Exclusives are coming to ebook lending in libraries, and Dungeon Crawler Carl is leading the way.
Not a sentence I ever thought I’d write but this is 2026.
Libby, the library reading app owned by Overdrive, has signed a three-year exclusive with DCC author Matt Dinniman for digital distribution in libraries. Libby will be the sole provider of the English-language ebooks to libraries, including the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and Dinniman’s four standalone novels, the “Dominion of Blades” series and “The Shivered Sky” series.
In case you have been lost in a dungeon of your own, Dungeon Crawler Carl has become a literary phenomenon, and basically put the LitRPG genre on the map, with more than 7 million copies sold. The success is spreading. Vault’s DCC graphic novel raised more than $2 million on Backerkit, and a streaming series is in development at Peacock with Chris Yost and Seth MacFarlane involved. The audiobook series is possibly even more beloved than the print books, and has sold another 3 million copies. And with the eighth DCC novel coming out on May 12, 2026 from Ace Books, Carl-mania is just going to get bigger. Not bad for a project that began as a self-published pandemic era whim.
Although the series is published in print by PRH via their Ace Books imprint, Dinniman held on the the digital rights. And thus we have possibly the first digital library edition exclusive.
“As a kid who practically grew up in libraries, I am so happy all of my books are finally available to libraries through the Libby app,” said Dinniman in a statement.
“We’re thrilled to be the new ebook home for Matt and his outstanding catalog ,” said Jason Tyrrell, Executive Vice President of OverDrive. “The NEW ACHIEVEMENT every library is looking to unlock is serving as many readers as possible, and this collaboration means more passionate LitRPG readers and more new readers finding their way into our incredible public library system.”
According to statistics provided by Libby, LitRPG checkouts are up over 600% year-over-year, and checkouts have grown by over 25% every quarter since the start of 2025. Those numbers will only grow with Princess Donut now Libby exclusive.
The other big digital provider for libraries is hoopla – many libraries have access to both services, but if you have a hoopla-only library, you might have to check out the print version of A Parade of Horribles. However, you might have to wait a looong time for either edition because, as we’ve noted, Dungeon Crawler Carl is mad popular.
