Who Are The Top Authors Of Chinese Web Novels?

Out of all the Chinese Web Novel authors, there's one that instantly comes to mind when thinking of great works. That would be Mo Xiang Tong Xiu who wrote 'Mo Dao Zu Shi' or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. The story is a blend of fantastic adventures and loving relationships, set in a gorgeous world. As someone who's read the novel countless times, each re-read reveals new layers of the story and the characters in it. So much love and care went into developing each character in great depth, making them relatable to people of all ages. This novel has garnered a large following online as well as its donghua adaptation which introduced the work to a whole new group of fans and novel readers alike. It's a story of love and morality that’s relatable to most people, while still deeply rooted in Chinese culture and tradition. I definitely recommend reading 'Mo Dao Zu Shi' if you haven’t already done so.

Another author of note is Xiang Zai who wrote the book ‘Tian Guan Ci Fu’ or ‘Heaven Official’s Blessing’ which was adapted into the donghua of the same name. The interactions between the two main characters are so strongly evocative of romantic tension and I absolutely in love with how the rest of the cast interacts with them as well. Every single one of them feels so real and unique in their own special way and I love how complex the relationships between each of them are. There are so many fans of this book who praise the authors unique writing style and truly beautiful storyline which really explores the depths of human emotions. The amount of fan art and fanfiction online is insane with so many fans commenting and sharing their favorite scenes from the book online as well as writing their own interpretations of the story and creating their own artwork of the characters and scenarios.

Tang Jia San Shao is an extremely brilliant writer, with 'Douluo Dalu' being one of his many masterpieces. A unique mix of martial arts and fantasy novels, 'Soul Land' follows the history of Soul Masters through generations. For this reason, every single character has the ability to evolve and learn more, so the story becomes extremely complex, with deep history. As for the fights, I never, ever get bored of reading battles. On the contrary, the more chapters there are, the more amused I become, because it really is so, so complex and full of action. In addition, lots of gamers also highly praise the many abilities and specialize in making strategies and sharing them with each other on the internet. Many abilities of various creatures are even similar to those found in online games.

Another great author is Priest, author of the novel 'Duan Nao' or 'The Lunatic'. His novels are full of suspense, contain a lot of mystery, have a subtle romance in them, but in the end always have hope for the main characters. Since 'Duan Nao' is my current read, I will recommend this one to you as well. There are so many twists and surprises in this novel that it will keep you on the edge of your seat. Plus, it's really interesting to see how the author creates his characters and how he deals with the conflicts between them. Often, there will be discussions online about the current plot twist and where you think the story will go from there. Every twist always opens up new possibilities for the story and it's fun to see how readers react to them.

Lastly, there is Gu Zhen Ren who wrote ‘Reverend Insanity’. This author creates very moral ambiguous characters in his stories and that is why I can really get into them. The way the main character, Fang Yuan, has to deal with the moral-gray situations he finds himself in, is really interesting to read about. And this is so different from the typical hero journey. Older readers will really enjoy this story, since it has a darker tone than most young adult novels. Fans of this novel like to think about the more philosophical questions the novel asks, like what is the value of ambition and what is the value of sacrifice. This makes for a lot of interesting online discussions about the different ways to interpret a story.
These are but a few of the talented authors currently creating Chinese web novels.

To measure authors on web novel platforms is pretty much a waste of time since you can pick whatever metric you want (total earnings from Intellectual Property, author popularity on a single platform, lasting cultural impact, etc.). There are a few big names in every genre of course (for example, authors of cultivation style novels like Douluo Dalu by Tang Jia San Shao, Stellar Transformations by I Eat Tomatoes, and so on), but one hit per author and then they disappear in the wildly shifting landscape of super-stars and one-hit wonders on web novel platforms. For a start, on Qidian (previouslyJiaJia), the web novel platform owned by Yuewen, the biggest names are all veterans with millions of reads under their belt.

But when we focus on raw output for commercial ends, there are a few guys ruling the roost. As I mentioned above, Er Gen’s I Shall Seal the Heavens and A Will Eternal have created a host of popular cultivation-themed works that form the bulk of the web novel’s ‘normal’ vocabulary of story-telling. As for Mao Ni, his Novels are all Romance, Mystery, Historical and Fantasy, and have a massive and dedicated reader base on Qidian. As I mentioned above, his Nightfall novels are of particular note, because they are so incredibly dense with plot and lots of great character development and intricate politics, with a good dose of cultivation thrown in for good measure. For years these authors have been working tirelessly to build out these great worlds full of deep and interesting characters that are brought to life in all sorts of media, such as video games, movies and TV shows and even anime.

