Webnovel.Forum

Deleteduser87 You should read the Contract yourself, instead of letting the opinion of others dissuade/persuade you. It's not like you can't read what's written in the offered Contract. Moreover, it's not like you only have 10 minutes to sign or reject. Take your time to read and decide.

If you feel like the Contract you were offered is fair and you can accept it and are willing to be bound by it, go ahead and sign it. If you believe it puts too many restrictions on you, your creative freedom, and your right to free speech, and your right to write your story to completion, well... don't sign it. Receiving the Contract doesn't mean you must sign it.

And after you have read it and don't like any clauses, don't let anyone tell you nonsense along the lines of: Those are just there for XYZ reason and Webnovel doesn't enforce them, they have never enforced them... or they don't have the manpower to enforce them.

That reasoning is utter garbage. Unless they remove the clauses, always sign it with the assumption that they will enforce them on the earliest possible moment.

Deleteduser87 ike they can make changes of my story without my permission, they can fire me and let somebody else continue my novel

A lot of the clauses in the contract is simply there for reassurance. It's actually not that bad. The terms you listed aren't even enforced. I've never heard a case of Webnovel forcing an author to change the content, or even logging into author's account to change the details without permission. The only time that something like this might be enforced is if you're caught writing something illegal like child ____, but aside from that, it rarely happens. There are many authors who take breaks from their books, and even then, they're never fired. Webnovel wouldn't waste resource to hire someone else to continue a novel, when they can simply contract another book.

Deleteduser87 The contract is not that bad unless you're living in a first world country where 200$ is worthless. Well, even though you lose the copyright and all of the other thingies, the book is still written by you and you will be acknowledge as the author of the book.

Although there were like 14 pages of clauses, there hasn't any single breach on the contract for this year except for one that I knew. Besides, you get a lot of advantages like weekly featured that can expand your fans.

About the terms and conditions. Well, Webnovel lost only 800$ at the very most if you're using MGS and other thing. I don't think they will file a lawsuit to a foreign country.

Xincerely Please do not try to waive away any clauses with the argument that "they would never be used". They are there for a reason and if a profit-seeking company can make a profit by using those clauses they will. Ghost-writers are a real thing and have been used for a number of different series. Its not just "child ____". Novels have been stopped because they criticise the wrong people or are too "dark". This might sound crazy to some people, but it made sense to the powers that be, so imagine what other things could make sense to them.

Check out RABBITICOL's message just before yours. Particularly this section:

"And after you have read it and don't like any clauses, don't let anyone tell you nonsense along the lines of: Those are just there for XYZ reason and Webnovel doesn't enforce them, they have never enforced them... or they don't have the manpower to enforce them.

That reasoning is utter garbage. Unless they remove the clauses, always sign it with the assumption that they will enforce them on the earliest possible moment."

This is true for all contracts from any party, not just those from webnovel. The key message (to paraphrase Rabbitcol) is assume that any and all clauses will be enforced and, if you are fine with it, then the contract is fine. People have different desires and needs, what is a good/acceptable deal for one person does not necessarily make it so for another person. For example: some people their IP is their baby, while for others it is just another commodity that they are willing to sell for an acceptable price. A bottle of water for 1,000 dollars is crazy for most, but a good deal to a dehydrated person. Just don't try to package any old liquid and pretend its just water with a different meaningless "colour" and odour.

mng You know why a lot of people says that, because it isn't enforced.

Because certain clauses haven't been enforced so far does not guarantee that they will never be enforced. Sure, the chances are less considering the present scenario but when you are agreeing to the clauses mentioned, you should be okay if they are enforced because you have agreed to them. You wouldn't be able to stand up tomorrow and say, hey that's not fair. I signed because I saw those clauses never getting enforced. Why me? You wouldn't be able to ask that why me question in future. Having said that, I would say, take your own time going through the contract and the terms and conditions. If they work for you, just go ahead and sign one. If you aren't looking for what WN is providing, don't sign. It's really simple as that. The deal is good or bad depending upon your circumstances and preferences. Good luck. : )

MaxwellKHA

Key word to add: YET.

While many of those clauses are not actively enforced, the fact they exist in a legally binding contract is what should put most on awareness.

No one thought Disney was going to run Star Wars into the ground when they bought Lucasfilms... but lo and behold they did exactly that.

The thing to take away from that is, never say never. Weirder shit happens and has when its come to those who buy good work and have employees who don't know good from bad when wielding their authoritative powers.

