Webnovels

[naosu]

I wanted to ask about this site, but specifically ask other authors...

www.webnovel.com

Is this a good site to put up stories on? I like here. So no worries. I have no plans to leave. But I was worried about finding readers because the economy isn't doing well now.

Can webnovel.com also manipulate or steal from you if you put stuff up? And is their platform strong enough to use?

Thank you.

 

[DonutLuver]

I wanted to ask about this site, but specifically ask other authors...

www.webnovel.com

Is this a good site to put up stories on? I like here. So no worries. I have no plans to leave. But I was worried about finding readers because the economy isn't doing well now.

Can webnovel.com also manipulate or steal from you if you put stuff up? And is their platform strong enough to use?

Thank you.

I know that if your story is good there will be people that will steal your work word for word and it takes the staff months to take it down.

You also need to write 4000 words for your novel to start the vetting process.

Finding readers are hard unless you write for targeted audience.

Because webnovel promotes daily updates as opposed to quality updates your story will drown unless you get featured which the algorithm favors daily updates with some buzz words.

 

[ModernGold7ne]

I wanted to ask about this site, but specifically ask other authors...

www.webnovel.com

Is this a good site to put up stories on? I like here. So no worries. I have no plans to leave. But I was worried about finding readers because the economy isn't doing well now.

Can webnovel.com also manipulate or steal from you if you put stuff up? And is their platform strong enough to use?

Thank you.

They don't have any formatting tools, so it's worse than text editor, especially if you do litrpgs, gamelit, or love using bold and italic.
Also you can't change text color.
I'd list all the downsides, but I've listed the biggest detractor.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I wanted to ask about this site, but specifically ask other authors...

www.webnovel.com

Is this a good site to put up stories on? I like here. So no worries. I have no plans to leave. But I was worried about finding readers because the economy isn't doing well now.

Can webnovel.com also manipulate or steal from you if you put stuff up? And is their platform strong enough to use?

Thank you.

Well, as someone who writes there, it's pretty fine, as long as you don't intend to sell your works. There are a lot of aggregators in that site.

The contract they'll give you will kill your creativity, as they'd require you to spew out 1k words a day minimum.

As for me? I just upload there first because I thought it'd give me a wider reach for my stories. Well, I do have loyal readers there, but it's not much.

Nevertheless, aside from a few idiots (like that nitpicker I thrashed before), my experience in webnovel is good.

As for UI, chapter UI sucks. The volume UI is better, though. And yes, the 'customer service' sucks, too. Also, you can delete the chapter, but not the book/story itself. I tried this before, and even went to the 'customer service' for help, but it's useless.

If you plan to upload chapter illusts, there's a roundabout way of doing it. I 'comment' my images in the paragraph where I intend for it to appear.

And yes, another thing I like about WebNovel is that I can answer the reviews and comments of my readers, especially those who love to nitpick. (They can't hide from me, bwahahaha)

 

[ModernGold7ne]

Well, as someone who writes there, it's pretty fine, as long as you don't intend to sell your works. There are a lot of aggregators in that site.

The contract they'll give you will kill your creativity, as they'd require you to spew out 1k words a day minimum.

As for me? I just upload there first because I thought it'd give me a wider reach for my stories. Well, I do have loyal readers there, but it's not much.

Nevertheless, aside from a few idiots (like that nitpicker I thrashed before), my experience in webnovel is good.

As for UI, chapter UI sucks. The volume UI is better, though. And yes, the 'customer service' sucks, too. Also, you can delete the chapter, but not the book/story itself. I tried this before, and even went to the 'customer service' for help, but it's useless.

If you plan to upload chapter illusts, there's a roundabout way of doing it. I 'comment' my images in the paragraph where I intend for it to appear.

And yes, another thing I like about WebNovel is that I can answer the reviews and comments of my readers, especially those who love to nitpick. (They can't hide from me, bwahahaha)

Meh, too many downsides.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Meh, too many downsides.

Well, it depends on your goal and preferences as an author, really.

As for me, I got my readers there, so I continued writing my work. Besides, they can't steal from me when I already made it free to read.

I only rejected their contract because I'm lazy to spit out 1k words a day.

 

[ModernGold7ne]

Well, it depends on your goal and preferences as an author, really.

As for me, I got my readers there, so I continued writing my work. Besides, they can't steal from me when I already made it free to read.

I only rejected their contract because I'm lazy to spit out 1k words a day.

My main gripe is the lack of formatting tools.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

My main gripe is the lack of formatting tools.

Yeah, I understand your sentiment. I just got used to it, and even implemented some 'roundabouts' to adapt to its sucky UI.

Well, in any case, I listed the downsides and upsides of that site in my POV. Up to the OP (and others who are reading this) to decide whether or not to upload their work there.

 

[naosu]

Well, as someone who writes there, it's pretty fine, as long as you don't intend to sell your works. There are a lot of aggregators in that site.

The contract they'll give you will kill your creativity, as they'd require you to spew out 1k words a day minimum.

As for me? I just upload there first because I thought it'd give me a wider reach for my stories. Well, I do have loyal readers there, but it's not much.

Nevertheless, aside from a few idiots (like that nitpicker I thrashed before), my experience in webnovel is good.

