlds of good.
I kinda understand if someone's been reading the series since years and years ago. When you've invested so much into something, you just want it to succeed, like football fans sticking with their teams through thick and thin. And in a way I kinda understand the author's weird position right now with the growth of the genre, where he feels like he got there first and now all these pesky ingrates who would not have a career if not for his pioneering efforts are becoming voices of dissent. But at the same time, more readers = more readers for everybody, but also more competition, and eventually better-quality books will prevail, so... I can understand all the insecurity surrounding that.
Honestly, that mentality (and the fact I spent money) is what stubbornly had me reading book 1-5 (or 6? It's kind of a blur). I was like "I paid for these, damn it, I'm gonna read them!" and kept hoping it would improve. I was somewhat disappointed that it just kept getting worse in my opinion. The MC would take a tiny baby step forward and then a giant leap backwards. He'd feel bad about a choice...but for about 5 minutes before he was either A) justifying it or B) had everyone else reassuring him that the thing was totally not his fault. He got worse and worse about justifying truly unnecessary and violent actions by going "That's the way the world is!" when really it didn't have to be. And I won't even talk about how his female characters just went flatter and flatter until they come in two styles: nagging irritation he pretends to listen to but doesn't and usually lies to or super sexy, super pointless bed partner that exists so we know the MC's skills are also in the bedroom. I think part of the problem is he flat out says on his author pages/etc. that "I write a story I would like to read!". Now this sounds good in theory, but in practice, you have to be very careful doing that. Because you have to appeal to your readers and a lot of readers don't necessarily want to read about some self-insert getting all the ladies, all the powers, and all the loot with minimal effort. Like that's fun in fanfiction for a young writer, but for a more professional writer that doesn't work near as well. At least I think so. Again, I don't hate the guy and I really think the Land had/has potential, but it needs some help to get where it could be. It reads like a lightly edited first draft to me; yes, someone fixed the spelling (for the most part), but there was a serious lack of an editor & beta readers to go "well, I liked this, but this didn't work because xyz".
But... but, but... apparently thousands and thousands of readers want to read exactly that, since I guess they can also self-insert through the MC. And there are still readers outright asking for harem and OP characters and all that, so there is apparently a huge market for this. [Soapbox tangent: and you can pour chemicals into your fast food and make millions, but if you're a little local restaurant trying to go 'healthy' and organic, you'll only get a handful of customers and the high operation costs will make you go under in a year. Sometimes that's the whole evil of commercialism, but I guess it's not the point. It just makes me sad.] Personally, I can't understand self-inserts at all. Not even because I'm female. I can't stand female self-inserts in the romance genre either. Anything that smells of darling-ness just feels wrong. IMHO, there's nothing wrong at all about writing stories you want to read, and I think most writers do that, but then... it kinda... reflects who you are as a person (?)
It sort of depends on if you believe he actually gets 1,000+ reviews on the very first day? I'm inclined not to think so. If you use any of many little tools (like Fakespot), his reviews tend to grade really, really low. And it's even mentioned that most of his "great" reviews on audible seem to be people that didn't even read it? More just like supporters who assume it's going to be good. Now, not saying he has no loyal readers ever. I just personally think his "amazing reviews" are probably at least 50% fake. However, I assume a lot of his readers are the same kind of "dudebro" he is and think his MC is super clever and awesome and wish they were him. So I'm not saying the man doesn't know how to advertise and how to make money. He certainly does. And also true that there are followers for Harem stuff, etc. too. However, there's just as many people who won't touch them with a 10-foot pole. Heck, after reading Tamer, I sure as hell won't. Has nothing to do with the author; I just find the books boring and the whole harem dynamic incredibly dull and distasteful in the way it portrays both men and women. Definitely a market out there, but I'm sure for every reader clamoring for it, four or five are going "no thanks!". And it's true. The problem with the little local restaurants is to make the ends meet you have to be a lot more expensive than the easy fast food and in this economy, people tend to prefer something cheap that will do most of the time. It sucks though. I think I worded it wrong. There's nothing wrong with writing "the story you want". You just have to be careful to do it in a way that will draw in others. You can write the thing you want and the thing you think is awesome, but you have to present it correctly for others to see it as awesome as you do. Heck, this series isn't the first to start off popular and end up with a "cult following" but went... very downhill. Anne Rice, Laurell K. Hamilton, George Lucas, etc. All of them are very well known and popular, but as they got more and more followers, their books just kind of went crazy-go-nuts and they lost a lot of followers. Like yes, they're still technically successful, but they lost a lot of their success too. Now grain of salt, of course. Success is success and they do make the money! But even so, for the followers they kept, most of them have lost at least twice that many. And I have no idea where I'm going with this. It's late and I'm being kept up by loud neighbors and fireworks so I'm rambling. I guess the point is I'd rather be the good author that's popular (Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman, etc.) than the "successful" author with a reputation for being a jerk or an arrogant pain in the butt with a horrible reputation.
