Webnovel.Forum

Everyone always wants to use Harry Potter. When Harry Potter first came out (If I remember correctly) the first book was around $16 + tax, was basically $20 after all was said and done. The second and third were the same price and it got more expensive for the fourth through seventh up to $30. Dont quote those exact numbers, but we will use $20 USD for the sake of the debate.

First Book - 76,944 words
Second Book - 85,141 words
Third Book - 107,253 words
Fourth Book - 190, 637 words
Fifth Book - 257, 045 words
Sixth Book - 168,923 words
Seventh Book - 198,227 words
Grand Total = 1,084,170 words, $20 x 7 = $140.

Now if Harry Potter has 1 million words for all their books at a price of $140 at release can someone tell me what x3 that amount would be for a story like BTTH that has 3 million?

Not a math teacher but it looks like if you tripled 1 million to reach the same amount of words the price would need to be tripled as well and that looks to be $420 for an equal amount of words. Let's say we don't be reasonable and use the release prices of the books. I can pick up the entire E-Book set of the books for $56 + Tax. So $60, let's do the same math. 1 million words x3 to equal BTTH. $60 x 3 = $180.

Twilight I can pick up for $40 for the E-Books. Word Count of all books 591,434. 600k goes into 3 Million 5 times. 5 x $40 = $200.

The prices really aren't that far apart, sure the translated books cost a bit more but there are more people to pay too. Had you used the original pricing of these books they blow the cost comparison right out of the water. And even though some of these books may be complete in China they might as well be a new release for the rest of us.

Gamblejay

Pricing on word count is just to iffy and that’s why no professional books are.

If one wanted to argue word count hell I’d throw game of thrones into the mix at 300-400k a piece for $8 and these are professionally edited by the industry best and story quality that it desired 5 seasons on hbo. Granted library of heaven is one of the best I’ve read edited but others are mediocre at best (also translated). That and given the original story the publisher values at less than 1 cent a page.

Normal economics would take best sellers in the Chinese market and then they would invest in a translation and sell them in the US. He’ll qidan would even sell them to amazon, Barnes nobles and other ebook vendors. Now however they are trying to profit by keeping everything in house and raising the price several times over. Imagine a year from now what the library of heavens total readership will cumulative be, it will dwarf in comparison to the upfront costs they are shelling out to convert it to English.

I don't care about prices but at least 50% of this money must go to the original author.

Gamblejay thanks for the eye opener fellow immortal

CJofNJ It's cheaper per month than Patreon, so I think it's definitely better for paying readers. For free readers, they can still keep reading one or two premium novels with free stones, so as long as they're patient, I don't think they have a lot to justifiably complain about. (It's worth noting that translators and editors are like regular readers for any novels we don't work on; we still have to pay.)

Playeone Personally, I think people need to learn moderation. Reading 50 novels daily leaves little time for anything else. Keeping up with a few premium novels and letting the rest stockpile free chapters to read at a later date is easily affordable. It also leaves time for people to do other things than just read all day. :sweat_smile:

Millman97 Keeping up with a few premium novels and letting the rest stockpile free chapters to read at a later date is easily affordable

this is what most of them don't understand. I think that when they see the premium chapters that are locked, they think they are losing out so they throw a tantrum.

CJofNJ The problem is you are applying Western views to the matter. Qidian isn't a Western company and in China their books are based on word count. The actual worth of a book is subjective I'd say based on their standards the Song of Ice and Fire is a damn good deal then. I still find the entire series both books and TV absolute crap and wouldn't pay a dime for them while I would have no problem throwing money at IRAS every month. Again, subjective.

Normal economics? Authors for Qidian can do extremely well just on their own. I think the top author makes like 70k+ in Royalties a Month? When they are making that kind of money with their system for what reason do they have to follow the western path of finding a Publication company to sell your book to when even Westerners don't want to go through a Publisher anymore? And Amazon? You get a 10 times better deal with Qidian far as payment and royalties go not to mention promotion. So them keeping things in-house, their pricing seems to be doing quite well for them.

