Well. I read novels on wuxiaworld and gravitytranslations before qidian international came to be. I don't know about the whole incident of copyright and stealing novels and that's not even the point of my thread. I am a student with income, meaning I work parttime. So, I could afford one or two premium novels if I wanted to. Let's take library of heavens path for example. I happened to like that novel a lot. An average chapter of Library of heavens path costs 12 stones. The author releases about 15-17 chapters a week. So lets say he does an average of 16 chapters a week. 1612 = 192. Thats 192 spirit stones a week for LoHP. An average month has 4,34524 weeks. That's 834 spirit stones a month (rounded off). Right now 50 spirit stones cost 1$ (0.99 USD) 834/50 = ~ 16,5$
So keeping up with this one novel would cost you 16,5$ Dollars on average per month.
This calculation leaves out the 'bonus stones' but as these go to waste if you don't use them and as I don't know if the paid stones or bonus stones are used up first, i will not incorporate them. But even then, it won't make much of a difference. Let's say you buy 2500 stones for 50$ then you will get 750 bonus stones. 2500 paid stones amount to 208 chapters and the 750 bonus stones would amount to 62. Meaning you would pay 50$ for 270 chapters meaning one chapter would cost ~ 0.2$ IF THE BONUS STONES DONT GO TO WASTE first. I am not 100% sure but I believe that your paid stones are used first, so until you start to use the bonus stones they should have dwindled a lot. Now you could also account for the daily login bonus. Lets say you get 8 stones on average, each day. 30,58 = 244 244/12 = 20 chapters due to login bonus a month. BUT again, I don't know if you get to use them as you have to BUY paid stones in order to have a fluid reading experience and as said, i don't know which stones - paid or unpaid - get used first.
In the best case scenario - no bonus stones go to waste, you have 290 chapters LoHP if you pay 50$ and login daily. That's about 17 cent (0.17$) per chapter. 0.1716 = 2,7$ a week or 2,74,34524 = 12$.

No matter what, it doesn't get cheaper than that. 12$ a month for Library of Heavens Path is the best case scenario. I guess we are more at 14$ a month, realistically.

Next let's do Return that Witch (RTW)

Return that witch has an average cost of 7-8 stones per chapter. Out of goodwill we will use 7 stones a chapter in the calculation.
On average 14 - 16 chapters are released per week. So we will use 15 for the calculation.
157 = 105 stones a week 4,34524 = 456 spirit stones a month. 50 spirit stones = 1 USD
456 / 50 = 9,12$ per month to keep up with the novel (if you don't count bonus stones)
If you go by the most idealistic calculation again, where you incorporate daily login and bonus stones

you get 2500 (paid) + 750 (bonus) + 244 (830,5 =daily login) = 3494 spirit stones. That's 499 chapters for 50$ BEST CASE scenario. That makes rounded down 10 cents (0.10$) per chapter. Average release rate of 15/week = 150.1 = 1,5 USD a week or 6.52 USD a month for the novel, again if no spirit stones at all go to waste. I'd say 7,5 USD a month is realistical for Return that Witch.

Now, let's take a third popular novel. The Strongest System:

TSS has about 14 - 16 chapters a week, so we will take 15 chapters on average again. One chapter costs 7 - 8 spirit stones, so out of goodwill we will only calculate with 7 spirit stones per chapter. Funnily enough, the calculation is VERY similar to Return That Witch, so you could say both novels cost you roughly the same amount of money.

7.5 USD per month to keep up with 'The Strongest System' is realistical.

For the fourth and last novel we will take "The King's Avatar".

Release rate is 11-13 a week. So we will use 12 chapters a week for our calculation. Spirit stone cost is 10-11 per chapter. Because there's is almost a 50/50 ratio we will calculate 10.5 spirit stones per chapter.
50 spirit stones are 1 USD. 1210,5 = 126 spirit stones a week / 50 = 2,52 USD a week 4,34524 = ~11 USD a month (10.95) to keep up with the kings avatar. Now again, this calculation doesn't incorporate the bonus stones and daily login bonus.

