How did I only notice this thread now?

I'll start with resolving some misunderstandings first.
Once the premium function comes in, the advanced chapters offered on Patreon will have to be removed, which does regrettably lead to a fall in Patreon earnings as that is the greatest appeal of it to subscribers there. We are still allowed to keep our Patreon after the matter, and the main reason why I chose to refund those who want it is because it'll be unfair to subscribers to pay for the March subscription when I can't offer them advanced chapters anymore.

Secondly, I do agree with the necessity of the premium system. I think one person we have been conveniently leaving out of the equation of the fan translation community is the authors. Bear with this extreme example, but will J.K. Rowling be willing to allow others to translate Harry Potter books and publish it for, let's say, $50,000 per year? Considering the "longevity" of the books, this $50,000 earning would only sustain for a couple of years at maximum. It is a huge sum of money to us, but for top-notch authors, that kind of royalty is not worthwhile for them, considering their success elsewhere. Furthermore, the publisher, translator, and editor still have to earn a fair bit to make their effort worthwhile. Qidian International has taken on the translation of the books of many famous authors in China, and if it doesn't perform sufficiently, why should they allow QI to do so? Heck, they could look for other companies such as Y******s, stop the translators, and slap on a permanent price wall on it. At the very least, QI still offers a medium for readers to catch up with the translations, and if not, the chapter unlocks itself automatically after some time.

Fan translation has only been possible because the author hasn't come into the picture yet. If they wish to, they could easily shut down the community (after all, regardless whether we are profiting from their hard work or not, it is true that they aren't profiting off theirs when they could have been). Otherwise, why would translators approach the companies to establish contracts? Many term that as selling their soul to the devil, but that is what that ensures the longevity of the community.

Thirdly, the translators do benefit from this measure as well. Translators of premium books will be given a choice to continue their fixed pay or go ahead with the royalty payout. The royalty payout option will remain open for the translator so if their book were to become popular, they could make the switch. In a sense, this is a guarantee of a minimum pay for the translators. I am not sure about the various aspects concerning editors so I'll skip on that.

Also, if I am not mistaken, before the implementation of the purchase of spirit stones, it is already highlighted that bonus spirit stones will expire.

warrock4862
Yes, that is how it works. If I could sustain, I would love to translate more chapters and update more quickly as well. However, I am the only translator for Library of Heaven's Path, and I have no intention of sharing my baby with anyone else.

      I love how nearly every TL & webnovel staff just posts: 'we have no other way and this is the best solution'. Like there is no other price model which could sustain the business or even improve revenue way more than this 'fair' premium model.

        Yakumo
        I have no idea whom you are referring to, but as far as I can see, I don't think any single one of the staff has claimed the current model to be the best solution. I am just answering the issue regarding the necessity of a premium model as compared to one that depends solely on ad revenue. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable in the industry to answer whether a subscription model will work better or not, or anything along those lines, so I have been avoiding commenting on those issues all along.

        If you are referring to me with your post, I sincerely ask you not to misconstrue my words and shape it to whatever that fits your aim.

            I love how the translator keep their attitude according to their contract.
            Of course they will support qidian, they got knife (contract) on their neck.

            10.5 Non-disparagement.
            To the extent permitted by law, Translator will not disparage China Reading (including about China Reading products and services, officers, directors, and employees), including not to make any negative statements, reviews, comments, or feedback, whether written or oral, about China Reading, in any manner and forms, including all written or electronic communication (e.g., email, text message, use of Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, WeChat, Weibo, LinkedIn, etc.).

              im reading 36 novels on QI right now... can someone explain how im supposed to catch up with every novel when i only get like 20-30 SS per day? that isnt going to be enough for even 1 premium novel... i don't even want to think about 4 or 5 premium novels.... so, yea... i guess i will have to look for another site than is reposting the chapters. Spending $5 or more per week isnt going to work for me

                GregLuck
                I also love it when people try to overthrow arguments using bias as a reason.
                It will be a beautiful sight if people go into the parliament and scream "You are far right, screw your opinions. Everything you say concerns oppression and violence, so you should just keep it zipped", "You are far left, just shut up. There's nothing you say that anyone wants to hear.", "You are neutral, you don't have a legitimate opinion so stay out of this."

