[Disc] How do you, as a reader, feel when a novel you like signs on as premium exclusive on webnovel?

[Sabruness]

the title's fairly self-explanatory really.

Most of us know about webnovel, their shady practices and their contracts that can border on slavery for authors so how do you feel when a novel you love gets signed onto webnovel as a premium exclusive only posted there?

Personally, off to third party sites i go

Edit: I should probably clarify: i'm referring to original EN novels posted on places like here or RR.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

It’s never happened to me before, as the novels I read are mostly illegally unofficially translated CN’s. But if it did I’d probably feel sad that the author has to deal with that. At the end of the day, the author gets to do whatever they want, and I can’t change their mind unless they let me. I probably wouldn’t do anything more than silently move on, or if I was really angry, leave a passive aggressive semi depressed comment that no one would ever see.

I certainly don’t believe people should be getting death threats for making money though.

 

[Sabruness]

It’s never happened to me before, as the novels I read are mostly illegally unofficially translated CN’s. But if it did I’d probably feel sad that the author has to deal with that. At the end of the day, the author gets to do whatever they want, and I can’t change their mind unless they let me. I probably wouldn’t do anything more than silently move on, or if I was really angry, leave a passive aggressive semi depressed comment that no one would ever see.

I certainly don’t believe people should be getting death threats for making money though.

yeah, i suppose reactions would depend on the circumstances of the author. If they were doing it because they really needed the money (for paying bills and stuff) then it's understandable. If they were just doing it out of desire for money (ie a bit of greed) then reactions would probably be a bit more negative.
That's just my opinion though

 

[Saileri]

There were 2 stories already that I was enjoying quite heavily that disappeared after getting contracted. At first, I was sad obviously, since I was looking forward to more releases here, but it's their decision and I can't really bitch about it too much. I'm not a fan of the WN way of handling the contracted stories, so I don't really read that much there, thus if something migrates there for a premium, I usually drop the story and move on.

As a writer who posts there, I'm not going to sign an exclusive contract ever. I started writing for myself and began posting it online just so people can also take a peek at it if they find it interesting. I'm not really planning on going the non-exclusive route, but that's not something I can state with all the certainty at this moment, I'd have to do more research and also give it much more thinking. I'm definitely not going to agree with anything that limits the story on other sites. The only paywalled chapters are going to be on the Patreon, but I consider them my stockpile for when shit goes down and I won't have time to write regularly, so those Patrons are the first ones to get hit with fewer chapters than the usual reader

 

[K5Rakitan]

I would mainly feel happy that the author is making money.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

Well, even if someone wants the money just to have it, we can’t complain without sounding kinda entitled.

 

[TRNRLogan]

Dropped.

 

[ConTroll]

It'd be a shame, but in the end, if the author is getting paid, then I'm not going to complain.

Sometimes, we as consumers forget that there is a cost for people's time and effort.

That said, as an author myself, I would never do an exclusive deal.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I will pirate? And if I cannot pirate, I drop.

As an author, I genuinely hate leeching readers who complain when I am just trying to make a buck for my life, I mean, I had worked hard on that work, I want to get more material rewards that just views and likes, those things are like internships and exposures, they will not fill my tummy.

As a reader, I genuinely hate when the greedy writers who paywalled me just because they like money more than my ghostly presense in their works.

All in all, I just hate people who tease and then blueball me.

 

[Allarielle]

I would just have to drop it. In fact there was a story I quite liked on here that went that route just a few weeks ago, but now it might as well just not exist anymore. I don't like webnovel, and I'm certainly not going to jump through their silly little hoops to unlock their premium content. Same goes for stories that have paywalls on wattpad. In both cases, the fact that paywalls exist on some stories means that I don't even bother going to the site - there's enough to read on SH and RRL without wasting my time on stories that could go premium any moment. Honestly I'm pretty dubious that it actually results in much of an increase in profits for the author either, since it's a huge limiter to the potential audience the story can reach.

 

[tiaf]

It's immature to complain simply because an author wants to make money with their story.
If I love the story I'd pay for it. If I don't feel the need for it, then it obviously means that I didn't like the story that much.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

At the end of the day, the authors work is the authors work. I have the right to be upset, but I shouldn’t have the right to complain.

 

[HonestMistake]

On one hand, I fully understand the need for money, especially in times like these when money is tight and jobs are unsafe.
On the other hand, it's a little scummy to paywall your story. There are plenty of authors out there who have figured out how to make money off their stories while still posting regular chapters for free. You don't need to paywall your story. The fact that it's Webnovel makes it even worse. Webnovel is such a shitty, lying, scummy, bunch of assholes that anyone who accepts money from them is tainted in my eyes. Too be honest, there are a couple absolutely KILLER original novels on Webnovel I actually wouldn't mind shelling out a little cash too read (yeah, they were that good), but just the idea of giving Webnovel any money made me drop them.

