SURVEY: $0.04/ch. paywall vs. free with ads, $5.99/month to skip ads,read ahead
I never say I have any influence.
But all the readers do.
If 90% vote in favor of freemium and only 10% vote in favor of paywall, Qidian executives will think twice before implementing a paywall.
Especially since freemium work very well in the West. Thanks to freemium, Spotify has 60 million paying subscribers worldwide. Freemium work very well in the West...Why not try it first instead of paywall? If failed, QI can always revert to paywall.
Qidian charges its readers in China. What make you think Qidian won't charge readers in the West?
As for why the paywall is coming....
1) Qidian is a profit-driven business. Ads is not enough revenue.
2) Spirit stones is exactly the same as Qidian Points in China. Users buy Qidian points in China to purchase chapters.
3) Readers in China has to pay. How would it look if Qidian novels is free in the West but paid in China to paying readers?
4) CKtalon said that Qidian is committed to free till at least the end of 2017.
so if you have no real sources and only hypotheses please stop it, its not use to make a paywall with such a low reader base that they have right now.
So you tell me you make such a huge effort and try to think for solution for a thing that
isn't sure to happen right now
will not take you into consideration anyway
will have a whole department of people drafting ideas about anyway
has already precedence in china
man you must have nothing to do...last post here, to much bs here again
ssound5rs
Srsly?
If it ever becomes paywalled
I m gonna either switch to pirate sites or switch hobbies....
I have limited pocket money
Can't waste it on reading novels mediocre novels.
Also 0.04$ per Chapter paywall is just too much. No thx
That was worst suggestion ever...
The current ads paywall is better.
ssound5rs I think the current www.webnovel.com ads system was much better than Freemium.
QI give us around `+15` free SS each day to skip the ads.
What? not much SS to read the bonus chapter?
Us, the poor don't mind watching the ads to unlock the chapter
and Them, the rich also don't mind to waste their money in exchange for more SS
(currently QI doesn't sell SS though)
Premium account is unreliable source of income. Why? This is not porn sites nor movie sites, and most people won't be too troubled to backlog a novel just to binge read/marathoning it once it's completely translated.
A monthly subscription would be impossible for me because I am under 18 and live in EU.
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You can always use the free version. Which is identical to what it is now.
And even if you are under 18 and in the EU, you can use Spotify Premium or Crunchyroll Premium or Wattpad Premium as long as your parent pay for it with their credit/debit card.
Result so far
74% in favor of Freemium (all novels free with ads; $5.99 a month to skip ads, read ahead several chapters of free readers)
26% in favor of Paywall ($0.04 per chapter)
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Having no free option will kill the community, using crunchyroll as an example is terrible since the anime community is far larger and had much longer to grow before corporate companies came into the picture, so the second choice would be only viable one imho.
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deikatsuo I think the current www.webnovel.com ads system was much better than Freemium.
but ads system only generates a lot less revenue....compare to ads system + paid extra to skip ads
If readers want more novels translated and authors get paid more, freemium is superior.
Look at the New York Times freemium:
DIGITAL AD REVENUE: $49 million for the quarter x 4 quarters a year = $196 million a year
DIGITAL-ONLY SUBSCRIPTIONS: $86 million for the quarter x 4 quarters a year = $344 million a year
Having just ads and no freemium would mean digital revenue for the New York Times would only be $196 million a year instead of $540 mil a year.
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Ranking from best to worst (looking at a hypothetical free leecher who don't like ads and won't ever pay)
1) All Novels Free with no ads
2) All Novels Free with ads
3) All Novels Free with ads + paid monthly premium to skip ads, read ahead
4) Paywall ($0.04 per chapter) after first 100 free chapters
5) Subscription paywall only (similar to J-Novel Club $4.95 a month for Club Member and $10.95 for Premium Membership)
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We live in a world where the authors/translators/publishers have to make money in order to create (translate) more novels for readers to read.
I believe freemium is the best choice because it generates a lot of revenue while at the same time allow for free reading for everyone. Paywall is bad because 80-90% of the readers will turn to pirate sites. It's much better to monetize these free readers with ads than losing them to pirate sites.
Freemium also allow www.webnovel.com to grow much faster and attract many new users. Paywall will cripple this growth.
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For revenue generation with freemium, Qidian International will have
1) Ad Revenue from free users
2) Subscription revenue from Premium members who want to skip ads and read ahead
3) Ebook Revenue sales on Amazon (King of Gods, Demon's Diary ebook are selling very well on Amazon Kindle and generating significant revenue).
4) Maybe merchandise someday down the road similar to what Crunchyroll Merchandise is doing.
So I sincerely hope that Qidian executives don't go with their initial plan of a per chapter paywall for Qidian International like they do for Qidian Chinese site.
Give freemium a chance to succeed. You will be surprised how well Western audience like monthly subscription. I will subscribe and be a paying member to skip ads and to support the site, the author and translator.
You do realize that there are countless aggregators out there, right? People can just choose to go there if things changes, don't forget that QI is a newcomer and I doubt they'd introduce either a paywall or an ad-free plan anytime time soon if they're smart.
We're a leecher community you see (well unless those of us who like to support TLers by donating), so neither of those propositions look appealing as either of them might be the harbinger of the even more dreadful pay-per-chapter system.
