MotivatedSloth Do you think the authors and editors are spending hours upon hours to produce the novels that you love to read... just because its a hobby of ours

Okay I'm probably the odd one out and I do have the upload rate of a coma patient but yeah I write for hobby but yeah a lot of people write because it's their only way to make money and they love to write for free but they need money to actually eat.

    I pay on a monthly bases and enjoyed getting fast passes for the books I want to read . The membership is more than the cost of a paper back novel . I also write on here and enjoy talking to my readers regardless if they pay or not. I think the system they had before was much better than this new one. I don’t like most of what they have recommended for me to read with those fp. So my library is filled with books I will never give another glance. It is a waste of those authors talent to have their stories not being read because someone has unusable fp.

    AnnoyingADs Authors - Complaining that people refusing to pay means they get no income.

    I don't care if people don't pay or I don't get income at all. I get zero income anyway. What annoys me is that people who admit to not paying are making demands of me, as if they are entitled to even though they are reading my stuff for free. And that they even resort to threats, "if you don't give me free chapters, I'll plagiarize/pirate your work."

    If you want to pirate my work elsewhere, I won't say anything. But at least have the decency not to say that to my face and use that to threaten me. Why am I obligated to listen to your demands anyway when you're not even giving me a single cent?

      Tomoyuki I would agree that people who don't pay don't have the right to demand anything. If someone pays for something and they're not happy with it you can in theory ask for a refund but if you have paid $0 then that can easily be refunded. I would also like to add that threatening authors is likely to be counterproductive as I imagine that making unreasonable demands is only likely to make an author drop a novel.

      Although my main point is that quite a lot of the problems are actually due to the platform (Webnovel) rather than authors or readers. For example authors don't have much control over what chapters are freely available with Webnovel in some cases forcing premium/privilege upon them. So readers blaming authors is definitely misplaced as it's entirely Webnovel that determines how platform operates and as they keep quiet authors are made out as scapegoats. On the other hand as far as financials go Webnovel is very opaque with limited details where exact breakdown is unclear with it structured so that Webnovel always makes a profit while authors are left to fend for themselves. I can imagine that if an author writes a relatively successful novel that does well in rankings and then at the end of the month Webnovel says "You got a lot of readers but as they all used free passes you'll get practically nothing" it must be really frustrating for an author and it's easy to blame said readers who used free passes.

      To me a lot of the problems arising are due to the business model used by Webnovel. For example let's say you have an average reader income of $100000 per month. Let's then assume that 28% goes to the authors (30% app store cut, then 50% to author minus mystery expenses) that's $28000 per month for every author. Let's assume you have 100 authors and then it works out at $280 per month average per author. However if you have 1000 authors then it works out at $28 per month average. I'm aware that Webnovel has spent a lot of effort attracting authors from Wattpad but I don't think they've tried to attract new users.

      So in conclusion I think we've got a stagnant user base with an ever increasing pool of authors competing to attract readers and thus getting an ever lower % market share thus income. Webnovel is happy either way as their income doesn't change if 10 authors make $100000 or 100000 authors each make $10. However authors are likely to struggle in the later scenario that is what we're heading towards.

        AnnoyingADs For example authors don't have much control over what chapters are freely available with Webnovel in some cases forcing premium/privilege upon them.

        This isn't actually true, at least not in my experience. Authors have every right to decide premium or privileges. Mistakes happen and Webnovel is pretty rigid (so once a chapter is locked as premium, you can't unlock it because apparently it's unfair to readers who have already paid for it), but I can assure you that Webnovel does not force premium or privilege upon authors. It's entirely optional, authors decide which chapters they want to go premium, and they can opt out of privilege if they don't like it - also, we don't have to do privilege if we don't want to.

        I have not heard of any author being forced to go premium or privilege. Most of the time, the content editors probably even forget my stories exist until I consult them on something.

          Tomoyuki It's definitely the case with translations as many novels went premium without the TLs even being aware of it and now they're all premium. I believe it's also the case with authors who sign contracts with Webnovel as they do that to monetise it but as I've not experienced it first hand it is quite possible it has changed and if you say that is the case I don't really have any valid reason to doubt you.

            AnnoyingADs Oh, I don't know about translations, but translators definitely work different from authors. Authors have more ownership over their work, but translators are translating someone else's stories.

              4 months later

              AnnoyingADs "I remember when Webnovel still went by the name Qidian International that they promised no pay walls etc. With the gradual introduction of adwalls, then premium, then privilege most goodwill was gradually eroded into nothing. I used to read a few novels that had been poached from other sites but then they more or less all got dropped and while at the time I wasn't too happy in hindsight I think it's not too bad as it's meant I can completely leave the Webnovel ecosystem without any regrets."
              - I remember this too. 😒
              On the plus side, some other translation groups have picked up dropped stories, so I can read them on their sites. And it helped me find other, better sites; so there is a silver lining.

              Dwarkin "Yeah, I remember what happened at NU forum and Reddit at that time, and CKTalon's words:
              "In the event, Qidian sets up a paywall, they will be betraying me as well, and make me seem like a fool here. When that happens, I'll definitely have to apologize for me being stupid and 'signing a contract with the devil'.""
              - I also remember this too. 😒 No apology as far as I am aware though.

                AnnoyingADs "I remember when Webnovel still went by the name Qidian International that they promised no pay walls etc. With the gradual introduction of adwalls, then premium, then privilege most goodwill was gradually eroded into nothing. I used to read a few novels that had been poached from other sites but then they more or less all got dropped and while at the time I wasn't too happy in hindsight I think it's not too bad as it's meant I can completely leave the Webnovel ecosystem without any regrets."
                - I remember this too. 😒
                On the plus side, some other translation groups have picked up dropped stories, so I can read them on their sites. And it helped me find other, better sites; so there is a silver lining.

                Dwarkin "Yeah, I remember what happened at NU forum and Reddit at that time, and CKTalon's words:
                "In the event, Qidian sets up a paywall, they will be betraying me as well, and make me seem like a fool here. When that happens, I'll definitely have to apologize for me being stupid and 'signing a contract with the devil'.""
                - I also remember this too. 😒 No apology as far as I am aware though.

                  SusshiRoll
                  Does subscribing actually come with enough benefits to justify the money spent? As i remember its 10 coins a day for a month and 300 upon purchase? Its not even a full novel a month.

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