I am currently facing a dilemma. Webnovel offered me a contract for my novel but I read from other forum entries that apparently a contract with webnovel equals a slavery contract. Like they can make changes of my story without my permission, they can fire me and let somebody else continue my novel and I am forced to write every single day 1,5 k words. So I want to ask the people who signed a contract whether it is truly that bad?
Is signing up a contract with webnovel really that bad?
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Deleteduser87 I am forced to write every single day 1,5 k words
Correction to this, you are NOT forced to write anything per day for WN. You only have to publish 1.5k words per day for your novel to be eligible for the Minimum Guarantee System (MGS), which pays you $200 a month if you don't earn that much from readers unlocking your book/sending you gifts. If you don't want to be eligible for MGS, then you don't have to publish that many words per day. Heck, you can even go under indefinite hiatus, and Webnovel says that it's okay in the contract, as far as I remember.
For more info on MGS:
Explanation on the Minimum Guarantee System (MGS)
We will ensure that every contracted work that goes Premium will receive US$200/month in the following four months if the revenue you earn is less than US$200/month. Authors will need to release a minimum of 1,500 words daily for the entire calendar month. There must not be any breaks in between the dates of uploads. We will ensure that every contracted work that goes Premium will receive a minimum of US$200 in the following four months, provided that the below requirements have been met.
Note:
At least 1,500 Premium words/day: US$200/month
Requirements:
- Your novel must be contracted and you must have submitted the application for Premium
- MGS is applicable for the following four months after going Premium (the month of application itself is not included in the four months)
- Publish more than 1,500 Premium words daily, for the entire calendar month
- Must ensure consistent publishing of Premium chapters everyday during the entire calendar month
Example:
- <Apply for Premium by end April 2020>
- Enter Premium in April 2020, Premium takes effect in May, June, July, August on 2020
- Publish at least 1,500 Premium words per day (31 days in total for May, 30 days in total for June, etc.), for the entire month:
- Get US$200/month Minimum Guarantee if the revenue you earn is less than US$200/month
From contracted author Discord server.
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. : )
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.
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I think Rabbiticol has given some good advise. It's my recommendation too. Read and ask your content editor your questions. They're there to help you with this.
You're instincts should tell you if you're going to sign or not. You should be 100 percent gungho willing to sign with all understanding of what you're signing. If you're not, especially after gathering content editor and independent advice from legal savvy peeps, there's your answer.
A rule of thumb, a clause is always enforceable. We're just fortunate at this stage that Webnovel is still yet to reach a level of maturity to enforce most of them. It's best to read and accept a fact that a condition and obligation clause is one that must, can and has the potential to happen.
Hope that helps.
Deleteduser87 Sorry, I will correct my statement. If you breach the contract, you will be blacklisted. No lawsuit. Just a blacklist.
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.
I'd like to ask if anyone else is getting that mass email and contract notification when they sign into Inkstone?
Feels like part of one of their updates. (one of the reasons I never signed months back too- I understand WN is busy contracting all sorts of writers but I never liked how robotic copy&pasted their emails sounded, or maybe it was just the editor they had contact me). Of course, it's part of the streamline and efficiency, and I get that.
MaxwellKHA Actually the reason they say that is because they are ignorant. Its the same reason why people say the world is flat. Have you also heard the one about the benefits of joining pyramid schemes or how Bernie Madoff gives good returns on investments? Look them up if you have not. It might save you and your loved ones a lot of grief. Unfortunately this type of practical information is not taught more often when we are children, even though it could have a greater impact on our lives.
MotivatedSloth I am sorry to inform you, but this has already happened:
Qidian is pretty used to backlash and it has not stopped them. They just learnt how to handle it better (e.g. like negotiating they start off with a high demand and then are "willing" to "back down" to a slightly lower amount that contain all the key changes that they want). Which, to be fair, is pretty common practice for companies that prioritise profits over ethics.
Having said that, being a "puppet" is not necessarily a bad thing. If you care more about money than the IP of your work, its obviously attractive to sell your IP for money. And while other people can disagree with your decision, at the end of the day, if you are both happy AND aware of what you are getting into, then good for you. Its like buying lottery tickets. As an investment option its stupid. But if you buy it purely for entertainment with the expectation that you are more likely to lose money than gain money, its a valid choice. However, being happy with an ignorant choice can hurt you when you least expect it and when you cannot afford it. That is not smart. That is just stupid.
mng Were can i find this? Why can’t I find it on reddit anymore?
mng There is one thing you can do with the post above. Shove it all the way back where it came from. Why?
