Webnovel.Forum

Tomoyuki

Tomoyuki I honestly don't get the fuss of "temporary" or "they expire!" They are free. Use them before the expiry date then, what's so difficult about that? If I get coupons for Burger King or McDonald's, I'm going to use them before the expiry date. What exactly are you guys trying to do by hoarding them? I really am confused

Well then it would not be a big deal to make the spirit stone last longer or the fast pass last a month no? after all what does it matter?

Well obviosly it matters if Quidian is so intent of making them last shorter and shorter each time they can, it makes you incapable of tryng to read the novel that you like whitout payng if they do a mass realease ect...
and Quidian does not like that, it would actualy like more if you had a litle stockpiled like 10 fast passes and your novel just mass realeased, you use your fast passes but they are not enough so what do you do?

Two choices, u either buy or you wait for your 3 fast passes and 5 coins the next day and then another day and another till you manage to see all of them.

So that fact that they expire matters a great deal because it gives some power to the free users on this site and as we know it Quidian kinda dislikes that, this is why they shrink the time they expire, it creates more demand.

HeavenShatterer What in the bloody...

You know, every Saturday, I would go to my local gaming store. Sometimes, I would treat the kids there to drinks or food. I would buy them maybe a can of soda, a box of sushi, or a bunch of wings.

But when one weekend I don't have money, and I don't treat them for a week, or maybe a month, not a single one of them come up to me and demand, "where's my free soda/food?" Unlike you or the many people here, they don't take me for granted. They are not entitled. They know that just because I treat them frequently, that doesn't mean they can take advantage of me.

That's a much better analogy than yours about breathing. You don't need spirit stones to live. You don't need to read on this site. You have other sources of entertainment. Nobody is pointing a gun at your head and forcing you to buy coins or spirit stones. You will not die just because you can't read your favorite novel on the site. The worst that happens is that you move on and drop it. Maybe find a new site (Royal Road? Wattpad? Fictionpress?). Breathing? People die if they don't breathe, of course the government can't charge people for breathing. Not unless they want a riot on their hands. You are not going to die just because you can't read a webnovel for free. Jesus Christ...

And...gives some power to the free users to this site. Why do you think you are entitled to have power on a site that you don't spend money on? No, seriously? Do the kids I treat every weekend think they are entitled to have some form of power over me just because I buy them drinks and food? What sort of bs logic is that? Bloody hell, you have the option to not spend money and continue reading stuff for free and you complain about having to wait. All because you don't have enough stockpiled coins or free passes to read 10 chapters (mass release) in a row - that you are reading for free. Oh, God...are you even thinking before you type?

Tomoyuki

Tomoyuki That's a much better analogy than yours about breathing. You don't need spirit stones to live. You don't need to read on this site. You have other sources of entertainment. Nobody is pointing a gun at your head and forcing you to buy coins or spirit stones. You will not die just because you can't read your favorite novel on the site. The worst that happens is that you move on and drop it. Breathing? People die if they don't breathe,

Exactly, it is analogy not literally and nobody said anything about not being able to read the favorite story, if it is any good then u can find it anyway on the internet.

Tomoyuki And...gives some power to the free users to this site. Why do you think you are entitled to have power on a site that you don't spend money on? No, seriously?

Believe me, when I say Quidian is getting money from the "free" users, notice the quote marks?
They had added adds which you could watch to see chapters, they get money from clicks views, etc...
and a small part of "free" users eventually become premium users or whatever Quidian tells them they are.

Your post is almost like a padding post, atenuating the most negative reactions to the new "Marketing strategies" Quidian does.

Tomoyuki believe me, I understand your frustration. I personally rely on some of these free bonuses to read and unlock chapters.

and then sayng things like = it could be good or bad, idk, but it is not so bad we still get free chapters etc...

HeavenShatterer So why the hell are you behaving so entitled and thinking that you deserve free stuff for giving nothing in return?

Ads...really?

@Cantiara CKtalon Ads do not generate 5 SS worth of revenue. They generate about 0.25-0.5 SS each. Before Premium was introduced, it was using ads for revenue, and it was sorely insufficient to pay authors, translators, editors, and the publisher.

And here's what I posted before about how ads per click works:

Cantiara I wasn't around when they first introduced premium chapters, so I can't say much about their reasoning behind it. And I didn't mean to barge in your convo, but I couldn't help but say something when I read the part of your post about WN renegotiating with advertisers because they should be paid more for those ads. Yeah, sorry, I could be meddlesome like that.

