SuperSilentSin I know of his work I read it in my free time it's in my library I haven't gotten far yet....
I got Recommended, How does it work?
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Tomoyuki So in real you only get 1 cent per 200 words?
In connection to that.. Can the average author earn 2000 Dollar a month with 3000 words per day? I know it depends of the author and the novel but that is why I ask for the average... I am curious because I asked myself if you even need the minimum guarantee system...
SuperSilentSin I just now calculated what you need for 3000 Dollar..
You need to release for 30 days, 3200 words per day and you need 625 people paying for your chapters... If that 1 cent thing is correct that should be it. Of course only an example. The question here would be how to get 625 paying readers... It is basically as if ever person pays you 4.80 dollars every month. That is not that high but it isn't low as well...
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SuperSilentSin You earn about 1 cent per 200 words, yes. But you will never earn $2,000 a month even if you write 3,000 words. The hell would you even get that? You only get $200 a month if you write 1,500 words a day, how did you jump to 10 times that amount!?
If you don't bother with minimum guaranteed sum, then unless you have thousands of readers willing to pay for your chapters, sadly, you'll only earn a few cents to less than $10 a month. That is the sad reality. You are not as popular as you think you are, and you definitely will not make more than a hundred dollars, never mind $2,000.
Let's do the calculations for 3,000 words daily for a chapter. That earns you about 30 cents a chapter. In a month that's about $9. 50% is about $4.50. So unless you have 500 readers willing to pay for your chapters (which, let's face it, is extremely unlikely - most people probably only have 1-2 paying readers, maybe up to 10 if you're lucky or really popular), you will never go beyond $2,000.
Three reasons mainly.
1) I personally don't think Immortal Kobold should go premium, it's a passion project for me. I saw there was an absence of monstrous MC books and took up the virtual quill to throw my own book into the pool. I have/had a job which pays my bills, this is personal enjoyment.
2) I'm not comfortable with the concept that it stops being 'mine'. While for copyrights I can understand WN wanting some degree of ownership of the title, the fact my far reaching plans included making it multi book means by contracting TIK they also get my future works based in the same setting. For others doing a one shot this is a non concern. But me, it made me leery even if in the end it affected nothing.
3) As recently proven I was not capable of maintaining releases, TIK is currently in a semi hiatus status due to, primarily, my inexperience. I know my end goal but unlike most writers I'm not writing from an outline so I went a route that in the short term looked good but ultimately killed my ability to write beyond it, thus I'm stuck rewriting some chapters to get back on track. Since I foresaw me stumbling at some point, I thought it better to not test what contract infringement might entail. While many books stumble on the 1.5k release requirement with no hassles, for my own sense of obligation I felt I shouldn't stress myself out over it. I'm a little OCD when it comes to things like this which leads to depression and it spirals so yeah, no wasn't going there.
SuperSilentSin I'm only at 76 collections, I even lost one today :( but I didn't upload for a while in the beginning when I had only 1 collection. So I missed 2 weeks in the new section, after I went out of the new section I almost didn't grow anymore
Tomoyuki For God's sake, I'm so glad someone with any idea about the contract stepped in, reading this thread felt like a disaster...
So let's answer everything, even if I will repeat part of what you already said (Tomo, just can't be bothered to backread, I'm tired as hell)
@Darth_Xiane There might be a way to go premium on webnovel without contracting them. While it still requires contract, and it would be published on the publisher ACC, you would retain your copyright to it, while giving up on part of the potential income and promotion from Webnovel.
3k$? Let me tell you, I'm averaging in top50 trending novels with my first premium novel, and I'm quite happy earning 500$. That means, there is only about 50 novels earning more than mine on this site (in terms of original novels), and while there are some earning even more than 3k, I would never call it average, more like upper upper echelon.
Most of the novels on this site use MGS system in which you are given the chance to earn 200$ monthly for your first four full months of going premium, by uploading 1.5k words daily. Keep in mind that premium chapters HAS TO be at least 1k words long, so that means either 1 chapter a day with 1.5k+ words, or two chapters a day with any number of words.
