Webnovel.Forum

Hello, DaisukiDayoSenpai here :)

I gave your book a try and I've read a few chapters. There are a lot of things I noticed but one of the major things that I have to bring up is your usage of icons and symbols. When it comes to webnovel, simple always comes first. That's why using a lot of symbols is pretty much hurtful to the eyes.

Think of it this way, a lot of readers in webnovel are people who have busy lives and want to find relaxation by browsing here. In simple terms, they read on the go. Putting too many icons and symbols in your books will turn most readers off. Putting separators are fine, but putting dashes on some paragraphs, putting multiple dashes in a sentence, and putting lots of dots as pauses is hurtful to the eyes.

Try to minimize them, and I think you'll get more valid reads.

Also, try to improve your book cover. There are a lot of platforms or apps for that like canva.

Other than that, you can also try advertising your novel in novel reviews here in forum.

I wish you all the best in your writing journey, I hope I imparted some useful things to you :)

Sincerely,
DaisukiDayoSenpai

DaisukiDayoSenpai wait! Are dots and other punctuations really a problem? They are essential to get a better look at how the conversation is going, its tone and the pacing. And that's without mentioning narration. I don't think they're hurtful to the eye if they're done right, after all their purpose is to create a better image in the reader's mind.

Cloki as I've faced the same situation before I can tell you a few things. The 1st is frequent updates, if you don't update fast enough people will lose interest. 2nd is, most of the time, people coming here look for very long works, some are over a 1500 chapters long and because of that shorter works don't get much attention. 3rd is recommendations and advertisements. Webnovel is a business so as anyone would guess their contracted works take priority. If your work isn't contracted don't expect much help from the company itself.
If I have to give advice I would say try writing a lot before publishing, go around and promote yourself and keep at it until it pays!

Some formatting 101 from the pros.

The standard rules for formatting a novel should be applied, to ensure you cater for a general reader. Especially, if you don't know whom to target your story.

At the end of the day, the story should be easy on the reader's eyes, rather than suiting your artistic preferences.

Novel Writing
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-format-a-book-manuscript
https://thewritelife.com/how-to-format-a-book/
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/formatting-suggestions/

Screenwriting
https://www.screenwriting.info/script-elements-and-scene-heading/
https://blog.celtx.com/how-to-format-a-script-or-screenplay/

Whycanti You're totally right. Just as you said, they are essential tools to get a better look at conversation flow, tone, pacing, and the like. But if you were to overdo it, like unnecessarily putting a dash at the beginning of some paragraphs or putting three to four dashes in one sentence, it will look rather unnatural.

Punctuations and symbols are, in fact, should be used and that's a given. But using too much of them and adding punctuations where they shouldn't be added can be a pain for readers.

That's why following the simple guide in using punctuations is the safest way in writing novels. Of course, every novelist has their own way of writing, but one shouldn't stray too far from the norm unless one's risking it to introduce a different writing style.