You pretend to act so knowledgable and informed, yet you failed to notice that while Yuwen owns BOTH qidian and webnovel, those two companies are entirely different, to the point that webnovel is even banned in China! As such. the way in which both of the companies work, is entirely different. Quidian holds practical monopoly over the entire literature in China, while webnovel is just one of the possible choices for the people. That's why, the entirety of the post above is meaningless. What they can allow themselves in China, won't happen in the international version. Give me A SINGLE EXAMPLE OF IT EVER HAPPENING IN WEBNOVEL, rather than trying to bring the dirt form the qidi, that has complete freedom to act as he wants, because not only he has insane market to itself (entirety of the china) but nothing to actually limit its authority.
MotivatedSloth True that! The audience directed to is different and it’ll be harder to implement those methods at us lol
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ThyUnknownSaint Do take note that the controversy is mostly over. It's nice to bitch about Qidian/Webnovel in the community, but when things are done right, you don't see such posts to say that the controversy is over. I'll not make much comment on it, but use Webnovel's competitor, since I don't want to come off as a shill.
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Deleteduser87
Contracted Author here. Here's the reality.
Your novel rights are worth nothing right now. If you think it is you should go put down your ego. Even amazing novels rarely get adaptations so there's no use validating something imaginary.
Is the WN contract fair? As a contracted author I entirely believe its fair. Just like musicians sign contracts with record labels. You have to give up something to get wns in-house promotion. If you could stand on your own as an author you wouldn't even be debating it 
.
Webnovels that are uncontracted and make money with Patreon take a minimum 7+ months to build up popularity. I spoke to many of the popular uncontracted authors when I was debating such. That's 7+ months you need to be doing that 1500+ a day and get almost nothing anyway.
Webnovel users will almost never go off-site, so it's a horrible platform to find patreon subs.
Webnovel promotions as a contracted author will massively increase your fan base. Webnovels bottom line is to make money, they want your novel to be successful so they can get their cut of the novel and increase users on the app.
They don't even want to pay you MGS, they rather your novel make over 200 a month so they don't have to. So you will get promotion to increase your fan base when you go premium. Old authors always complain that new authors get all the love, because they really take care of you when you first sign to make your novel profitable.
First weekly feature doubles or triples your collections when you go premium. That's right, when you go premium they will basically gift you a large fan base with their in-house promotion. Building a fan base is the hardest thing to do as an author. They will handle that step for you so you can focus on writing.
The people that like, comment, and stone a newer novel are an entirely different userbase than the people that are willing to pay for it. Go look at any newer premium novels and compare fans (paid subscribers) to power stone rankings and you will understand. You haven't met your fan base yet, the majority of them are silent.
Top webnovel authors post much more than the 1500 words a day for MGS, and they make good money to match their efforts.
If you want to be popular on Webnovel the only way is to post a lot of chapters a day, or set up mass releases. Author of Mech Touch Exlor does 6k words a day. JKSManga author of MVS does 6-7k words as well.
They are outliers but most successful authors do 2-3k min a day. If you can't do 1500 a day being a WN author isn't the field for you, that's just the reality of the job.
At the end of the day it's up to you to choose the best path forward for you. WN has the biggest user and subscriber base that spend money on webnovels. If you want to get experience as an author it's a great thing to contract your first work.
Amazon and Patreon both require large fanbases to be successful with. Something a new author doesn't have. WN gives you a clear path to build a fan base and make money as an author.
On an ending note, the people that cry WN contract is unfair usually aren't authors to begin with. So their opinion on the subject is worth less than dirt. I've never seen a response that calls the WN contract barbaric actually give a well thought out plan of how to "do better" than contracting with webnovel for a new author.
All they scream is lul patreon or lul kindle unlimited, when both of those are very difficult markets that require heavy fan bases to even participate in. Yes, if you were an author with a huge fan base then Kindle/Patreon would be a viable option for you, but even then WN offers different contract terms to people that already have fanbases to have more quality content on their platform.
It is really funny that all new writers think they are the new J.K. Rowling and afraid wn will cheat your money. I don't want to offend anyone but the reality is harsh, almost all original novels in this site are not that good. If not you will never write here but already follow Agatha Christie's steps instead. I never try to write but I am an avid reader that read many novels so I can judge this clearly from the point of view of readers. So sorry if my harsh words offend someone.
