11 Answers2025-10-10
For a beginner with no audience, using WebNovel is more cost effective as you pay a commission only once you have earned money. As a web novelist, you give up a larger percentage compared to earning money on your own website through Patreon or Ko-fi, but you also get to connect with millions of potential readers instantly. What you pay for is the commission for the marketing and hosting services provided by WebNovel.
For the novice author just starting out and who has no following to speak of yet, it’s probably worth paying the commission. The commission can allow for the author to be ‘discovered’. As the author grows in popularity though, they will begin to resent having to give up control and a percentage of their earnings. Most of the top WebNovel authors use their platform to get a following and then eventually move on to their own personal websites and set up a Patreon account to write bonus content for their super-fans to gain more from them. These top WebNovel authors see WebNovel as part of a blended and unique set of tools available to them in order to earn more money from their work.
6 Answers2025-10-22
It's a case by case thing, and really depends on the legal status of the original work. Works in the public domain can generally be adapted for commercial purposes by anyone. Works that are freely available under certain licenses (such as Creative Commons BY licenses) can also be adapted for commercial purposes by anyone. But works available under licenses such as NC can not be adapted for commercial purposes.
Monetizing would include selling annotated copies of the novel, illustrated editions of the novel, making an audiobook of the novel, making a film or video game of the novel, selling novel-related merchandise, etc. Even a free e-book could be monetized by crowdfounding a polished-up version of the work. If the work is not in the public domain, then the safest route would be to get a written license that spells out exactly what commercial uses of the work are allowed, and I’d try to find those lines in any license before putting too much time and money into adapting the work. It’s a work that I’d like to make into a really deluxe collector’s edition some day, assuming all the rights are clean.
7 Answers2025-10-10
Reading around on author forums for big publishing platforms, it seems that exclusive authors are usually paid a monthly sum (or even advance payment against future royalties) – anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, I’d imagine. Most of these deales apparently then require word counts and frequency of chapter updates to be met, and the platform can exercise all rights in all languages, thus keeping 50% of net revenue for themselves as royalties to the author after the advance has been earned out (that can be anywhere from 25% to 85% in the deals I’ve read, averaging 50%). Obviously, it’s not all terrible – if you treat it as a writing job, then deliver according to agreed terms, it might even suit some authors just fine. But as far as creative control, you’re likely to be persuaded to continue a popular story past its natural ending, churning out more and more of the same, or – even worse – adding in all sorts of dull formulaic devices to make an easy sell.
10 Answers2025-10-10
If you’re used to reading free fan translations hosted on aggregator websites then everything will seem incredibly expensive. The cost of reading on WebNovel is for the convenience, the stability, and the author. Most of the time it’s worth it, but sometimes it’s not. The official translations are typically much better quality and you can expect regular updates at set times. This structure is what you are paying for. But the cost can quickly add up. WebNovel does not have a monthly cap, unlike how you might subscribe to an author on Patreon for a set amount per month. On WebNovel you pay for each portion of the novel as it is released, and authors can be very prolific.
6 Answers2025-05-28
Is everyone still using WebNovel? I thought by now we’d have all migrated to this new app that pays way better than WebNovel. I guess that’ll change soon though since the landscape is always shifting in some way. Some platforms are super stingy right now but that doesn’t mean they won’t be handing out free premium currency to first users of their app in order to gather a user base to compete with others. I guess it’s wise to keep an eye out for new platforms and be an early adopter every now and then.
7 Answers2025-11-07
I thought I was the only one having trouble. Was my experience on 'That Other Novel App' this annoying? Apparently not, as it’s a common experience across all platforms of buying and canceling novels. I understand that there is a “find the hidden menu, click on 3 other offers in the process, eventually click to cancel” process to cancel a subscription on Webnovel too. Thanks for spelling it out for me though. I feel your pain, cancellees. May your TBR piles shrink and your bank accounts grow in the coming days.
12 Answers2025-08-30
The key issue here is to recognize that fans write fanfiction because they love the work and want to connect with others who also love it. This goodwill can be your best defense against a corporation attacking your fanworks. Fans are a very vocal group, and many have seen how companies like J.K. Rowling and Scholastic lost the “Harry Potter” fan site wars years ago. Today, the vast majority of corporations have social media teams, and they know that fan engagement is a huge asset. When it comes to legally publishing your fanfiction, all this means is that you have to publish in a way that supports the community and does not earn you any money. This is all part of an unwritten social contract that has so far worked far better than any written contract.
7 Answers2025-11-20
Never. I learned that the hard way when I first joined Naver Webtoon, since I was reading so much online manga with hazy lines and everything. So, I searched for some of the more mature genres, but the results were so bland. Even the “mature” ones are mostly psychological or with lots of violence, not sex.
The consequences of a curated garden: yes, it is “easier” to read, to browse around without the fear of clicking on malware-ridden ads, to navigate, but we’re definitely missing out on many, many stories of human experience. Especially the more complex, adult ones, with all their writhings, relations, and woes. Instead, they’re sanitised, and oftend not even as good as their uncensored counterparts.
This is why Webtoon exists: for the masses of readers who seek escapism, are looking for a trip of power, or want sweet romances with little complexity. But for the reader who seeks explicitly adult content, browsing through Webtoon is like roaming the young adult section of a library, looking for the restricted adult section.
4 Answers2025-08-01
I don’t think it was fanfic of anything, honestly. There are just so many rumors around Twilight that it gets confusing.
9 Answers2025-06-02
As mentioned earlier, some authors actually enable you to share their eBooks under specific circumstances. Examples for such actions by authors could be the promotion of a ‘share this eBook with a friend’ eBook. Please note though, that such actions explicitly grant you a temporary right to sharing, i.e. not anonymized, limitless distribution of PDFs via torrent sites.
It’s also worth remembering that copyright is held by the author, and even where we might wish to help spread a work more widely, the author may have other ideas. If they say ‘please share’, we should. If there is no indication at all that they intend to allow sharing – even in the absence of explicit restriction via a ‘ban on sharing’ – then we should assume no permission is granted.
Follow your favorite authors on social media as they announce sales, free periods of time to read their work and sanctioned events to share their work. The best way to read more books and support your favorite authors is within the legal structure of their copyright.