Well, the thing is, what you wrote, it doesn't work like that. WN, in this case, is just one of the many host partners of Google Adsense service. How it works is basically, advertisers pay Google to run ads on the Adsense network, then WN applied to become a part of that network (which is not a simple thing, you need to be eligible and approved by Google first), and then once they became a part of Google Adsense network, they get an ad code from Google and place it on their site/app. Then Google pays WN when those ads appear on their site/app.

So WN can't renegotiate with those advertisers directly, there were never any initial negotiations with them, to begin with. And no, they can't negotiate with Google either, because, well, I'm not gonna call Google a tyrant, because tyrant is a strong word, and we all do benefit from a lot of things that Google gives us, but they are one of the biggest players in the tech world, and so, if you're using their service, instead of negotiating with Google, you'll have to conform with their standards instead.

As far as I know, if you're a host partner, how much revenue generated by these ads depends on two things. Per Click and Per Action. Per Click is the most common type, WN gets paid every time we, readers, click and view the ads they're showing on their site/app. But this doesn't really generate a significant amount of money. The other type, Per Action is the one that generates more money. WN gets paid when we actually perform an action after viewing those videos, like downloading those games advertised in the multiplier videos, etc, because the action provides a direct benefit to the advertiser. But not many people do that if any at all. Well, I, at least, don't.

So, just like CKtalon said, and he must have calculated those numbers or gotten the data from a reliable source, the ads don't generate sufficient revenues to pay the content contributors here. I think the premium chapters would generate enough income if the ratio of paying readers is greater to non-paying readers, and I'm assuming it isn't. That's why they introduced Privilege to give their content contributors more incentives to do their work well.

So, the revenue that WN gets from a user clicking an advertisement and watching it is much much less than the cost of a chapter, which is how much on average? 4-7 SS/Coins? Even giving out 2 SS/Coins per ads per user still doesn't give them any profit. This is why they are trying to get more people to purchase SS/Coins, which is logical, isn't it? After all, they're a company, not a non-profit organization, nor a charity.

Go ask Cantiara or CKtalon for more details regarding the pitiful amount they get from ads.

HeavenShatterer We still get free chapters, so...what exactly are you whining about now?

You say my post attentuates the most negative reactions. Dude, I'm just explaining how the new stuff works, and telling people how to use it and to try it out before you start whining. Because most people whine instead of actually finding out how the new system work. Like you, for example.

And your post is among the most self-important, entitled and arrogant posts I've ever read.

Oh, we free users help you generate revenue because of ads! So we are entitled to have power over you! Even though we don't pay a single cent!

How dare you take away free stuff!? I don't want to wait to read my mass releases even though I'm reading them for free! Not because you can't read them for free. Not because you're forced to buy the chapters. You're complaining because you have to wait a couple of days to catch up on mass releases if you want the option of not paying.

...right.

Tomoyuki

Tomoyuki So why the hell are you behaving so entitled and thinking that you deserve free stuff for giving nothing in return?

It was free and they decided to make it a little less free? i already said how it was before spirit stones and that is why i am not reading on Quidian.

Tomoyuki Ads...really?

It gives a small amount of money but by making it a frendlier site for "free" users, more " free" users would browse the site bringing Quidian money from " free" users .

I would rather give another site my 0.25-0.5 SS (it is not an accurate representation as other sites do not have SS, but the equivalent in cents) if Quidian is so money hungry that they need to corner the "free"
users to pay for Light Novels they could find for free.

HeavenShatterer You literally said you have the option to either pay or wait if you want free stuff, and now you are backtracking and claiming that free users are "cornered."

By the way, my friends were treated to free meals when I happen to have some spare cash on me. But now that I'm broke and need to pay taxes and rent, I can't afford to treat them. Are they going to start yelling at me for having "less free" meals? Since when am I obligated to provide them free meals? When Qidian realized that ads and the former business model was not sustainable, what do they do? They change it, obviously. Otherwise what are they supposed to do, suck it up and maintain a business that's losing them money?

And no, no matter how many more "free users" you get to browse the site, you still won't get enough revenue from ads alone to cover the costs. Even Royal Road knows this and they offer premium membership monthly subscription. People overestimate the amount of revenue that ads can bring.

No, the thing is that nobody is forced or cornered to buy coins or the stories here. You don't want to wait? You pay. you want to rely on free stuff? Wait and stockpile enough if there's a mass release, otherwise you get enough per day for your 3 favorite series. In which case why are you worried about the expiry date? No one is forcing you to pay anything or cornering you. I'm not sure why you are making stuff up, but okay.