What's more, you are forgetting about the fact that not only most of the people won't read your novel with coins but rather with fast passes, but also pirate sites do sadly exist.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask as I can't be bothered to look for them in this thread.
Tomoyuki 1 cent per 200 words
include the processing fees from Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, PayPal, and whatever other payment method Webnovel uses, and you are left with about 2/3 of a cent or even less.
Tomoyuki Okay... Webnovel depicted it a little different on their become an author site... furthermore a few month back I read an article here about an original author, who earns 10k $ every month... So I thought the avergae author with full time release would at least gain 1k$ a month...just curious... the translated novels.. they are earning much more aren't they? they have mostly between 20 mio and 100 mio views so I guess they have to pay off pretty well...
btw. is Webnovel doing anything to increase their reader base? like ads or something like that?
I don't want people to stop reading my book after I go premium so it would be cool if there would be a system like the last 14 released chapters are premium the rest free. is that possible? or is it not argueable? Other sites are doing it this way and I always feel like it works quite well for them. Someone here, who knows if patreon is better or the contract? Patreon has the advantage that you can use their search engine... so more people can find you there.
SuperSilentSin Yeah, she was the top author, and I think she only earned 10k for a month, not every month. I'm not sure, you should ask her directly. And keep in mind that the 10k does not include the 50% reduction (basically Webnovel takes away 50% for fees and operating costs).
I do not know about translated novels, I am not part of any translation team.
SuperSilentSin No, there is no such a way that you could implement. Premium chapters are premium, and unless WN decides to change it and lose all profitable contracted original authors, it won't change. WIth how fast passes work, people will still read your novel for free, with your only hope of earning lying on the shoulders of those who will intentionally unlock your chapters with coins (for example, reading it once a month) or will start reading your novel only AFTER you will have quite a bit of those locked chapters and still decides to unlock them rather than going to pirate site to catch up.
MotivatedSloth the thing is that you would have so much work to do only to be legal (I mean taxes etc.) that it is questionable if it is even worth it... I mean 10$ a month means around 100$ per year and that means you could just go and work for 10 hours somewhere else and you have then even a stable income....
.... not sor sure but the good thing is it is not my problem right now. after all no one asked me yet if I want to be contracted... XD
SuperSilentSin Anyone who wants to immediately become a webnovel writer as a full-time job has to be either extremely confident or incredibly naive. Most people just do this for fun, as a side job. It's not enough to make minimum wage.
Also, you need to establish a fanbase and make sure you have plenty of readers willing to pay for your chapters, or it's a no go. I know MotivatedSloth barely earns enough to make a living, and he writes like 3 stories at the same time. And even so, it's like $500 a month?
So be prepared. You will most probably be disappointed most of the time. It's better if you just view this as extra cash you make on the side, rather than a fulltime job.
Tomoyuki okay I will keep it in mind.
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I think Sloth and all others have given some good advice, and from the MGS perspective.
I'm saying this from my own first-hand experience as Non MGS. From the Non MGS perspective, there's 0.000000003 percent change of income. Since any kind of earning is dependent on gift donations.
Once a Non MGS story is finished. It's dust. It'll likely not be featured again. The book will need to rely on past reader base to continue the momentum. There's virtually little chance for new readership after a story has finished, and no point in doing extra effort to promote since the work belongs to WN. Be prepared to walk away, learn from the experience and do something else.
[NB: the 3 percent bit is just figurative btw]
Veronica8 I can't really agree with that. And I think you are confusing MGS with premium.
Your MGS period starts at the start of the month after you went premium. Meaning, if you go premium on 2nd or 29th day of a month, it will start on the 1st of the next month anyway.
