I would like to point out that Alemillach was flown out for "free" because webnovel paid for it. But I remember the contract that said the cost would come out of his next monthly pay check.
If it's all misinformation, then make the contract public. 1 post and all misinformation gets sorted out.
I posted the same thing myself.
This is really not about how "bad" the contract is or how it's "fine" as long as you're doing it in "good faith"... man.
It's about how backward thinking the people that are running this site are. Business is business, I get it. It is fine not to conform to the western ways especially when your roots are from China, I get it. But what pisses the living crap out of me is how bad you people are at treating your customers, the readers, and now even the young writers with the passion to do writing. One of the reasons why art is not being taken seriously...
Everyone had different situation. This is my opinion.
NinjaScroll First 200k words are free
For a note that is around 2 of the first Harry Potter books. So for readers, if a story you read goes premium, then please remember the author has given 2 free books. I believe it started as China 200k characters but English word is harder than Chinese Character (well English has "to" to increase word counts). Nevertheless, this should benefit readers. (Also there is some rule of 'popularity', so not all novel with 200k words can be premium.)
NinjaScroll When you sign, they have the licensing rights to your novel so they can sell it anywhere.
This is normal. Even WN need to license translation novels from Qidian.
NinjaScroll If you earn under $200, they do not have to pay you.
If you earn over $200, they can delay any payment for up to 3 months.
This is normal in business. Walmart also delays, Amazon also delays. I even delay my supplier payment similar some stores delay the payment to me. We even have a delay to pay tax. The matter is duration.
NinjaScroll While under contract, if they ask you to do a book signing in China/Ph etc, then you must attend at your own expense.
This is rebuked. Ale is in China on Webnovel's cost. (Waiting for the Photo though @Sunnnyy similar to this https://forum.webnovel.com/d/7959-sunny-s-diary-part-i) (Yet, check the contract when one get it.)
NinjaScroll While contracted, they can tell you "suggestions" on how to make your story better for the readers (They tell you what to write).
If you can not comply with their "suggestions" they have the right to terminate your contract.
This is similar to Japanese Mangaka. A company also 'need' to direct certain manga. Perhaps 'terminated' them earlier if it is unpopular, etc and move the author to better prospect project. perhaps forced them to be 'prolonged' to milk more money. A company might know the market more than an author. Nevertheless, this is the reason for 'typical' style in each publisher company.
This might be bad for an 'artist' author.
NinjaScroll While contracted, they can hire someone else to write instead of you.
Perhaps it is because of Tales of Demons and Gods and MadSnails. Is it a 'ghost writer' writing it now? Since MadSnails made a new pen~name. Want more of this novel! If this is as Ale said then it is good.
NinjaScroll If terminated, you must pay back ALL the money you've earned while under contract + any damage they foresee to charge you with.
Erm... this is impossible clause. Almost no chance for WN to win outside China and HK. This is the biggest problem. One had to consult with 'lawyer' for this.
NinjaScroll If terminated, they will try to get the copyright of your novel so they can sell it anywhere with 100% profit.
This also needed to be checked when one get the contract. However, most traditional publishers now asked for the copyright. Consult this term with lawyer.
NinjaScroll All sales/ss/ad revenue will be split 50/50 with you and Webnovel.
WOW! This is more than I can imagine. (I thought only SS revenue is shared.) Perhaps this included 'Gift' or donation. Is this included Patreon revenue? (Based on Ale and Kevin, they can't post advanced chapter on any other platform.). Nevertheless, if Ads also given, then it is good.
Perhaps this is what the sweetener that a translator gets (Webnovel Premium is not as profitable compared to Patreon system for now). Nevertheless, this made unpopular novel would find a translator harder tho. All want popular ones. (Readers who made a novel request should consider this).
Warning: This is a good reason to make your collection data better @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL. That is a good sign of you have the 'real' data. I know even Wattpad manipulated number of view data. However, please correct the 'collection' bug. It is hard to trust ads and income data if you can't give your correct collections number.
NinjaScroll They have other charges too, so you'll really end up with about 30% of the profit, then if you've got editor/artist that you've got to pay, will become much less.
A bit strange, I believe usually Traditional Publisher handle this. The traditional publisher asked for 85~95% tho instead of 50%. So 30% is a bit higher than what traditional publisher give (5~15%). (I have to admit Traditional Publisher had better reach with offline book and bigger bargaining power with Amazon. Other than Ale, the other contracted authors don't get that good treatment. At least, give some banner advertising or apps ads! Some even readers didn't know the entire contracted novel.).
NinjaScroll All ss revenue will be for paying ss only, any free will not generate any money for you.
This is fair. Free SS is free promotion for readers who can't pay. As a reader, this is good. As an author, this meant you share your book for free. Might not suit some authors who write for his living. This is a big information for readers. Nevertheless the price for 'paid' SS is too expensive.
