AidaHanabi You know that the one to suffer most are the translators, right? They earn less from the paywall than before. Waaaaay less. I even read that translators dont receive any share of spirit stone related income. (I read that here, so it can be true or false, idk yet)
The ones profiting the most is the publisher. How much do you think costs a website like this? Simply a forum and a reader-like software.
The creation costs the most, space on the web itself (and traffic) is pretty cheap.
I think the way to go is to have different free chapter release per account. Correct me if I am wrong, but i think the current scheme is really hard on the occasional spender.
E.g. if i like a novel and it currently has 100 locked chapters then I proceed to unlock them all, the free 1 chapter/week will only caught up with me after 100 weeks.
Not only that means that the app becomes (pseodo) full pay to read app, it discourage me from ever buying any stones.
It would be great if I still got new chapter per week AFTER I do the purchase. This scheme will also help Qidian to hoard more $ as occasional spender will be more likely to purchase stones.
*but then again, I'm not quite sure if the free chapter release really works the way I thought. Can anyone confirm?
I am not going to post links to outside webpages, thus I'll mention that there are extremely good webnovels/webserials, written in English, that are amazing.
My first example: Worm. Google it. Millions of words. Best super-hero, super-heroine webnovel I have ever read.
mammanmichael doesnt matter if the people are already addicted right, Quidian?
These are very affordable rates for those who enjoy reading web novels which I assume that's most of us except for sporadic trolls.
If the math is correct at $0.0198 per stone based on the 50 stones for $0.99 rate, you will pay ~$356.4 for 1500 chapters given a chapter cost 12 spirit stones.
info: One chapter is 1965 words ─ rough estimates, give or take; 1965 words x 1500 chapters = 2,947,500 words
So $356.4 spent on web novels on Qidian equates to buying 38 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone books at $8.86 each (Amazon's price for paperback). You will pay $336.68 for thirty-eight $8.86 books.
info: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is 76,944 words x 38 books = 2,923,872 words
Is it still worth it? Kind of.
Now consider that Qidian authors only get a fraction of that money to support their living conditions? I say "living conditions" because these authors sometimes don't make enough to live in luxury much less help their family. They're not JK Rowling, but they no doubt deserve as much for the entertainment they bring me.
You don't get FREE chapters from print novels like Harry Potter, but you sure do with Web Novels at Qidian. That's FREE as in Free Samples at Costco.
Here's a quick question:
Would you pay five bucks for a cup of coffee? What about to eat out? Or for some sweets?
Answer:
Yes. Yess. Yesss...
But how come paying to relax and de-stress from reality then becomes unreasonable? Hell, I pay chefs at restaurants to cook for me, tips to waiters, and coins to homeless panhandlers. But sometimes I don't like on Qidian.
On Qidian, if I'm broke and without money which often is the case as I'm struggling, I wait to read the free chapters. I hope that the time I do buy spirit stones, I can support my favorite authors, so they can continue to pump out quality stories without stress. I know stress kills creativity which will kill my chance to disconnect from reality for a bit before I log back into the Matrix.
So...
With that in mind, is it still worth it?
You cant even get that kind of deal at the dollar store. Holy cows!
And the dollar store doesn't even give free samples. Crazy.
Now back to you:
Should I employers pay you for YOUR skills?
PS: To Qidian, please do a better job of supporting your authors, translators, and customers. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly even with slight compromises. Without authors and customers, your platform will significantly suffer unless you're not concern about other sharks in the open sea. For example, many of us are not as loyal to Qidian's brand as we are towards the authors and translators, and if a competitor disrupts this space, we will likely support the better in regards to your treatments stated earlier.
It doesn't matter if webnovel dies if they're not making money
wiman I would rather read 38 different books for my money than use it on one book, written by a non-experienced author, filled with cliches and fillers. Your word count system you use to judge these books ade invalid as word counts are artificially inflated by most authors to increase profits (I believe they get paid based on word count). If someone could truly drop a 300 dollars on a random book, then I mist say, dang you have a good life.
I don't particularly mind paying for SS. However your math seems wrong to me.
You say 12 SS for 1 chapter but use 1965 words per chapter. This is not logical since from what translators seem to say, it is 1 SS for 200 words. So if you take 12 SS for 1 chapter, you should take the number of words corresponding to the price which is 2400 words.
With correction, we have $356.4 for 3,600,000 words.
According to your stats, it is about 46 Harry Potter books and comes up to $407.56.
So reading on QI is less expansive than buying Harry Potter. The difference in price (12% lesser than JK Rowling) can be explained by the average difference in story quality (considering all the authors publishing here).
I get authors need to eat but the thing is that when one man (or woman) simply free writes with maybe one editor mostly for spell checking the quality just isn’t worth the price considering physical books are not only better but also even cheaper than a webnovel. Physical books have entire teams working for months or even yrs fixing mistakes and improving the entire story. So who would pay more for a worse book? The only reason I got into webnovels is because it was free. If I had to pay I’d leave and play games or read real books. Both better and probably cheaper.
Ataroth Authors ... not translators
TaiXai from 2 chapters daily to 1 so its not early release or something similar to patreon
You know that the one to suffer most are the translators, right?
Karyehs Exactly. We're all complaining about the price, but not enough people realize who the actual victims are: The Translators.
If Qidian charged $10/month for an unlimited pass, translators would earn much more since the number of paying customers would grow without limit.
If I was an author of Qidian (No CN), I would use the SS because I'm sure that when I finish the novel, one day is enough to read all the chapters lol.
Word count...Lots of novels filled full of filler.
Sure. The quality is not as high as JK Rowling's, and the fillers make up a bulk of the chapters, but it remains that the authors are receiving sh*t pay and DO deserve their cut. Qidian, as I stated in the original post, should play fair.
BUT to say a paywall will be the end of the platform and authors for that matter is ridiculous. However, I do understand your feelings of reaching the latest chapters and to be locked out unless you pay.
On the real, ads can only go so far. For privacy reasons and belief, I prefer the model without ads and pay as I see fit.
To answer other response, think of each novel as spanning over multiple books in a series.
Note: My math is not the best. =( I hope you understand the point though.
I have no issue with them charging for quality entertainment. I don't expect to read any book for free unless it is from the library. I do have an issue with the amount they are charging to stay current with the premium titles.
The amount of content that any one person can consume in a day is finite. That is why business models like Netflix and Kindle Unlimited can charge a flat rate and still make money.
Hmm. That is a solid and important point. Qidian aside, though, I know a tendency of content consumers to -devalue- the efforts of authors. Painters, for example, have to fight off low ball figures for their work because someone wants to pay say $200 for $1500 worth of effort.
I am concerned that to pay their authors the amount of money they're being paid, that Qidian might need the, arguably draconic, pay scales they are enforcing.
Thoughts?
I don't see why a lot of people complaining. The usual release speed of free/fan translators were om the average of 1/day. QI gives 1 chap/day. If you can't afford the premium novels, there are tons of non-premium to choose from. Whether there's QI or not, those locked chapters will still be locked, but you just have to pay else where.
If you're on Android there is an app called app cloner. It lets you clone an app and run different accounts. So with 2-3 accounts you could get more free ss
mammanmichael The Hemp Empire is immortal my dear ally. Torch it, stab it, strangle it. But it doesn't die. Because it constantly feeds on the infected novel addics. Rearing this beast is of S class difficulty and would require at least 10 Summoned Heroes with the assistance of an X rank divine artifact.
..........
(im not crazy)