For another, the term ‘influential authors’ would take a long list of famous names from the Wuxia novel legacy. Influential in that many modern cultivation-focused works are simple adaptations and reinterpretations of older works of the wuxia variety, which, in turn, were influenced by Jin Yong novels of the 20th century, who wasn’t a web novel author, but the inspiration is plain to see. Other truly influential and “foundational” web novel authors that are rarely seen or read today would include works from Heavenly Silkworm of the West, such as Battle Through the Heavens, and from Chen Dong, author of the Perfect World series, which have also been commercially very influential and in widespread adaptation for many years.

From purely financial observation, the biggest web novel authors are those whose intellectual properties have successfully been monetized. While Douluo Dalu by Tang Jia San Shao is currently the biggest franchise in multimedia adaptation (including a dozen or so TV animated series and several video games), “The King’s Avatar” by Butterfly Blue has been doing well in terms of merchandise sales and revenue from the recently adapted anime. The commercial viability of their fictional worlds has created self-sustaining empires, affirming their status as the top authors in the industry.

Me too. My reading list is a huge mess of half-finished books of many different series. Can’t even remember all the pen names of the authors whose work I’m reading.

But while looking at the revenue leaders can be interesting, another perspective on the same data is also needed. Many of the most successful web novelists today are writing within a very specific genre of fast-paced cultivation novels that are published one chapter at a time. Within this space, many of the most popular authors are able to continue to publish top-tier work, winning the admiration of fans and of their literary peers, while also raking in huge sums of money. As mentioned above, Priest’s work is notable for its depth of characterization and complex themes, and he has a dedicated, though somewhat niche, fan base. Similarly, the works of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) have a sophisticated and devoted following worldwide.

And another, less popular (but still great) dark horse, publishing in the sub-genre of modern urban cultivation: Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish That Loves Diving (most of his work is Western fantasy, but some is translated too, I eat that up). For historical romanations with female lead(s): Zhi Zhi writes really detailed novels, all of them are translated (I know only four of them, but I'm sure the others are good too). I don't know if you’ll find ‘your’ favorite there, but I can definitely give you a list of the top authors in the genres you’re interested in reading.

But newer and fresher authors, others, bring so much innovation to their works too. Gone are the days of xianxia novels being pure wuxia stories with the cultivation of strength and magical power all brought together with epic vast worlds and heroic chivalrous stories of wuxia of old to be read and enjoyed by readers of all ages. A great amount of today’s web novels are written by authors of younger generations who are writers of infinite flow (like for example ‘Wang Ling Zi’ and ‘Infinity Contract’) as well as authors of horror (such as ‘Night’ by ‘Siwei He’), of new system-based novels (‘Nightfall’ by ‘Mao Ni’), thrilling detective stories and much, much more to be read by all on Qidian.

Yes, I would like to add another layer to this discussion: the work ethic of these top authors. Some of them have produced massive amounts of content, whilst still updating their works on a daily basis. The famous web novel author, Tang Jia San Shao, updates his Douluo Dalu world constantly. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why he is so successful? His frenetic pace has created a industry of content, turning his fictions into vast, multimedia universes.

A more in-depth look into the subject would probably be to also include the authors of the many, many great novels of the romance and danmei spheres, such as Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, Priest, and the vast array of authors published on Jinjiang Literature City. While these males-oriented novels of wuxia and of epic cultivation may get the most attention from global readers of translated web novels, the volumes of romance novels on Jinjiang are enormous and many of these authors have huge fan-bases and their novels are adapted into many different forms of media.

For translated works, a big indicator of a top author is whether or not they have a dedicated fan translation group, or whether your work has been set up with its own website for the works of said author. For example, I Eat Tomatoes, Er Gen, and Mao Ni all have dedicated websites for their works, which get updates for translations of their serialized novels. I’m fairly certain that their works are also translated and available to read online in their entirety as well. In fact, many of the translated works on websites like this are serialized novels that will be updated daily for a long while into the future, similar to how they are read by fans in China online.

