• Suggestions

  • Translator anouncements concerning premium need to change

In my experience translators don't do an effective job of communicating what premium is, what it means and when it's coming. Most people also aren't on the forums. As such all translators should receive a paint by numbers announcement and have to run it for a set number of releases/days before a shift to the premium system. I think this will alleviate some of the push back that has come with premium.

Basically:
"(X novel) will be shifting to our premium system on (date time and timezone). We understand that this isn't popular but it's what we need to do to survive. With this change you can expect an initial mass release of (X) premium chapters and (X) free chapters. Going forward their will be (X) premium chapters released every [day/week/month] and (X) premium chapters converted to free each [day/week/month]."

at this point I'd like to make another request, since chapters converting from premium to free don't have notifications and that they are always going to be chapters that exist before hand make releases automatic at a standardized time. An example " the 7 free chapters converted per week will be release daily at 12am est" that is unless a notification system is implemented for chapters going free.

    Gustav_P Some translators don't want their projects to go premium, but they won't be given a choice. I imagine these translators will be more likely to attempt to explain the system to their readers, but less likely to sound so supportive of the message. I think one translator mentioned that they weren't given much notice about the transition to premium either. Also, from some end of chapter notes, it appears the translators/editors are also not perfectly clear about how premium works. This confusion has likely been largely cleared up, but there may still be some lingering confusion especially since not all translators attended the staff debriefing of the premium system.

        "they won't be given a choice".you wrong there, they always have choice,, the question is, what choice they chose? They already know what this system, they sign in its mean they accept it.. its not they don't have choice. but they agree with this premium system. just an idiot thinking translator "don't have a choice"..

          Volko098 No they don't have a choice. The novels are owned by Qidian and they are paid to translate the novel, bounded by a contract. If the higher ups decide that novel will go premium, translators don't have a choice

              Tbh i'm just waiting for pirate sites to start hosting premium chapters, or until Qidian puts in a subcription service where you can read all premium chapters for X amount per month.

              People claim it wouldn't work, which is crap, this pay per view model is the thing that won't work, there are many subcription services throughout the entertainment industry that work, while this pay per view model is something newer, 10 cents per chapter when you follow like 10 novels is just excessive.

                Volko098 I guess you don't know how qidian start this whole webnovel business.
                They force translator from other site to translate for them and take the previously translated chapter, or the translator would face legal suit because qidian own the original chinese novel. They got no choice whatsoever now on how the translated content being published. Basically just an ordinary worker, whatever product they made would be under the qidian ownership.

                Mute yup, me too, waiting till this ship crash in about 3-5 months. pay per view usually are for some one-time thing, some exclusive thing. pay-per-chapter for is too expensive, netflix do subscription service, and they do well, very well.

                      Volko098 https://www.patreon.com/posts/17123408

                      Fine, they have a choice to quit translating. Would you prefer no updates to paywalled updates?
                      Translators stand to lose more than 70% of their previous income since only non expiring SS count toward their compensation from Qidian, and most of their Patreon subscribers no longer have an incentive to remain subscribed.

                          Mute i agree to disagree i actually like this system rather than the subscription fee for month since if its subscription fee youll really need to pay first before you read while in this pay spirit stone per chapter is actually much cheaper or could i say free at all since all i need to do is make an account exclusively for that book and im able to read all the premium chapter and i can even save spirit stone and money through this.. its also a win win situation for you and for qidian you read there book theyll get their spirit stone everybody happy

                          • Mute replied to this.

                              asaadeiras I read quite a few novels here so it certainly isn't cheaper for me, and the hassle of managing multiple accounts isn't worth it.

                              They should do a subscription service alongside this crappy spirit stone service, spirit stones can be gained for free quite easily for those reading only a couple of novels so i can't imagine they're earning much through this premium service.

                                  Mute And it's quite a heavy burden for readers with bunch of novels on their library that mostly will become premium in the future.

                                      Lomacris "bounded by a contract", it's mean they read the contract, right? they already know the condition and signing it..its mean they have choice, to sign or not. or you would say TL forcefully sign the contract? When they sign, TL already bounded as QI staff.. not third party anymore.

                                          Volko098 At the time when they signed the contract, they didn't know premium would happen. Are you saying that they should forfeit their current income since the usage of their product has changed? Would you stop working for your company if they suddenly jacked up the prices of their products or made it more difficult to access, then failed to provide you explanations on how you can explain it to customers?
                                          If they back out of the contract now and go back to fan translations, they're liable for copyright lawsuits. See how messy the Qidian vs Wuxia World dispute got.
                                          Many fan translators were discouraged from continuing their translations without a contract with Qidian since it would breach international copyright law.

                                            Volko098
                                            @TargetPractice1 @Lomacris

                                            it's amazing how lots of new account just pop out and star 'defending' on qidian's behalf.

                                            GregLuck They force translator from other site to translate for them and take the previously translated chapter, or the translator would face legal suit because qidian own the original chinese novel. They got no choice whatsoever now on how the translated content being published. Basically just an ordinary worker, whatever product they made would be under the qidian ownership.

                                                  GregLuck That's really a very strong allegation. Qidian has/had invited translators to translate for them. Some agreed, some didn't. Those that didn't agree haven't been sued or anything, have they? What happened in the end? Qidian didn't manage to buy their chapters and had to hire another translator to translate all the chapters that they were unable to acquire.

                                                  The publishing of translated content is done by the translators until the Premium Program. Why the control after Premium? It's to ensure that the chapters from the Premium Program is on time and that Premium chapters don't flood the market too much. Some translators might be busy and forget to publish it at the correct time. All sorts of reasons. As the Premium Program is still in its infancy, more control is taken for the time being. In the future, the control will be returned to translators to do mass releases.

                                                  Also, I'm warning you not to suggest any piracy (in another thread). You will be banned if you do it again.

                                                      CKtalon
                                                      so why do my post get deleted again? I clearly don't suggest any piracy.

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