I have been finally poached.

[RepresentingEnvy]

Vampires

No, that would be the people who get contracted because they are suckers.

 

[melchi]

There are other legit companies that might want to do a publishing. Just look at overgeared on amazon, webnovel has done a really poor job of promoting it. If that is how they launch popular titles imagine how little advertising they'd put in fringe things.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

just instantly deny any online publishing offer from a non US company

 

[RedHunter2296]

Oh, I think this thread and mine are basically identical, so I'll try to summarize my contribution here as much as possible.

Basically, after working my butt off all over the internet getting my story out there, they come offering me a 50%-50% deal where they just have to slap their name on top and take my digital distribution copyright, which in 2024 means everything, from the actual text on the internet to any internet-based animated series that come out, and in perpetuity and irrevocably.

And the benefits they offer besides cold, hard cash are garbage. Publicity? None beyond the traction my novel already had before; I've done my own advertising for my novel, with video trailers and audiobooks. A maybe comic or manga? As if that would ever happen even with more popular stories on their own platform; that's a huge expense, a project years in the making. Publishing on Amazon KDP? Turns out that's free, and in fact, I had already done it manually on my own; I even have four books published already, so they would just come in and take half of what I already do in sales (which are like $5 a month, on a good month).

And even the money itself has huge caveats; publishing regularly, the income is 50% yours, net income, AFTER they deduct what they spent on advertising and costs (which they don't specify and is arbitrary, by the way). A payout of at best $300 a month, depending on how much your work is read or public interest, under contract almost like an employee but with no benefits, only problems. Fail to meet the reader target? They can sue you for damages to the company. Didn't publish one day because you were sick? You're not eligible for payment this month. Want to make a prequel? Tough luck, they own the rights, they have to give written approval first and they'll also keep the profits from that. Plus, the writer's work is paid at $0.02 per word, 30 chapters a month of a minimum of a thousand words each is $600.


The only way it would be minimally legitimate is if it's through digital distribution rights for a maximum of 5 years and after that, the rights are completely yours again, and using that as a springboard for advertising your story for a better deal in the future. What they're trying to do is snatch up the perpetual rights of the next Solo Leveling before it explodes in popularity for pennies

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Nobody trying to poach me.

 

[georgelee5786]

It will happen. Just wait for the WN recruiter peoples. I forgot what they are called.

leeches?
parasites?
demons?
foul beings?
orcs?
zombies?
there are many names to choose from

 

[Corty]

Here are some updates:

Holy shit. That's rough. I knew they were scummy; I read the warnings on other sites before, but they changed nothing, it seems. I am no lawyer, but hell, reading this is totally against the whole "you keep your copyright" shtick they try to catch you with. And it's not all:

This made me chuckle. They can impersonate you. Yep. They can make a fake account essentially and post it in your name, saying it is a promotion. Oh, and you have to help with it and cooperate. Even better, if you are successful, they can send you out to promote it if they say so. Yes, the travel expenses are paid for, and by then, you will probably be pretty famous and whatnot, which is nice. But the part where they can say, to come and bring your own merch for the occasion, and there are no specifications if that merch is going to be paid by them (most likely not), is funny.

They can also freely translate it. No questions asked. And the wording itself suggests to me that anything related to the work is theirs. My stories are interconnected and play in a shared universe. Signing over one book would probably mean I also give up my others... But I am not 100% on that, but that is what I feel like.

Tl;dr - they calculate the expenses and how much you may get from the earnings. You can ask how they calculated it and what statistics they used for it, but they will say, as in the text you can read, by the same data you can access on the website. Yeah, sure, and I am going to believe that you paid me with Webnovel's gift data or something.

But, here comes the bestest, mostest, superest part:

They can "ask," more like TELL you to rewrite parts if they don't like it. They can censor you, essentially. You don't like it? Get fucked; here are damages; pay us back, and this all is ours now. YOINK.

Read 9.4 in its entirety, this shit is wild.

I get that they need to defend their assets, but come on, the reasons why are so vague it is laughable. I get it if the author is plagiarizing or something, but they don't specify what breaching an agreement really means. It includes the fact that if they tell you to modify parts of your story, you refuse to do so.

