Is it really surprising though? Webnovel is a business after all.
Regardless, it is not too bad of a restriction (I guess we all kinda expected premium restriction when we read the title of competition)
Still, if there was no restriction, then authors of other writing platform (eg. Scribblehub, Royal Road) could simply post their work here temporarily and easily win since they have more chapters.
JKaiya ...so what exactly are you complaining about? If you want to write, write. If not, then don't. From what I've read, you seem to be saying, "I don't want to sign a contract, but if I don't, I will not be eligible for the prize money. And if I can't get any prize money, it's a waste of time. If they want me to participate, they must give me the prize money unconditionally."
Also, if you sell your book on Amazon, you have to sign a contract with Amazon. You don't give up the rights to your work, and you make more because I think you have almost 100% comission from selling on Amazon (unlike Webnovel's 50%), but you still have to sign a contract with them. And I believe they still earn a percentage off your work and you are subject to their terms and conditions (such as if you plagiarize something, they reserve the right to remove your product off their site and blacklist you). It's a better contract, no doubt, but it still has restrictions.
The point is that, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Why would Webnovel so generously give away $10,000 if they don't stand to benefit from it?
JKaiya
I'm not really understanding what your problems are with the contest.
Are you saying that it's unfair to ESL people? Or is it that the grand prize is not enough money? Or that the contract is unfair?
If you think of the grand prize as an advance... that's more than the 1k examples you used in your post. Plus with all the exposure... you'd be making more than $200 a month. So the final issue is that the contract is unfair? Maybe longer term? But from what I understand, its more like: if you don't uphold your end of the agreement (uploading however many words a day), WN just doesn't pay you.
I mean.. after six months of writing a story, one should have enough chapter's stockpiled to meet that goal?
Could you clarify the problems you're having? Why are you thinking it's unfair?
JKaiya Oh, what answer did you receive?
Tomoyuki Idk if you read everything... but again I'm okay with selling it for like the better prices. Also Amazon ebook is 35% for non exclusive and 70% for exclusive while having a download rate bill which is like 20 cents, and prints are little off but for black and white .85 + .012 for every page (if book is 118pages+), there's a much huger customer base and if not exclusive you have even huger customer base as barnes&nobles etc... so although you lose some, you make a lot more. Though again typical author WN is way better except copyright. ALSO note that some of the stuff might be wrong as I am just basing this on all the complaints authors put about the contract in forums like it feels like every week to two some1 makes a post about it? Like when I talked to the customer service guy he made the copyright sound a lot less worse than what people posted on forums, but its a business so might just be a tactic idk. But, basically I'm just iffy the normal one as based on what I know I could be making more if I went another route, but I'm greedy af so I'm lusting for the prizes as that stuff is what publishers would offer too like 1k-15k on average, though for publishers its advancements. I also got zero fans and even with shoutouts from those people I know it's still chance on only making like 100-1k for my first book because of zero followers.
RABBITICOL sry I'm a gamer so I was arguing, I posted it at the top of the forum though
JKaiya As far as I am aware, you don't need to be exclusive for the 70% contract. You just need to price the book at 2.99 or more. The 70% contract on Amazon has the space charges for every sale while the 35% doesn't have any. The exclusive contract is for their Kindle program. Again, I might be wrong, but that's what it appeared to me when I checked it around half a month ago.
