I disagree with you. Premium and Patreon should not be bundled together. Many translators have had Patreon EVEN before coming to QI. QI and Patreon are best seperate I already support Qi enough for buying some spirit stones. Patreon well that's supporting the actual translator doing the work.

    Naito So they'd be working for free. Not sure how many good editors would be willing to do that, but I can see that working though the process of finding these editors would cost some amount of money because at least one employee would have to moderate that. Not a huge amount though.

    Yes, but they don't have any completed work. Furthermore, a lot of people don't read the same novel more than two or three times so it can't be said to be endless profit. There's a limit to new readers as well. Still, although it wouldn't be endless profit, it would be a good way to make money. I'm honestly assuming that they're going to do that anyway. Still, that only comes after they start getting a couple of completed works which won't happen for a few months at least.

    Actually, it would be not so good for short-term profitability but great for long-term profitability. The readers of this category are growing quickly in size. I reckon it'll hit pretty high in a few years. However, I see how that might be a risk. Still, the difference between subscription and SS isn't much. There are people (like myself) who would refuse to pay for micro-transaction but would gladly pay for subscription so their profits shouldn't be that different from the current SS scheme. Besides, it's not as if there's no one reading. About 25,000 have installed the Qidian app from the Google store. Assuming similar population for Apple users, there at least 50,000 readers. Let's say 20% are willing to pay for subscription. That's 10,000 people paying (let's say) $10. That's $100,000 a month. This is the minimum income because I'm most likely understating the population of readers and also not taking into account ad revenue from free users. Also, that's only the starting amount.

    It would still be open freely though, I'm only saying subscription for locked chapters and keep the free release rate as well. That would solve the problem you've mentioned about not getting hooked. The sites you mentioned can't be called competitors. One market is original works while another is translations from well known Chinese writers. There's a bit of a difference between Western writers (who usually post on RRL, fiction press etc) and Chinese writers in terms of their style and stories. Qidian also has to pay their translators as opposed to freelance writers (they might have patreon or donations though) like on those other sites. Sites like RRL have a premium subscription as well, though it's for ad removal rather than more access to chapters.

    That being said, I'm not saying your ideas have no merit, only that the details involved would need to be planned out carefully and the statistics need to be calculated properly. Need to have information that we, as readers, are not able to access.

        I think a way of paying a lump sum for releases would be useful.

          A subscription/month would be for the best, seeing as once every novel is a premium novel you could end up paying hundreds of dollars a month to keep up with all of your favorites if you're like me. Something which is just silly

            TheNobleLion Are they even paying editors? Chapters are riddled with grammatical errors that even I can spot and English is my 2nd language.... Looking at the quality of translation I doubt that any professionals are involved in the translation and editing process. Feels more like they've found some students for the job and not good ones either...

                Vladimir Are they even paying editors?

                The share for premium novels is 35% translator 35% editor 15% author 15% Qidian.
                Don't know for normal novels, but I would guess almost the same, beside the fan translations on this site who don't earn any money.

                    Ebu8b I was asking if there are actually editors working for them because the number of grammatical errors and misspelled words is quite big and can be found in almost all translated chapters. When I compare the translations to for example Deathblade, who can be considered professional translator now, than they are clearly 1-2 or more levels below his quality. It feels like the translators and editors are students at most and the translation quality is not better and can be said to be worse than in novels that are being translated on fan sites.

                        Vladimir My opinion: The only translator who is on even terms with Deathblade is Cktalon. Other competitors in for high quality translation are non-existent.

                        Vladimir because the number of grammatical errors and misspelled words

                        Can't argue that. It's irritating and they should get better people.

                        Vladimir translators and editors are students

                        Just look at the translator notes and you will see that a few of them are students.
                        E.g.

                        Vladimir worse than in novels that are being translated on fan sites.

                        I wasn't joking when I said that Qidian has fan translations, I really meant fan translations. They don't need to apply the standards of the contract.

                                  English is like my 3rd spoken language and even I can tell that some of the translations were riddled with mistakes.

                                    NormalRanked that's why i strongly feel a moderated crowd sourced editing system as i described would be of great benefit.

                                        Velixar then I shall be damned and struck by tribulation lightning. If qidian thinks they can stop people from using Patreon is like telling a company not to be paid for the sales they made. Oh well I don't care all that much I will find other ways to support the translator with the story I like where 100% goes to them.

                                            TearsOfRose The translators are under contract, and having a Patreon could be seen as competing with the Premium system here. So that. What’s even better is that all the premium chapter money goes directly to Qidian and translators don’t see a cent.

                                                Velixar "What’s even better is that all the premium chapter money goes directly to Qidian and translators don’t see a cent."
                                                I hope you don't mind me asking, where did you find this information from? :o

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