Cultivator199
I am also an author on webnovel and I completely agree on this point.
Guys if you are writing to earn money, an us the best option. And if you think wn is going to cheat you and stuff. Please go ahead and do not contract. You cannot get paid for the work you do and still call that work yours. This is a world of give and take. They pay you, you give them your stories. It is that simple.
MotivatedSloth I am not entirely sure I understand your argument. As far as I can tell you seem to think that: "its owned by the same parent company but because one site is apparently banned in China they do not operate the same way"? That sounds like a crazy argument. Its like saying a communist dictatorship cannot have a secret police force because a fascist dictatorship has one. Just because a site is banned in one place does not mean the other party cannot operate the same way.
In regards to how they would act differently because of a monopoly, that argument is also flawed. Having a monopoly allows them to fix certain things, but not having a monopoly does not stop them from enforcing contracts or suing people for breaches of contracts. Its the whole point of contracts. Saying people will not enforce terms on contracts or at least threaten to do so is a fundamental misunderstanding of the whole point of contracts. And please note this applies to all contracts, not just webnovel. Trying to spread such fundamental misinformation is harmful. If its just a matter of taste or opinion, I would be less concerned. But spreading such misunderstanding about contract fundamentals is dangerous, so please think things through beforehand. Telling someone to be wary about what they sign up for is crucial. Please don't underestimate the importance of this.
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(sorry this was a double post as the forum claimed the earlier post did not go through). Though I have now taken advantage of it to include some thoughts on later posts to the one I replied to.
I just read what Dan_Ryder and Cultivator199 wrote and I believe they make many valid points which are in no way inconsistent with the basic fundamentals of read the contract fully (preferably with a lawyer conversant in employment contracts) and to take note of any and all clauses involved. Reading and being mindful of contracts and all the clauses are basic fundamentals. And assuming that the contract will be enforced. Whether it is fair or not depends on your own circumstances and expectations. But do not go into a contract in ignorance. A fair deal for person A, may not be a fair deal to person B. And yes, not everyone is going to be the next JK Rowling. But be mindful of what you are willing to accept and what you are not willing to accept. And the only way you can do this is to read the whole contract and take it seriously in its entirety. Nothing in there is a joke. If it is, it would have been removed. The only exceptions are joke contracts that are not legally binding. Contracts with any legal companies are not joke contracts. All the points in them require you to read and understand to make an informed decision.
ThyUnknownSaint Sorry, but everytime I post the link it seems to come up as a picture instead. Not sure why. But you should be able to do a google search of the title ("Upper Tier Qidian Author Ji on New Contracts"). It comes up first in the list of results on google search if you do that. I cannot find CKtalon's source but that is possibly because I do not have the title of the post to google search. Its probably true though as it seems to indicate that the most controversial points were removed, as opposed to a capitalist company providing more money than they feel they need to. Its highly common for negotiations to start with a worse offer and then "give in" to some sort of middle ground. Qidian (QI) possibly just did not anticipate or worry too much about the backlash of the initial attempt. Though I am obliged to point out that the last sentence is my personal opinion (not concrete fact) and the second last statement, while a basic negotiation technique, is not necessarily what QI intended to do from the beginning.
Oh look @mng with the non-author advice again. He googled fu'd his way here guys make way. He told you the contract was bad with long block paragraphs. But he didn't bother to tell you how you could make money off your novel though, which is your main issue. His advice is worth less than dirt.
You see, as much as being wary of legal documents is a good thing, in my native language, we have this funny distinction. Letter of law, and spirit of law. The first part, is what's written in the documents that decide HOW the law is enforced. You can often find crazy sht out there, but against all common sense - it's still there.
And then there is something called spirit of the law - basically, what does this law means in reality. How it will be realistically enforced! You can have the harshes law that condemns you to the death for possessing a lollipop, but if no cop takes it seriously, you are free to eat the candy as often as you want, just keep in mind to not burn some cities or the gov would FORCE the law enforcement to act seriously.
It's that simple. Just like @Dan_Ryder mentioned, Qidian puts a gun to author's heads, but it will never fire. Why?
1st: - enforcing the clauses of the contract would have to go through international court, as all international contracts have to go through a medium
2nd - actually using those questionable clauses would mean burning their own goose laying golden eggs. People are willing to work for them and write for them only as long as they feel comfortable with them.