It's hard to think about what makes a top author, though. Is it someone who masters a trope or does it have to be someone who completely defies it? The author of The Realm of Myths and Legends does a fantastic job of perfectly capturing the feeling of a typical VRMMO game, but then throws in all of these surprisingly deep, philosophical, and psychological elements to really challenge the reader. That kind of work really resonates with me, but it's possible that it doesn't have as broad of an appeal or garner as much recognition. In terms of sheer number of fans, it's more likely that people would point to the authors of average novels who have inspired dozens of other writers to write in the same style and thus create a mini-genre.

We should also give some credit where it's due to the classics. I mean, the early 2000s had some absolute legends - like Jin Yong. Although he was never a web novelist, many web novel giants can trace their influence back to him and the wuxia classics. The sense of chivalry, the enormous scope of their worlds... The modern web novel authors are just carrying on the tradition of their forebears, updating it for a new digital age of serialized fiction.

Let's face it – a huge portion of the work an author does these days in terms of earning fame in the writing community can be dependent on how well their work adapts into different forms of media. Some of the best novels are criminally unable to receive good adaptations, while novels that are less than great often receive amazing adaptations and shoot their authors straight up to fame. That’s just the way it is in the multimedia saturated writing community today.

Moreover, female perspectives and female influenced spaces are often vital in assessments of qualities of literature. There are also many authors of urban cultivation novels with modern twists like Jiang Zi Bei (You’re Beautiful When You’re Jealous) or Gu Man and their approach to produce high-quality contemporary romances/CEO novels of exceptional emotional depth and development of characters which serve the needs of their readers extremely well and therefore are extremely successful for months on end.

I'm a bit of a rare specimen - I actually enjoy reading novels with very clever protagonists, with lots of dialogue and thoughts, who sometimes can be a bit evil. I'm a big fan of the novel 'Reverend Insanity' by Gu Zhen Ren (note: very, very notoriously bad). The novel, like many others by the author, elicits lots of comments, discussion, and even outrage, often intended not to be taken seriously. If we're to consider "top" authors by how much discussion and comment their work elicits, then Gu Zhen Ren is certainly one of them.

This is also why any “top authors” list is intrinsically fragmented by platform. That is to say, your top Qidian fantasy authors are completely unknown to readers who only read Qidian romances, and the “top authors” on Jinjiang are also completely unknown to readers who only read on Zongheng. Work published on Jinjiang is nearly always of the romance/danmei variety, making it a fortress almost completely its own.

Can we talk about style here? For me, Mao Ni writes in a beautiful, almost classical style. But that means his novels are read slowly, and that’s just not for everyone. I think a big part of the reasons why some novels are so popular is because of the style and how it translates to the reader. If someone reads slowly, then they must read quickly, right? In the case of Butterfly Blue (The King’s Avatar), his style of writing is read in a single sitting, and that’s because it is pure dialogue and it reads quickly.

Another thing is to look at the short novels that have been published in a short, explosive high-concept fashion (eg 500 chapters, mostly action with occasional major scenes of power-up). To sustain this sort of writing for so long an author needs to have quite a lot of talent. As I have previously mentioned Fengling Tianxia and this person ‘Warrying Blade’ are 2 examples of very good authors of high-concept short noveldom style web novels who write in this sort of fashion of non-stop action with power-up. The essence of many of their scenes of power-up is that they are non-stop whilst others have considerable amounts of filler in between scenes of power-up.

Also, I had trouble reading a few really popular novels because the translation was just so horribly written. Sometimes the same novel can have great translation in other places, but some novels just seem to attract really, really bad translators for some reason. It’s pretty sad because you can tell that the author is genius, but the translation just makes it read badly. That’s also part of why I have a hard time judging web novel authors internationally because of translation quality differences.

But more importantly, who are the newly emerging authors? These would be the ones who would get added to Qidian’s rising authors list, and which I’d immediately start reading later. Web novel’s ecosystem thrives on the blood of new authors who hit upon the right trope at the right time with a novel twist.

I want to note that from a world-building perspective, there is perhaps no author quite as detailed as that of Cuttlefish That Loves Diving in ‘Lord of the Mysteries’ or similar projects – vast, intricate systems that reveal new layers upon close inspection, and which garner their own communities of fans who seek to explain and further flesh out every last detail within his imaginary world in immense wikis.

For me, authors that write really emotionally devastating stories are also really good. Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat is really good at writing beautiful but really, really sad romances that break your heart and then you just kinda have to deal with the sadness for a while after you finish reading. (This is good, obviously, because it shows that you're able to really connect with your readers, but also bad, because it means you've emotionally wrecked them.)

