Webnovel.Forum

Some of novels, doesnt need ss to read, wth happening right now? Everything has been charged to read.

Some of it, Night Ranger, Perfect Secret Love, Evil Emperor's Wild Consort, Trial Marriage Husband...

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.

Ebu8b About the multiple accounts solution and pay per chapter reply...
A subscription would definitely stop the multiple email problem, but I'm not confident it will pay well enough, and I'm not confident qidian will be willing to test this out, since no other online literature service has done this yet (to my knowledge). Would an author get paid per subscriber's click? Or, would unpopular novels be carried? I ask because I don't know.

If you're comparing this to naver, are you saying that the gap is too big wide between free readers and SS here? I thought the gap was 10 chapters.

Oh I didn't know Tapas did that for their ad revenues. I have seen ads on there when I try to earn chapters for gold coins. Perhaps, Qidian should cut out ads all together, to avoid this. Nevertheless, they are an existing Western publisher that uses the same system.

Paperplane Inactivity? Firstly for hoarding alone you need to check in every day and vote every day. So that's 3 pages of visit atleast. Secondly, i have never been inactive and hoarded by watching their ads. I follow 22 novels so you can imagine more than a few having video ads... Now i'm getting rewarded for watching their ads like this. Don't you think i should be pissed off atleast a little?

N0xiety I did say... "Yeah that'll piss people off for sure..." and you have the right to be.
Err didn't think that part through, but you do realise I'm the dark on why they've done that too right? I thought I made it very clear that my assumptions are unfounded lol

Paperplane no other online literature

Wattpad, Kindle Unlimited, Scribp, Playster, 24Symbols, Overdrive (I think they went the total free way with only ads now, if I am not wrong), Amazon Lending Libary (similar to audible);
Sub systems and authors get paid per chapter/book (one time fixed + ads) or clicks + ads.

Paperplane Or, would unpopular novels be carried?

Well the unpopular novels already suffer. Unpopular ones earn 20$ per chapter while the popular ones get 50$+ (paid by Qidian). So they already don't earn same, that aspect wouldn't change and therefore no carry needed. I wish I could find the interview, where a german author (with a small fan base) explained how that system brought him more money than his blog with patreon.

Paperplane I thought the gap was 10 chapters.

Nope it's increasing. I opened a thread where is asked that question. RTW had distance of 12 back then, now it's 16.

Paperplane should cut out ads all together

Ehm there is a difference between having google ads and selling the email addresses to ad companies so that they can spam you full with emails. As long as Qidian stays with just google ads and doesn't sell the email adresses, there shouldn't be a problem.

WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL Before I rant, let me make it clear that I believe there is no such thing as a free lunch. Webnovel has been offering free spirit stones, chapters, etc. to build a following so that they could later make money off us. They had to build that following first, and now that they have done so they are moving into phase two, which they had planned all along. Fair enough. Businesses exist to make money; if anyone thought Webnovel was altruistically giving them stories to read and expecting nothing in return then they are not thinking clearly.

In addition, I do not think that a boycott is the answer. Unless the majority of the user base agreed to a boycott, which just will not happen, it will not work, and just hurt the community. Boycotts of electronic IP rarely, if ever, work. No matter what you say, there will always be people willing to support the thing you are boycotting and undermine your protest.

My issue with this situation is that the premium model uses nonrefundable, virtual currency usable solely on one website. There are two problems to this:

One, spirit stones are basically monopoly money that costs real money. You are less likely to think about how much you are actually spending when what you are spending doesn't actually look like money. It is the same reason casinos use chips instead of cash and video games with micro-transactions have their own virtual currency. And if you ever want to back out of spending money on the spirit stones, you can't get your money back. They could theoretically just connect a bank account or credit card to your Webnovel account, but that would make people watch real money go away with each transaction, which people would be less willing to do.

The second issue ties to the first. Has anyone read the forums where people reveal personal information like age? A large portion of users are teens, who may not know how to be financially responsible yet. You can argue this however you want, but it is a fact that the human brain does not finish developing its prefrontal cortex (the decision making part of the brain) until the age of about 25. You can be addicted to anything: drugs, alcohol, food, video games, gambling, and yes even reading. This is why companies always gear advertising to younger audiences to try gain brand loyalty early on.

You can say that the premium model is not that expensive, or that any reasonable person won't lose a ton of money on it, but it could prey on a specific group of people rather viciously. Mobile game marketers have called these people 'whales.' Rather than the model in place, I would be interested in seeing a subscription service at a flat rate where you get to read ahead for every book. That would be a less predatory means to monetize in my opinion.

Here is the reason I believe Patreon, though flawed, is still the better option to support translators in comparison to the current model. If I want to give anywhere from $1-100 a month to support my favorite translator on Patreon I can do that because everything is not tied to the word count the translator pumps out. Patreon offers more reader agency and doesn't price people out of keeping up with the story. The way the premium method works you are building up a larger and larger pile of locked up chapters each day, releasing one for free and adding two to the premium bank, making everyone else fall further and further behind.

I feel tying profit to word count can be a problem for the actual quality too. From what I understand this pay model is similar to the model they use in China. I used to wonder why some webnovels were so tedious to read, going on for thousands of chapters with constant repetition and very little plot/character development from chapter to chapter. At first, I just chalked it up to cultural differences, but now I can clearly see why this happens. This payment method does not encourage quality, edited content. It just pushes the authors, translators, and editors to pump out as much as possible as quickly as possible without a lot of quality control. The more fluff you add to your novel the more it can be monetized under the pay per word model.

In the end, if you work for Webnovel then defending the premium model is in your best interests, and no one can blame you for that, but there are better ways to monetize.

ImperfectInfinity

Cough I like the premium model, because I could frankly not care what happens as long as I'm able to read novels that have a good translation speed and quality.

Also wth is this about inflation that Qidian is on about? Unless they are going to let spirit stones be traded for things other then chapters then Inflation is a bullshit excuse. A currency like this has no real value in the first place, it's like saying Bitcoin is worth 7900USD rn. No it isn't, it may cost 7900USD for a single Bitcoin, but is it actually valued at that price? No, it has almost no material value currently until more places begin to adopt Bitcoin and allow it to be used.

Ebu8b I knew they were using premium to pay everyone involved, but did not know the specific breakdown. I also mentioned right beforehand that I was in favor of the subscription model as well. I was just making a point in response @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL 's argument that we need to support the translators somehow, making it sound like this was the only way. I do like the fact that the premium model spreads the wealth to the editor and author, but again, a subscription service would do the same and not encourage adding fluff to the stories.

LtBeefy There is a slight difference between Patreon chapters and Premium chapters. Patreon chapters usually have a consistent number of chapters locked away at all times. As soon as one more gets added, the oldest one gets released for free. With Premium anywhere from two to three chapters get added to the locked away content every day, and only one is released for free. What this does is make the free readers fall further and further behind the Premium users every day. Nitpicky, I know, but there is a difference.