Rocketduh man 3 of my favorites are list there that's disappointing. anyway, thanks for updating the list.

also while I'm here do you know of a list of works that were shit/flawed/dropped/ax ending by the author and yet still got translated.
I know of:
The world turned into a game after I woke up
Gamers of the Underworld
The Sword Deity in Tokyo
I Found A Planet
End of the Magic Era? according to user Elodin on webnovel. was discussed here links End of Magic Era dropped?

both I Found A Planet and The world turned into a game after I woke up posted the author's translated apology on webnovel as the last chapters of those books (lol). you can find the apology for The Sword Deity in Tokyo and Gamers of the Underworld as there last chapters on a MTL website.

  • mng replied to this.

      ATCkit I also heard 'lord of the mysteries' is also affected by the change in author rights.

          CKtalon Really the contract been changed for the better? how? from what I heard through the grapevine (only heard about the changing of one clause in the contract)

          instead of the old contract's minimum guaranteed systems explained here https://forum.webnovel.com/d/24792-contract-questions/4

          authors now have to update their story daily with one and a half thousand or greater words, to get two hundred a month (don't know what currency) for the first 4 months to get the minimum guaranteed system.

          it looks like they intentionally changed it to make it so they don't have to pay out the minimum guaranteed sum if someone missed one deadline and you know that its a lot easier to miss one deadline out of thirty than it is just the one.

          I'm curious to hear about the improvements to the contract (people only complain never praise lol)

              ATCkit
              I was referring to the Chinese contracts.

              Authors shouldn't even be aiming for Minimum Guaranteed System to begin with. Also, the speed requirement is more of a market (readers) requirement. Regular releases and you retain readership better.

                  mng what do you mean when you say that? none of the books above were affected by "author rights"(please tell me what you're talking about)

                  all the works I talked about above were translated works that never should have been translated all their authors at the last chapter apologizes for the mess their work turned into.

                  is it like what happened to I'm really a superstar where it got banned in China?

                      ATCkit A reason some books that are "bad" can be completed is also they are short. The translator finished them fairly quickly. Who knows what will happen in the future or how a story is developed. The author has freedom to decide on that.

                      Some books were picked up when the author was still writing it. I don't know about the other ones, but Gamers of the Underworld was done by my group. And it had an interesting premise. No one expected it to later on develop poorly. And by then, the translator was more or less catching up to the author (the author went on hiatus a few times) when the book suddenly ended. We had a stockpile, so the translator finished translating it 2 months before the last chapter was released.

                      Timeline: We started work in Jun 2019. Chinese raws were at Chapter 238/587 (of course this is with hindsight)
                      English translations released: 30 Sep 2019
                      Finished it by 31 Mar 2020 when last raw appeared at 14 Mar 2020. Book released and completed 16 May 2020.

                          CKtalon I agree with you on the fact authors shouldn't be aiming for the Minimum guaranteed system in the first place. it's kind of an idiotic policy in my opinion in the first place the way it's written now.

                          it encourages the fast release of chapters without taking into account whether the individual author could actually manage that burden. it could easily lead to the death of an otherwise good story.

                          I agree with your notion that near-constant and regular releases do drastically increase readership retaining rates. but that can just as easily be achieved by having a triweekly release schedule instead of an everyday release schedule. that's why I don't like the way that new clause is written. its like it was written that way for no other reason than to increase the chances that someone who is trying to get that money would fail.

                          it could have just as easily been written to ask for an update at least once a week with the minimum number of total premium words between 40,000 – 59,999 over the course of the month to be eligible for the $200. instead of what it is now.

                          and its clear that the author failing is Webnovels intention otherwise they would have written it like my example above.

                          another thing I want to bring up is I don't know whether this notion that books should be updated daily originates in QiDain or here on Webnovel due to the site originally being for translated works. (its a lot easier to translate at that pace than it is to write) but trying to enforce it thought that clause is dirty and shouldn't be happening.
                          even the authors who do daily release schedules take a couple of days off every so often whether for rest because of burning out or to take a step back and plan out the next ark of their story or to update their character sheet or some other tool used to keep the story coherent.

                          by putting that carrot in front of a naive or desperate author you end up leading them to write without planning the story and you end up with a lot of filler, inconsistencies with prior established lore, illogical character development, interactions, and behaviors, and more problems.

                          it may work well enough for the first 60 days but as the author gets further in without doing any proper planning the chances of those examples to occur increase and when they get far enough in they make a really dumb mistake.

                          people then get kicked out of their trans of only reading and not absorbing the book and take a step back to see there was clearly something going one for those prior 60 days. they are filled with filler the character development has stagnated and other problems appear.