Now, let's go with the best case scenario again. 3494 spirits stones (daily login, bonus stones all included) if you pay 50$ USD. That's (rounded up) 333 chapters for 50$ USD. That's makes 15 cent (0.15 USD) per chapter (rounded off).
12 chapters released per week 0.15$ = 1,8 USD per week 4,34524 = 7,83 USD per month for the novel BEST CASE scenario, where you log in daily and not even 1 spirit stone goes to waste and you buy the biggest amount of stones (50$ pack)
I'd say 9$ (USD) per month to keep up with "The King's Avatar" are realistical.

So, now, let's count together 14$+7,5$+7,5$+9$ = 39$
If you keep up with these four novels you pay ~38$ every month.

For me personally, reading fantasy novels online just isn't worth that money. But I am not an avid reader to begin with. From the first place reading these novels wasn't something I was proud of. For me it's a kind of escapism and running away from my life. So I think now is just a good point to stop altogether and look for more productive hobbies and put more effort into my studies and sports.

Now, to the pricing. Going by amazon standards. E-books with under 50.000 words are sold at max 3$ USD. So expensive e-books with 50.000 words cost about $3 USD maximum.

For Example: Library of Heaven's Path / Chapter 601: Finals (2) costs 13 spirit stones and has 2425 words in it. That's 186,54 words for 1 spirit stone. Meaning 1 USD is worth 9327 words (rounded up) of Library of Heavens Path. Meaning 3$ USD are worth 27981 words of Library of Heavens Path.

Right now, at max, a Game Of Thrones E-Book costs at max 7 USD (with no discount whatsoever). For example, the second one costs 6,91 USD and has 931 sites. An E-Book site comes with AT LEAST 250 words per site. That means you pay 6,91$ USD for 232750 words of Game of Thrones. That means 1 USD is worth 33683 words of Game of Thrones in E-Book form.
If it's expensive or not you, decide for yourself. I for my part, will stop reading online novels altogether and get on with my life. I am thankful for the hard work the authors and translators do and I think they should be compensated generously. It's very unfortunate that Qidian translators lost patreon.
I wish you best of luck guys, of course my calculations aren't a hundred percent accurate, but it should roughly get there and give you an idea how much it costs. Take care.

    Cruel So, now, let's count together 14$+7,5$+7,5$+9$ = 39$

    Of course that's a typo it's 38$

        Alright, to start with, spirit stones you buy never expire, the bonus that come with them do after 90 days. If you do everything to earn free ss a day, you can easily get 20 ss. When using ss on anything, the ss that will eventually expire is automatically used first. With the free ss you earn a day, you can easily keep caught up with one of the premium novels minimum. You can then just wait for the free chapters to be released, or you can support the translators by buying ss and buying their premium chapters. Either choice is fine. Keep in mind, you are getting a product for free, getting an advance on that product may cost you, but there really is nothing unfair about that, as it is indeed a service.

          I just saw that this site doesn't accept the multiplication symbol, don't let it confuse you. *

            litarius I never deemed it 'unfair' I just did some rough calculations. I just deduced that for myself personally, the service isn't worth the amount of money it costs.

                Cruel I understand, just wanted to clear any misconceptions. Just keep in mind you can easily (and for free) keep up with at least 1 premium novel while getting the rest for free at 1 chapter increments. You don't have to pay if you don't want to :)

                  Cruel Thanks for the calculation. The system will deduct the most recent expired SS first. In addition, all purchased SS will be never expire. It means bonus SS will be consumed first in any case.

                  As for daily bonus SS. You can actually get roughly 7-12 SS by checkin; another 7 -12 SS by watching an reward Ads on App; 10 by votes (5 from power stone and 5 from energy stone). In the worst case, it could be 24 SS being given. It is more than enough to catch up to a premium title. (Maybe not all, like IM usually releases 3 premium chapters and each chapter costs roughly 11 SS)

                  Premium for Free Program will unlock 1 chapter from premium to public on a daily basis. Your SS consumption plan is quite important if you are not buying any SS.

                  Let's look at the Patreon system. Usually people will pay $5 for 3-5 chapters in advance. (even far less than that in many cases). Some translators require upfront payment which gives does not give readers a guarantee of updates. If people are fine with reading normal releases for free instead of reading advanced chapters, the PFF is 100% the same thing.

