Anyone heard of Shōsetsuka ni Narō?

[MiharuWrites]

I was looking around at other indie self publishing sites and came across this one. Anyone ever used it? It's mainly for Japanese light novels from what I can tell and I'm wondering if content published there has to be in Japanese. I'm learning the language but far from fluent. Since I'm considering writing in a light novel format and want a wide audience this site looked good. I'm definitely not fluent enough to feel confident translating my stories from English to Japanese for the site though if content must be in Japanese...

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Yes I have heard of it. There is no official English version of that site IIRC.

There are some people who just write in English on Narou, but of course it is far less ideal than writing in Japanese.
I say try some English-language novel hosting sites first. Royal Road is one site that have big anime LitRPG and Isekai audience. You can try Tapas too. The audience may not sound too promising for you, but they exist and may have potential.

Translating your work in a language you don't know very well can make it suffer greatly and turn away those "potential audience." There are substantial structural differences between how works are written in English and Japanese. Plus, about the "potential audience" in Narou, you also need to research them if you want to target them properly (e.g. what their preference, current trends, plus more importantly Japanese internet etiquette and site etiquette). Those are a ton of work, so better write in the language you know well.

[MiharuWrites]

Thanks. Yeah I definitely didn't intend to try my translation skills since I'm still learning the language. Was hoping English was allowed on that site but it makes sense that Japanese would be preferred. Not a big deal. Was just curious.

Have you used royal road? I was looking at it earlier this week and I'm on the fence because I hadn't even heard of it until a week ago. I do want to use tapas. Still deciding which of my novels I'll be posting by the end of the year on it.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I have tried posting on RR but discontinued it because my series got no meaningful traction, aside from the hassle of posting on multiple sites

Tapas novel and RR has their pros and cons. The audience demographic and their behaviour are also different. I think you could try posting on both sites and see which one performs better/you like more.

Tapas audience is known to be mild-mannered and nice in general. There is no rating system or integrated review system. If you have reached 250 subscribers, you can unlock tipping which allows your audience to tip you with on-site currency (ink). You can also link your Patreon and or sell merch.

However, if you like your audience to give you some more candid opinions, rating, critiques, and reviews, RR is the place. You can also swap review with fellow authors; that is how some authors grow there.
To post on RR, it is preferable to be consistent and have a lot of chapters on your hand. I heard about readers there are more interested in series that have been consistently going for a bit long, that they have no worry to read it as it seems the author won't likely to quit. Romance series are seemingly less liked on RR; the audience can be picky. There is a rating system, so be prepared for someone to abuse it and give you one-star for no/petty reason. The monetisation method there uses Patreon IIRC.

[MiharuWrites]

Thanks for the info! Really appreciate it. Now that I understand the audience differences and money options better I think I'll try both when I start posting. If RR readers are more open to offering constructive criticism and honest reviews I'll take it. Don't want to deal with trolls giving petty reviews but I think that could happen on any site so that possibility doesn't bother me much.

[YS_og]

Knowing Japanese isn't near enough. Im N2 certified and I still could never be a successful LN author because mastering the nuanced world of LN-esque dialogue, descriptions, etc is damn near impossible for the nonnative. So even if one day you become fluent, I strongly suggest against pursuing that route. Apologies for my blunt response

[MiharuWrites]

No, don't apologize! Better to be blunt than sugarcoat it XD Yeah, I don't plan to translate my novels to Japanese if I get fluent. I know I'd screw something up.