I mean me personally if it works, don't fix it.

Im not sure in the future, but average novel is still more expensive than qidian ss price, plus you can still get free SS eveeyday

My experience gives me around 25ss per day, thats a 5.000 words free of charge, just spending times

When you are in roma do as they do. Not do as you are home.

Gamblejay Ebook new release prices should be the standard, but if that's the case, I want each chapter to have two editors and a proofreader go through them.
If we're using hard cover new release prices, then I had better get a physical copy of a 99.99% error free version of the novel.

My biggest personal gripe about the system is that the current system favors whales and free users, while low spenders see the least benefit. If that wasn't the case, I might have thrown a couple dollars in for the heck of it.
If they end up allowing direct donations of SS to authors/translators/editors, I'd be happy to throw some real money at them, but otherwise the cost per chapter is far too much for the quality of some translations and if I ever stop paying, then I'm stuck waiting weeks, months, or even years for the pff chapters to catch up.

Everyone is like "It's cheaper than physical media!" and "You can still get 1-2 books for free."

But the problem is that Qidian's competitors offer better deals on all levels.

Wuxiaworld and Gravity Tales are free. Japanese light novels are translated all over for free. American novels are available for $10 for all you can read on Kindle. Meanwhile Qidian is trying to sell me 100,000 words (about a longer length english novel) for $10, and I have to wait for it to be delivered in pieces over a month.

I can read a book a day, easily. I could do 100k words in an afternoon. Assuming that I read that much, Qidian would charge me $300 a month to read all I want. Amazon charges $10. Wuxiaworld and other translation sites charge $0. Qidian just loses out to the competition.

The only reasons to keep reading premium books is if you really care about that specific story or if you want to support the author. Even if you want to support the translation teams, they almost all have patreon, and that way your money goes to who you want it to go to, and not into Qidian's pockets.

Gamblejay actually the whole system of pricing based on words seems iffy to me from the start. If the writers can get more money from bulls*%tting then of course they would do so. But that doesn’t mean the story is better. That’s like asking to pay more for fillers. Who likes fillers? I’d rather read 200 pages of important events than 300 pages of filler. Take naruto for example. Did anyone like that second half of the anime (not shippuden)? Or the bleach fillers? This system only cares about squeezing as much money out of the fans as possible by prolonging the story needlessly and lowers quality for profit. This doesn’t inspire loyalty from fans like other novels.

One thing that you all forget is the chapters sooner or later would be unlocked. And all those calculations of your would be nulled. In the end. That cost is just exploiting thr impatient nature of human. As long as you're impatient, you have to pay. Like cost-quality-time production triangle.
And dont forget. Even harry potter is sold for 40$ or whatever. Every books you buy would be paid to the author/translator/bookstore etc. It amounts the same as lifetime investment as long as the book is printed/listed on amazon etc.
But looking at the current situation. When all the chapters are fully released, the translator, author or even qidian itself would be earning shit. Not a single penny.

Krazyguy75 And yet when you do so those teams don't cut a check to the author. The person who literally created the content for you to enjoy misses out.

You speak like cutting Qidian out makes people freedom fighters but without Qidian that story may not have even seen the light of day. When you say things like "I just want to support the TL" you are forgetting all the other cogs in the wheel that made the story possible. Most TL's didn't do anything special but break Copyright most of the time and profit from it on their own.

First off Amazon has a different set up. The royalties are trash. You choose between 35% to sell to whoever with a region fee or 70% and you're region locked and you pay a fee based on size. Not only that but when an author makes their book prime available they already know they are taking a loss. A Amazon Prime book doesnt make hardly anything, youre getting dimes on the dollar. Authors choose it for Marketing purpose knowing its going to be a loss unless people decide to purchase it again at full price. Its why you see the first, rarely second book with prime and the rest of the series isnt. Gee, its almost like they give you free chapters for part of the book and then require you pay... sound familiar?