They can take your whole story away and make it their own. They already have your account that they can use; they specify that they can finish the story if they want it or give it to someone else to pick it up. Either way, you are fucked; this is our story now. YOINK. Oh, and yeah, here are the damages; pay us back 100%. What, you were paid for two years? Pay two years back bitch; it was not payment; it was a loan!

There are still more:

Even if they go bankrupt or just dissolve, the contract still holds. They can give it to someone else, and it will still be active. You don't get out, buddy; you signed it, and your soul is ours.

Welp, nah. I'm good. I remain a hobby writer instead. At least I am free.

 

[Simple_Russian_Boi]

Here are some updates:

View attachment 26296

View attachment 26297

Holy shit. That's rough. I knew they were scummy; I read the warnings on other sites before, but they changed nothing, it seems. I am no lawyer, but hell, reading this is totally against the whole "you keep your copyright" shtick they try to catch you with. And it's not all:

View attachment 26302

This made me chuckle. They can impersonate you. Yep. They can make a fake account essentially and post it in your name, saying it is a promotion. Oh, and you have to help with it and cooperate. Even better, if you are successful, they can send you out to promote it if they say so. Yes, the travel expenses are paid for, and by then, you will probably be pretty famous and whatnot, which is nice. But the part where they can say, to come and bring your own merch for the occasion, and there are no specifications if that merch is going to be paid by them (most likely not), is funny.

View attachment 26303

They can also freely translate it. No questions asked. And the wording itself suggests to me that anything related to the work is theirs. My stories are interconnected and play in a shared universe. Signing over one book would probably mean I also give up my others... But I am not 100% on that, but that is what I feel like.

View attachment 26307
Tl;dr - they calculate the expenses and how much you may get from the earnings. You can ask how they calculated it and what statistics they used for it, but they will say, as in the text you can read, by the same data you can access on the website. Yeah, sure, and I am going to believe that you paid me with Webnovel's gift data or something.

But, here comes the bestest, mostest, superest part:


View attachment 26310

They can "ask," more like TELL you to rewrite parts if they don't like it. They can censor you, essentially. You don't like it? Get fucked; here are damages; pay us back, and this all is ours now. YOINK.

Read 9.4 in its entirety, this shit is wild.

I get that they need to defend their assets, but come on, the reasons why are so vague it is laughable. I get it if the author is plagiarizing or something, but they don't specify what breaching an agreement really means. It includes the fact that if they tell you to modify parts of your story, you refuse to do so.

They can take your whole story away and make it their own. They already have your account that they can use; they specify that they can finish the story if they want it or give it to someone else to pick it up. Either way, you are fucked; this is our story now. YOINK. Oh, and yeah, here are the damages; pay us back 100%. What, you were paid for two years? Pay two years back bitch; it was not payment; it was a loan!

There are still more:

View attachment 26311

Even if they go bankrupt or just dissolve, the contract still holds. They can give it to someone else, and it will still be active. You don't get out, buddy; you signed it, and your soul is ours.

Welp, nah. I'm good. I remain a hobby writer instead. At least I am free.

Holy Inquisition, this is wild. I knew that WN isn't a good place (because of the community) but this is just on another level. Makes me feel good that I don't have any original stories on their site.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Yup, the contract's "All your book are belong to us" and it only gets worse. Since they own the digital distribution and "are allowed" to use your accounts "for promotion", they more or less own your account and thus everything else you write. And since you have to cooperate, they can just completely take over your account in a legal way. The contract essentially says "You can keep ownership of your stories because we'll own you".

 

[melchi]

Eww, they have so many ways to screw authors but don't actually commit to any rate at which they have to pay.

Nothing in that says we'll pay this much for so many words or so many views.

 

[Corty]

Nothing in that says we'll pay this much for so many words or so many views.

Yep, saying it will be about how the stats come along is the easiest way to say we ain't payin' you shit.

For anyone who wants to contract yourself, my opinion is to simply ask for a contract straight from Webnovel. At least they may use Vaseline. Contractors like this? Not so much.