I sometimes even follow the translators! Sometimes I’m introduced to an amazing new novel by an author I’ve never read by a translation group that I trust. So, for me, the list of top authors is somewhat influenced by which authors have been blessed with high-quality, consistent English translations over the years.

Also it’s worth to note the business-savvy authors who somehow manage their IP, communicate with fans and get along with adaptation studios. Translating a good novel into a lasting franchise is not an easy task. An author of amazing story can easily ruin it by being an awful person to work with.

Lurking as usual. My scope of knowledge regarding novels strictly on what is trending on Novel Updates this month.

One other big demographic within Chinese web novel fans are those who follow seriously comedic authors like pen name Whoop Whoop (senior author of the currently serializing novel My Senior Brother is Too Steady) and the person who writes the lightning-fast new JP novel Cultivation Chat Group. Often dark in their surreal views on the expectations surrounding Chinese webnovel storylines, these comedic geniuses show that translation is often further from “perfect” than most fans could imagine. These truly invent comedic story-telling that is consistently high-quality and leave the reader wondering how such a small number of people are able to crank out such fantastic work.

Also notable is the cross-regional preferences that exist within the author fandoms. That is, within mainland China there are stories that resonate heavily with fans from certain regions or communities of Chinese individuals living overseas or even back in Taiwan, for instance. Conversely, authors extremely popular in mainland China may find little traction in fans residing in Taiwan or amongst the various diaspora communities around the world.

Focusing on individual authors, while interesting, misses an essential component of web novels: collaboration. The great majority of the most popular authors are written by studios, aided by ghostwriters to churn out the tiresome volume of content they do. Thus the name of a popular pen name might be a brand that is actually a team of writers, possibly including more than one very talented one. This makes “Top Author” somewhat akin to the role of showrunner/writer for a very successful TV series.

Of course, there are also many other “novel types” that have never been replicable. Recently, I-Eat-Tomatoes’s and Tang Jia San Shao’s early works are still the absolute models for pure, unadulterated wish-fulfillment. The stories started from nothing, worked hard, were clever, defeated arrogant young masters, and then protected their loved ones. It’s a recipe that can never be improved upon, and when well-implemented with rapid fire speed and satisfying payoffs, it can become the favorite comfort food of millions of readers worldwide.

And then there are the “auteurs”. These are writers who work exclusively on one or two projects throughout their careers. Many novels are written by authors in their spare time, like Cuttlefish That Loves Diving’s “Lord of the Mysteries”. Others write novels that are barely any good and go on to publish large amounts of middling-to-bad work in an effort to make a living. But the true auteur is a completely different breed of author. In some cases they may have just one masterpiece to their name, but for the rest of their careers they stick strictly to elaborating and expanding upon their life’s work.

I’ll admit, I lose track of many of the different pen names, and even more so, the various tropes and different genres. But among them, there are those whose unique style, wonderful characters, and unexpected plot twists manage to make a lasting impression on readers. In a genre as predictably formulaic as Web Novel, such moments of surprise are far more valuable than an entire thousand chapters of decent but unremarkable writing.

One of the hardest things for a successful author is to adapt to change. The best authors to read are those who continue to write. But the can also grow, experiment with different subject matter and write in different styles. The “master author” is someone that not only keeps writing novel after novel but is also able to keep a loyal reader base.

But right now we are in an era of anti-heroes and morally ambiguous protagonists. People, mostly younger generations, want to read stories about people who are not one hundred percent good. Authors have to work to make their readers root for them, and sometimes that means making them out to be pretty horrible people. These types of stories have been banned and censored, but they are some of the most discussed on the internet. They are often widely praised for bringing new perspectives to genres that are often packed with righteous heros.

Platform algorithms, namely those that run the largest web novel platforms (including Qidian and Jinjiang) play a massive and largely unacknowledged role in web novel culture. Sometimes an author will get a very lucky front page on Qidian, or manage to get one of their tags to trend on Jinjiang, leading to an overnight explosion in readership. This is not a pure meritocracy of writing skill, and in fact is likely to favor authors who write in certain commercial or thematic modes that the platform owners think will appeal to readers.

