• Qidian Official

  • 【Important Announcement】Monthly Elite subscriptions adjustment

What exactly are the concerns they should address? They already explained why they removed it - it was having a detrimental impact on the writers' income, and many were earning less than half of what they originally earned when this system was in place. That's why they decided to scrap it, because while it was great for readers, it was bad for writers.

It's kind of like everyone loves an all-you-can-eat buffet where you pay a flat rate to eat everything you want, but if the cooks suffer from being underpaid, then they have to remove the system or it wouldn't be fair to the people working to serve you the food. Put yourselves in our shoes. If your boss one day tells you, "sorry, Blake, but I'm going to have to pay you 50% of your original salary because we need to please our customers" you'll more than likely quit the job on the spot.

Look, I know I earn absolutely zero whether this system is in place or not, but I'm not the only writer on the site, and I'm not going to backstab the others by trying to find ways to reduce their income. They worked hard to get their readers and fans who were willing to pay for their chapters, and they invested a lot of effort in writing, updating and maintaining their stories. It won't be fair to call for them to get their payment reduced.

Unless someone has mentioned somewhere above a system that can both benefit readers and not cut down writers' income, which I might have missed because there's literally more than 1,500 posts.

4 days later
4 days later

I wish people would actually read the explanations and the authors' point of view before bumping this thread or doing the whole + (number) thing.

    Just found out there was a subscription system and it got gutted and I didnt realize because all I did was read...this hermit bumps for posterity.

      Fries Do you know why it was taken away?

      Because writers were earning less than 50% of their original income under the subscription system. Say what you will about Webnovel, but in this instance they acted in the interests of the writers.

          9 days later

          Tomoyuki You don't know shit Jon Snow.
          You think that you came up with some fresh arguments? No.
          Have you read carefully, to check counterarguments or what really pissed of people? Doesn't look like it.
          For me personally the most infuriating thing is how the company treats it's clients. When they cancelled, they said something along the lines "We suspend subscription, but we will get back to you" and guess what? They didn't.
          They blatantly ignored their customers who in the beginning only wanted to know what is what.
          They literally spit in faces of paying customers, and didn't even come out to say "Deal with it".
          They simply moved out to other projects, not even bothered to say that they decided to close subscription permanently.
          They simply don't give a shit about people.
          And that's what is infuriating.
          Fucking 1500 posts without any answer.
          You want to defend that? Be my guest.

              Cynical_Taste Yeah, hard to give a shit about people when their posts are so condescending.

              I wasn't even defending Webnovel. I was merely explaining why they scrapped the subscription system, because Fries asked about it. I was pointing out only in this situation they acted in the interest of the writers, which is true. A few other writers have also come out and talked about this issue, if you've read through the 1,500 posts. And Fries asked a question, I replied and explained to him specifically. So I don't know why you're jumping in and complaining about something else entirely. If you don't want to know, that's fine with me, you can ignore me, but Fries at least deserves an explanation.

              Also, they didn't ignore readers. They literally said that they will be making adjustments to the Elite subscription program, and they did - they created the Privilege system. Now everyone hates the Privilege system, and I'm definitely not going to defend that, but they did create a whole new thread about Privilege. That's why they're not going to respond here - any concerns you have about the new system, you might as well make on Privilege. And you can complain there that they are ignoring you on that thread. I couldn't care less.

              But hey, go ahead and insult the people who actually bothered to explain things, and then whine about being "blatantly ignored."

                  Tomoyuki How in the heavens Elite and Privilege can be considered to be the same thing? It is like saying that pear is different shaped apple.
                  Although I don't really like Privilege system, if someone want to spend let them spend, but the only similarities is that you pay for them and they last for month.
                  So in my opinion. No they didn't respond in any way and ignored us.

                      Cynical_Taste
                      They're not the same thing. One was created to replace the other. Pear and apples are fruits. And they're both members of the plant family Rosaceae, within the sub-family pomoideae. So technically...
                      Similarly, Elite and Privilege both cost money, and in the end support authors. Elite didn't work in the ways Webnovel wanted, so Privilege was put in place so that authors actually got money. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Just give them your money on Patreon honestly.