                          people get upset and leave and there goes all those readers who you were retaining thanks to your fast release schedule.

                              ATCkit The point is why is there MGS? It means the book isn't earning much. Why? There are several factors. The story isn't that great for the Webnovel audience. The author's writing isn't good. The release speed isn't fast enough, etc. So in some sense, the book is already on "life support".

                              Since you agree regular releases are important whether is it a result of artificial raising of expectations or an organic one, it makes sense to ensure that at least one of the above "flaws" is made up for. MGS does this by ensuring that the author at least tries to cover up the flaw of irregular releases. Also, why is it only for 4 months? It's because if after 4 months of regular releases, and the author isn't able to go above MGS, it probably means the story isn't suited for this market. Basically "life support" is removed, and it's up to the author if they wish to continue the book.

                              Also, a lot of these models were brought over from China. You may argue whether it works in a non-Chinese setting, but you have to consider that not every author is cut out for writing web novels. Successful web novelists will be able to adapt to this system and use it to their advantage. In China, there are millions of authors, but only like 0.1% of them succeed. It's similar to any creative industry, like acting, modeling, singing, etc. You probably want something that can accommodate more authors, and it's easy to come up with that. But with limited resources, it's not feasible. In some sense, it's an unspoken competition for grooming web novelists, not authors that might be more suitable for other kinds of (perhaps traditional) platforms.

                              Some requirements of a good web novelists (it's not easy):
                              Able to grasp what the web novel community likes at the time. It constantly shifts.
                              Able to write fast while still maintaining some sense of coherence.
                              Able to write in a way that engages the audience.

                                  CKtalon yay I can see that happening it was still fairly good at that point and I was also holding out hoping for the author to get his shit together sorry I just assumed that you guys did the same thing Nyoi-Bo Studio did.

                                  they picked up I found a planet just two months before the author called it quits. the author himself said it was shit in the post announcing that he quit and that it should have killed it way before then but that he kept writing it for the money he then says he earned 100,000 yuan from it and it paid for the down payment on his house then asks readers to read his new book. (what a dick)
                                  (Nyoi-Bo picked it up at chapter 453 (volume 2 chapter 72 in china) it ended at chapter 492)

                                  the thing is Nyoi-Bo Studio should have been aware of the book's problems as well if they had read even a bit of it before picking it up, for instance, the author already wrote way before Nyoi-Bo picked it up basically advocating the nuking of the EU in chapter 100. yes, there is a lot of nationalism in Chinese works but this book takes the cake I don't think anyone in the English speaking world would like this book because of that.

                                  you would also think they would also realize as the author mentioned that it was shit just 39 chapters before it ended.

                                  I think what tops the cake is Nyoi-Bo studios actual translated that exacted post from the author and posted it as the last chapter to their translation of the book. (do they have any idea how that makes them look seeing as they are also profiting of that book as well)

                                      ATCkit No one reads an entire book before deciding whether to take it up (unless it's new and ongoing), It took me about 6 months before I caught up to the latest chapter for Lord of the Mysteries. Not even Webnovel reads every chapter of a candidate book. We usually read the first 20-30 chapters to decide, because there are statistics to show how fast a reader is hooked to a book (it's generally <7)

                                      Reading a chapter takes about 5-7min for me (I'm fairly slow). Asking me to read a few hundred chapters before deciding on 1 book doesn't make sense, when I have about 20-30 more books too, and there's about 100 books under Atlas. It's just a waste of manpower. It's a job, not a hobby on a translation group's part. And look, Webnovel was willing to pay for the translations back then, they too can't keep track of the works and their development. In China, they have a team of a few hundred content editors to take care of the thousands of authors. A translator could say "hey this sucks, I'm not continuing" but the group is still obliged to continue translating it. And a group is company, so they do what they are paid to do.

                                          CKtalon so basically you guys translate books blindly just getting the basic premiss and its statistics, not even a complete plot outline and you might even pick up stuff while it's still new and untested.

                                          no wonder books that are being translated get dropped. not to mention how the site picks up works that almost immediately start dying after going premium (the readers were only reading because it was free).

                                          you're assuming that:
                                          First. things that are popular in China will be in the English speaking world. not to mention the possibility that it is racist or nationalistic which can ruin the reading experience of your users despite an otherwise good story.(there is a reason why Hollywood is self-censoring when they intend to ship a film to china)

                                          Second. that the reading retaining rates aren't artificially preserved from fast release rates are fast and people keep reading because the book keeps updating. (again look to see if your readers are returning after a break that should tell you the true value of the book)

                                          third. just because people initially get hooked that would mean constant readers look at all the data. (are you referring to the trial reads on webnovel or the statics over on QiDian depending on which you were referencing to this point and my next could be redundant)

                                          some advice before picking up a book for translation don't just check the starting statistics check the overall statics lookout for major drops in readership. ask the author what that section of the book was about or read it yourself because that loss in readership could carry over and potentially magnify when the book reaches webnovel.

