Feedback on Other Platforms

[Not_A_Symphony]

I don't know if I am allowed to talk about this here but if I am not, dear mods/admins let me know! For now, here it goes!

I've been posting my story in ScribbleHub however I decided to post it as well on some other platforms. Some time ago I got a contract opportunity offered by GoodNovel and today the same thing happened with WebNovel however, I am very new to this world and I have 0 insights.
Do, anyone of my fellow authors, have any experience with these platforms? Did the same thing happen to you?
I would love to hear your opinions even if it didn't happen to you. Truthfully, any insight is extremely helpful.

Thank you very much
[And if I am not allowed to talk about this then I am sorry, I will remove it straight away!]

 

[SailusGebel]

I don't know if I am allowed to talk about this here but if I am not, dear mods/admins let me know! For now, here it goes!

I've been posting my story in ScribbleHub however I decided to post it as well on some other platforms. Some time ago I got a contract opportunity offered by GoodNovel and today the same thing happened with WebNovel however, I am very new to this world and I have 0 insights.
Do, anyone of my fellow authors, have any experience with these platforms? Did the same thing happen to you?
I would love to hear your opinions even if it didn't happen to you. Truthfully, any insight is extremely helpful.

Thank you very much
[And if I am not allowed to talk about this then I am sorry, I will remove it straight away!]

I think WebNovel offers contracts to pretty much every novel. They offered a contract to me. But after I visited their discord and got some "help" there... I asked two questions. My first question wasn't answered at all. The other one was answered with something like this: "You are so stupid, go upstairs a few floors and walk out of the window." Newbie helpers who might as well work with underage authors wrote: "go k*** yourself" as an answer... Judge this yourself. Perhaps it's only happened to me? I don't know.

WebNovel has a terrible reputation for a reason. It's not transparent, the company is fishy, and the "service" itself is horrible there. They are understaffed, yet they don't bother to resolve this problem and use their top authors to 'help' newbies. Which they don't do btw. Top authors are basically promoting WebNovel, and there is zero help from them.

Don't know anything about GoodNovel.

 

[Not_A_Symphony]

WebNovel has a terrible reputation for a reason.

I always feel like it is fishy when a writing website asks newbies for contracts with little exposure. My story there hasn't even reached 10k views and only has 33 collections so why would they be interested in such a small fish in a big pond?

This is what I discovered from my research regarding WebNovel:

• After signing the contract they basically keep the copyrights of the world (for future sequels if the novel turns out to be popular enough) which is basically = to losing your copyrights. This is perpetual as well.
• The pay is acceptable, the minimum you will receive is 200$ per month if you write 40k words and have steady publishing (not sure how this part works).
• You cannot post your story anywhere else and you are responsible to remove your creations from all the websites (this includes hosting websites that you did not publish in).

And of course, the contract seems to be equal to everyone, just one more sheep into the farm you know?

My first question wasn't answered at all.

This only sounds sketchy 100%. When people refuse to answer your questions is because they are hiding their true intentions.
I am not in their discord at all but it is very weird and disrespectful how they behaved, truly.

 

[Kazesenken]

Both Webnovel and Goodreads are known to aggressively give contracts to anything that reaches a certain length, no matter the quality. They have a mindset that they'll eventually make the money back because they force you to write so much. And if you don't, they just don't pay you. There's very little risk for them.

I haven't been part of the Goodreads community, so I can't say anything there. Webnovel tho... They are toxic. Ruled by the top authors who look down on everyone else who doesn't stand on their level. I've had friends contemplate about a contract and join the discord, only to find a bunch of people bashing all the new authors who don't have some fanbase behind them.
There's plenty of stories about them telling people that 'if they don't make top 50, then they should stfu and quit their efforts.' Some will actually go out of their way to sic their fans on you to trash your chances. Overall, it's a place to avoid if you are new to the scene.

 

[SailusGebel]

Both Webnovel and Goodreads are known to aggressively give contracts to anything that reaches a certain length, no matter the quality. They have a mindset that they'll eventually make the money back because they force you to write so much. And if you don't, they just don't pay you. There's very little risk for them.

I haven't been part of the Goodreads community, so I can't say anything there. Webnovel tho... They are toxic. Ruled by the top authors who look down on everyone else who doesn't stand on their level. I've had friends contemplate about a contract and join the discord, only to find a bunch of people bashing all the new authors who don't have some fanbase behind them.
There's plenty of stories about them telling people that 'if they don't make top 50, then they should stfu and quit their efforts.' Some will actually go out of their way to sic their fans on you to trash your chances. Overall, it's a place to avoid if you are new to the scene.

Nah, don't avoid WebNovel. It's one of the largest websites there is that specializes in novels. Even if we take the fact, that they may use bots to increase the views and other stuff like that into consideration, it's still big.

Use it as a publicity source, don't sign the contract, and you are good to go. At least I use it that way.