NinjaScroll This works in China!
This is the source opinion not in the contract. Based on the staff, Original Authors is offered the same contract signed by IET, Er Gen, and many more.
This is better than the slave contract rumor, where it was rumored future novels has to be 'contracted' to WN.
Also even when Outline need to be submitted, could WN stop an author for making it speedier? Author still had power when to end a novel. Not very bad compared to the 'slave' contract rumor.
There are points that an original authors need to considered especially about ownership in case of termination, but most of Original Authors are amateurs who would never have a chance to contract with a traditional publisher. Even traditional publisher want ownership now.
Worst come worst, there is a ghost writer made a fan-fiction with Patreon donation for her version of a popular novel that she used to ghost write.
For those who didn't like see their ownership shared. Self-Publishing in Amazon is the way. Use Webnovel to promote your novel. That is allowed. There is also other sites for promotion.
There is also problem of Webnovel's support to other contracted authors outside Ale. This is actually the worst advertising of Original Author program in my opinion. Even some translation projects didn't have the support as good as Ale.
PS: I have suggested a rotating banner for Webnovel's contracted work (translation and original). You can make app ads with different novels. Readers also would enjoy seeing novel illustration. Webnovel also could introduce more novels to its own readers perhaps making them paying for SS. This only cost in-house designer time.
MasterRabbink Rebuked my ass, I found a screenshot of the part about travelling (from the contract they sent me)
Party B acknowledges and agrees that the costs incurred in organizing various events
in connection with the Work, including but not limited to promotional events held by
Party A from time to time are considered part of Party A's operating costs (to be taken
into account in calculating the Net Income).
Party B = author, Party A = Webnovel
Operating costs come out of party B's paycheck!
Pegazz Thank you for correction. Then it is shared between an Author and Webnovel.
Sigh... Most company gives free traveling to the staffs for 'motivating'. Perhaps Ale go to China to attend an event not connected with work (that is to report Webnovel to China people but Webnovel can't be accessed in China).
MasterRabbink The traditional publisher asked for 85~95% tho instead of 50%. So 30% is a bit higher than what traditional publisher give (5~15%)
Wth? HAHAHAHA traditional publisher takes 85-95%, are you sure about that? Heck, I should stop writing and start a publishing company then.
Cobyboy "But that 15% royalty rate has long been the norm for print-publishing contracts."
Got it from internet research. There are many article about that. I just summarized thing. That is written by not Forbes. Amazon is still the king which offer 70% if you join their exclusive contract. (We are talking about traditional publisher which could market your book).
Yup. Amazon had 'destroyed' traditional publisher.
MasterRabbink Noice, the most I have heard of was around 80%. Oh btw, 50% is not really true in Webnovel's contract. It should be 50% of the 70%, which is 35% Hahahaha well, still relatively "better" than traditional publishers.
Cobyboy There is more resource. Webnovel is actually trying to 'change' the market. The web novel in here is actually Steam 'Alpha'.
The author said he got 41% after blablabla from Amazon.
PS: Wow! a new feature on the forum? That is a link.
Cobyboy MasterRabbink NinjaScroll
This is the old model and while it is true it is no longer the case. Traditional publishers would pay an author an advance and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on printing. They were taking the risk of this cost, that is why authors who were less of a risk got a better deal. I will use $100 as an example to simplify the explanation.
.
Book instore - $100
Retailer - $60 (varies from 40 to 70, 40% margin would be the norm)
.
Publisher costs
book - $30
author - $6
marketing - $5 (varies lets use the industry standard 5% of RRP)
.
Publisher Margin - $19
.
On top of this publishers had to wear return costs from retailers, freight costs both ways and pay for endaps, rebates, price protection etc in retailers. They were not ripping off authors, this was the number it needed to be for the industry to work.
.
Now there are no longer printing costs and especially the upfront cost. This is why publishers are now offering 30-70% to the author. In Amazons self-published case, the author bears all the costs and can recoup up to 70% of RRP minus fees. There are services which print on demand so an author can sell printed books with no massive outlay.
.
On the surface, Qidians contract is not surprising. An author does not have to accept it and they could ask for terms taken out if they wish. Entering into a contract is a negotiation, you don't have to accept the initial terms. 50% is fairly standard for electronic publishing plus they have an excellent platform. There is a benefit to being on the front page almost every day as well which cannot be denied. It is rare for an uncontracted webnovel to be in the top 10 now due to the visibility front page gets webnovels.
.
If you want your freedom. Don't sign it and do what I do.
Royal Road + Web novel (free advertising for me) https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15614/daedalus
Patreon Advance chapters https://www.patreon.com/skullysln
When you have a few books worth and 10,000 followers goto Amazon.
Thanks Web Novel. You rock.
