Opinions on Webnovel contract?

[MissAlbedo]

I was offered a contract with Webnovel for my novel My Amazing Succubus Class but I've read it's like 'the hitler slave' of companies so I'll just ignore it. My worry is if they will keep spamming contract if I don't react on it or will they remove my story on their platform.

Does anyone has experience with Webnovel and their rules?

 

[Lloyd]

It's a good contract if you can write a lot.

 

[Tentacult1664]

Yeah. It's a good contract. You get exposure and money but the 1.5k words per day for 3 months is a giant pain in the ass. Just be sure to have extra chapters and pray to god you won't have a writer's block during that 3 months otherwise you're fucked

 

[Sabruness]

dont they also basically have it written in that when you sign yourself into slavery they get all the rights (including copyright) to your novel and can do whatever they want with it, including replacing you with another writer.

 

[Tentacult1664]

dont they also basically have it written in that when you sign yourself into slavery they get all the rights (including copyright) to your novel and can do whatever they want with it, including replacing you with another writer.

Yeah, but iirc other sites also have that kind of contract, like meganovel and goodnovel for example.

 

[Lorelliad]

I got one too, myself. Still debating whether or not to take it.

 

[emrogue]

dont they also basically have it written in that when you sign yourself into slavery they get all the rights (including copyright) to your novel and can do whatever they want with it, including replacing you with another writer.

Jesus. This sounds like the most exploitative thing ever.

 

[lnv]

 

[Sabruness]

Jesus. This sounds like the most exploitative thing ever.

it's one of the reasons why their contracts are seen as slave contracts. you're basically signing away everything and the chance of actually earning any money (let along worthwhile money) is just slightly north of not gonna happen, to the west of no chance in hell.

[See Gate Guardian: Song of the Frozen Soul]

well shit, i think i vaguely remember reading that once upon a time when you first started posting it. explains why it all disappeared.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I was offered a contract with Webnovel for my novel My Amazing Succubus Class but I've read it's like 'the hitler slave' of companies so I'll just ignore it. My worry is if they will keep spamming contract if I don't react on it or will they remove my story on their platform.

Does anyone has experience with Webnovel and their rules?

Yes. DON'T.

 

[Pujimaki]

I received contracts from Webnovel for my novels, I never bother reading them. If you want to monetize your novel, just go for Patreon and Ko-Fi. But that's my opinion though. I don't like giving the rights of the novels I spent my whole year writing to a company.

 

[ArchlordZero]

Jesus. This sounds like the most exploitative thing ever.

This is true to every entertainment industry though, such as singers and their albums, and artists and their artworks
Just deleted my comment so that it won't be used against me

 

[emrogue]

This is true to every entertainment industry though, such as singers and their albums, and artists and their artworks

I'm not too familiar with other industries, but when it comes to publishing, usually you'll sign off publishing/exploitation rights, which isn't the same as copyright per se, which is in essence proof that you are the author of that work. If the publisher breaches the contract in any way, i.e not paying or publishing by the deadline, all publishing rights revert to you. That's why most authors get agents before signing contracts, although I know things work differently online, and agents are another can of worms.
An interesting case of an author who sold her copyright was L. J. Smith, author of the Vampire Diaries. She doesn't own any of the characters she created. Harper Collins brought in another author to continue her series when they fired her, and she started writing "fan fiction" of her own work, which her fans recognise as the true sequels of her novels. So that's actually a loophole you could use, but I get that you don't want to risk legal action.
That fucking sucks though. I'm sorry you lost rights to your work.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

This is true to every entertainment industry though, such as singers and their albums, and artists and their artworks
Just deleted my comment so that it won't be used against me

Be careful man. Wishing you best...

 

[emrogue]

I was wondering if Victoria Strauss might have covered this, and yep: https://writerbeware.blog/2023/01/20/bad-contract-alert-webnovel/
Pretty thorough breakdown of why you shouldn't sign it.

Edit: ArchlordZero, if the article is correct, you've still got copyright (just not publishing rights) but you can't publish until 50 years after your death. Which is fucked up. I wish there was a way for you to get out of it. But I understand if you just want to leave that behind you.

 

[ArchlordZero]

That fucking sucks though. I'm sorry you lost rights to your work.

Edit: ArchlordZero, if the article is correct, you've still got copyright (just not publishing rights) but you can't publish until 50 years after your death. Which is fucked up. I wish there was a way for you to get out of it. But I understand if you just want to leave that behind you.

Nah man, I'm way past it already and have written 5 novels after that. Quite happy about that 1M views I got on it though, but it's just for the bucket list as an author and time to move on.

 

[Sabruness]

I received contracts from Webnovel for my novels, I never bother reading them. If you want to monetize your novel, just go for Patreon and Ko-Fi. But that's my opinion though. I don't like giving the rights of the novels I spent my whole year writing to a company.

or self-publish through Amazon or any or all of the above in combo.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

With webnovel contracts, you don't get the authorship/copyright rights if the contract is breeched. They keep it and replace you with someone else to continue writing it. Has happened once or twice with a good author losing all the rights to their story as a result of a sickness or even something as simple as writers block.

or self-publish through Amazon or any or all of the above in combo.

That's a good idea but it takes a bit of money to actually make money through it. The average amount spent on Amazon KDP books that actually make good returns is around $2000 at minimum for the cover art and advertising (if you don't do it yourself). The audiobook can be free if you do it yourself or at minimum another $2000 for a small time VA.

 

[Aader]

I distrust contracts like that. If you don't benefit don't take it

 

[Anon2024]

Depends on how important your work is to you. If it’s practice and a throwaway, I say why not? Give up after a month and see how their paid writer finishes it