                  Some people complained that there is no way to stop if you have begun reading premium chapters but it is the same thing with Patreon.

                  Some people complain about the cost. But we are not like fan translators who monetize translations through Patreon solely. We need to share the revenues among authors, translators, editors, and one important party - transaction channels (Google Play and Apple take 30% of SS sales from the very beginning)

                  Comparing a single translator who never shares revenue with other parties, and even never needs to pay for license with a formal business is quite pointless.

                      +1 to the student who started this post.
                      I'm pretty conservative with regards to using my credit card online, and where I use it. While I'm happy to see a website make money off me using ad revenue, I will not pay for stories online. Certainly this site is competing against other similar translation sites that do not charge.
                      If you don't like the SS model, vote with your feet.
                      I'll also add that I'm leaning more towards abandoning this site. I have note that, contrary to translator's promises, some stories are not releasing a free chapter daily. To me, this indicates the end of this site as a free-story provider (a meager allowance of 12 SS/day isn't going to attract me to this site for long).

                      WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL Have you considered simply adopting a subscription plan, akin to Netflix/Spotify, and many other e-book and audiobook sites? The whole spirit stone system is not used much in the west for a good reason. With the current pricing structure, and more novels going premium, I could easily see myself spend upwards of 3 digits a month just to keep up, at which point I will simply either stop or find free alternatives. Which is exactly your main competition. Free pirate sites will always be your main competitor, and the more you charge people, the more will simply leave. The reason why Netflix/HBO/xxx has so many subscribers is because they offer a better product and convenience compared to simply pirating it. There is a reason why they charge 10-15 dollars, because if they charged more, they lose a lot of the "mid level" customers. Something you will end up doing down the line. Currently it is still fine, but what about when more and more go premium? It is simply not a sustainable business model within the western market.

                          Zogarth1337
                          I'm inclined to agree with your argument. To put it simply: if ads is not sustainable, and the cost of following multiple novels with premium model is too high, then why not go for the subscription, all-you-can-read model?

                            WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL

                            I hope you understand that I don't mean to bash you. I do understand, that as a business, you need to make money to keep to wheel running. But for me as a casual reader stopping altogether is the more logical choice rather than spend money for something that's not really a big hobby of mine and doesn't do anything productive for my life. I was reading exactly because it was free as just a way to occupy myself. I think that some people like me are out there who will feel in a similar way. Well, all that said I do think your solution isn't all that bad. I am very interested how this site will evolve and whether it will survive in the long run. Even if I stopped reading chinese novels I do think you culture is great and enrichens people all around the globe.

                              This 100%. I have not seen the free one a day chapters for many of the novels going premium. I do plan on voting with my feet. (Bye, everyone!)

                              I would be willing to pay something akin to a netflix model. Netflix is 10 bucks a month which includes hosting large amounts of high quality content and original work. There is no way that I would pay 5-7 dollars per "premium" novel per month by comparison.

                              While I appreciate the hard work that authors and translators put into the work and appreciate the difficulty in running a site, the value is just not there when compared to other entertainment mediums.

                                Fenixrock I agree with this completely. I personally won't pay above a certain amount for an individual novel. 5-7 dollars per novel a month is in itself a ridiculous price if you consider what you can get elsewhere, the cost of following a premium novel isn't worth it when you can go onto other sites for similar content for either free or a single subscription cost of 10-15 which makes it much more worth my while even if some of these sites have to be searched for, I would rather waste the time than waste my money. With the argument of being able to follow a single premium for free if you get all the free SS still doesn't make it viable and waiting for free chapters is basically pointless because most of them have pretty much given up on that and don't release a free chapter within a few weeks. I will continue to read up till where the premium is on what novels I have liked, however I refuse to pay for something at a price it isn't worth.

