[jimmyed]

Another reason for this is the sheer amount of rubbish literature that is being printed, specially in the category of "Young Adult". There are endless streams of psychopath male leads and damsel in distress characters, with predictable story lines and pretentious dialogues.

[dageshi]

It's pulp. If you made it disappear the people reading it wouldn't magically start reading "the good stuff", they'd move onto something else suitably mindless in another medium.

[greenie_beans]

just don't read it if you have a problem with it. and don't waste your emotional energy on hating it. there are a ton of books out there that you would love, why spend your time thinking about books you don't like?

let the readers read what they want, let the writers write what they want, and don't judge people based on their reading preferences. even if it's rupi kaur.

[drakonka]

For many people, reading is a fun escape into an alternative reality that they would never want to live out in real life. If they want to escape into a world of dark romance tropes featuring psychopathic male leads, more power to them and to the authors they're supporting.

[Cthulhu_]

Don't forget that these also have experienced publisher and marketing networks behind them; on their own the books are a dime a dozen, it's the publishers that make it popular.

[QVVRP4nYz]

> There are endless streams of psychopath male leads and damsel in distress characters, with predictable story lines and pretentious dialogues.

I mean - it sells. Is it readers fault if other authors write unpopular stuff? "Royal Road" is my guilty pleasure. Almost everything there conforms to that quoted scheme but even among mountains of crap there exist various degrees of quality. That said the popularity isn't strongly correlated to that - checking 2 authors I follow one has $300/month on Patreon while other $20k/month.

[mobiuscog]

Personally, I think this is where Patreon (and similar) shine. Allows 'true fans' to support directly with a much smaller cut than traditional distribution/publishing mechanisms, whilst also not requiring long-term subscriptions.

If your content is in demand, you do well.

[dageshi]

Honestly Royal Road is a treasure. It's the only site where I actively click on t he ads because the ads are all for new stories and there's a decent chance I'll like one.