For me as a casual reader of web novels, it’s the fanbase that the work inspires that is often the best indicator of whether or not a novel is actually good. When there’s a great amount of quality fanmade memes and even more so, fanart, it generally means the author hit some sort of high note for creative storytelling.

And then there is the cult of completion – I would love to give a hand of applause to all the authors out there who actually complete their novels, especially the long ones of 1000+ chapters. In the current economy of web novels where endless serials are so much more profitable for their authors than wrapping up a masterpiece for their readers, completing a complex novel of so many chapters is already a monumental task. Finally and most importantly, executing the conclusion well is so much harder than creating a novel of great premise in the first place.

Even among international web novel communities, a viewer’s ranking of “top authors” often differs completely from that of Chinese web novel forums. In China, a completelyaverage novel could earn the respect of tens of millions of readers, yet in foreign translations they’d earn the undying love of only a hundred or so fans as long as that tiny band of translators were deeply in love with the work. In essence, readers’ ranking of web novel authors abroad differs widely from that within China.

Really great side characters and villains. That is a much harder job than creating a powerful MC. But great authors can create whole worlds of life and real depth with their side characters, and make their stories so much more engaging than just a long series of the MC’s adventures.

It’s also pretty exciting that the web novel authorship is becoming more and more professionalized. Many universities now offer writing for web novel as a course of study. I imagine future top web novel authors to be those graduates of said programs, using traditional writing theory mixed with analytics on how to better engage with readers.

In some cases the author's public persona could be of more interest than the content they put out. This is especially true for many web novel authors, as many interact with their fans on platforms such as Weibo. The authors that post humorous anecdotes, share snippets from their current work, respond positively to fan art, and even get into hilarious “fights” with other authors on the site are of particular interest to fans. These individuals have built up a sort of parasocial relationship with their fans that goes beyond that of author and current work.

Yeah, the “TOP” authors are basically just famous in the WN world. Right now, there’s this big drama going on between several famous authors. Another author actually promised a harem in their latest WN but then retracted it on the last chapter. In short, the best part of WN is WN drama.

As a fan, I find the amount of material produced by these ‘top’ authors either wonderful or overwhelming depending on how one looks at it. As a binge-reader, I would welcome more material but often I find so much filler and repetition in their works. However, there are some who manage to keep up the quality and even more importantly maintain it over millions of words. For me that is the biggest challenge of web novel writing and I would be more than happy to add any of these to my list of ‘top authors’ who can keep up the quality even after a thousand or so chapters and make every single one of them feel as engaging as chapter 150.

I’m thankful for the translators too. The translators are basically building bridges for authors to cross into a new market. My “top author” list consists of authors who were just lucky enough to get decent translators for their works. While famous translated novels abound, there are probably 10 pretty good novels not translated as yet for every single one of them that have made it. Our globalized perspective is so severely limited by this filter.

In the end, “top” is something that you have to enjoy yourself. Maybe someone like Xie Ling is your cup of tea with his complicated historical fiction filled with politics. Maybe you prefer the other way around – work diligently, gain strength, overcome the arrogant young master(s), and protect your loved ones – from theanonymous author behind the regression story, I Eat Tomatoes, on Webnovel. The web novel space has an incredible amount of diversity, which makes it fun to search around for that one special author.

These days the concept of a web novel author is slowly being professionalized. Not only are the main platforms of publication starting to grant contracts and pay advances to their writers, but they are also providing them with editing support. Thus the ‘top authors’ not only write novels, but are also now corporate partners and even ambassadors for a brand. This is far removed from the days when all authors wrote for free on forums.

My personal “best” list is very simple: a list of authors I am lucky enough to have discovered through translation, whom I will automatically read whatever their next work is. That list has five names on it. These five people have written a volume of work long enough and varied enough that no matter what genre they choose to write in next, I’ll read it. That’s how much I trust them.

Also, I found that even though the web novels can have really long storylines, a lot of the novels that have really stayed with me have some very quiet moments of character. Some really witty one-off jokes, or some of the relationships in the novels are just so real and so well done. And those are really what make the novels and the world that the author has created so worth reading.

Just thought I’d add that I am lurking and taking notes. My “to-read” list just got a whole lot longer.

Reading is better than ever. The way web novels enable as many people as possible to begin writing in order to constantly improve in order to succeed at attracting readers, when everyone is competing against each other to be better than the others, in order to have fun arguing about who is the best author, is simply wonderful. And that we can all now simply read everything whenever we want is wonderful in itself.