WW doesn't pay their teams even close to what Qidian does as a whole. And Japan is still structured on publication houses, they release their books to gain a following and then most are taken down if/when they get signed.

Everyone needs to quit comparing Apples to Oranges and shouting Eureka! Like they just proved the Earth is flat.

UnderTaker26 Completely subjective and not a baseline for anything. I like fillers when they are good. I've enjoyed certain fillers all the way back when Dragon Ball Z was on Toonami. I enjoy IRAS fillers.

So no not everyone hates them, some people like the fluff. It may not inspire loyalty from you but some of us don't mind. If my favorite story wants to pump out some fillers I'm fine with it. Everyone's gotta eat.

N0xiety All forms of entertainment follow this. Eastern, Western. It's a good business model. Anime, Manga, Webnovels, TV Series. I can point them all out in Asia, US, Euro, South America and so on and so on.

The idea of fillers isn't just limited to Chinese Webnovels. They just put emphasis on it and it works well for them.

Ohh yeah his is quite a mess hahaha

Krazyguy75 honest question, gravity tales and wuxia werld pay author their royalty?

Fuhrer They just buy the copyrights from the publishers. It's upto the publisher as to how the money's split I guess.

Playeone
I left for a while and I was not reading. Imagine my surprise when I calculated how much it's going to cost just to read my favorite novels. It's a shame but am curious to see how long they will be able to keep this up.

FalseAngel Sure just like in China they dont have to go to Qidian, just like I don't have to watch Dragon Ball Super via DISH or Cable. There are other ways to view these things.

You do it to support everyone behind the project because that's what being a fan is about. It doesn't make someone less of a fan for not doing it but this is the platform who has made it all happen. You don't have to like their prices, you don't have to like the company. But like them or not they are the reason these stories exist and whom the original authors have picked to sign with.

Oxy I think this "Oxy" account is dedicated to defend qidian on all obvious bullshitteries everyone finds fault for, instead of taking account the opinions of the customers and adjust accordingly and improve the app to increase its market...

WayneSteine might be qidian staff/brother/mother/house mate/dog next house account holder maybe to handle this forum

Gamblejay It's just not worth paying the author, unfortunately. Not because the other doesn't deserve credit for his work but because they really aren't that high quality, comparably. They stall way too much, going for quantity over quality. If I'm reading chinese novels, it's because I want to read something for free. They just aren't worth paying for when I could spend my money elsewhere on better books.

As for Kindle, yes, that is true that a lot of books aren't on there. I concede that point. But it still is cheaper, and if I can drop 3 novels here for going premium (which I did), I'd have no qualms about picking up a book and not continuing with the series. But more likely, I'd just go to other free translation sites.

Your main point sounds to be "Authors miss out if you don't go with qidian". To which I respond: I didn't plan to pay for books, so either way they miss out. Either I don't pay them and read their books for free, or I go elsewhere, don't pay them, and read someone else's books for free. They aren't losing money, they just aren't making it.

You can call it immoral or callous, but the reason I read these is because they are free. If I want to pay for books, I go to goodreads and look at reviews before buying it at Barnes and Nobles or off Amazon. These just aren't good enough to compare to fully released bestsellers.

Krazyguy75 And there is nothing wrong with just wanting to read free. The stories for now still provide free chapters and no one is forcing anyone to pay. But to say the stories aren't good is like I've pointed out before subjective.

The issue I have is when people start making countless threads and posts where they bash Qidian, bash the novel, bash the pricing, bash the TL... And yet they are still here on these forums. If you're so unhappy why stay here? If you don't like the stories, don't like the quality, don't like the pricing then maybe it's time to move on.

Having an opinion whether you agree or don't agree with something is one thing. But there are a few people who take this waaaay too far for people who dislike so much here. Their attitudes are like me going to a Justin Beiber forum and doing nothing but talk trash. It would be pathetic and quite frankly very sad.