3rd - There are many many topics out there, from the bugs, through the different features all the way to the constant growth of the site and how to cope with it, that takes the time of all WN staff. If you really think they can give an F about any particular author leaving, writing something that might be unnice to China or anything like that,... They would either shadow-ban or remove him. First meaning that said author is banned from any form of promotion, second one happening when one breached the contract by posting stolen or CP content as his paid work.
Overall, I'm not telling you to not be wary about such stuff. I remember how crazy I was over it back when I signed my first chapter. But now that I have a first-hand experience on how it works, I can sum it up all with just one sentence.
WHO THE FUQ DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TO ASSUME THAT YOU ARE WORTH FOR WN TO RISK THEIR ENTIRE BUISNESS ONLY TO BULLY YOU SOME?
I'd be glad if they had someone to take over my novel giving me that sweet 10% for sitting on my ass @MotivatedSloth
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MotivatedSloth I'm not the OP or anyone else who has been writing on webnovel and worried about a contract. I read this topic out of curiosity and then gave my advice stemming from my knowledge as a legal professional. You then decided to personally attack me. You assumed I'm a writer, assumed I want to write for webnovel, assumed I think i would be a great success, etc. You're completely strawmanning me to discredit my advice. The only reason to personally attack me like this is because you can't refute what I said. Honestly I'm confused why you're lashing out at me and others...over what? Different interpretation of a contract?
All I said is that IF they wanted to they could enforce the clauses in the contract without going to court first. They have control of the platform and would at least appear to be within their legal rights. Then, if an author didn't like what was happening, it would be on the author to file suit to get an injunction or render those clauses unenforceable. The company does not have to go to an international court to ask permission like you make it sound. Companies enforce contracts all the time or even go further and straight up wrong individuals. The individual then has to fight back. That's all I said. I was correcting you since you made it sound like the company could never do something without going to court first. I didnt even say they WOULD do those things, simply that they could.
In the end I find it ironic you said I'm not an adult as part of your personal attacks. Adults don't personally attack each other over a simple difference of opinion like this.
Since you mentioned I never backed up "my side" I'll give my side. I think both sides make good points. As with any contract, you want to read it thoroughly and consult a legal professional to make sure you can live with the terms. As for the webnovel contract, it has pros and cons. The pros are the guaranteed money, the exposure to a large fanbase, ability to still get fan support on the side. The cons are losing the IP and the risk of losing control of the novel. At the end of the day any route one goes has pros and cons; whether that's trying to get something traditionally published, going e-book style through Amazon or other e-book vendors, or blogging and patreoning. I think it's up to each author to decide the route they personally want to go. My only real input in this topic was regarding the legal process and what a company COULD do to an author. That's all.
I hope you have a good day Mr. Sloth and realize I'm not out to attack you or Webnovel.
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Aby55
I find it strange that you are a real legal professional discussing a contract but never bothered to explain the difference between De Jure and De Facto. The first thing a legal professional would do when giving advice for a boiler plate company contract would be to investigate the legal precedent regarding the contract to give advice.
What are the standards the company has set when executing this boilerplate contract?
De Facto webnovel has never screwed over an author with the contract, but there are some strange clauses that could affect you De Jure.
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Dan_Ryder Imo there's no point explaining the difference between de jure and de facto in this setting. I'm confused as to why you would bring that up. Usually that distinction is made for things like segregation. The terminology of de facto is usually used when there was a problem with creating something like a contract, corporation, or marriage. Maybe they teach law differently in your country, idk. If you are indeed correct that they've never enforced certain clauses, then that's certainly relevant information. But it is also not relevant to my point.
You are right that the first thing one would do is to research precedents. But that's if one were hired or writing an article or the like. I'm commenting on a forum. I think there's confusion as well since you mention me commentint on the contract. I didnt even read the contract or talk about any of its clauses. I don't have a client asking me to help with their IP or contract dispute with webnovel. Again, I was simply commenting that in general a company acts as it will and the individual then has to fight back if they dont like it. That's it. I saw someone talking about the legal process and how that would constrain a corporation's actions and I found that analysis did not reflect my understanding. I was not analyzing the contract nor seeking to explain the entirety of international contract law. Nor was I researching who would win a dispute. Im simply talking about the most basic realities of the process.
Btw if you read my previous reply you'll see I advise prospective authors to consult a legal professional. At that point that legal professional would do the research to see how the contract or similar contracts have been treated and see what the precedents are.