Let's say if I wanted to reach LOTH with unlocking before FREE chapters catch me.
Let's make an elementary math.
Let's say LOHP is ended at 1100. (You know it won't ended at 1100,right?)
and Premium program start at 600.(after removing initial free chapters i can get for this week?)
500 chapters x 14 ss (the last chapter I checked had 14599 words in English)
7000 ss (around 50 $) and you know the novel is not ended yet.
And if the release rate is still the same 14/week for 500 chapter it will be 35 week (around 9 month) for me to finish reading while paying.
If I don't unlock chapter and go with FREE release rate 7/week? 70 week(1 year and 4 month) for me to reached to Chapter 1100.
And I don't only read one webnovel alone.
Let's say I will have to spend 50$ for 1 webnovel I read, I will have to spend 500 $(in 9 month) for 10 webnovels.

May be it isn't that much money for other people but I can just buy 40 famous translated works or even yenpress ones(13$x40).
Yes I already had some of these books.
Yes I have my living expenses and some other hobbies too.

Well, I am just blabbering something coz I am bored.
May be I will have hibernate the whole year and binge read FREE chapters again.
I still have free spirit stones so actually I can still read some titles here.
May be I will buy around 1-10 $ when I am out of SS.
I will have to quit reading each and every FREE book I see.
I still like LOTH tho.
I just wish there are more suitable payment program (more cheaper one preferably)

Threetimess 400 SS for about 40 chapters with 2-3k wordcount, for a total of 80-120k words, which is the average word count of a standard published novel as well. How much does 400 SS cost? 8 usd. And that is on top of the free 30 SS you get a day, the free chapters, and the occasional mass release.

      TargetPractice1 Hmm.. maybe you're right, but I think (could be wrong) that was right before it became premium so that was in preparation for it. I don't believe free users saw even one week of that release rate before it became premium.

          Oxy Yes, 400ss for 40 chapters, that's about the same you have to spend for a fantasy paperback. But you get a physical copy without fillers or repetitions and a properly revised translation. The digital versions are even cheaper, especially when you use subscriptions like kindle unlimited and you read >2 books per month, which is not much.
          PS: you don't get free chapters once you start unlocking premium chapters and the free ss are negligible if you wanna read multiple premium novels.

              Oxy i never see translator in qidian ever mass release, except when that novel become premium for the first time.

              i only pay 10$ for netflix and i can watch all i want for 1 month in my country, but i need to pay much much more to read novels here dude, are you crazy?

              I already told you, i want to help translator and author too, i can even pay 10$/month if qidian really make this happen, but i want to read all the chapters for free, not like this. I have 12 novels in my library right now, can you imagine how much i must pay to keep reading the latest chapters if all 12 become premium? (this will become reality soon or later)

              The only way for me is only reading 1-2 novels and paid hundreds of dollars to read the others

              or i can go to piracy site and read all i want

              So, basically qidian make the readers go away, even for readers like me who can afford to pay.

              because this system is really really really expensive if you are a hardcore reader like me (have more than 10 novels in library).

              Do You know what will happen with novels that not too popular? no one will bother to read them because we must make a choice if many more novels will become premium in the future.

              We don't really got impacted for now, because only 1 premium novel in my library right now (library of heaven path), but the situation will become uglier in the future

              And for your information, i live in South East Asia (Indonesia), 10$ a month is expensive for most people here, because average income/month in my country is only $450.

              So, this system is really broken for me, and i will keep reading here as long as i can, when more novels in my library become premium, then good by forever, i can still read on another site

                Yakumo
                $9.99 a month like Kindle unlimited ebook subscription is much better deal for readers.
                If qidian want they can make 2 section: some books publish free while most popular novel are in subscription system.

                    This is meaningless. They will not change until they see with their own eyes that here is not the China where they can force others to buy their shit. In two or three months we will see the results. see ya

                    TargetPractice1 the person controlling the Webnovel account is probably one of the bosses. Learning English to a great standard probably isn't that high up on their list, as they're probably busy running this project...

                        jer0055 I would first like to address the issue about being forced to drop the quality of our translations in exchange for speed. A good translator manages his time rather than sacrifices the quality of his work under ANY circumstance.

                        Secondly, I'm not sure if you've missed the point, but a subscription basis would do no help towards balancing out the pay grade for every single novel under the scheme. Lets put it this way. Assuming you're Brad Pitt and you're made to star in a series featuring some random nobody from the streets. Now, I'm asking the audiences to pay a subscription fee to watch the series and I'm offering you to split the revenue evenly into half with the nobody. Would YOU do that? That's the same type of disparity that's going to happen between the top rated novel and the bottom rated novel of premium. Cheers!

                            My 2 cents:
                            Someone made a comparisson about the income of the translator and the income of an author (J.K.Rowling) and that is would not be enough for her if she got only 50.000$
                            But this comparisson is bullshit. No matter how much she makes i only have to pay 49,99 for the whole book with PERFECT translation into my language. Here you have to pay (thanks to the premium system) 200$ and more for alot of poor translations.

                            There were many ideas how Qidian could improve their premium system without losing readers or creating such an outrage. But Qidian outright ignored every idea. In such a case there is only 1 conclusion the reader can make:
                            Qidian doesn't care how long they will operate as long as they make as much money as possible.

                            natto well, books on kindle aren't being translated and continuously updated, so obviously, it cannot be compared directly. But there are hundreds of free books on kindle.

                                Barewolf
                                So tell me why netflix is a successful business?
                                There are tons of series and movies available at netflix and their grade and variety are diverse too.
                                and the subscription fee is an affordable price.

                                and about Brad Pitt reference , the audiences already paid a price. You can divide it according to performance or what ever. If the pay is not balancing out, you have to figure out yourself too. The dividing of profit is qidian's job, so you guys have to do it yourselves.

                                Premium SS system is weird/overpriced in many way as other peoples explained above.
                                fyi kindle subscription is 9.99 a month and you can choose over 1.4 million book (both good and bad).
                                netflix too 9.99 for a month, and you can see other web system like book lending etc around this price too.

                                Can kindle be free after I wait for them? Hell no.
                                But if you paid them you got what you deserve.
                                If you read my faulty calculation above,
                                I clearly stated I will have to spend 500 $(in 9 months) if I unlock 10 novel with ss.
                                If I just subscribe kindles or netflix for 9 months, I will have to spend only 100 $ for 9 months (or less)

                                Say I like to eat KFC Family set alone coz I love it so much. that doesn't mean I am willing to pay over 5 times of its price.

                                    Barewolf That Brad Pitt reference has nothing to do with a business model...
                                    The audience gets a price, e.g. theatre ticket and all the revenue has to pay for all the expenses. How the revenue gets split between producers, actors, staff is of no concern to the audience. Qidian has to handle the total revenue and pay the translators, authors, devs and so on. The only benefit of the current system is, that you can easily say which novels are the cash cows. But would they take off novels that aren't cash cows or rising stars? That would be the doom, because such platforms live of variety.
                                    If subscription wouldn't work here because of splitting problems, why does it work for netflix, amazon, and hundreds of other platforms? The total model has to be profitable not just a few novels.

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