A new author asking for help

[RepresentingEnvy]

+ @SailusGebel @SirDogeTheFirst @Paul_Tromba @Jun_Sakazuki
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I try to make it short (also this series is one of my fav)

Heaven, Earth, Me

Yasenia is a child born different from the rest, her mother, Tatyana, used an ancient technique she found to absorb the world's energy to get pregnant instead of having regular intercourse. Her objective was to create a lover for herself since the endless years of solitude and all the heartbreaks...

www.scribblehub.com

THIS
nsfw yuri-futa SERIES
was near always among the TOP3 series trending for like i don't know how long during early publication. Months ? 1 year ? Probably as long as the other space series with a pretty blue hair FMC with a admiral clothing's cover (AI image).

But suddenly it stopped. What changed you would ask ?
Welp...........

FROM THIS masterpiece of a COVER View attachment 19893
(that author took from the internet somewhere)

Author decided to HIRE people/artists so he won't have future troubles with copyrights.
Ok sure, as one of the biggest fan i said "why not, seems logical". And actively supported it.
PROBLEM is : Author seems "not very supportive" about using 2d aspect for a cover AND the "artists" for the job of a new cover seems VERY "questionable" in term of quality + ratio of price for it.

(Repeating in case : This series is a favorite futa series)

2nd cover that appeared : View attachment 19895

Current cover : View attachment 19896





Meanwhile : pixiv / twitter / EVEN RANDOM amateur artists with a pencil i saw from a discord guild server(s) for the AMMORPG "PSO2:NGS" had better quality. And the first 2 probably would lick feet just to get a commission (/jokebutnotreally /artists-turning-to-furries-for-$).
But author paid ........uh forgot............70$? for this covers of ......................debatable quality. Multiple times.

I facepalm hard seeing a fav work having self-destruction just like DIABLO, and other big games and IPs self-destructing.
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@Jun_Sakazuki

Tips thread for all authors (that want popularity) so they stop asking

Skip to 2nd part if not interested of the beginning After 5-10 threads that always ask about "how do i get more readers", and me sometimes re-using same words about the "why/how", i create this thread so some authors can go to this thread-link to if they don't understand. But first let me...

forum.scribblehub.com

@Mortrexo Can you confirm or deny?

 

[Deleted member 113259]

Fair, I paid $40 dollars for this:

Spoiler: Old Cover

Why is wine (or blood) always being spilled in covers? People that drink wine wouldn't be the type to spill it. Whether that's because they have class or it means they're alcoholics that wouldn't waste a single drop is for y'all to decide.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

I think it's to portray that the wine float.
Hence could be both wine or blood.
Power of water / liquid or vampire power.

Also it please teens. Chuuni in particular. As a ex-one? I can testify it looks good.

Yeah, we cleared that up on my profile. It's to show she's manipulating it. Should've made it turn into a bat or something.


Anyway to get the thread back on track. I got 35k views and my cover ain't all too good so idk why people think the cover matters. Maybe it's important for getting views into 100k territory?

 

[Midnight-Phantom]

The cover is very important.

like if you have a mecha/cultivator/school seen/a guy doing magic - you instantly got what the novel is about ..
then comes the ones where the cover is blank they have low popularity cause same thing there is nothing on the cover ..
then you would argue there are a lot of novels that don't have covers but have a lot of readers .. yeah they have cool names ..
yep a cool cover + cool name = more visitors, now you have a cool plotline cool scenario, a decent mc, and some funny and ero elements in the novel the general public would read.

So now the question comes down to this - should we start free cover generation for authors? like those of us who do ai generation stuff .. or those who don't like this concept ..

go for illustrators here I have seen a recent post from @Zinless looking for some people to commission her and I think @Hans.Trondheim is also an illustrator he would be glad to do some commissions.. there may be more people who like art and dabble into sketches .. they would be happy I hope to help in those situations..

or there could be more people doing this and I don't know about them ..


now for your novel - i just started to create my own novel so i can say for sure most new novels would be bad in 3 cases - 1 chapter flow ..
2 - character talks - 3 ambient atmosphere cause after reading my own chapters i do feel that .. I'll read yours and will tell you what i think about that ..

 

[Paul_Tromba]

No clue what's going on.