                          Lilliny
                          Well, that's kind of what I was getting at. They are still two different kinds of fruits.
                          As for Patreon, you are right but it is simply easier to keep track on app.

                              Cynical_Taste If you understand that, what are you complaining about? If one thing didn't work, they have to change it into something else.

                                  Cynical_Taste Lilliny is correct. And you still don't quite get it, do you? If your fruit vendor stops selling apples and starts selling pears, there is no reason for him to continue reserving an entire empty table for apples and taking care of it when he has already discontinued selling them. He's not blatantly ignoring his customers, he is quite clearly discontinuing one product to sell another.

                                  Fruit Vendor: "All right, from today onward, I'm going to stop selling apples and start selling pears. We had a situation where farmers were suffering a drastic drop in income when they sell apples. Everyone, please take a look at these pears instead. I know they are a bit on the pricy side, but the farmers make more money growing them."
                                  Customer: "How dare you stop selling apples?! Why didn't you update me on the status of apples?! Hey! Are you blatantly ignoring me?!"
                                  -> that's pretty much what it sounds like right now.

                                      13 days later

                                      Tomoyuki

                                      I think it's more like this

                                      Fruit Vendor: "All right, from today onward, I'm going to stop selling apples and start selling golden pears. But just so you know we my revisit the idea of selling apples again. Now everyone, please take a look at these golden pears instead. I know they are on the very pricy side, but...tough luck."

                                      Customer: "why did you stop selling apples? Why didn't you update me on the status of apples? Hey! Why are you blatantly ignoring me?!"

                                      Fruit Vendor (after some time, and still not addressing the customers that made the comment): "I stopped selling apples and start selling golden pears because we had a situation where farmers were suffering a drastic drop in income when they sell apples."

                                      alexandrovich977

                                          Lilliny
                                          Yes they get money, and good for them, but please take a look at what the customers get, for paying 10 dollars you may get 50 or less chapters, and I feel that the customers are getting less from this deal. For 10 dollars you can buy a full book on Kindle, or you pay for a subscription to Kindle unlimited (also 10 dollars), you can borrow book and read as many of them as you can, and boy I sure did... Still am...

                                              alexandrovich977 They say ihe price is cheap now because a cheapter costs only 0,2$. They say a book on this Plattform is many times longer then a saga like Harry Potter.
                                              They say we are cheap ones because we don't like or we can't pay for this amount of spirit stones we need to read.

                                              I say everytime we have following problems in this plattform:
                                              - Low quality
                                              - high filler rate
                                              - unfinished products
                                              - Performance drop from authors
                                              - high costs to read a book or to read until the newest chapter

                                              And the biggest problem:
                                              The customer isn't much worth. The system changes every time to a worse state then before (free reading - > ads - > spirit stones - > elite membership - > privilege - > coins)
                                              I am here since I think two or three years. I saw every change. The only good change was the elite membership for readers like me

                                              Most people read more than one book at the same time. If I would sum up all of my books online I read and calculate the costs like quidian I would have to pay hundreds of $ every fucking month...
                                              Maybe it is because I read two hours almost every day and at least 100 words per minute. 🤔
                                              No from me and I hope every day that the novels on my list don't get bought by quidian.

                                                5 days later

                                                Just realized, the ss got expired so quickly day by day.

                                                  DogeMoon maybe when there are like 40 million downloads? or there are at least 5 million people willing to buy subscription? because if they do it now, they can only put in a price of a $100 monthly if they want to retain their usual sales.

                                                      Reinesse not if they remove fast passes, effectively forcing people into buying the subscription, that they could offer for ~ 5,99 + another sub to unlock privilege chapters of one novel.
                                                      I'm certain that a lot of people would buy it if they would remove fast passes. And it would be fair for everyone, paying users wouldn't have to pay exorbitant prices to make up for the freeloaders.

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