                    I don't care wheter its premium or not, as long as the translator not drop their works, and the daily releases dose is not changing, it's fine and acceptable... and one from many advantages of the novel being premium, is being guarantee that new chapters will release faster and reach the end of the novel soon enaugh...

                      Otonashi_Yuzuru
                      let's see.
                      Let's assume from the novel you read, 5 of them are premium, with around of 8 SS / chapter.
                      So we assume that once you read a premium novel, you just don't get any benefit from free chapter because you read it to the last chapter available. The average chapter / week for each novel, are about 14.
                      Now that takes us to the cost of (8x14x5)= 560 SS/week.
                      You got login bonus (~10), vote bonus (5x2 = 10), watch ad (~10), all in all you got around 30/day or 210/week.
                      Well, we take it that most of your spirit stone are exhausted by the 1st week. So with a 560 - 210 =350 SS/week or 1400 SS/month.
                      Now, for 1400 SS/month the best option (for now) should be the $10 for 1500 SS.
                      After 11 March, that would be $30 for the 1000+500 SS per month.

                      That is in under the assumption of you got at least 30 free SS/day, only read 5 premium novel with an average 8SS/chapter, and the bonus spirit stone did not expired before you spend it.

                      Now, my math might be wrong but, that's the money you will spend should you continue.

                          StarveCleric You should hire more translator, so we can get more chapters like immortal mortal. become premium but still 14 chapters/week is really disappointing for me. I am one of your daily reader and i love your translation.

                          Soon or later all the novels in qidian will become premium, on that doomsday, we will have to make a choice, what novels we should keep reading and your novel is one of my choice. Because i cannot afford to pay per chapters if i read more than 3 novels here, my only option is read from piracy site.

                          Seriously, many of us (readers) have no problem to support qidian if you guys implement pay/month for all chapters. But, pay per chapter is really expensive and not worthed. Better to just read all the chapters on piracy site.

                            StarveCleric Well, in your previous post you 'agree with the necessity of "the" premium system'. Not a kind of monetary system but "the" system and since there are no other examples of premium systems, it can be interpreted as "this" premium system, so excuse me if I suppose that you support this premium system. Maybe choose your words better then.

                            For sure it's the best system in their eyes, why else would they implement it without any room for discussion or pilot project. In no statement did i see anything about a premium beta or something like that and everyone just says 'we need the premium system'. But maybe it's just like @GregLuck said, that no one can voice their doubts. Btw that Non-disparagement paragraph is highly likely to be illegal in my country

                                Otonashi_Yuzuru and not counting that a novel can have >1000 or even more chapters. By the time the novel is finished, you will have spent more money than on a professionally translated physical novel, which may not have as many pages but also isn't full of fillers and repetitions

                                  The concept of premium is to exploit people who cannot wait.
                                  You will still get your free chapters. You can still wait. With physical books you also need to wait a year before you can even buy it.

                                  I dont like the current premium System either and I do think Qi will eventually be forced to Change the model since there is almost no way to sustain this one in the west.
                                  Also If you complain that this model sucks because you want to support authors and TLs with a subscription based model please dont stop.
                                  If however you complain about not getting enough stuff for free Id highly suggest you shut your mouth and just go to pirate sites so my eyes dont have to continue reading this crap.

                                  Yakumo
                                  Fair enough, I should have chosen my words better. I do agree that a prior discussion would have really been good. At the very least, even if the current premium model is chosen at the end of the discussion, at least there will be a clear assessment of the pros and cons for everyone to see, and that would have made it easier for others to accept the decisions.

                                  I do find it a pity that the forum isn't exactly a good place to voice doubts at the moment, the air in the forums doesn't seem really good at the moment. A forum should be a place where one can voice their views and be challenged on their viewpoints, not a place to get criticized as a person.
                                  Way too many people are coming in preconceived notions, intending to only voice and emphasize their personal opinions time and time again instead of conversing, I think that is probably the reason so many people walk out of here pissed off.

                                      StarveCleric That's the point. All we hear is 'we need the premium system', but no staff actually discussed or stated their view on other models like subscriptions. Since they don't want to discuss and simply state 'that's our system and we need it', no one can blame the community for getting enraged or threads/discussions getting out of hand

                                        tototorototo The release rate will stay the same. And the daily dose will diminish. Free chapters are 7/week unlike the previous release rate

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