Webnovel.Forum

Yi_Wan Everything has been charged to read.

Looked at them, you can watch ads. I don't get your problem.

You can wait till it free ... If you can wait. If can't then use SS or watch ads

Ebu8b Just so you know, i asked a translator of one of those novels and it's pretty much confirmed that it's for getting ready to transition into full on premium in the near future. So yeah you don't need to berate the guy, he does seem to have some foresight or 6th sense haha. He can feel that something is coming...

N0xiety It seems like you hate the Premium Program intensely. I can understand your concerns since no one hates free stuff. However, you should consider the side of the authors and translators. If all readers are unwilling to pay anything, how can they maintain their motivation to work in the long run? Asking for payment is not just for money, the ultimate goal is to build a positive model that connects readers and creators together, and make sure that all creators can be monetarily rewarded to continue with their lives, and even give them a chance to work full-time and have a stable future.

If all readers just request free content, then the market will never mature. In the end, the readers will suffer the greatest loss - there is nothing to read at all.

As a platform, we will try our best to give readers a chance to read for free, but we also need to ensure that creators can benefit in the long run.

WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL I don't hate premium that much actually. I do understand your reasons for doing the changes you are doing. But i don't like the way you are doing it. Like how you reduced check-in ss expiration from 90 days to 30 days just to reduce peoples hoard of ss right before you transition into premium. It's a business move, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a sh*tty move to do to your long time readers...

N0xiety Hoard will lead to inflation. People could easily create many accounts and hoard a lot bonus SS. Then the market will be full of bonus SS transaction and less readers intent to support authors and translators by real SS. In long run, authors lost their motivations to do the global expenaions and probably I would lost my job since the global.project might be closed if no one pays at all lmao.

Ebu8b I like your suggestion to have a subscription. I have one for netflix, and it's far better than paying for whatever nonsense tv content from my country, it's unlimited, and I'm familiar with the concept of a subscription. Though I've never seen an example of this done successfully for web novels.

On the other hand, this Premium-kind of pay-per-chapter system is often seen for Chinese web novels from Chinese publishers besides Qidian, like zongheng and 17k. It's not just a Chinese concept, there's also a western company called Tapas, who publishes original English web novels, and they're doing this too. The only difference between theirs and webnovel's premium, is that they don't provide free Gold Coins (their equivalent of SS). Korean's popular Naver web novels charge Naver coins to read locked chapters. There are probably other publishers from Korea and Japan that do this. To me, it looks like they're using a tried and tested system that has worked over different countries and cultures, that ethically pays translators, editors, and authors. This system isn't a strange and foreign concept to industry people in online literature over the world.

If I was a web novel author, I would like to get paid per chapter for something I created. After all, book authors get paid per unit too, so I think it's fair. As a freelance translator, I would like to get paid a fixed amount per chapter (just my preference) because it's not my creation and i don't like the idea of holding my rent money responsible for a crappy plot twist that I didn't write. However, I need to be paid a decent amount per chapter that will reflect my word count, my degree in Chinese and translation, and my professional experience in language/literature related work experiences... but also pay my bills because I'm doing this full time. I know its a difficult balance... What do you think?

N0xiety How would a company do that exactly? By making it very difficult for people to sign up? Or, trace IPs? Would either option save qidian from the problem of SS inflation without consequences?
I hope you can share another problem with the Premium or think of a better suggestion that qidian has the power to implement.

Paperplane So? I don't claim that i have all the answers. That's their job to find out. But one thing is for sure, f*king over their long time readers is a bad move.. Couldn't they just allow for their long time followers to use the ss they hoarded over months? Webnovel says that they are worried about inflation, but how can people with 1800 ss cause inflation? It will run out pretty quick if there are more premium novels. It's not that big of a number... But on the other hand if they don't solve the multiple account problem, hoarders will be the least of their problem. People can just create dozens of accounts and afford the premium chapters with daily missions alone! A single account would be enough to pay for the daily premium chapters of a single novel. So what was even the point targeting hoarders first before they even solve the multiple account problem? It is pointless and all it does is piss people off. That's what i'm sayin...

Paperplane How would a company do that exactly? By making it very difficult for people to sign up? Or, trace IPs?

Easiest solution sub system and no SS system anymore. New accounts wouldn't help anymore and people then can decide between free reading (1 chap per day) or subbing (2 or more per day) without any stupid mid way.
The premium way will just scare alot of people away (already did).

Paperplane Korean's popular Naver web novels charge Naver coins to read locked chapters.

Difference here is that between free readers and coin user the distance always stays at 3 chapters and doesn't increase e.g. ToG.

Paperplane western company called Tapas

And they sell email adresses to ad companies, seems like it doesn't work fine for them.

Paperplane I would like to get paid a fixed amount per chapter

And they still can get paid per chapter with a sub system.