Lilliny I made a post after you posted to the other guy, but anyways no i'm fine with prizes. I'm just basing the idea of I have of the slave contract based on like what people post on forums like every 1-2 weeks SO IT MIGHT BE WRONG but based on that stuff they make it seem really horrible. Like losing copyright. Also 200$ per month with all the conditions, again based on what people posted and I remember, is pretty bad compared to just going directly to self publishing. However, again there are good cases, you can read other post if you want to know, really dont want to type again... But I'd be fine with the contract for some novels if I didn't lose the copyright, but again just read the other post, I dont want to type everything again =-==========
RABBITICOL 70% is only available if your ebook is 20% cheaper than print book and ebook price is between 2.99-9.99 idk if tax is included, I think 35% is for the rest though. Also I think KDP Select is the 70% one where you also get benefits like how WN does it with features and ads. As for space charges, I honestly don't know what that means so can't comment on that, of course there's more advanced stuff like just how its charged net profit etc. I'm just a student though so never actually made a book yet, this is just what I know from research and what the 10ish author friends told me in real life
JKaiya Just on the side note - the 200$ you speak about, is not even a part of the contract. Is just a helping hand that WN extends for starting authors, so that they can make any money at the beginning, while learning the proper way of working around WN standards, that will be beneficial to them anyway. I just finished my MGS (400$ one) but I already reached the point when I will most likely earn more than that, despite my book being trash. With one more novel getting a contract right now and 3rd one I will be writing for spirity, I might earn way more than said 200$, as long as people read my novel. So it's not like WN contract allows you to earn 200$ tops, but that's just a starting point.
MotivatedSloth Road to the Crown is getting contracted as well? Congratulations!!! :confetti_ball: :confetti_ball: :confetti_ball:
RABBITICOL Thanks! And yes, it is. Just as I'm starting to write 3rd novel for spirity...
MotivatedSloth whats your new novel about? also u saying that it could be 300$ contract etc or you meant like + coin income?
May I ask how will you participate in the contest? I read the rules and it said you most be contracted and the main plot falls on the category. If you both meet these requirements, how will you apply? Or they (editors in WN) will randomly choose the authors ?
Avalondra You join it just like you Join a WPC, by creating a new book. As for being contracted, they should offer it to you if your book is up to their standard. You can chat with the Editors for more information on the Spirity Awards page. It's in the lower-right corner.
JKaiya Contract doesn't guarantee you ANY money. The one thing that is certain, that if you earn less than 200$ in a month, it will be held back for as long as you need to gather more than 200$, because doing transfer for less than that incurs additional charges. In contract, you only earn 50% of the profit that your novel brings to the company, from all the sources being: unlocking the chapter with paid coins, unlocking privilege with paid coins or gifting with paid coins. All other sorts of unlocking (with bonus coins or fast passes) is worthless.
I said 300$ because that's about how much my first story earns a month so far, and how much I expect it to make this month (maybe less, maybe more, maybe babe I don't know) , but with one novel getting contracted as we speak and going premium somewhen in May, I can only expect my income to grow.
MGS - minimum guarantee system is just an additional program that rewards you with a set amount of money if you:
1. Earn less than it offers from all your sources of income (if you have 2 novels, one old and earning 250$ and the new one on MGS earning 10$, you won't get 450$ but 260$)
2. Fulfil the requirements to be edible for mgs (1500 words or more published EVERY SINGLE DAY during the entire month)
But MGS by itself is not a part of the contract. Just a nod from WN to authors aimed at helping them create certain patterns of work, while subsidising their income in the early stage of the growth.
As for my novels, they are:
"While others cultivate......." - Culitvationsque novel about a guy reincarnated in a cultivation world. Started as amalgation of all the cliches I could think off in order to make fun of them, but as my innate preference took over, it transformed into not-so-typical cultivation/adventure story, with world actually way deeper than simple cultivation, taking turn towards universal magic
"Road to the Crown" - my second novel, currently in the process of contracting, about a modern white-collar worker loving strategy PC games, transported to a body of a noble in 1574, during the coronation ceremony of the first Polish King that got elected by the nobility, its typical kingdom building slash historical story, mixing those two aspects to take you to a fun ride while showcasing some of the aspects of the complicated past of the commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania.
"Last Fate Legionary" - I can't really say anything about it yet, as its still unpublished an in process of writing early chapters, but its my first attempt at writing story in 3rd person narration after "Blood Coin" failure, aimed at dark fantasy genre in the medievalistic world full of magic with deep worldbuilding. Those who had the chance to read the first chapter pointed out that its more like a normal (amazon like) novel rather than typical WN story, but since I treat it as sort of my masterpiece made off all the shelved ideas I had so far, written with the ability I polished during the half of year I spent writing my current novels.