As for UI, chapter UI sucks. The volume UI is better, though. And yes, the 'customer service' sucks, too. Also, you can delete the chapter, but not the book/story itself. I tried this before, and even went to the 'customer service' for help, but it's useless.

If you plan to upload chapter illusts, there's a roundabout way of doing it. I 'comment' my images in the paragraph where I intend for it to appear.

And yes, another thing I like about WebNovel is that I can answer the reviews and comments of my readers, especially those who love to nitpick. (They can't hide from me, bwahahaha)

Wow. 1k words minimum daily? That's harsh.

Typically my chapters may be up to 6k or 8k words... but to have someone policing you and be able to mark you down or kick you off if you aren't a daily slave is a major downer. :( It works for me to submit weekly. But I don't have the physical strength to be on there 24/7.

I'm glad you warned me about this.
Is there somewhere else we can use besides that site, here, and royal road?

 

[TheDerpieGod]

Wow. 1k words minimum daily? That's harsh.

Typically my chapters may be up to 6k or 8k words... but to have someone policing you and be able to mark you down or kick you off if you aren't a daily slave is a major downer. :( It works for me to submit weekly. But I don't have the physical strength to be on there 24/7.

I'm glad you warned me about this.
Is there somewhere else we can use besides that site, here, and royal road?

like..... idk. Also 1k words daily is insane for me lmao. I just went like 2 months without updating anything, I JUST updated one of my stories today. Wasn't on hiatus or anything, just was too lazy.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Wow. 1k words minimum daily? That's harsh.

@Paul_Tromba said it's already increased to 1.5k when he was offered a contract, so...yeah, it got worse. And they'd buy the rights to your work; you only get to keep your name, so it's not that lucrative if you're thinking of selling your story.

Typically my chapters may be up to 6k or 8k words... but to have someone policing you and be able to mark you down or kick you off if you aren't a daily slave is a major downer. :( It works for me to submit weekly. But I don't have the physical strength to be on there 24/7.

Yep, you're required to submit daily, and only allowed 2-3 days 'absent' (meaning, you don't submit anything).

Well, you can still upload in WebNovel (and avoid the slave contract). Problem is, if you're not in the 'selling' side, you will have a hard time attracting readers. And the aggregators are stealing your work to upload in their own sites, so it'd be a problem if you're monetizing your story.

I'm glad you warned me about this.
Is there somewhere else we can use besides that site, here, and royal road?

Actually, I made a thread about other sites you can upload your stories other than SH and RR.

 

[Anon2024]

I have been doing 1.5k words daily for about 2 months now. I can tell you it’s not that difficult, what’s difficult is making quality writing in that time.

I only edit/revise it once over after the first draft which means all the criticisms I did in that one thread would apply to my own writing.

This is also why a lot of webnovels eventually turns to crap, but because you have fans they want to read it all the way once they get hooked.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

what’s difficult is making quality writing in that time.

This.

A lot of my friends contracted by WebNovel couldn't believe they ended up writing what they wrote just to run after deadlines.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Wow. 1k words minimum daily? That's harsh.

You shouldn't forget, that the moment you sign such a contract, it becomes your job. So working 2-3 hours/day to write a 1k chapter isn't really that outlandish. A lot of "self-published genre authors" who see writing as their job will write more.

I also wouldn't take their contract, but their conditions aren't that bad compared to the alternatives available. Of course, there are also stories of authors who made it on their own without any contract and went on to make big numbers on amazon or patreon. But you should always remember that those people are the minority. People who - through both hard work and luck - got the best draw.


Webnovel both sees significantly more traffic on its website and has a rather sizable app. That's a rather big audience you get for free. And you'll get advertised to on top of the money you make. Even taken bullshittery into account with their stats, that's a lot more than a lot of traditional publishing deals for unknown and - let's be real - mostly mediocre authors like us. If people think what webnovel does is crazy, they should probably never see a traditional or even a JP contract.

And yeah, today we also have those writers who make it through patreon and amazon. But again, most of the authors who make good numbers also throw out daily chapters or an entire new volume each month, just to start their backlog and make a name for themselves. They do the same work, they just get less exposure and have to put even more work/money into marketing (or hope for luck).


So, once again. Webnovel isn't a site for me. Given the money they pay and the costs in my country, I would also never be able to make a living from their pays. But that's true for any writing that isn't traditional (or really successful). So yeah, webnovel has done a lot of bad stuff and pissed of a lot of people with their licenses and the way they went from free chapters to ads to payed only chapters. Or the dropping quality in translations and dropped project. Or a million other things.

But the contracts - as bad as they might sound (and in some aspects are) - are actually just the standard for the writing community overall...

 

[Temple]

Is this a good site to put up stories on? I like here. So no worries. I have no plans to leave. But I was worried about finding readers because the economy isn't doing well now.

I assume you're talking about earning from readers since you mentioned the economy. If you can have the output required of Webnovel, have decent writing, pump up all the tropes that web novel readers generally love, then you're much better off starting Patreon at RoyalRoad if we're talking about income.

Can webnovel.com also manipulate or steal from you if you put stuff up? And is their platform strong enough to use?

Anything remotely popular on the internet will get stolen anywhere.