I guess I understand that mentality.... Except he didn't pioneer anything. His entry with book 1 was in 2015. While there were early entries into this genre in the early 2000's with books like otherworld it was the Lightnovel turned Manga 1/2 prince published in 2004 that was a landmark for this type of book. By 2009 it was already mainstream in Japan and gaining popularity in Russia. In 2011 Ready Player One was a smash hit bring attention to this genre in the US. The term Litrpg was given to it by a Russian novelist in 2012. Land might be popular however that author is by no means a pioneer. He followed a trend, a strong one I might add as in 2015 litrpg was a very profitable niche to get into. Then he went ahead and attempted to re-write history to glorify himself in the eyes of his Zombie fans. Honestly that trend like all others is dying down. I can see it evolving into a fantasy genre that incorporates gaming mechanics in it's world building though.
And my book was a month or two before his. Not to mention all the stuff on RRL (where mine also posted over half a year before the first book's amazon release)
I read 1-6. There are so many good and interesting series out there... I just can't bring myself to read 7. Sometimes that happens for me with series. I hit the don't care any more about the characters point (wheel of time).
Exactly that. I hung on because I was waiting for the "big change" or...some change. And now? I just don't care. I can't bring myself to bother reading Book 7, especially considering it's hideously long and the reviews are complaining about some stuff I'm sure I would just be super annoyed with when I read it. Not worth the time, even to snark-read.
I rather enjoyed book 7, especially since I'm a sucker for dungeon core stuff. plus there were a lot of payoffs for previously built-up plotlines (and plenty of new ones) that said, if you didn't enjoy 1-6 I can't imagine you liking 7
I've enjoyed the books but I certainly wouldn't count them among the greats. Kong is better than some. I agree though that the MC doesn't have to work for much. I'm re-reading the series because of it's high magic content. I get very frustrated with how the character develops. For example, the character becomes an enchanter. Yet before then he'd never shown any interest in enchanting beyond fantastic loot. I don't mind windfalls per se, but when it marks such a 'huge' moment of character progression I begin to get frustrated. Also it seems rather hectic. There are "quests" that the mc receives in book 1 (I think) that he still hasn't finished. His 'bro-havior' can get rather frustrating. I hate that he promotes getting blackout drunk, which consequently is often when he tends to have sex. Which itself promotes 'men can have sex with as many women as they want' (though to be fair the few sex partner faces that the author has introduced us to, have been or appeared to be strong sexy ladies whom regarded well). Kong also has, as of this latest novel, two queer couples! so that's something. He is, however, Very proud of his latest novel. He want's me to spend 8.99 on it! I saw that and was like "seriously dude? I can get kindle unlimited for 9.99 and read all your books!"
I've heard from some that he really put in the effort in building the reader community, and that attracted plenty of new readers into the genre. Not that I'm defending him or anything. I think the whole banning people and trademarking the word is downright pathetic and despicable, but I want to give credit when credit is due. Do tell me if I'm wrong.
Ok you're wrong. Just kidding What he did was oily at best, Every single writer be it in this genre or outside of it has a website that markets his efforts be it under the book series name or the author's name. EXCEPT This author. He set up a litrpg page to market his books. Meaning that if you are a fan of the genre in general you'll end up there and maybe check out his latest book. He bestows his favor on other authors by promoting their work... on a general litrpg fan page... so long as they get his personal permission to do so and are in his inner circle. Same with the website that bombs you with email after email. They do promote the other authors work however the mention of the land or a promotional artwork/banner for it is always included. The guy is good at marketing himself, no question about that. He just stands on the shoulders of others to do so and acts like it's for their benefits. Gross.
Okay, thanks. I see. As for the bolded -- do these authors actually like his work? I mean, if they do, then that's fine. If they don't and are sucking up... that's... shameful. I'm sorry. Okay, I understand that people have families to feed, but...
Don't know. It seems like a business move to me. either join the group that'll give your work the most exposure as it is THE GENRE'S WEBSITE ON FACEBOOK.... or be ok with obscurity. In all others the genre's website is usually neutral and promotes newcomers, new releases by known authors in it and so on. This is the one and only exception I've come across. I do follow a few authors in that group and they're all nice people. Some are getting negative influence from this group however and going for quantity over quality in their recent works which is a shame.
With the 'established authors' jumping into the genre, however... I feel the wind changing... just sayin'...