Thank you for your opinions guys. I think I won't sign I read all the 20 pages and with some clauses I am totally not fine with it. Like they have the ability to force me to stop my novel or yeah a third party can continue writing my novel. Or they are giving me instructions for my plot and I have to follow them even though I have a different opinion as it is their work now. I am not someone else puppet. Again thank you guys but if someone else is interested in signing a contract don't be discouraged by that if it really is your interest.

Deleteduser87 hello.! May i know how many days did you wait for the contract.? and where did they send it.?

SugarCuddlyBear
I won the contract through WPC. Two weeks after the WPC I got the contract. They send me a notification through system. To read the contract I had to read it in webnovel inkstone.

I think most of people here are forgetting one painful yet important aspect of the clauses in the contract.

1st - Be god-damn realistic. Outside of the cream of the top of the webnovel (and even it that case, I doubt it would have any other meaning) your books when compared to the size of the entire webnovel, are worthless. Don't worry, my books, books of most of my author's friends and most of the authors I even know about, apply to this rank.

Because it's easy to say, sign something only with the understanding it will be used against you. But that's not how the world works. Do you know what kind of insane uproar enforcing even a single of those rules would cause? Do you realise the size of the backlash that WN would face with it? Then unless you believe (and trust me, unless you are top3, you don't have any reason to do so) that you are absolute monster whose novel is worth more than the literal rest of the webnovel portfolio, then you don't need to worry about it!

What's more, EVEN IF a clause were to be enforced (because let's say for some reasons WN turn's idiotic as most of the people bringing up those clauses would like it to be). What do you think would WN do? Go for immensely costly lawsuit only to gain about 1% of its costs alone back (in case you were actually a big author in the first place, which let's face it, most of peps are not)? SImply because they would like you to suffer?

I'm sorry guys, but you are not (nor am I or most if not all the author's writing for webnovel) worth the effort to go for such length. If you breach the contact, you can just say byebye to your earnings, as you wouldn't get a single more promotion till the rest of your life. But let's be honest, if you are willing to breach the contract, you don't care about webnovel either way.

Deleteduser87 .does the 2 weeks starts after they anounced the winner or after the wpc itself.? Sorry for asking a lot of questions.

SugarCuddlyBear
Yeah if I remember correctly and don't worry I am not bothered by it if you ask me questions ^-

MotivatedSloth they wouldn't got into a lawsuit. They'd just fuck you over and say "read the contract. " the author would have to be the one to fight it and try to get those clauses rendered unenforceable but good luck lol. Esp good luck for poor authors trying to fight a corporation

Aby55 I will repeat once again what I said. If WN does this to small author, they screw themselves over. So no, they wouldn't care about small authors. It's not even worth to hire ghostwriters for small stories. People just thinks too highly of themselves. Learn how to be humble. Lack of humility is what irks me on this forum the most.

MotivatedSloth Why are you telling me to be humble? I'm not a small author worried this will happen to me. I'm a legal professional in my country making a clarification about what could happen. Calm down Mr. Defense Force. No need to attack me

Aby55 Why are you telling me to be humble?

Because you have no reason to be proud.

Aby55 I'm not a small author worried this will happen to me.

Seeing how you even thing about publishing on WN, then yes, you are. If you are super great insane author, then go to amazon. Simple as that.

Aby55 I'm a legal professional in my country making a clarification about what could happen.

Maybe you are legal, maybe you are professional, but you are not a real grown-up in my book if you don't take reality into account. Just like there are people out there screaming that they are unicorns married to attack helicopters, I take them as seriously as people who think that such a huge company as WN with backing of one of the biggest companies in the world would care to bully someone like you, while risking their entire business collapsing because of that.

Aby55 Calm down Mr. Defense Force. No need to attack me

Calm down Mr. volatile snowflake. No one is attacking you. You are making an laughingstock of yourself, yourself. You brought the points that I pointed out that are unreasonable, and never said anything that would actually warrant your side.

Aby55 they wouldn't got into a lawsuit. They'd just fuck you over and say "read the contract. "

And once again, by doing that, they would risk all of the original authors leaving the site and dropping their novels. So let me tell you this again, unless your novel is worth more than all the novels on the site combined, then there is no way that would ever happen. But I guess the fact that you are not the precious little treasure that your family most likely made you believe you are (as is the case with most of us) is sad and hurtful, won't change the fact that in order to even be at risk of getting on the Webnovel badside, you would have to be greater author than Author Wiz. And trust me, there is not a single person on the entire Webnovel that even comes close to that monster.