Also, MGS is there only to force certain habits into a writer, as they are proven to be the most reliable way to actually increase your income from the novel itself. Also, while it might be just a lucky shot, as soon as my MGS (old one) was over, I got weekly feature, that increased my income by 50% (from 330$ to 486$, so its like 48%?)
Additionaly, I don't think its impossible to earn a nice money from WN. I think everyone forgot that this site continuously grows, and so does the income for the writers. What's more, that income is from my single novel alone, and with the plans to go premium with my other one soon, I hope that by the end of the year, I will be able to earn about 1k$ combined.
It's not impossible to earn a good amount from Webnovel, you just need to work VERY hard. Update daily, always at the same time, learn about writing, have an interesting plot... There is a lot of points that should be brought up to explain it, but don't forget - luck plays a role as well.
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Thanks Sloth. As I said, I'm saying from my experience. That has been my experience and take away from being contracted. So it is what it is. Hopefully, it'll be a different experience for someone else.
I thought premium was MGS. Okay. I got that wrong.
Agree with you that luck plays a role. Yes, working hard is especially needed as well as opportunity to validate the effort.
Add: I hope you also increase in your earnings too. You deserve it :grin:
Veronica8 Thanks :3
MotivatedSloth Does your content editor help you with your writing in any way I cant seem to understand the concept of the content editor.
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Pleasedeteme I would like to know that as well. If your books get no feature it makes basically no sense to write... is there some kind of mimum features you can put in the contract? maybe feature one day every month or something like that? or is there a wordcount and everytime you reach that number you get a new feature?
Have to remember the section you are being featured for guys. This current feature is for trending new originals, past that point you're no longer a 'new' original. Cause trust me if your book isnt complete garbage being bot fed your views and collections will blow your mind after this feature.
Then comes your next big hurtle. Crossing the top 200.
Like earning from WN, as Sloth mentions it's very hard work and some luck. Until you cross that mark where you become a site ranker don't expect them to hand you featured spots. As Tomoyuki mentions your contact will help promote your book and if you work for it getting featured again in a different section IS possible.
But demand it?
You're out of your fucking mind.
Get in the top 10 books site wide before you have the balls to try to dictate anything of the sort. And even then it's unlikely. The contract is as they present it to you, your last name better be Stein, Greenwood, Salvatore, Tolkien or Rowlings etc before you even suggest demanding something better. 
Darth_Xiane I heard that they tried to release Harry Potter on their site in china and it didn't work because noone read it or something like that... So i doubt that Rowling can dictate them anything :P
But are there some things you can discuss with them before making the contract?
I for example would like to post from time to time in the author note and in the synopsis a link to my instagram site. I want to upload there some pictures like maps and so on... Or is that kind of thing impossible... because I saw other authors even post links to their patreon page... and if I am not wrong then some of them were even contracted at that time...
SuperSilentSin Contract is non-negotiable. And if those writers continue to post links to their Patreon to make more money off their story, they will get into trouble.
Tomoyuki Commenting off hand as pizza and kagyua are waiting for me. You can link your patreon as contracted author as long as it does not provide any content for your novel. YOu can make empty tiers, or stuff like private discord channels or something.
I think better to ask what is and is not allowed of your contact, that's their job, to explain things to you after all. As for myself, alot of my info is gleaned from what others have stated over prior discussions so some things can, and have changed in all likelihood. Like the copy right part, CKTalon was posting a link to a different contract early last week that resolves that particular point, though if memory serves the income was also 50% of what the basic WN contract was.... never hurts too look around and see.
First thing first - Content editor is quite a misleading name. You can imagine them as nothing else but organisational staff that managed the entire site. While you can ask them for help when you have problems with something, don't understand or know something, wants some clarification on topics you are not well-versed on or simply discussing the business approach to your novel (like, when to go premium, how to go premium and why) but overall, they are there for occasional help rather than constant overlooking. Just think about it, each of them have dozens of novels under them. It would be impossible to manage all of them in any detailed way.
