Hi

I would like to create a story on this site. Before that, however, I want to know about Webnovel's readership. Do we have some demographic stats like age, gender, and country? Maybe some statistics about what the preferred genres are? Maybe even what demographics prefer which genre? That would help a ton.

I tried searching around, including site analytics, but couldn't find anything useful. Did I miss something? Or are these numbers not official?

Edit: Also, what are the different demographics' favorite reader? (desktop/smartphone/tablet)

    MC_Shael In serious need for sifi stories or western fantasy... would love to read some dark souls Fanfics too.... general demographic is mainly 12-35years old so up to your preference...... I mostly read on Laptop... but the phone audience seems to be higher than pc. And I would also suggest to stay away from harem.. as it's hated... hated to the bone in this community(various good novels are not even picked up having a Harem tag)

      People truly have unreasonable hate toward harem in this website. When I say 'please harem', there are atleast 4-5 replies with nooo or something like 'i like this story, please don't ruin it for me'😂😂😂😂

        So, most readers are 12-35. What about gender? Do people mostly identify as male or female? Or are they more or less equally distributed?

        UnhingedTaboo Sci-fi and western fantasy could actually work together. Fully immersive virtual reality in fiction is booming lately, but I feel most stories fail to explore the societal, technological, and philosophical aspects of such a future. That, however, might be too hard to write given the time constraints. It's something I've been wanting to do though.

        Water0202020 I actually agree with you, but with a catch. The problem with most harem stories is the fact that they are generic. Like most genres, when done right, they can shine. A harem story is all about its characters and their interpersonal relations, and that's where most harem stories fail. Most have dull empty copy paste characters with copy paste dynamics. A story with characters that feel real and develop throughout in meaningful ways, is worthy of praise, especially in a harem setting where that is especially hard to write. Even then, I am myself guilty of enjoying copy paste harems now and then in manga and anime, but never in written works xD

        Your replies inspire me to ask another question. What do readers here prefer? Generic stories or stories that challenge the reader to think? I don't want to start a discussion about which is better, but which one is preferred on Webnovel. Personally, on my virtual bookshelf, I have space for both. The stories I enjoy and that inspire me the most, are of the latter, but after a hard day's work, or when I'm emotionally tired, I mostly read generic fiction.

          MC_Shael For the gender... it's up to you... I met all kinds of people here and with all these anonymous ID's and 1/4th of the audience doing role play(*cough... me)...

          But I would like to say... don't be PC when writing a novel, just be true to yourself having a realist touch to that... like in a sifi world, all kind of sex bots are available used by all kinds of people with all kinds of taste, the women and men both use these tools and no discrimination should be given in this place... show the ugly side of all genders.... all 20+(sigh... the world has come too far)

            MC_Shael As long as the mc is not arrogant and he/she is intellectual at all times(not like mars novel where intelligence works at specific times), the writing should be attractive.
            As for generic or unique, it depends upon writing. If generic is the choice, then writing needs to be really good. As for unique, ideas need to be well-organized but info dumps should be minimized.
            Regardless of the type, I guess interpersonal relationships are very important.

              the reader for romance novel is not low in this place as they receive a lot of love here.
              how about observing the top 20 translated novel? you can see the most popular genre here, even though it is not absolute.

                MC_Shael From what where the most popular novels over the year's I would say the most popular genres would be fantasy and martial arts story's being either xianxia or xuanhuan. Personally I say it mostly depends on what ability you give the mc for them to grow with or just talent. As for statistics I would check to see if novelupdates have any.

                  Okay, to sum it up, based on a small selection of user opinions/experience:
                  Age: 12-35
                  Gender: More or less 50/50
                  Popular genres: Xianxia, Xuanhuan, Sci-fi, Western fantasy, Harem, Romance
                  Depth: Everything goes as long as it's done well.
                  Device: Mostly phone.

                  Thank you to @UnhingedTaboo, @Water0202020, @CKtalon, @flatchest, and @coin_turtle for providing your inputs!

                  I wish we could get some objective stats on these, or maybe Qidian could send out a yearly survey with questions about age group, gender identity, genres the user prefers, genres the user avoids, and preferred reading device (that would be incredibly helpful). Data based on these simple questions would allow authors to know their audience better. If the author for instance targets females in their twenties with his/her writing style, the author would be able to look up what genres are preferred and what genres to avoid. That is what I had in mind when asking my question.

                  flatchest By the by, the problem with looking at the top 20 original novels is that the original novels section is still in its infancy. Therefore the top 20 is not necessarily representative yet of what readers want. I don't think the top 20 translated novels reveal what readers are looking for in originals either. I'll still use it as inspiration though.

                    MC_Shael Go to NU!! Novel updates.... or it's respective forum website...!! you can get lots of general info from there...!!

                      UnhingedTaboo coin_turtle What do you mean? What does novel updates have to do with webnovel.com? Do they share audience? From what I can see on the linked site analytics page below, only about 22% enter webnovel.com through novelupdates.com. About 65% access the site directly. And that is not taking into consideration those who use the app. Or is there some relationship between the two that I'm unaware of?
                      https://www.similarweb.com/website/webnovel.com

                        MC_Shael novel updates and Webnovel all host Asian novels... you can check what's popular among this audience... NU has a larger user base than webnovel and also contains various others Asian novels that are not available on Qidian. THe reviews there can even give you about the relationship btw the novels and their reader base. Unlike here where even the worst of the novels have +4 review.

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