Webnovel.Forum

CKtalon ¯_(ツ)_/¯

CKtalon Hmm, having so many novels might be becoming a burden because of the fixed pay. After all, people with interest in reading these kind of novels are a limited resource. At some point, instead of attracting more people, it will instead start thinning the herd for each novel. People can only read so many novels with the limited time they have...

KurazyTolanzuraytor Hey Josh, I wish you the best of luck in your further projects. To clarify all your concerns first, Sunny is the right person since she handles all translator and editor relationships, instead of Yuren. I don't see any unprofessional practices in this case, frankly.

Secondly, according to your comments, both Sunny and Yuren replied you in few hours. I believe all of them showed you due respect. It's quite impossible to demand an instant response.

Thirdly, all the details were laid out in your initial agreement, nothing was hidden or violated from our side. In addition, the advanced chapters (Patreon) were bonus money for all translators who work for QI until the particular work joins the Premium program. This is not a new rule that you were never informed initially. All QI TLs know this rule clearly from the very beginning. Don't forget that you agreed to that initially.

Fourthly, translators need money, and looking for better offers is 100% okay and understandable. You are always free to quit. However, in a professional setting, I believe you should have informed us earlier, like 7 days in advance. Oh, if you check the contract, you will see a clause that requires the translator to provide 30 days notice if the translator decides to quit, and you initially agreed to this too. Unfortunately, in your case, you did not even give us an entire day to prepare. I would say this is rather unprofessional. Despite such acts, we still wished you good luck in our personal chats, right? None of us blamed you or said anything nasty. I'm really disappointed in what you posted in this thread.

Last but not least, don't forget we did not get a single cent from "your advanced chapters" from Patreon until we released Premium and enforced not having advanced chapters on another platform. You had received almost a year's worth of bonus money, which you shared nothing with either of us - the copyrght owner, or the author. Premium is the system that allows authors, translators and us to benefit together. Unfortunately you did not have the patience to wait another few more weeks.

As for Patreon, yes, you are probably able to get more because you don't have to share anything with authors or the copyright owner. If you consider the split among all three parties, how much do you think you can keep in your pocket? As for the WW, from what I know that they will only give 30% to the copyright owner (except QI because they are actually violating the agreement which never allowed them to monetize the translations except ebooks on specified ebook platforms). Usually the publishers like Zongheng or 17K, who grant the license to WW, would also split another half of the revenues that they receive with the authors. Basically, authors can only expect up to 15% maximum in royalties from translations. Do you really think it is a fair deal to authors? We can't comment about authors who work for other platforms, but we—Webnovel or Qidian—won't do such things to any of our authors. We will directly split the revenues equally among authors, translators and us. We admit that we need profits but we would not hurt our translators or authors. We don't believe that making a fool of authors or translators would work in the long run. Best of luck to you and all authors whose titles have been abused by the monetization practices of WW.

PS: WW is still translating MW and ED, as well as many more unlicensed novels. They have even put those two titles into their in-house Patreon/advanced chapter system. They have also monetized many unlicensed KR novels. If that is not copyright infringement, then what else is?

checkm8If your logic is correct, how does this concern you?

WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL If your logic is correct, how does this concern you?

You foolishly posted this on a public forum. If you hadn't posted on this topic it would have simply blown over. Your bitter post is keeping this discussion alive.

But then again, discretion isn't a word I would associate with webnovel postings.

Seriously, hire some competent PR people. Learn when to keep quiet.

checkm8 Yes, that is the 2-3 months. I'm not referring to the entire Premium Program.

That's the wrong mindset. Patreon is not even supposed to be allowed. Qidian could have banned it from the beginning, but out of goodwill allowed them to have their own Patreon, offering advanced chapters. So which is better? Totally nothing additional or months of additional Patreon income, while a few months break in between before royalties (something sustainable) come into place.

If Qidian was jealous, they could have banned everyone from having a Patreon account even before they go Premium. They even created a Patreon button for translators on the novel's page. So what are you talking about?

Qidian understands that technical difficulties prevent in-house Patreon to be created instantly. It is also this reason that they gave translators the right to run their Patreons till it became in-house, which is the Premium Program. Again, you are also thinking in the short term of a few months. WSSTH has 3000 chapters and ongoing. That will easily last a translator 2 years. To give up 2 years of sustainable royalties for a 3 month wait is just shortsighted in my opinion.

Maximilian So without any data that tells you that your book is profitable (i.e., earns more than fixed pay), you want everyone to just sign a contract with a blind leap of faith? So what happens when you sign and you realize you earn less than fixed pay (since Qidian doesn't know what will happen either)? It will cause translators to quit en masse because they can't go back to fixed pay anymore. The more pragmatic approach is to wait for data and then switch contracts when it is made known to them that they can earn more with royalties.

As to why translators can't switch back, this is a listed company. There are auditors watching all of these, so the company cannot act as it wishes. Everything has to go by the book.

WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL As for Patreon, yes, you are probably able to get more because you don't have to share anything with authors or the copyright owner. If you consider the split among all three parties, how much do you think you can keep in your pocket? As for the WW, from what I know that they will only give 30% to the copyright owner (except QI because they are actually violating the agreement which never allowed them to monetize the translations except ebooks on specified ebook platforms). Usually the publishers like Zongheng or 17K, who grant the license to WW, would also split another half of the revenues that they receive with the authors. Basically, authors can only expect up to 15% maximum in royalties from translations. Do you really think it is a fair deal to authors? We can't comment about authors who work for other platforms, but we—Webnovel or Qidian—won't do such things to any of our authors. We will directly split the revenues equally among authors, translators and us. We admit that we need profits but we would not hurt our translators or authors. We don't believe that making a fool of authors or translators would work in the long run. Best of luck to you and all authors whose titles have been abused by the monetization practices of WW.

Let's break some of this down:
Basically, authors can only expect up to 15% maximum in royalties from translations. Do you really think it is a fair deal to authors?
Sure this sounds like a great argument. Until you realize that authors with most major publishers (AKA copyright owners) usually only receive between 5-15% royalties from translations. This is completely in line with standard publishing rates and even on the high side).

We will directly split the revenues equally among authors, translators and us.
You aren't giving translators anything. In fact, you are costing them financially. As it stands now, you give translators no revenue from premium. Plus what a loaded word "directly", it's a mostly empty word.
Plus isn't that what WW is doing now? Directly sharing revenue between relevant parties(TL,Pubs,AU).

We don't believe that making a fool of authors or translators would work in the long run.
Aren't you making a fool of translators by removing their major source of revenue? In essence, marginalizing their hard work.

We can't comment about authors who work for other platforms, but we—Webnovel or Qidian—won't do such things to any of our authors.
Once again, it appears you care nothing about translators and completely seem to ignore them.

Best of luck to you and all authors whose titles have been abused by the monetization practices of WW.
Abused? By creating a viable process in which profits are shared between translators, publishers, and authors? A process that respects translators and author copyrights equally. What's wrong with that?