But sure, go ahead and pirate stories from free sites, and gloat over how you have the moral high ground, how Qidian deserves to be stolen from because it's greedy, while whining about not getting free stuff and benefiting off other people's hard work for free (by the way, if you're pirating stories, you're not stealing from Qidian, you're stealing from the authors, the content creators and the translators).

HeavenShatterer Royal Road =/= Patreon.

Royal Road does not pay writers or translators. You want money, you set up your own Patreon. I think you are getting confused over something. Writers who get 10k per month from Patreon don't necessarily post on Royal Road. Most writers on Royal Road write for free. And most writers on Royal Road update weekly, or once every 3-4 days, instead of everyday in Webnovel. I ought to know, I was from there.

Most importantly, Royal Road is NOT a case where everybody profits. Unless you have a Patreon - and not all Royal Road writers do - you don't profit. Similarly, not all stories on Webnovel are under contract. So, just like Royal Road, you get to read them for free.

Also, most successful writers on Royal Road go publish their novels on Amazon. And guess what? They remove their stories from the site because...Amazon rules.

You are confusing Royal Road with Patreon and maybe Amazon. I like Royal Road, even though a good number of people hounded me out and forced me to delete my stories there, but it's a completely different model from Webnovel. I only raised it as an example to show you that solely relying on ads for revenue is not sustainable.

HeavenShatterer
Its very simple when you spend alot of time doing alot of work are you expecting to get paid?
If you clean the streets for 4 hours do you get paid?
If you write an Original Novel for 4 hours do you get paid?
If you start complaing about free currency which you use to unlock things people spend hours doing then just leave most of us Authors don't spend hours looking to see people complain that the free chapters in locked/contracted books aren't enough. Especially when you get to unlock them forever after you unlock a book.
You need to understand what the word "FREE" means and what being paid for your hardwork means as well
P.S sorry fanfic authors...(I'm one of you)

HeavenShatterer By everybody profiting i was not say monetarly , free users get content, authors get money or practice or joy from writing and the site gets traffic and people who want to donate so they became premium

Are you misunderstanding how Patreon works? Let's say this writer writes on Royal Road and becomes popular. He gets a Patreon page. Then this is what happens. The writers who have Patreon often lock their future chapters behind paywalls. Just like Baisiwa with his Number One Under Heaven. You read until chapter 50 on Royal Road? Cool. Turns out the author has Chapters 50-60 on his Patreon page. Also turns out that you can't read them unless you're subscribed to pay him monthly. And maybe the subscription has tiers - those who donate $1 a month only get to read Chapter 51. Those who donate $5 a month get to read up to Chapter 55. And those who donate $10 a month get to read until Chapter 60. Sounds familiar, hmm?

That's pretty much the same system as Webnovel. So why exactly are Patreon writers less greedy? And why are you willing to pay writers on Patreon, but you get upset when you have less free spirit stones to unlock Webnovel writers' stories despite still not paying a single cent?

Tomoyuki

Tomoyuki Also, I'm confused. You are whining about not getting free stuff from Webnovel, but you have no qualms subscribing and paying people monthly on Patreon. What?

that is beacuse Quidian was free, now they are like a whale tryng to swalow every last cent possible.

I have no problem sponsoring the author, it is a choice if i want or not, either way i can read the novel, Quidian is restricting content in case i don't want to pay and making things that were normaly free, premium or pay to get.

Tomoyuki Royal Road does not pay writers...so even if you become a premium member on Royal Road, the writers do not receive a single cent.

i was sayng how Royal Road also benefits is the reader want to donate

Moron

Moron Patrons are hard to get compared to the webnovel contracting system where you get paid by word no matter how bad your novel is after getting contracted.

You get paid for a bad novel? why? in that case you should write to get good or practice, not to get money

Tomoyuki
Hmm lets see, here is the math;
50ss from 7 days continuous check-in end week gift package
55ss from weekly reading missions(5+5+5+5+5+10+10+10)
7x15=105ss from daily missions(power, energy and ad video)(5+5+5)
5x(9+9)=90ss for the 5 weekday check-ins(yes, i got 9ss per check-in and then 9 more as multiplier. I checked my logs and can send them if you want me to prove it. I always got 9 + 9 every day from just check-in and multiplier.)
(2x15ss)+(2x(8 to 15ss)) = 50 ss on avarage for the last two weekend bonus days. (yes, i got 8 to 15 multiplier randomly, which i also looked at from my logs)

In total, this makes;
50 + 55 + 105 + 90 + 50 = 350ss

So it wasn't 400, my bad. 350ss per week means an avarage of 50 ss per day, which seems like a pretty calculated ammount. Probably decided by Webnovel as the max avarage ss an account could get per day. So 30 x 50=1500ss. The reason why i could have over 1600ss hoarded was probably because i also had gift two books option extending some of the life of my ss at the cost of 5ss per day.

