An Open Letter To All Readers - From Your Dear Authors
Alright guys, I think that's enough of a shit show. Cool down your heads, and return later perhaps? Everyone will have their views, no need to further try and prove something. We each said our piece, alright?
Tomoyuki Authors can chose, when to go with premium chapters (I have a copy of the contract, so I know). https://www.webnovel.com/book/11701767605489305/Power-Up%2C-Artist-Yang! She has access to gifts which is basically a premium feature. Correct me if I'm wrong then.
DarkRay Tomoyuki yes, I'm contracted, but I have not locked any chapters yet (bc I want to give as many free chapters as I can to readers before I really need to start making money) & the only profit I've made so far (after 3+ months) is like 36 cents from gifts LOL
my point is, regardless of being contracted or not, paid or not, all authors should be treated with mutual respect between readers & authors. :blush: even if I'm getting paid, it's a very miniscule amount, and I'm sure that many contracted authors like me only write and have payment as sort of a side gig/part time job-- I know many authors that are high school/college students like me (in this case, writing on webnovel is like a part time job like working at a restaurant or as a cashier) or use webnovel as a side job. very few authors can completely rely on the pay that you get from writing webnovels to treat writing as a full time job, and therefore, we are unable to update at the speeds that many readers will demand from us.
so @40fantasy, I just think that there's nothing wrong when I ask for readers to be more understanding of authors? we're not calling readers insensitive; we're only asking for there to be more of an understanding on both sides of things. no one is thinking that some reader out there is "hyperventilating" bc there are no updates-- the only reason for why there is pressure from receiving comments/feedback like this is bc it's not 1/2 people asking these things, there are many, many, many (the bigger your story get, the more who will ask). all I'm saying is that it's not a nice feeling to be given this demand even when you make it clear what your schedule will be/that you won't be doing mass releases ever, but they're still not getting the clue and persisting with their demands. most of the time, these demands aren't in kind words either (I don't mind "can't wait for the next update!"), they come in threats/pretty rude ways (e.g. "update or I will drop" or "RELEASE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE I NEED MORRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE. when will you update???" <-- when i've literally just released a chapter a few hours ago). I've heard about a certain group of readers claiming that another author was dead/telling other readers to drop the novel just because the author was extremely, extremely sick and had to go to the hospital for a long period of time, and being unable to update.
tl;dr: is it the end of the world just b/c readers are asking for more updates in a very rude manner? no. but will the webnovel community be a better place if readers chose to be more understanding of authors and cut down on these demands/learned how to rephrase them with consideration to the author? yes. that's the purpose of my post. positivity :) :sparkles:
Yeah, that was exactly my point. I'm not saying authors want to control how readers feel or react, nor am I saying they are wrong in demanding for mass releases or more updates.
What I am saying is that there are nicer ways to phrase your appreciation and gratitude toward the author by saying stuff like "thanks for the chapter!" "I enjoyed the chapter!" "I look forward to the next update!" "I can't wait for the next chapter!" instead of "MASS RELEASE WHEN!?" or "update 4 chapters a day!"
As much as authors such as yaoyueyi and others appreciate their passion, it makes everyone happier if both parties express their gratitude clearer or politely instead of in a demanding or entitled manner.
Tomoyuki yeaaah that's too much work for me. I only update 5 times a week (so if my math is correct), that's 1700 words per chapter, which I can't guarantee since I write from a range of 700-2.5k words per chapter plus, the fact that they only pay you if you have locked chapters doesn't seem too appealing to me. :sweat_smile:
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yaoyueyi That's because a lot of readers have no understanding in how things work here. A lot of them don't understand that this is not a full time job for most of you. They don't understand the amount of efforts you have to put in writing and how many hours it would normally take for an author to write a chapter. Heck, a lot of them don't even know the difference between translated and original works. Just like @40fantasy said, all those readers know is that they like your story and they want to read more of it.
Unquestionably, most of those readers, if not all, don't frequent, or even come to, this forum at all.
The thread is titled "To ALL Readers". I think that's also a part that had ruffled 40fantasy's feathers, because not all of us, readers, are that unreasonable. Just like authors wouldn't want to be generalized into one sort of author, reasonable readers don't want to be compartmentalized In the same box with the ignorant ones either.
Those unreasonable and ignorant readers most likely don't come to this forum to read this thread. Comparatively, those who read this thread are mostly the reasonable readers who don't need the letter.
I understand you created this thread to vent out your frustration and there's nothing wrong with that, that's what forums like this are for. But don't set your expectations high, because the ones whom you were addressing this open letter to, won't read it.
So next time you see those comments, just don't let it get to you. Ignore them and just remind yourself that they don't know any better.
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Reinesse Then that's just being condescending. And believe me, you don't want to be condescending to your reasonable paying readers, that is, of course, if you still appreciate the income you're getting from publishing your novel here, no matter how little it is.
A few weeks ago, one of the top original novels here got banned, because the author was found to have plagiarized some of her contents. Avid readers who supported that author felt cheated, because 1) they had been paying for stolen works, 2) they won't know how the story ends.
Now you don't see these readers reminding all the other original authors here not to plagiarize, do you?
Cantiara like reinesses said, I intended this to be a helpful reminder. those who aren't unreasonable can just read it and ignore it since it doesn't apply to them, but for those that do, it's a good thing they clicked? regardless of how much people I can show a new perspective to, even if 1 person can become more reasonable, then this thread still has some purpose, right? :smile: when I was writing this letter, I didn't think too deeply about it, so "all readers" was just a referral I came up with in like 2 seconds without thinking about it? and I don't think that i insulted anyone (I tried to be nicer than usual), so I don't really understand how it can offend anyone...? (e.g. "an open letter to all romance authors, stop writing romance is trash your novels are pathetic" vs "an open letter to all romance authors, can we please cut down on the CEO tropes?" not all romance authors write CEO novels, but it doesn't mean that those that don't write those sort of romance novels will go on the thread and rant about how it's offensive to be grouped with the authors that overuse tropes?)
but I guess, sorry if my use of "all"... triggers anyone? :sweat:
and next time readers comment these demands, isn't it nice that I have this forum link I can reply back to them with? :D other authors who agree with my message can do the same too.
yaoyueyi I never said it was wrong. On the contrary, I said I understand it. And I also understand where 40fantasy was coming from.
Of course you can always link them to this thread, but I sincerely hope you won't get too disappointed if that doesn't help.
Some readers are demanding for a mass release in the comments section of one of the novels I was following. I used to take my time to reply to them to explain that things don't work as simple as they think. And guess what, the next day, the same comment, and the day after that, and so on. So, I'm just saying, just don't let it get to you and ignore the ignorant ones.
yaoyueyi I feel you dear Author. It's not easy to write. For me, I get a finished novel and 2 unfinished ones. So that I have something to read whenever I want to....that is if I have spirit stones. Well done to you all. You are dong a great job. I really appreciate you Authors. 
In the end, it will still all depend on the writers. There's nothing that the readers can do if the writer can only write on his/her own pace. That's just how it is.