Avalondra All novels taking part in Spirity awards needs to be completely new novels. You can join only during the process of creating the novel, and it needs to be invited for a contract in order to even compete. (and yes, you need to sign it too)
MotivatedSloth oh. I see. So it has to be a NEW book. It means the moment you published it will be under a contest. Thank you for answering
Avalondra you need to pick the spirity awards in contest option while creating the book, and the option will appear ONLY if you picked the roght genre. It won't happen by itself
JKaiya So are you going to enter? I thought your original post was asking about signing a contract with the intention to enter, and your concern was whether you had to surrender your rights as a participant.
Here's my further understanding now that the rules are clear on a page.
To win the prize money, you're required to sign. That is obvious in Rule #1 that states "Only works that sign a contract with Webnovel will be eligible for the prizes and the cash award."
I don't see it stipulated in the competition rules that all participating entries are forced to sign a contract with WN. So you can enter similar to how you would in a WPC contest entry, which also doesn't demand for contract signing. WN might approach a story with sellable potential for a contract. There seems no obligation to sign.
The rules for the awards are clear. You can read them here> https://activity.webnovel.com/noah/857913071
JKaiya Also Amazon ebook is 35% for non exclusive and 70% for exclusive
No? it's not. I publish at amazon and I have 70%, it's not exclusive. I can publish my e-book wherever I wish. For 35% you get more promotional options. On top of that, you can enrol to kindle unlimited (with both options I believe), and get paid when people simply read your book (like barrowing and so on, they have a budget set to pay authors). Kindle Unlimited is exclusive worldwide right. You are not allowed to publish the book elsewhere.
JKaiya 70% is only available if your ebook is 20% cheaper than print book and ebook price is between 2.99-9.99 idk if tax is included, I think 35% is for the rest though.
Again, no? I didn't offer my paperback edition to amazon, and still get 70% You can chose which percentage you want. The price will be dependant, the range you stated is actually correct. With 70% you can't go lower than that range. With 35% you can actually promote your novel more, but of course you get less profits.
Since you want to compare apples with apples. Webnovel contract is the same as kindle unlimited (or select). Worldwide exclusive licence. But let's be honest, amazon is much bigger than some webnovel. It's based on paid content, not mix of paid and free (kindle unlimited costs money and they pay you when people read your novel or book through it). My choice would be kindle, but you have to have a full book, volume or whatever ready. With webnovel you don't. Still, that is my personal choice. Anyone can have theirs.
DarkRay Lilliny I was only confident in that part cause I just looked it up yesterday when I was wondering what I should do, idk if links are allowed but https://blog.reedsy.com/amazon-self-publishing-royalties/
like thats 1 of the sites I read
Also 20% is actually 20% lower than lowest listing possible (or maybe just 1 u click) of print version, I just wrote everything based on memory earlier
MotivatedSloth yeah as if people will be writing new ones. They will just use old one that they had time to write and repost it. People already have 40+ chapters
TravelingPoet I asked my content editor if I could repost the story that is currently undergoing the process of contracting (not yet contracted) and after talking for a moment, I dropped the idea. Seems weird, doesn't it? Instant boost in the new ranking, instant collections and votes, easily obtainable 10 great reviews, especially if I just asked people to repost them as well... Why would I drop the idea though?
I know people will simply repost their stories, but its not only about their length. A good story with good 5 chapters will achieve more than people with 40 chapters of sht content.
JKaiya You keep using the word 'forced' when this entire competition is voluntary. It says in the rules that any new story can, and is, welcome to participate, but in order to receive a prize, you have to be willing to sign the contract.
This implies: if you are willing to participate, you are agreeing to the rules. If you're not going to agree to the rules (and don't want to win,) there's no reason for you to participate.