HeavenShatterer ...you do know that Royal Road writers who use Patreon do the exact same thing, by restricting future chapters in case you don't want to pay? They literally require you to go to their Patreon page and unlock chapters by getting you to donate to them monthly.

There literally is no difference between donating to writers on Webnovel, or donating to writers on Patreon. The only difference is that you get free currency on Webnovel so you can unlock premium chapters without ever paying a single cent. On Patreon, however, if you don't want to donate monthly, you're pretty much screwed when the writer locks his chapters behind a paywall...because there is no free currency you can use to unlock them.

Well, duh, Qidian realized that the business model of free stuff wasn't sustainable and they need money to cover the costs of hosting the website and translations, of course they'll have to change the model and find a way to make money to cover the expenses. They are not a charity organization. If you've been giving out pies for free to your neighbors, and then realize you're running into debt from buying ingredients, cooking (gas and electricity), etc. you'll eventually have no choice but to charge your neighbors for your pies or stop cooking. Or should your neighbors complain and steal pies from you while you're not looking then? All because you gave them out for free in the first month before you ended up in debt?

Tomoyuki Weekly bonus gift package has been reduced to 20ss right now, so for checking in 7 days consecutively, you can get 20ss in the app right now, which used to be 50ss. Also, the reading reward has been reduced to 30ss in total, which used to be 55ss in total. I can also show you the log of my weekend check-in bonus for an example

Daily check-in +8 Android 2019-11-10 07:26 Expire on 2019-12-09 19:00
Daily check-in +15 Android 2019-11-10 07:26 Expire on 2019-12-09 19:00
Daily check-in +14 Android 2019-11-08 19:38 Expire on 2019-12-08 19:00
Daily check-in +15 Android 2019-11-08 19:37 Expire on 2019-12-08 19:00

This used to be a weeks weekend bonus and multiplier on the app for two days. So as you can see, it generally avaraged at 50ss, which for this particular week was 52. Sometimes it could give 48. Or sometimes more than 52 like the week in example. So yeah, it avaraged at 50 per week for the weekend bonus check ins.

Ps. There is no more weekend bonus for check-in as far as i can see.

Tomoyuki sorry to barge in, you can claim that 50ss on weekend (especially on Sunday), just tap that nice wrapping gift, after you check-in every day. If not mistaken, that 50ss claim gift on the weekend start in Oct'2019.

new version reduces to 20ss and only for apps.

Yuki_Qing Damn, I didn't know that. UGH! What a waste. Thanks for telling me! I'll keep note of that in future!

Tomoyuki It shows 8th and 10th because of timezone differences i would assume. I probably checked in early morning for the first day, and then late night for the second day(or maybe the other way around), so it shows like it happens in 3 day span. I know it doesn't make much sense from the times shown but that is probably what happened. I doubt it is logging my local time. As you can see, the expiration date is shown correct, since timezone difference doesn't matter to the expiration date.

This is another example, 2 weeks before from now i think
Daily check-in +11 Android 2019-12-07 19:24 Expire on 2020-01-06 19:00
Daily check-in +50 Android 2019-12-07 19:23 Expire on 2020-01-06 19:00
Daily check-in +15 Android 2019-12-07 19:22 Expire on 2020-01-06 19:00
Daily check-in +8 Android 2019-12-06 19:47 Expire on 2020-01-05 19:00
Daily check-in +15 Android 2019-12-06 19:00 Expire on 2020-01-05 19:00

The +50 check-in is the 7 day consecutive check-in bonus, while the others are weekend check in (+15) and their multiplier bonuses.

Tomoyuki Oh and i have no idea why you got lower than 15ss on weekends, as i always got 15ss + their multipliers. Hmm, maybe the reward is regional? So different countries get different ammount of rewards? Or maybe it has to do with our level? Like a hidden multiplier? No idea, tho my account has been level 7 for some time now, what is yours? That could explain the difference if there was a hidden multiplier. It could also be that you didn't manually update your app, which got bugged and gave you less reward. Sometimes, the app can go haywire in all kinds of ways and may need manual update or re-install. Or maybe my app bugged, who knows lol. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