Pleasedeteme
Luck and maybe the influence of your content editor. Here are my few cents on this topic:
Overall, all contracted novels can expect (remember, just my guess) a bit of features just for the sake of pushing their novels up the ranks. But after the initial attempt from WN to push a novel, they will look at how much effects does those features bring, and decide on further promotion basing on it. After all, it's better to feature novel that can bring 1k readers to a story rather than promote one that can only bring 50 readers.
That also means that even with those features, if your novel won't be doing nicely, then rather than begging WN for more features, you should look for the problem in your own novel.
This aspect might be additionally influenced by the fact that certain themes might need to be pushed up, as WN might lack novels in some genre, or some kinds of plots might simply be more profitable (like, smut can bring more money than detective, hence the greater gravity towards smut in the terms of promoting it)
If you write for features only, then I would recommend you stop writing at all. You write because its your passion, and only when your own skill and popularity develop to a point when you can start thinking about making a living on your existing income, you can even start considering turning your writing into a full-time job. Otherwise you are in for a painful disappointment. For most of the people, doing this as a source of a small additional revenue is the upper limit. Look at me for example, it took me over half a year to make my novel big enough to earn about 500$ (which I doubt I will repeat this month).
Darth_Xiane About the hard work part - I started with the old MGS system in place, so I had the chance to get used to writing a lot. 80k words a month ain't that easy, and with how little confidence I have in literally anything I'm doing outside programming or math, I thought that would be my only way to ever earn from my writing. But it turns out, at the point where I am right now, I grew enough to still earn a few cents, so I'm trying my best to keep working hard to maintain this growing trend.
Just like Tomo said, you either take the contract or not. Simple case or take it or leave it. They MIGHT feature you, but they do not OWE you anything. It's in their own selfinterest to make your novel earn as much as it can, but trust me, it will all depend on how well you are doing.
About the pictures though - you can add the link to your own discord server and announce that all sorts of maps, images and all are put in there. I did that, but don't expect crowds of people to suddenly come knocking. While I consider myself a mediocre author on this site at best, I have like l10 people on my server, 99% of them ain't active at all)
Just wanted to inform you that my recommendation started... the effect is visible but not as drastic as I had expected... I am not entirely sure because I will make a data analyzes after the recommendation is over. but here are the things I noticed....
1. I only found my book on the app. And even there you basically have to search for it to find it. or just have lots of free time and scroll through it... I don't think that many people do that though (WPC placements are much better so if anyone sees this and considers starting his novel... definitly do wpc and not spirity award if you want fast many views and high collections...)
One big thing I don't understand is that I can only find the recommendation on my Ipad. if I open it on my phone then I am not part of the Encouraging Originals! Can someone explain that to me ??
My iphone and my Ipad only changed two novels.
Iphone: Solo Hunt
World of Heroes
Ipad: My book
Descent of the Apocalypse.
I checked it 2 times... in the morning and a minute ago and it is always the same.
The views I got today are around 300-500 more than my best day I would say...
But the biggest difference is that the views are more stable over the day... Normally I have many views around 7 - 10 O'clock and it drops significantly after that... and now my views rose later in the day more than normal. Sometimes I think around 100 views per hour...
I can't really pull much out of this information though... my views and collections are pretty inconsistent since 2 days ago. I had 2 days ago suddenly 22 collections and more than 750 valid views! It increased I think by around 250% in comparison to before or so it said... then yesterday I lost 4 collections and my views decreased to around 160-170 but my valid reading ration went up by a few percent .... That makes it right now pretty hard to use the gathered data... the days before I got always between 7 and 14 collections and the daily views increased day by day but the valid views were always extremely low...
Regnov same lol
a month later
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One thing is for sure is to build up a solid fan base first brother before signing a contract.
Then you can easily fish up for more viewers, my friend before got a pre-contract just by 7 chapters then he ignores the editor lol, he said at that time he was a complete newbie writer, plus he is writing for fun.
But base on his experience, a solid fan base is the key thing, not an early contract.