# Dungeon Crawler Carl

> A Royal Road serial grew into a book series reported to have sold over 14 million copies.

- Owner: Matt Dinniman
- Kind: Book
- Sector: Entertainment
- Seed date: 2020-01-06
- Observed peak date: Week of Aug 7, 2026
- Date basis: Observed peak within the documented measurement window; not an all-time maximum. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 45 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Platform jump, Underdog, Maker origin, Identity badge, Collectible set

## Summary

Dinniman posted the serial on Royal Road, then sold ebooks and Jeff Hays audiobooks. Ace added bookstore hardcovers. Reader recommendations, cosplay and Audible promotion followed. Peacock ordered a TV series; reporting put series sales above 14 million.

## Timeline

- 2020-01-06 — Matt Dinniman (Open web) — Dinniman posted chapter one on Royal Road at 10:24:27 GMT, as recorded in its RSS feed.
- 2021-01-28 — Soundbooth Theater / Jeff Hays (Audio) — Soundbooth Theater released Jeff Hays's narration of the first novel.
- 2023-09-01 — Maude Garrett / Maude's Book Club (Twitch) — Maude's Book Club listed the novel for Twitch and Discord discussions.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/dungeon-crawler-carl

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Dungeon Crawler Carl.” Case HIS-01309. Spread Score v1.2: 45/100. Updated 2026-10-22. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01309