I'm not saying some selected winners might decide to say 'no,' but that is them taking the rules they chose to follow (voluntarily), and deciding not to follow them. Which makes their entry null.
No author is forced to sign anything. If they are participating and want the prize at the end, they are agreeing to the rules. If they are selected for the winner, that means they are willing to say yes, in order to obtain the prize.
WN is not holding anything an author holds dear hostage, literally or figuratively.
In the end, Jkaiya, if you want the prize, you have to play their game. If you don't, then you don't. Trying to say things like "the contract isn't fair," and "WN is scamming you guys if you win!" is just strange to me. If you don't like the contracts authors are offered (something you have never seen, and have admitted that you've never seen), the easiest thing for you to do is not participate instead of making a thread about this.
All you've shown here is that you felt, personally, like WN's contract is unfair, and if you won, you don't think you'd want to sign it. That's a completely fair and valid moral question to have, but that's not how you've phrased anything here. If you wanted a discussion about that personal moral question, and what it's answer should be, you should have asked it.
You didn't phrase your initial post, pre-edit I mean, like a personal question. Instead you posed a rhetorical question (notice how WN...), and then went on to denounce the Spring Contest, as if it was rigged and unfair. When asked 'Why do you feel this way?' and 'Where did you get this information?' you go on to admit that it was all hearsay. Something you pulled from your shoulders.
You heard from other authors this amount, and then you quickly Googled some Amazon numbers to compare to the WN numbers you clearly don't have. Then you strung them all together into another accusatory world-salad.
Whats crazy here is how confident you were that you were right. With absolutely no information in front of you, you just jump to accusing WN of being dishonest.
What it looked like you were doing, was trying to prop up the few strands of information you had, and mixed them with your negative feelings. Finally trying to pass these feelings off as fact. Maybe next time... just wait for your anger to fall to a simmer before posting.
I'm not saying WN is an honest entity. That they're a hero and should be worshiped blindly. I just don't like baseless claims being thrown because you don't like them. That's dangerous and harmful.
But now that you've had your question answered, I'm glad you've decided to participate. Doesn't hurt to try, and six months from now, you could have an almost complete book!
Shadowfang The deadline is when the competition ends, October 15th. Right now there's no dedicated page to see the entries. Hopefully that goes up soon.
MotivatedSloth unfortunately is often those stories that win since more chapters mean more readers
JKaiya ALSO note that some of the stuff might be wrong as I am just basing this on all the complaints authors put about the contract in forums like it feels like every week to two some1 makes a post about it? L
Please keep in mind most of the complaints come from authors who aren't contracted in the first place and doesn't have first-hand experience in signing it. Yes, there are some questionable materials in the contract, but a lot of it is just there for foundations and reassurance.
TravelingPoet Trust me. When a novel leaves new ranking, its all up to either your preexisting following, insane luck AND MOST OF ALL - features. All of that plus the usual stuff like catchy synopsis, nice cover and hooking first chapters. And its someone who experienced the process twice already, so I can say I'm speaking from my own experience, but also from what other contracted and experienced authors are claiming.
JKaiya No harm in participating. Should the contract arrive in your Inkstone, it's something to worry about then.
In the past, the contracts have been a royalty based. Meaning you earn a split when someone pays for a chapter or gifts a book. With any contract, it always recommended to have someone good with contracts read through and give you advice.
The contract generally asks for a couple of things from writer,
- Commitment to the initial signed story for the finish.
- exclusive copyright holding of all the story, even the stuff you haven't written on that particular signed story
Yes, WN practically own your story. No, they don't dictate how you write it. The only thing you have to be concerned with is finishing the story and walking away from it to be honest.
Regardless of win, this contest is a purpose to challenge skills with a prompt and finish a damn good story.
Good luck! Have faith in your abilities. You can do this.
So the Contract is enforced this time? They didn't do that previously huh? I remember the guy taking the 10k and stopped writing the next day Lol
Well I hope more contest's like these happen more often, it's a fast way to get contracted, instead of waiting months
