Author Case Study: Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman's Path to A Break Out Series
A Parade of Horribles, the 8th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series, is now out.
The DCC series is being made into a graphic novel, is already on Webtoons, has been optioned for TV, and sold over 6 million copies.
In 2003, author Matt Dinniman published his first book. He guesses it sold 50 copies.
Let’s connect the dots.
The Dinniman Backstory
Like most aspiring authors, Dinniman had a slew of unusual jobs: telephone psychic, private instigator, pizza delivery guy, and Microsoft tech support worker.
The New York Times reports that amid the collection of odd jobs, Dinniman wrote short stories and sent them to magazines. Though he was an avid reader as a child, his upbringing wasn’t literary. His father was in the U.S. Army and Dinniman himself sought a degree in public administration from the University of of Arizona.
Early Books
He eventually gained some traction in his late 20’s with a book he started in high school, The Shivered Sky. Published in 2003 by a small press, the book tells the story of hell winning the ultimate war. He guesses it sold 50 copies.
Looking back, Dinniman acknowledges self-publishing was looked down upon in the early 2000’s and e-books weren’t a popular medium yet—the very ingredients that would lead to his later success.
A few years after his debut, he released a short story collection with another small press. The collection is now out of print.
Then, in 2007, he wrote The Grinding and secured a deal for an e-book. This time, copies sold in the in the hundreds.
When the Silo series was self-published by Hugh Howey in 2013, it gained major traction, making Dinniman realize that self-publishing was changing. During the early boom, writers were proving they could make a living self-publishing.
Dinniman wrote his first LitRPG series and didn’t even try to find a publisher. He independently published it in 2017. The first book made more money on day one than he had in his entire writing career up to that point.
Through those times, Dinniman was still working a day job to support his family, first as a graphic designer for an aviation technology company, then as an artist drawing pictures of cats. He opened a store on Etsy for commissioned drawings and was making six-figures at cat shows sponsored by the Cat Fancies Association.
Then, COVID cut off his income stream and Dinniman had to pivot.
Dungeon Crawler Carl Publishing Timeline
Dinniman started writing Dungeon Crawler Carl in December 2019 with no expectations. He posted free chapters on Royal Road and got input via polling readers which he felt increased engagement.
“Seriously, I’ve been writing for a very long time, and the idea of a death-game sort of book has always been on my mind.” - Matt Dinniman
He was setting up for Emerald City Comic Con when the convention was shut down due to COVID. At the same time, shipping from his Etsy store was massively impacted by COVID, so Dinniman realized he had to pivot quickly. What he had to turn to was DCC.
Dinniman started a Patreon with early access to chapters and began writing full time. He published book 1 of the series on October 2, 2020 in e-book and paperback.
Multiple scenes on Royal Road didn’t make the cut to the book because they didn’t move the story forward.
Through word of mouth and his unique involvement with fans, Dinniman had sold several hundred thousand copies on his own when agents came knocking. At that point, he was reluctant to sell his rights and only did so when he negotiated keeping his ebook rights. Print rights were picked up by Penguin Random House in 2024. Dinniman has commented that the series underwent edits but the story stayed the same.
His agent is now Seth Fishman. Dinniman admits having an editorial and marketing team is a bit of a culture shock.
As of December 2024, the first 4 rereleased books sold 55K copies.
By December 2025, the first 7 books sold over 6 million copies.
Dungeon Crawler Carl (October 2020)
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (January 2021)
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (March 2021)
The Gate of the Feral Gods (June 2021)
The Butcher’s Masquerade (February 2022)
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (June 2023)
This Inevitable Ruin (November 2024)
A Parade of Horribles (May 2026)
Sales of audiobook adaptions with narrator Jeff Hayes have surpassed physical and e-book copies. Dinnaman currently has 12K paid members on Patreon in which he continues to poll his readers about story events.
Takeaways for You as an Author
I absolutely flew through this book series. By chapter 3 in book 1, I knew it was something special, and then grew more and more impressed as I read. It’s rare to read a book with such a polished structure and detailed characters, especially an indie book.
It’s clear Dinniman is doing a lot right as a writer, both in his craft, and his business acumen. Here’s a few important takeaways for any writer:
→ Write regularly. Matt Dinniman writes 8 to 12 hours a day. He makes up the story as he goes, but keeps track of details including character inventories and abilities in a massive spreadsheet.
→ Partner with other writers. Dinniman says participating in writing workshops was the best thing he did for his writing craft.
→ Strategize and follow success. He writes everything with audio in mind and has killed off characters he didn’t think would sound good. Now, his audiobooks have sold over 3 million copies on Audible.
Learn more in this interview with Matt Dinniman:
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