 

[Obsoleteness]

Gonna be one tame book if you aren't allowed to write about anyone being angry

 

[Alfir]

At least yours is more eloquent, I received three poaching attempts for three different fics with the same wording and spammed it on my reviews section. I felt so validated so I ignored it.

 

[tiaf]

You can’t get poached if you’re unpopular

 

[TsumiHokiro]

Here are some updates:

View attachment 26296

View attachment 26297

Holy shit. That's rough. I knew they were scummy; I read the warnings on other sites before, but they changed nothing, it seems. I am no lawyer, but hell, reading this is totally against the whole "you keep your copyright" shtick they try to catch you with. And it's not all:

View attachment 26302

This made me chuckle. They can impersonate you. Yep. They can make a fake account essentially and post it in your name, saying it is a promotion. Oh, and you have to help with it and cooperate. Even better, if you are successful, they can send you out to promote it if they say so. Yes, the travel expenses are paid for, and by then, you will probably be pretty famous and whatnot, which is nice. But the part where they can say, to come and bring your own merch for the occasion, and there are no specifications if that merch is going to be paid by them (most likely not), is funny.

View attachment 26303

They can also freely translate it. No questions asked. And the wording itself suggests to me that anything related to the work is theirs. My stories are interconnected and play in a shared universe. Signing over one book would probably mean I also give up my others... But I am not 100% on that, but that is what I feel like.

View attachment 26307
Tl;dr - they calculate the expenses and how much you may get from the earnings. You can ask how they calculated it and what statistics they used for it, but they will say, as in the text you can read, by the same data you can access on the website. Yeah, sure, and I am going to believe that you paid me with Webnovel's gift data or something.

But, here comes the bestest, mostest, superest part:


View attachment 26310

They can "ask," more like TELL you to rewrite parts if they don't like it. They can censor you, essentially. You don't like it? Get fucked; here are damages; pay us back, and this all is ours now. YOINK.

Read 9.4 in its entirety, this shit is wild.

I get that they need to defend their assets, but come on, the reasons why are so vague it is laughable. I get it if the author is plagiarizing or something, but they don't specify what breaching an agreement really means. It includes the fact that if they tell you to modify parts of your story, you refuse to do so.

They can take your whole story away and make it their own. They already have your account that they can use; they specify that they can finish the story if they want it or give it to someone else to pick it up. Either way, you are fucked; this is our story now. YOINK. Oh, and yeah, here are the damages; pay us back 100%. What, you were paid for two years? Pay two years back bitch; it was not payment; it was a loan!

There are still more:

View attachment 26311

Even if they go bankrupt or just dissolve, the contract still holds. They can give it to someone else, and it will still be active. You don't get out, buddy; you signed it, and your soul is ours.

Welp, nah. I'm good. I remain a hobby writer instead. At least I am free.

This is so brutal, it is just a bit short of slavery. Yet I still hear people saying, "It's a good contract if follow it". Where are they right now?

 

[melchi]

This is so brutal, it is just a bit short of slavery. Yet I still hear people saying, "It's a good contract if follow it". Where are they right now?

How can they know it is a good contract if there are no numbers.
It is basically we will give you something but not saying more than that.

 

[ExpertReader101]

I've never heard of "A&D Entertainment" Are they WebNovel?

 

[RedHunter2296]

I've never heard of "A&D Entertainment" Are they WebNovel?

Worse, they are Webnovel contractors.

Webnovel pays them $100 to A&D Entertainment to find new novels for their site.

they contact you and offer to pay you 30 dollars for your novel and their copyright in perpetuity.

They keep the $70 profit while you have to work every day for the rest of your life for $30.

And if something goes wrong Webnovel can fire A&D Entertainment, you go without income and they can wash their hands of it by stating that they never contacted you so they don't owe you anything.

 

[SurfAngel_1031]

Given my entire series is on Microsoft Word, that makes it 100% digital. So me owning the copyright that's non-digital means I don't own it.

What a crock of crap.
Thanks for sharing the email

 

[Notadate]

Rip path to power author he got poached