@Jun_Sakazuki From all posts from others and mine, i guess you are answered right ? XD

But despite it being done, i felt like to (pointlessly) pushing down the nail again. (My helpful nature acting up again + the fact what i will do next is very useful method to make things mega obvious + was reading just now + remembered i did this method before too)

IMAGE 1 =

View attachment 19901

QUESTION 1 : WHAT CATCH YOUR EYE ? (image cover)

Top right corner is a old style chinese cover for "xianxia"
and bottom left is chinese style cover for old urban webnovels
red cloth girl + green cloth guy /AND/ the grey with a shadowy dragon, are both for "empty covers" for the website
the third from the top left "Top-level luck quietly practiced for thousand of years" was popular, anti-routine, op MC, stayed ranked in top10 in 2020-2022, probably had millions of views (in china) got a manhua adaptation from 2d-chinese-website bilibili and not shit corperates that focused on adapting faceslap novels despite bunch of chinese WNs of konosuba quality on internet


IMAGE 2 =
View attachment 19902SAME QUESTION (2)





----IMAGE 3-------
View attachment 19907
SAME QUESTION 3


------IMAGE 4-------
View attachment 19908


QUESTION 4 :
Imagine the brain of a teen that lived surrounded by animes since young. Do you feel that this covers are attractive ?

Don't you feel that AT LEAST you should give a try to read their summaries compared to skipping the (top-left) series as its probably a shit-empress-romance-focus series ?
Doesnt the fact their "eyeballs" and "jp-style-that-tell-whole-plot" titles make a person interest in the novel ?
Doesnt it interest you, seeing a VERY upfront spoilerly summary ? compared to a 2000ish summary that act mysterious without details or oldschool [This is the story of this man that brave the world] ?



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ps : from 2 chinese websites + google translate. "trxs.cc" + "uukanshu.com" (pc-version)
@SailusGebel @Paul_Tromba Sorry for pinging (again) ^^" just felt like maybe you would be interested to see it and god-knows if it could be useful for you 2 veteran-forum users, for next time of seeing again another author asking about "is cover important?" topic.

ps ps : Also despite being chineses the fact they blatantly use 2d jp-covers and even steal some KOREAN covers of LNs. Is big proof of how important a cover can be.
Also its what i call the "bait and hook" of them. The cover is the bait BUT AS LONG YOU TRY IT, if the author is good, he can keep you hooked.
Because like a philosopher and some youtube videos said : [The most difficult isnt doing it. The most difficult is doing the first step]
(like wearing shoes, opening the door and jogging around the house)
Random ex : If you see MC-cultivator SPRINT away when a beauty ask for help, or another MC preparing 20 escape plans and having 30 defensive spells activated and 200 explosion talismans in bag just for a rookie test. Won't you feel curious and continue to read?Its that simple

Image #4 is the most eye catching. I actively avoid image #1 and #2. I'm okay with image #3 but probably wouldn't bother unless if the premise is interesting.

 

[Mortrexo]

Can you confirm or deny?

Neither, the novel stopped appearing in trending not because of the cover but because it became a "veteran" cover. For example, the first novel in the whole site never appears when it has much more views than the trending novel.

To appear on trending, you need sudden growth and a relatively new novel. My novel has constant growth and now has a constant of 4000~5000 views a day. Therefore, no matter which cover, it will not appear on trending again unless I suddenly get 7000 or more views in a day with a bunch of favorites and new readers clicking add to the library.

@Tsuru I tried using the original cover more than once, but views decreased when I used it. I only saw growth when I changed to the new covers. This last cover was the one that gave me the biggest jump from a constant 3000~4000 to the current average of 5000.

A recommendation I can give all of you is to place the title on the cover. It attracts much more clicks. However, as @Tsuru said, I've been a bit stubborn with the anime-style cover because I see them everywhere. I've decided to make the next cover a proper anime-style cover with the title and everything.

Also, pixiv artists do not answer. I've tried contacting a few, but none answered. If you can present to me a proper artist that makes an international commission for less than 500€, I'm willing to pay them :). Naturally, I will oversee the payment. I was scammed once, I won't be scammed ever again.

 

[SailusGebel]

No clue what's going on.

Image #4 is the most eye catching. I actively avoid image #1 and #2. I'm okay with image #3 but probably wouldn't bother unless if the premise is interesting.

If I understood everything correctly, @Tsuru wanted to make a point that we, authors, might like and click on a cover that won't attract as many views. So, as a tip for new authors who seek fame, money, or both, use what attracts readers, not what you personally like.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

If I understood everything correctly, @Tsuru wanted to make a point that we, authors, might like and click on a cover that won't attract as many views. So, as a tip for new authors who seek fame, money, or both, use what attracts readers, not what you personally like.

I see. Still my choices stand.

