Maekellen Print is by page count and web by word count.
No. Print is also by word count. Professional authors get paid by the word, not pages. I don't know who told you that, but you're mistaken.
Maekellen In addition, there seems to be no consensus among web authors about how many words should constitute a single chapter.
Yes. You can have superlong chapters like in Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, but then you can have short chapters like in Fixed Damage or Nidome no Yuusha or Healer's Redo.
Maekellen All of this means you cannot always tell how many volumes will be comparable to a completed web novel.
Yes. Obviously you're going to have less chapters in a single volume of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei while you will have like 20 chapters in one volume of Fixed Damage.
Maekellen Further, as the original work is termed a novel, it is entirely accurate to make the comparison as price per novel instead of columes, series, et al.
No, that's not how it works. Technically, you can try to cram 1,000 chapters into a single "novel" but then it's definitely not going to cost as much as a novel with 20-30 chapters. Unless you're telling me that each chapter is only 100 words, which is definitely not being discussed here (because we have literal examples such as Against the Gods and novels here on Webnovel), in terms of word count, 1,000 chapters is way more than the words collated in 20-30 chapters, even if the chapters in these printed novels have like 5,000 words each. Typically, a printed novel has a word count of anywhere between 70,000 to 200,000 words, and are about 300-600 pages in length. Let's say a webnovel chapter has 500 words (and that's the lower end), even that is going to be 500,000 words, about 2.5-7 times the number of words you get in a typical print novel.
The quality, of course, is not there, so you simply end up paying for quantity, which is a problem. You're paying like 2 cents for every 200 words if I'm not mistaken. So the 1,000 chapters of 500 words is going to cost you like $50. A typical 70,000 to 120,000-word novel costs like $8-15, whereas a 600-page novel easily costs you about $25-$30. So if you count it by word count alone, the price isn't all that different. In fact, it seems to be a little cheaper. But we're talking about unedited, unprofessionally written, amateurish novels, so the issue is that you're paying nearly the same price for amateur work when compared to a professionally published novel.
But you can't just simply pretend that you can compare a 1,000-chapter webnovel that's anywhere between half a million to two million words to a single novel that's about 200,000 words max and complain about the price discrepancy. That's sheer dishonesty.
Maekellen I have seen the same paragraph, merely reworded, 3-4 timea in a single chapter. This is useless fluff that distracts from the atory and no one should have to pay for.
When this happens, why the f are you still reading the story and paying for it? That's the author's fault, boycott the author. Don't pay for recycled garbage and then complain that you're getting recycled garbage. Or did you think you're entitled to receive recycled garbage for free?
This is precisely the issue I'm raising. It's not the price and length of the damned webnovels when compared to the price and length of professional novels that's the problem. It's the quality. You can't just not pay people for their labor, but the problem is when these people decide to cut corners and skimp on quality. If you're not happy with the quality of their work, stop feeding them. Like, seriously. When their sales drop and people stop reading their stuff, they'll be forced to wake up and reflect on how to improve their writing. But if you're going to demand that they write for free or get paid less, then they won't take you seriously because they think you're entitled (and also because morons continue to pay for their work and lap this garbage up). That's common sense. Unless you're literally telling me that you're fine with reading garbage as long as it's cheap or free. Really?