                                  And here is the adjusted calculation for everything:

                                  Library of Heavens Path
                                  An average chapter of Library of heavens path costs 12 stones. The author releases about 15-17 chapters a week. So lets say he does an average of 16 chapters a week. 1612 = 192. Thats 192 spirit stones a week for LoHP. An average month has 4,34524 weeks. This means per month Library of Heavens Path costs you 834,3 spirit stones on average.
                                  You buy 2500 SS for 50$ leaving you with 3250 SS (bonus stones included)
                                  As you said "As for daily bonus SS. You can actually get roughly 7-12 SS by checkin; another 7 -12 SS by watching an reward Ads on App; 10 by votes (5 from power stone and 5 from energy stone). In the worst case, it could be 24 SS being given." So let's say you get on average 10 SS for check-in and 10 SS for watching Ads + 5 for powerstone and + 5 for energy stone. Meaning you have a stable income of 30 Spiritstones per day. 30                                  30,42(Average Month) = You will receive 913 SS per average month for free if you do all thing possible, diligently each and every day.
                                  To make this calculation as precise as possible we are going to find out how long we can sustain the novel with paid SS and bonus SS only. 3250 / 834,3 = 3,9 Months Which means 117 days. 3250 SS (50$) will sustain the novel for 117 days in these 117 days you will gather 30 free SS on average per day which leaves you with [117*30] 3510 SS. This means you will be able to read LoHP for ~ 233 days with 50$ if you ONLY read this single premium novel.
                                  These 233 days would equate to 533 chapters of LoHP. Meaning you would have spent 50$ for 533 chapters. That leaves you with 9.4 cents per chapter (0.0938 USD). Since ~70 chapters are released per month on average, that would leave you with a cost of 6,52 USD per month if you take full advantage of all possibilities to earn free SS.
                                  This will last for 233 dasy, or 7,66 months until you run out of all spirit stones. HOWEVER in this calculation we concentrated ALL our resources (SS) on the single novel LoHP. If you read additional novels during this time you will have to pay the full price, only having paid SS and bonus SS to use for it.

                                  Now we are going to add in "Return that Witch" again:
                                  Return that witch has an average cost of 7-8 stones per chapter. Out of goodwill we will use 7 stones a chapter in the calculation.
                                  On average 14 - 16 chapters are released per week. So we will use 15 for the calculation.
                                  157 = 105 stones a week 4,34524 = 456 spirit stones a month.
                                  We bought SS on stock - only the best deal - 50$ with the most SS.
                                  Meaning we have 3250 SS for 50$ for the novel.
                                  3250 / 456 = 50$ will sustain the novel for 7,13 months. 50/ 7,13 = 7,012 ~ 7 USD for this novel per month.

                                  Now we will pitch in The Strongest system again:
                                  TSS has about 14 - 16 chapters a week, so we will take 15 chapters on average again. One chapter costs 7 - 8 spirit stones, so out of goodwill we will only calculate with 7 spirit stones per chapter. Funnily enough, the calculation is VERY similar to Return That Witch, so you could say both novels cost you roughly the same amount of money.
                                  So we buy 3250 SS for 50 USD again which will sustain the novel for 7,13 months and cost 7 USD per month.

                                  And last but not least " The Kings Avatar" again.
                                  Release rate is 11-13 a week. So we will use 12 chapters a week for our calculation. Spirit stone cost is 10-11 per chapter. Because there's is almost a 50/50 ratio we will calculate 10.5 spirit stones per chapter.
                                  We buy 50$ again which gives us 3250 SS 1210,5 = 126 SS a week for the novel 4,34524 = 547,5 SS for this novel per month. 3250 / 547,5 = 5,94 This means 50$ will sustain this novel for 5,94 months 5,94 with an average cost of 8,42$ per month.

                                  To the conclusion:
                                  IF YOU USE ALL ADVANTAGES FOR FREE SS EVERDAY AND EACH DAY FOR 7 MONTHS
                                  IF YOU PAY 200$ up front [50$4] and receive all bonus SS [4750 =3000 ]
                                  In this case, following all 4 of these novels will cost you:
                                  6,52 + 7 + 7 + 8,42 = 28,94 USD per month.
                                  I dare to say that this calculation is VERY accurate with the amount of data I have.

