How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Book 7: Afterword

Midword

Thank you for buying How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom volume 7. This is Dojyomaru, who is worried that these midwords are appearing earlier and earlier in each volume.

This time we had the Republic Arc. With Kuu, Leporina, and Taru from the Republic joining the cast, the era is moving into a new stage with young people at the lead... and yet, Liscia is now off on maternity leave.

I dont think youll find many series in which the main heroine is away from the story temporarily because of maternity leave.

The composition of this story is as odd as ever, but I do hope youll stick with it.

Now then, in regard to what I wrote in volume 4 about the true value of web novels, there was some response to it, so I think Ill say just a little more.

When volume 4 came out, I boastfully wrote that the true value of web novels was that you could write as much as you wanted without worrying about the length, but they also have one other strength.

You can choose the timing for when theyre published as books for yourself.

This is it.

Of course, unless you choose to self-publish the physical books, it is necessary to have a publisher approach you about print rights. What Im talking about is the timing for releasing the physical books after youve been contacted by a publisher.

For instance, with a new authors award, the results are announced on the publishers homepage with a bang.

This novel won a grand prize. It will be published soon.

Its announced in a way that also acts as advertisement. New works need to attract the attention of readers, so this is the right way to do it. However, this also places a time limit on publishing the work. If theres too long a gap, people ask, When is that work that won the grand prize going to be published?

On that point, when it comes to web novels, even if the request to publish the novel in print comes, its possible to delay your response. If you arent confident, or are concerned about readers responses to as-yet-unpublished sections of the work, or if you dont have enough material built up, you can defer your response to the request to publish.

Naturally, there may be some publishers who wont allow you to put things on hold. However, publishers like Overlap will wait if you ask them to.

Now, as for how I can say that with such certainty, thats because, with my own Realist Hero, I actually delayed my response for about half a year after I was approached. (By the way, Ive checked with my editor if I can talk about this, and I received the okay, so have no worries there.)

The request to publish Realist Hero as a novel came just as I was writing the finale of volume 1 of the web novel version. That was around the time when people had started to take notice of this story. However, I asked to defer my response.

My reason was, I didnt know if the Subjugation Arc that will be volume two or the Post-war Arc that will make up parts of volumes three and four will be accepted by the readers, and, If I cant write through to the last scene of volume four, Im not confident I can conclude the story.

Thanks to that, I was blessed with readers who stayed with me past the Subjugation Arc and Post-war Arc, and I found the confidence to continue writing this story, so I decided to accept the request around the time I wrote the last scene of volume four.

And that brings us to the present.

If I had immediately accepted the publication request back then... Im sure Id be in a different situation now. Im a slow writer, and there were a few times I pulled down something I wrote, thinking, This isnt it, and then reworked it.

If Id started my career as a professional author with no confidence or stock of material... The thought scares me. Probably I wouldnt have had as much leeway, and would have had even less freedom to write the story the way I want. In my case, there was the risk that after messing up once, my will might have broken.

Writers are self-employed and responsible for themselves. If there are any aspiring authors out there reading this, I want you to remember that this sort of choice is an option.

Its okay. Overlap will wait. (This is important, so I said it twice.)

Now then, Ill wrap things up here for this time.

Now, I give my thanks to Fuyuyuki, with apologies for requesting four new character designs this time, to Satoshi Ueda, whose rough drafts for the manga Ive been enjoying reading, and to my editor, the designers, the proofreaders, and everyone who now holds this book in their hands.

This has been Dojyomaru.

After this, we have stories that take place after the return from the republic. Please, stay with us to the end.