 

[Kazesenken]

Nah, don't avoid WebNovel. It's one of the largest websites there is that specializes in novels. Even if we take the fact, that they may use bots to increase the views and other stuff like that into consideration, it's still big.

Use it as a publicity source, don't sign the contract, and you are good to go. At least I use it that way.

I post there too. I was only pointing towards the signing the contract and joining the discord as a contracted author, which is where the toxicity comes in. If you don't come under their radar, then they don't bother.

 

[Not_A_Symphony]

Use it as a publicity source, don't sign the contract, and you are good to go. At least I use it that way.

I post there too. I was only pointing towards the signing the contract and joining the discord as a contracted author, which is where the toxicity comes in. If you don't come under their radar, then they don't bother.

Thank you for your insights! I think I will also reject the contract, that way I can still post my novels anywhere I want and I won't have to be in that type of environment. Thank you very much

 

[Freemints30]

I still wouldn't recommend posting unless you don't plan to get an exclusivity deal or traditionally publish else where. You would have a very very very difficulty time deleting your novel from the site itself. You can delete all your chapters but the novel itself. That wouldn't be coming down from the site.

Shady as hell place

Ive been contacted by Good novel, web novel, novelstar. And the one thing I learned, a legitimate non-toxic business will rarely contact you. Its more you contacting them.

 

[Kazesenken]

I still wouldn't recommend posting unless you don't plan to get an exclusivity deal or traditionally publish else where. You would have a very very very difficulty time deleting your novel from the site itself. You can delete all your chapters but the novel itself. That wouldn't be coming down from the site.

Shady as hell place

Ive been contacted by Good novel, web novel, novelstar. And the one thing I learned, a legitimate non-toxic business will rarely contact you. Its more you contacting them.

Webnovel also gets hit by scrapper bots the hardest. That mean that any story that exceeds a certain length (probably ~40-50 chapters) will get picked up by them and automatically posted on dozens of pirate sites. Happened to me, but I didn't care about profiting off my story.

Another point to make about these businesses that contact you, they don't usually care at all about your circumstances unless it directly affects them. I recall one author that caused a scene last year. She stole other people's novels and posted them on Webnovel, got a contract for them, and then proceeded to also sign an exclusive contract with Goodnovel for the same novels already contracted. And neither site realized this scam, or if they did, they haven't done a thing about it to this day.

Edit - Actually, I went back to some screenshoted discord posts. Webnovel knew about it and didn't care. Even when people brought up where the novels were stolen from.

 

[Not_A_Symphony]

Webnovel also gets hit by scrapper bots the hardest. That mean that any story that exceeds a certain length (probably ~40-50 chapters) will get picked up by them and automatically posted on dozens of pirate sites. Happened to me, but I didn't care about profiting off my story.

But will this happen if the novel itself is always free? I don't intend to make people pay for it so it would be useless to be in pirate sites, right?

 

[kmckeon95]

I'm posted on royal road and am having success.

 

[Kazesenken]

But will this happen if the novel itself is always free? I don't intend to make people pay for it so it would be useless to be in pirate sites, right?

It happens automatically, free or not. Those sites try to pad their libraries to make themselves seem bigger.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Just read everything thoroughly before you sign anything.

 

[Ai-chan]

Both Webnovel and Goodreads are known to aggressively give contracts to anything that reaches a certain length, no matter the quality. They have a mindset that they'll eventually make the money back because they force you to write so much. And if you don't, they just don't pay you. There's very little risk for them.

I haven't been part of the Goodreads community, so I can't say anything there. Webnovel tho... They are toxic. Ruled by the top authors who look down on everyone else who doesn't stand on their level. I've had friends contemplate about a contract and join the discord, only to find a bunch of people bashing all the new authors who don't have some fanbase behind them.
There's plenty of stories about them telling people that 'if they don't make top 50, then they should stfu and quit their efforts.' Some will actually go out of their way to sic their fans on you to trash your chances. Overall, it's a place to avoid if you are new to the scene.

Hold on. Since when did Goodreads offer contracts? It's just a site where people rate published novels and suggest novels to each other. Ai-chan's novel Felicia's Second Life is also archived there, but only for information and discussions. They still linked Ai-chan's novel on Amazon.

 

[Kazesenken]

Hold on. Since when did Goodreads offer contracts? It's just a site where people rate published novels and suggest novels to each other. Ai-chan's novel Felicia's Second Life is also archived there, but only for information and discussions. They still linked Ai-chan's novel on Amazon.

Ah, you're right. I meant GoodNovel, not Goodreads.

 

[SerikoLee]

Depends on the sites and terms , look at the terms before deciding on a contract.

If they help you with art such as assets such as art for characters and etc.
And let you go at your own phrase , you found a great site.
Someone invited me to goodnovel but the account is new , so left the pm.

 

[krushandkill]

https://forum.scribblehub.com/threads/webnovel-contract.7560/#post-178531

If something is not clear on that link, I can explain more, but I think my answer on that thread covered everything.