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.

      wiman

      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.

        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.

                  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.

                    9 days later

                    manapotion In response to:

                    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.

                    Therefore, I think Qidian has a very unenlightened and greedy business model. I doubt that they will die from this, but they may just have to adapt at some point.

                    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)

                                Ataroth So true. Yet I just wish authors were some divine beings that live off hope and the energy of the universe on top of the mountain peaks.

                                  Ataroth They could use Patreon as an example. Make a pledge system like 10$/month for 12 months. And make it unlimited reading. And you have a steady income with no complains.

                                      bachingchung yup, but do you really want to stand up to a community of 10,000+ obsessed fanatical free fans with that statement?

                                          Ataroth 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.

                                          Arguably draconic pay scales? Let's look at their arguably draconic pay scales:

                                          Original Authors:
                                          Minimum Guarantee System
                                          We will ensure that every contracted work that goes Premium in the first four months will receive at least US$400/month if the revenue you earn is less than US$400/month.

                                          Note: Requirement of releasing 120,000 words of content every month.
                                          https://acts.webnovel.com/2018/62185143/index.html

                                          120,000 words are 2-3 full-length novels worth of words every month. To make it easy, it's 60 chapters/month @ 2000 words each, for $400. If Qidian does not make a profit on the contracted novel, they will still pay $400/month.


                                          That's the 'draconic' baseline for a contracted author. $400/month. If an author earns more than $400 in royalties, it stands to reason that QI is earning revenue from the author's chapters.

                                          Also, don't forget that most authors will be working for free, just posting their chapters for experience and in the hopes of getting noticed.

                                              Gibbs webnovel left a massive loophole to get free SS. Everytime I see someone complain about the premium chapters I have to borrow someone's hands, because 2 facepalms ain't enough.

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