 

[SailusGebel]

^_^/ hi mortrexo, still full of energy i see ^^b

Dang, i forgot about the fact itself about people tiring of the same series and liking new
That makes sense.
wait didnt you said it to me before too? Sorry if you did, i got a brain that is like half-alzheimer.
And also agreeing with the "put the title on the cover", a important detail, which for some unknown escaped my mind (probably as i am not a author myself despite seeing it a lot in chinese WNs)

btw : https://forum.scribblehub.com/threa...lustrations-and-scenes-for-your-novels.14388/
just today thread, right after this one
10+$

>_^
As expected of SailusGebel's big brain to sucessfully summarize my big post in just 1 one clear sentence. (not sarcasm, true praise)
Yep, from a pov of effectiveness for sales, what counts isnt what prefer the author want to do but "does it look attractive to the clients" for most cases.
But of course, lot of stuff also still get popular by being stubborn of only wanting to do what the creator wants. But very few cases of that happen. (onemanpunch ONE-version)

View attachment 19952

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Speaking of this topic, it reminds of pixiv jp artists that had gathered QUITE a western popularity with certain (web)mangas with smut, but mostly with the title and the cover being clearly attracting others to try.
-The Apothecary Is Gonna Make This Ragged Elf Happy
-Training Slaves to make a Harem
View attachment 19948







And though not on pixiv, if you look at ISEKAI OJISAN, to be honest if you look at the manga, sure the theme is UNIQUE, but its gruesome, dark, depressive, art is quality decent but clearly not mainstream and low chance of getting an anime, clearly it should have a hard time to be popular if it was placed among thousands of mangas in the library.
BUT, simply put a very cute cover

View attachment 19944

and put a attractive "eyeballing jpstyle" title, TADAAAAA
You now make 8 of 10 readers become interested and try it. Some will not like it, but some will like it and be a fan.
View attachment 19945View attachment 19946
then it snowball + wagon, and popularity keep upping. Until, "hey lets make a anime of this popular manga" and anime studio will make it 100x prettier (cough ATTACK ON TITAN cough cough)

Also, false advertising crime doesnt really count for title/summary of webnovel. (/darkhumor)
just like the past laughable moment of mine, where i stubbornly stuck with 2 chinese shitty faceslap novels, because in title-summary, they said MC will reveal his immortal-op identity, and kept reading until 500+ chaps but still no reveal. With even a third novel where i learned my lesson, and clicked a few chaps randomly just to check, and even until last chap, MC never did a big reveal (FL knew but never did "reveal livestream") but ended with him saying "I will go home and tell her everything".



Also the reverse can also happen.
A meh cover can turn off people despite its quality.

Shameful as it is, i near missed a high quality "yuri" manga because of its cover
"Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku"
View attachment 19949
because 1) title is not spectacular 2) summary is not spoiler enough and mislead to "tragedy/failure" 3) the cover, despite her being beautiful, realistic drawing cover isnt very my catch, especially as before it there was the "Asobi Asobase" where the comedy just turned me off

Here are later covers :
View attachment 19950View attachment 19951

VERY INTERESTING to see the 9th,
and most importantly, the 11th, where clearly you see it being realisticly and more "anime-ish"


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If before chineses had the idiom "good wine isnt afraid of deep alleys"
Now in 2023, chinese internet users say "even good wine is afraid of deep alleys"
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image marketing is far more important, just like the fact people still keep using VLC and chrome despite better replacements.
And as long as you are popular the goal is done and can do whatever after.
YOUTUBE after cimenting the throne of videos website, deleting dislike button, implementing rules against youtubers, favoriting some youtubers, etc
TWITCH, now throne of "livestream" in western countries, allowing HUNDREDS of erotic streams. With ASMR of girls licking/kissing. Streams of girls speaking in bikinis. Recently finally focusing on the problem, because KICK a rival livestream website, becoming popular.
DIABLO, CoD, League of Legends, Command and Conquer, Battlefield, etc won against bunch of other product early on but not caring after being popular


@Jun_Sakazuki

Speaking of Paul.
He is quite smart too XD
and very lowkey.
As lowkey as a cautious-but-very-op protagonist in a chinese webnovel.

I mean. Look at HIS covers.
View attachment 19953
I dont know about you Jun, but for myself, i can't myself but turn my eyes to a certain cover XD
Meanwhile male-only character covers are a nono (unless you are a fujoshi), and "landscape" covers is now hasbeen.

YES. A magic symbol is what attract readers among this 4.
Umu umu. Totally not the juicy, pink thigh on the right. Totally not it. Yep. Totally not this.
A very sexy cover is totally a no.
Humans arent horny monkeys. The billions of $ about the sexual industry are fake numbers. Just like the fake numbers of smut WNs.
Its not like this perfect thigh, that anyone would wish to hug or touch, or probably worse actions, could succeed of being an attractive cover.
Totally not interested in the character in the character wearing leggings and a VERY SMALL blue bottom.
Yep.

Wait, Akebi's Sailor Uniform is yuri? I don't remember any yuri there, though I didn't read much.