                                          anyway, I'm going stop now I just realized how much time I spent debating with you and you probably have work to do.

                                              ATCkit There are content editors whose job is to select books they believe can be popular with the international crowd or used as experimental targets (there are some we received that we know definitely won't be popular—like Dead On Mars, a sci-fic which I translated. Everyone knew it wouldn't do well because we know what kind of audience Webnovel has. But there are some times certain things that need to be done regardless. The ones selected are already filtered. There is a lot more crap in China.

                                              The web novel industry breeds the habit of readers coming daily, and the readers coming daily also reinforces this requirement. It reinforces them in a (vicious/virtuous) cycle. The ones who return after a break seldom actually pay anyway.

                                              Also, there are times when everyone just gets it wrong. It's like a choosing a script to produce into a movie. Yes, a good director, actor can choose one that they professionally believe that will do well, but there are flops. Likewise, there are success stories that come out of the blue.

                                              Also readership dropout doesn't usually happen at a specific point in the story. It's a continuous drop. Trying to model this as something that can be correlated to the plot is a very, very tough problem. I've looked at similar data. It just looks like noise.

                                              What you said are things everyone in the industry knows. It's not as simple as that. As I said, the readers' wants are also constantly changing. So you are adding a time component to tastes that keep changing.

                                              Also you make it sound like the reason for people dropping might be due to a certain trigger in a plot. And that this can happen to all books that have the same trigger. Like say rape in female-lead novels. Some readers just drop out at rape spots, but in another book, they readers don't. Is it because of the way is written? The build up, etc? It's way more complicated than the way you put it.

                                              In fact, a good content editor can have a 50% hit rate of popular books just from the TITLE alone.

                                              For instance, there was a time when Eastern Fantasy was popular. To meet demand, Webnovel did a lot of those for translations. It later evolved. There was a time when games were popular, so they offered a lot more games. Trial Read is actually a reflection of the customers' preference, no matter what people say about how much a gem something is. There are also a lot more finer details about the kind of plot device is used, but it's all web novel theory. After all, this industry has been in running for 20 years. A lot has been researched by Chinese authors and editors. The general ideas are the same both in China and internationally, perhaps with some minor tweaks due to the different phases of reader preference.

                                                  CKtalon thank you for the information it was very insightful. I have just one more question for you is the change in tastes that you have been talking about why webnovel haven't translated anything from before the 2010s (at least I haven't seen anything on the platform before the 2010s)???

                                                  I was always wondering why you don't get an old but good hit from the early days of QiDian. if its because you're worried about a change in taste I think that you guys might want to reconsider just because it's old doesn't mean it won't sell it's all worth a try even if you think it will fail like what you did with dead on mars.

                                                  some examples I can think of just to show how absurdly old something can be yet still become a hit is this anime from over half a centery ago being released last year originally release in japan 1967 and having been remade in 2019 its currently ranked #330 out of all anime on my anime list.

                                                      ATCkit The old ones are actually the books that were translated in the beginning. I think almost all of them did poorly. They have been exhausted, so more of the newer books are translated these days.

                                                      For example:
                                                      Joy of Life 2007
                                                      Virtual World: Close Combat Mage 2008
                                                      Another World's Versatile Crafting Master 2009
                                                      Legend of Lingtian 2009
                                                      Nightfall 2011
                                                      The King's Avatar 2011
                                                      History's Number 1 Founder 2011

                                                      Some were recently put into Trial Reads as you suggested:
                                                      Xyrin Empire Jan 2010. Only 47 fans to this book during Trial Read.
                                                      King of Hollywood 2011. 125 fans.

                                                      There were some that were already done by fan translators since they took all the early ones. Anyway, looking at the titles of the better books before 2010, most of them are way too steeped into Chinese culture. It's very unlikely they will do well. They aren't as suitable for light reading that the current reader would like. Also, the genres are more like History, War, etc. These traditionally do very badly as web novels for international audience because it requires some understanding of Chinese culture/history to appreciate most of the things in these stories.

                                                          CKtalon wow that was way more insightful than I thought your post would be. THANK YOU.
                                                          anyway, I have another question did The king's avatar do badly I thought that it was one of the best on the site especially when you consider the fact that it was like the flagship book for awhile you even had a page where people could watch its anime.