Gamblejay I am personally staying because I actually care, and want the webnovel industry to succeed. And with the current way that Qidan is doing it, I honestly doubt it will. I am appalled that they did not just make a subscription system of some kind, and instead made this mobile-like micro-transaction system. This is the western market, not China, and we have come to accept subscription services, but there is still heavy resistance to a system like Qidans. A lot of people do like the stories, and they do like the quality, but they don't like the pricing. And, once again, Qidans main competitor is still not western novels, or even WW, but piracy. The more difficult/expensive they make the legitimate system of acquiring the novels, the more people will choose to read elsewhere. People want to keep up with the novels, and they will find ways to do it, be it piracy, multiple accounts, sharing chapters etc. I don't believe that charging 15 bucks a month wont lead to a sustainable business. I would be willing to pay that. But I am not willing to pay 15 bucks a novel per month to keep up with. That value proposition is simply preposterous. Can I afford it? Yes, Can I justify spending that much on it? No.

Tybork Where do you get 20 free stone everyday? the majority of mine when check-in ranged form 7-10, which isn't even equivalent to a chapter of Library of heaven!

Klipsi from vote energy stone and power stone. if you use the app you can watch ads to get ss at random from 0-7 or something idk

Gamblejay some ppl like me,want to see world burning .. wink wink

Klipsi
Check in: 7-15 SS
Watch Ad for SS: 7-15 SS
Vote new books: 5 SS
Power Stone Vote: 5 SS
Pretty much we get 20+ SS per day.

Zogarth1337 Don't lump all Westerners in together, I don't mind the system at all. And many others don't either. People who don't have an issue aren't going to be as vocal as the ones who do. I ignored the forums for quite a while till I started getting bored while working.

First thing though, do you honestly believe that pirating is worse in the West compared to the East? While I love things about China they were and most likely still are the number one country in the world for piracy. This is nothing new for the company and yet they still make enough money to pay their teams top dollar.

No one knows except for those with Qidian on whether their prices will stick or not. They have hinted several times that they see numbers increasing, truthful or not who knows. But make no mistake, just like WW, Amazon, Fan fiction and now even Royalroadl with their Author Premium soon to release, they are all a business who are about making money one way or the other. If it's not sustainable you'll see a price drop and know you were right. Otherwise you'll see more premiums and know you're the minority.

Please guys give this systems chance because the total of premium chapter has not yet reach thousands chapters right ? Maybe they will implement something that will make these chapter more affordable or maybe they will release it as an ebook ....

just crate multiple account/..problem solved

Tertium You’re being too naive. If we don’t say something now why would they change later? At the rate they’re going all the webnovels will go premium and reaching 1000 premium chaps is only a matter of time. They release anywhere from 1-4 premium chaps a day and we’re lucky to get 1 free chapter a day if even. I know monster paradise doesn’t even give even 1 free chapter a day after going premium. My greatest worry is that is that qi would block the later part of the story indefinitely unless you pay ss. Webnovels just aren’t worth investing into because they sacrifice quality for quantity in wordcount which while works for the east just doesn’t seem to fit in the west and I don’t want that mentality to stick either or others might start copying it and lower the quality of literature as a whole I’m probably being an alarmist with that last remark but that doesn’t change the veracity of what I said. Even if this system works for qi in china this is the west and they should try to conform to their new target audience if just a little. It’s not like they really care for the west audience. Their main clients are the chinese. They just made a branch here when they saw people have interest and want to capitalize on it but aren’t trying to understand their readers. Whether it’s due to their lack of regard towards their new readers or lower prices they’ll take a hit either way. So they might as well choose the option that boosts their reputation. Just my thoughts.

At least right now, you get ~200 SS when you "invite" a new email account you create + add. If you need 12,000 SS that's just like....60 gmail accounts? Granted, your unlocked chapters would be spread across a few different accounts but unless you're fond of re-reading that shouldn't matter much. And if it does, you can just create 120 accounts...