Alemillach and other top 3 must be getting special contract different from the other thats what I though. They are good author that deserve it anyway so wn must be wanted to earn their favor. It would be different for the other author though. So its case by case I guess its the same in any company. If you have ability the company will favor you over others. Without ability they will oppress with unfair contract.
Puppet_Meister HAHAHAHA those three? They are obliged to not say anything bad though... Don't trust what they are posting. Contract clause,
"Party B shall take all necessary actions to maintain the image of Party A..."
That article is very misleading.
Showing amazon at 41% and comparing it to lulu direct at 80%. Fails to recognise Amazon KDP will sell 1,000,000,000 more units than lulu direct.
Cobyboy
If you don't mind me asking, how well do the amazon sales do? I'm not ready to publish anything there anytime soon, but I was curious how successful WebNovel writers have been on it.
SnoozySloth Pretty well I would say, some writers here do better than others. I am an intermediate writer and an unknown author. Considering its self-publishing, it is really good, the bonus is that it doesn't risk me with anything that is tied to a contract besides the agreement with Amazon.
I've already earned almost $4000 on amazon in the last 3 months now. That's without going kdp select too.
Dr_Zombie Anyway, this is a quote from @Alemillach (Author of Last Wish System) from a comment on this: https://www.webnovel.com/book/10678377306098705/31268052968461157/Alternate-World-Online/'Contract'
I am tired of seeing this type of information, so I obtained permission to clarify things about the contract because the information here is incorrect. Moreover, I asked, and Webnovel didn't send a contract to this author, so I don't know from where did he obtain such a fake contract.
The contracts needed to be read well because they are easy to misunderstand clarifying points.
1. Meaning of 200k free words. No premium until having published around 200k, the number didn't need to be exactly as it is possible to be a bit less or a bit more. After the 200k words, you can expect every contracted work to go premium at any moment. (the number can be different for each contract, but this is the standard one)
2.License. They can adapt it to any format (comic, movie, audiobook, e-book, etc.), but you are still the author and have a share of everything without any cost for you.
3. If you earn less than 200$, they accumulate it for next month and then pay it to you when you have more than 200$, you don't lose it, just get it later.
4. Payments from Premium are always the next month. For example, Premium from August is paid in September. Those three months are for other types of income besides the Premium.
5. In case you need to go to China they pay everything to you, I just come back today from Beijing, and they paid it all so I can ensure it, you can also ask Moloxiv who was also there. Moreover, they ask you if you can go; if you can't just say it. Of course, once you say that you will go, then you need to go, that is just being professional, but in any case, the travel is all paid by Webnovel.
6. They can make suggestions like every editorial in the world with the books they have. However, they are suggestions; you didn't need to follow them if you don't want.
7. If you break the contract and stop writing the novel, they can put someone else to continue, only in that case and it is to avoid novels being dropped before being finished.
8. Actually, no one is checking the drafts (published chapters), nor forcing anyone to make changes, the suggestions can be followed or not, they suggest to help the authors, but if the author didn't like, there is no need to follow the suggestion.
9. That is in case if you break the contract, breaking contracts always had consequences. If you sign, you mustn't break it. Although I doubt that they will really act in that way, they have the possibility, but sue someone is expensive and I doubt it will be good for them, maybe they will end wasting more than winning.
10. They remain the copyright if you broke the contract, the solution is not breaking it.
11. All the net income is split 50% Webnovel and 50% the author and that includes adaptations to comics, movies, e-books, audiobooks, etc. Although the author didn't need to do anything in those adaptations.
12. The net income is split in 50/50; there is no 30% in any case. Webnovel have their own artists for covers, so you don't need to hire one. As for editors, some works will get although not all (at least this is that I know)
13. Free SS are free, so they aren't money. They split 50% of the net income, but free SS are 0, so the 50% is still 0.
14. The contract should be almost the same, but the contract isn't bad as people is always saying, it is a pretty good contract, the few restrictions are perfectly normal when signing a contract and as long you didn't break the contract there wouldn't be any problems.But, take everything with a grain of salt. You won't know the contract until webnovel gives you one. shrugs Or simply just don't sign anything and self-publish on Amazon or something... ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Nobody forces you to sign.
Someone deleted Alemillach (Author of Last Wish System) comment on there
It was there 10 minutes ago (with 17 thumb up). Now it is gone.
Can an ORIGINAL author delete a comment to his novel?
Any recommendations on pricing and how many words each volume should be on Amazon? My 1st book just finished its 1st volume at 30 chapters and 75k words. The earlier chapters need redone since my writing was rougher back then, but would that be long enough to publish you think? Did you guys pay someone to create covers available for commercial use?
ssound5rs Authors cant delete reviews or comments on their novels as a fact. The only ones who have the ability to do so are the admin of webnovel or the commenter. Hope this clears it up.