                                                          EDIT: NVM lol just remembered that it was still in the top 20 3 months after it ended

                                                              ATCkit It did very badly when it was being translated on Gravitytales. I know, since I was from Gravitytales. Webnovel basically hard carried the book by throwing lots of money advertising it. That's how it eventually caught on in popularity. As you said, it's a very important IP to them, with the anime and all the hype around it.

                                                                  CKtalon wow yay personal I didn't like it and never understood why it was so popular so that's why. I was amazed when a live-action version of it appeared on Netflix I was wondering if I had shit tasted or something.

                                                                  so quick question I gather through this conversation that your original from gravity tails and that you're currently working for atlas studios. so is atlas studios comprised of old gravity tails translators?

                                                                      [unknown] so you are the guys who translate Lord of The Mysteries? By far one of my fav books on this. I thank you whole heartedly

                                                                        NoAnimeNoLIfe
                                                                        The Bumpy road of Marriage:Divorce Now last updated Jun 25 2020
                                                                        Wife Doting Addiction: My abducted Tsundere Husband stopped Jun 16(?) 2020.

                                                                            NoAnimeNoLIfe
                                                                            The Bumpy road of Marriage:Divorce Now last updated Jun 25 2020
                                                                            Wife Doting Addiction: My abducted Tsundere Husband stopped Jun 16(?) 2020.

                                                                                ATCkit Its about how some novels were allegedly ended in a "rushed" manner to get around the possibility of them falling under the new contract. I think its personally hard to confirm this one way or another, as what seems like a rushed ending might have been the plan all along, or just a matter of opinion. I believe only the author will really know whether they rushed the ending or not because of the fear of the new contract or whether it was not rushed at all. Having said that, @CKtalon claims in his reply (CKtalon) that it is not rushed and I have seen some reddit posts that agree with him.

                                                                                      mng That rushing thing doesn't make sense. Works are contracted before they go Premium/VIP in China (just like in Webnovel, what a surprise) or in the case of Cuttlefish BEFORE he even starts writing because he's a Platinum author. So the copyright is already Qidian's. They are under the old contract. In fact Cuttlefish's NEXT book is already Qidian's before he has started writing and it is under the old contract.

                                                                                      Rushing to finish it means an author either has to go to another competitor because they don't want to sign the new contract, or end up having to sign the new contract. If I were an author who hated the new contract, I'll just keep writing the old book to stay on the OLD contract.

                                                                                          Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God. -according to other threads, the author is on hiatus
                                                                                          Gourmet of Another World - not completely sure if this is dropped or not yet. It's been already almost a week with no update with the usual 2 chapters per day. Couldn't find any news or any update if it was dropped or not.

                                                                                            I remember "Way of the Devil" went without updates (beginning with a few days to a few months of wating for a new Chapter) around chapter 300 (round about) but a new translator took over and i realy enjoyed reading it till Chapter 772. I hope that it goes on.

                                                                                            Another Novel i follow continously is "Mini Wolrd of Endless Fun Awaits" wich is without updates for a month now.
                                                                                            I hope Webnovel / Qidian stays true to its fans and customers and aranges for a solution in such cases (just my hopefull thinking).

                                                                                            @CKtalon im itching to ask a question:

                                                                                            Do we as Customers have any means to prevent a story from beeing dropped?
                                                                                            "Mini Wolrd of Endless Fun Awaits" as an example, i fuckin love this Novel and i would not hesitate to literally throw a good amount of Money in the Face of Webnovel.. (yes, i am that desperate)

                                                                                            Rocketduh I wish fishing Madrid heavens, the Lord empire, pet king and traffords trading club get picked back up.

                                                                                              Rocketduh No, it is confirmed that the novel's translation has been stopped/dropped. The author himself announced it in the last chapter's comment section. Apparently qidian already informed him that the translation will be stop.

                                                                                                  CKtalon What happened to Kingdom's Bloodline? The author himself commented in the last chapter (chapter 580) that qidian already informed him that the translation has been stopped. And three of the upcoming chapters has been blocked in qidian china.

                                                                                                    What happens to universes ultimate boss novel just released and no update for 7 days

                                                                                                      is city of terror done for?...

                                                                                                        The novel "Gourmet of Another World" has not been updated for a week now, what happened?

                                                                                                          What's happening with Realms in the Firmament and The Rest of My Life Is For You?

                                                                                                            NoAnimeNoLIfe i think the Boss Behind the Game, Daily Life of Immortal King Got dropped as well

                                                                                                                Sinaa it’s been more than a week .. since the rest of my life is for you has been updated..

                                                                                                                    Luta That is why I don't read on-going novels. I only read completed novels on this site when it comes to chinese novels.

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