                                  Now. Something that interests me:
                                  LoHP costs 6,52 USD a month if you put all free SS into it.
                                  "An average chapter of Library of heavens path costs 12 stones. The author releases about 15-17 chapters a week. So lets say he does an average of 16 chapters a week. 1612 = 192. Thats 192 spirit stones a week for LoHP. An average month has 4,34524 weeks. That's 834 spirit stones a month (rounded off)"
                                  We have the 3250 SS for 50$. If you only use paid SS and bonus SS this will amount to reading LoHP for 3,897 months. 50$ / 3,897 = 12,8304 ~ 12,83 USD per month if you don't use free SS (bonus SS excluded on it)
                                  With free SS it only costed 6,52 USD a month. 12,83 - 6,52 = 6,31 USD a month. If you gather all free spirit stones each and every day (30SS on average per day) it will grant you a budget of 6,31 USD. You can use these 6,31 USD to reduce any novels cost per month or split this up on more than one novel. Nonetheless the free SS will reduce your monthly total expenses for novels by 6,31 USD (rounded). Damn, calculating this was pretty fun even though I am a majoring in Law.
                                  Well, this calculation should be really accurate for a non-professional. So most novels on QI should cost you 7-12$ month (those free SS - 6,31 USD per month for your free use excluded).
                                  I hope you liked it, I certainly enjoyed it.

                                    If you read one chapter per day and don’t unlock any premium titles then you won't have any issue at all. It is just we have been spoiled with multiple chapters per day for free and the locked premium chapters dangling in front of us is too tempting. Just read more novels slowly instead of a few quickly and there are no issues and everything is affordable for everyone. Ok so it's only 365 a year but eventually it will be fully released

                                      Could you guys please tell me which premium novels are not giving any daily free chapters?

                                        And here is the adjusted calculation for everything:

                                        Library of Heavens Path
                                        An average chapter of Library of heavens path costs 12 stones. The author releases about 15-17 chapters a week. So lets say he does an average of 16 chapters a week. 16 multiplied by 12 = 192. Thats 192 spirit stones a week for LoHP. An average month has 4,34524 weeks. This means per month Library of Heavens Path costs you 834,3 spirit stones on average.
                                        You buy 2500 SS for 50$ leaving you with 3250 SS (bonus stones included)
                                        As you said "As for daily bonus SS. You can actually get roughly 7-12 SS by checkin; another 7 -12 SS by watching an reward Ads on App; 10 by votes (5 from power stone and 5 from energy stone). In the worst case, it could be 24 SS being given." So let's say you get on average 10 SS for check-in and 10 SS for watching Ads + 5 for powerstone and + 5 for energy stone. Meaning you have a stable income of 30 Spiritstones per day. 30 multiplied by 30,42(Average Month) = You will receive 913 SS per average month for free if you do all thing possible, diligently each and every day.
                                        To make this calculation as precise as possible we are going to find out how long we can sustain the novel with paid SS and bonus SS only. 3250 / 834,3 = 3,9 Months Which means 117 days. 3250 SS (50$) will sustain the novel for 117 days in these 117 days you will gather 30 free SS on average per day which leaves you with [117 multiplied by 30] 3510 SS. This means you will be able to read LoHP for ~ 233 days with 50$ if you ONLY read this single premium novel.
                                        These 233 days would equate to 533 chapters of LoHP. Meaning you would have spent 50$ for 533 chapters. That leaves you with 9.4 cents per chapter (0.0938 USD). Since ~70 chapters are released per month on average, that would leave you with a cost of 6,52 USD per month if you take full advantage of all possibilities to earn free SS.
                                        This will last for 233 dasy, or 7,66 months until you run out of all spirit stones. HOWEVER in this calculation we concentrated ALL our resources (SS) on the single novel LoHP. If you read additional novels during this time you will have to pay the full price, only having paid SS and bonus SS to use for it.

                                        Now we are going to add in "Return that Witch" again:
                                        Return that witch has an average cost of 7-8 stones per chapter. Out of goodwill we will use 7 stones a chapter in the calculation.
                                        On average 14 - 16 chapters are released per week. So we will use 15 for the calculation.
                                        157 = 105 stones a week 4,34524 = 456 spirit stones a month.
                                        We bought SS on stock - only the best deal - 50$ with the most SS.
                                        Meaning we have 3250 SS for 50$ for the novel.
                                        3250 / 456 = 50$ will sustain the novel for 7,13 months. 50/ 7,13 = 7,012 ~ 7 USD for this novel per month.

