After you’ve gone through all the trouble of creating your very own visual novel and learned about all the nuance that comes with content creation, it’s time to figure out where to actually publish it. That’s the only way that it can reach the public and you’ll want to find a publisher that matches both your style and the type of story that you’re telling. There are lots of choices, but some publishers are better than others. Here are a few of the best that you can check out to see if you’re interested in working with them.
Sekai Project
Sekai Project is a big developer and publisher that works with Steam and uploads content to their platform. They have lots of content and tend to run sales pretty often. That’s always something that drives business and they have over 33,000 followers on Twitter. That’s a fairly large reach, so they’re not a bad option. They do tend to publish adult oriented visual novels. If that’s not what you’re creating, then there might be a few better options for you. If you’re making hentai novels then looking into them isn’t going to be a bad idea at all.
Ebi-Hime
Ebi-Hime is a well-known publisher with plenty of fans and followers. They focus on erotic visual novels with a slant toward yuri and horror genres. They also offer a lot of free visual novels to drive people to their page and see what they have to offer them. While they mostly publish erotic material, it’s not all they do. They have a large section of non-adult material as well. That means you don’t have to create erotic content if you don’t want to. As long as your story is uplifting, it might be a good fit.
Winter Wolves
Winter Wolves is an Italian publisher and developer that creates straight visual novels as well as RPG hybrids. They also push those hybrids more than the visual novels they have, so it’s a great idea to check them out if that’s what you’re making. The more RPG elements your visual novel has, the more open they may be to taking on your content and adding it to their catalogue. They also have lots of LGBTQ focused novels. If you’re adding that to your novels, then you may get featured in a special section of their Steam developer page.
Lemma Soft
Lemma Soft is a web forum that lets any of its users upload their visual novels for other members to read. They have sections for both completed games and works that are still in progress. That gives creators a good chance to post parts of their games while they’re still making them for feedback and to find any bugs in the gameplay. It’s also possible to post beta versions of your visual novel for testing from the forum members. It’s more a community feel than a strict publisher, but it will help you share your content with lots of people.
Visual Novel Database
Visual Novel Database is a very large forum with lots of games to download directly to your computer. That also makes it a good place to share your content with people. All you need is a registered account and you’ll be able to post your visual novel for others to play and let you know what they think of it. It’s an active forum with lots of members, so you can expect to get lots of comments that are both negative and positive. That’s simply how the internet works, so a thick skin is helpful.
Newgrounds
One platform you may not be thinking about is Newgrounds. This is a gaming site that’s been around for decades, and you can use it as a content creator to upload web versions of your visual novel. You just have to find a hosting site to get it onto the internet and Newgrounds will let you share it with its large userbase. They have a very large section dedicated to visual novels, so you won’t exactly stand out when you first share it. As long as it’s fun to play, it should rise through the ranks of their games.
App Stores
So far, this has all been about PC games, but mobile visual novels are just as popular. If that’s what you’re making, then the app store of your choice is a good way to get it out there. The major ones are the Google and Apple stores, but there are also smaller stores to consider. Samsung, for instance, has its own app store that creators can use to share their content on a smaller scale. There are still thousands of users, but fewer than the most popular. It can give you a good lead of followers before you move into the big time.
Itch.io
Itch.io is another platform that’s been around for a very long time and users can upload their own content for everyone to check out. It’s also a good platform to sell your game, as opposed to sharing it for free. While they have plenty of free games, it’s largely a site to buy independent creations at a reasonable price. As long as you don’t price your first novel too high, you might see a decent number of sales. Just don’t make the mistake of also having it free somewhere else. That will simply drive traffic to the other version.
Conclusion: Publish your Visual Novel
There are plenty of platforms to consider if you want to publish your visual novel for other people to read and enjoy it. You can go with a publishing company that will take care of everything or you can do it on your own. Then you can decide if you want to share it for free or charge people for the opportunity to play it. It’s all up to you but there are resources all over the internet that you can use to take the path that you choose on your content creation adventure.