 

[gaylolis]

i don't mind if the paywalls are kinda like advance chapters, and we'll eventually get the entire story if we wait.

but if we must pay to get the entire story, like in webnovel, i'll drop them.

not that i hate supporting the authors, but i don't have access to credit card to pay them, even if i want to (but not with this shit paywalling scheme).

if i were to spend my money, i probably go to kindle or something and get the complete story right off the bat. they're probably better deals than spending for a chapter, and there's no telling if the author will drop them or if they'll end shitty.

 

[NotYourTypicalMan]

I always go to the 3rd party website, mainly wuxiaworld.co to read pirated versions. I ain't gonna pay that them any cents but I can support the authors in the Patreon if they need some cash.

I would just have to drop it. In fact there was a story I quite liked on here that went that route just a few weeks ago, but now it might as well just not exist anymore. I don't like webnovel, and I'm certainly not going to jump through their silly little hoops to unlock their premium content. Same goes for stories that have paywalls on wattpad. In both cases, the fact that paywalls exist on some stories means that I don't even bother going to the site - there's enough to read on SH and RRL without wasting my time on stories that could go premium any moment. Honestly I'm pretty dubious that it actually results in much of an increase in profits for the author either, since it's a huge limiter to the potential audience the story can reach.

is it Let me make you a star? .That novel plot is decent but with bad writing (And I love it). Webnovel is a place where you can get a shit ton of readers with any genres (not like here...Yuri rules!)

 

[Aleth08]

I would mainly feel happy that the author is making money.

But thats the thing, the authors dont get paid from the tl I think. Because of their contract with Tencent [Qidian], they dont have the copyrights to their own novel. So, if its been translating, I dont thnk they'll get paid for it. Contract thing, I'm most certain of, but hope I'm wrong on this.

Edit: My bad, didnt read the op comment carefully. Ignore this.

 

[Kaguro]

I feel bad for them, because they've been tricked. It's a bad decision overall.

You stand to make far more from patreon via cross-posting to royalroad and other sites than you could ever make via their contracts. The only time their exclusive contract makes you more money is if your story is a flop that grosses the contract minimum. Which is something like $200/month.

$200 a month is not enough to justify being kicked off every other platform and selling the rights to your novel. Plus they lock you into what is basically a 20 hour/week commitment. Writing 1k words a day while simultaneously keeping a job and a life is actually really tough.

Aspiring professional writers shouldn't sign the contract because of financials, and amateur writers shouldn't because the commitment is too high.

 

[ChronicleCrawler]

I looked deeper into the money issues of authors in WN. There are 2 interesting points that I have seen.

The contract + the money.

Let's go the contract issues first. Give or take, it's a rascals contract considering that WN will have some rights that are supposed to be exclusively for the authors. It sucks. Many here do agree with this fact. A big reason why many don't like putting their works in WN.

The second one is money. After a bit of research and stalking (I mean gathering data). I found out that a lot of authors especially in Asian countries still post their stories over there for the money (of course its the money!). They're more concerned about how much will they earn. Let's say you are from a low-income or middle-income nation and was offered with about $400 a month + bonuses depending on the performance of the novel. $400 is a good deal for them to be honest. But if you're from first-world nations - that's pitter-patter definitely not worth it if you can earn more.

All in all, its a matter of viewpoint. Although getting paywalled stinks - I accept their decision. If the authors earn money from it, I am happy for them. But if they don't paywall or sign premium, then we're both happy. As simple as that. Even so, I'll miss so I'll go to some aggregator site.

 

[Stratothrax]

I haven't come across that before honestly, patreon just seems like a much easier and better option for western authors. Maybe it happens more with cultivation style novels? I'm more familiar with the DnD/litrpg western style. If that did happen to something I was reading I would likely just stop reading it if it was on webnovel, that site is too shady, if it became exclusive to patreon though? Yeah I might pay to read it tbh, depends.

 

[tigerine]

I see a lot of people talking about support on patreon/ko-fi/etc, but in my experience as an author, asking readers to pay based on the honor system doesn't actually...work?

I have said that if someone feels my work should be rewarded, they can send me a ko-fi or a tip or whatever. After I had been publishing chapters of this web serial for a year, I worked out how much money I made: 0.007 cents a word. Industry rates even for the most basic clickbait non-fiction article writing is still a penny a word (2-3 cents a word is more normal, and 5-6 cents a word is more like a living wage.) That's two orders of magnitude more than I am making for original, heavily researched fiction by an expert writer with over 20 years of writing experience.

Saying that you would just drop the novel rather than support the author is heartbreaking. Your chances to directly support someone's work come through making them feel like their work has value in patreon, ko-fi, etc. If an author signed with webnovel, it's because webnovel was promising them money that entitled readers weren't giving them for their work.