                                        Now we will pitch in The Strongest system again:
                                        TSS has about 14 - 16 chapters a week, so we will take 15 chapters on average again. One chapter costs 7 - 8 spirit stones, so out of goodwill we will only calculate with 7 spirit stones per chapter. Funnily enough, the calculation is VERY similar to Return That Witch, so you could say both novels cost you roughly the same amount of money.
                                        So we buy 3250 SS for 50 USD again which will sustain the novel for 7,13 months and cost 7 USD per month.

                                        And last but not least " The Kings Avatar" again.
                                        Release rate is 11-13 a week. So we will use 12 chapters a week for our calculation. Spirit stone cost is 10-11 per chapter. Because there's is almost a 50/50 ratio we will calculate 10.5 spirit stones per chapter.
                                        We buy 50$ again which gives us 3250 SS 12 multiplied by 10,5 = 126 SS a week for the novel multiplied by 4,34524 = 547,5 SS for this novel per month. 3250 / 547,5 = 5,94 This means 50$ will sustain this novel for 5,94 months with an average cost of 8,42$ per month.

                                        To the conclusion:
                                        IF YOU USE ALL ADVANTAGES FOR FREE SS EVERDAY AND EACH DAY FOR 7 MONTHS
                                        IF YOU PAY 200$ up front [50$ multiplied by 4] and receive all bonus SS [4 multiplied by 750 =3000 ]
                                        In this case, following all 4 of these novels will cost you:
                                        6,52 + 7 + 7 + 8,42 = 28,94 USD per month.
                                        I dare to say that this calculation is VERY accurate with the amount of data I have.

                                        Now. Something that interests me:
                                        LoHP costs 6,52 USD a month if you put all free SS into it.
                                        "An average chapter of Library of heavens path costs 12 stones. The author releases about 15-17 chapters a week. So lets say he does an average of 16 chapters a week. 16 multiplied by 12 = 192. Thats 192 spirit stones a week for LoHP. An average month has 4,34524 weeks. That's 834 spirit stones a month (rounded off)"
                                        We have the 3250 SS for 50$. If you only use paid SS and bonus SS this will amount to reading LoHP for 3,897 months. 50$ / 3,897 = 12,8304 ~ 12,83 USD per month if you don't use free SS (bonus SS excluded on it)
                                        With free SS it only costed 6,52 USD a month. 12,83 - 6,52 = 6,31 USD a month. If you gather all free spirit stones each and every day (30SS on average per day) it will grant you a budget of 6,31 USD. You can use these 6,31 USD to reduce any novels cost per month or split this up on more than one novel. Nonetheless the free SS will reduce your monthly total expenses for novels by 6,31 USD (rounded) if you do it each and every day of the month on average. Damn, calculating this was pretty fun even though I am a majoring in Law.
                                        Well, this calculation should be really accurate for a non-professional. So most novels on QI should cost you 7-12$ month (those free SS - 6,31 USD per month for your free use excluded).
                                        I hope you liked it, I certainly enjoyed it.

                                        Qnumbra
                                        If you have the patience then that's good but I would rather go on with my life and just end with the story rather than doing things halfway.

                                            Qnumbra If a novel has more than 1500 chapters which the majority does, as a free reader it will take something between 4 to 5 years for the novel to be finished. If you actually paid for the premium chapters this time would be reduced by half or more, if they release 2 chapters a day for premium as some novels already do.
                                            The speed they are delivering the chapters for everyone is what we were getting years ago for free.
                                            They call this a professional translation but both the quality and quantity of chapters they release is incomparable to some fan translations done in the past .

                                              Cruel Thanks for crunching the numbers. Your calculations line up with my back of the napkin math. I figured about 7 bucks a novel per month on average. I just don't see how this is anything close to a reasonable price given what else is available.

                                                Web Novel Novel Ask