AnimeSuki Forums

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 03:49

http://www.qidian.com/

The official English website for Qidian was launched 2 weeks ago: www.webnovel.com

For the ranking:

Monthly Tickets Ranking (readers pay money in order to vote for their favs)
http://r.qidian.com/yuepiao?style=1

(for example, Release the Witch is currently #11)

24 Hour Best Selling Novels:
http://r.qidian.com/hotsales?style=1

Weekly Recommendation List:
http://r.qidian.com/recom?style=1

etc...

There are several ranking list.

Similar to the "Syosetsuka ni Narou Discussion Thread" this discussion thread will be for Qidian. Quoting amatsunagi post:

This thread is for discussing several other titles that doesn't have their specific thread. Feel free to discuss, suggest, introduce, or talk anything else about Qidian here.

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 03:55

http://publishingperspectives.com/20...e-web-authors/
Is This the “Golden Age” for Chinese Web Authors?

Quote:

Rewarding Your Favorite Writers

Most websites also include a “reward function,” which allows readers to award their favorite authors money or “props” which they can exchange for cash.

Some sites also encourage what is called “fan economy” through monthly rankings of popular web-writers, determined by readers’ votes. The wrinkle to this is that readers pay to vote, and the more they pay, the higher the ranking for their favorite author.

In fact, there are now so many web-writers in China (in the millions) that they are now “ranked,” both by their earnings and number of fans.

On the lowest level is the ordinary writer, also “known as poor guy (or poor guy writer).” They have a limited number of fans, and their work is seldom recommended to others. Their annual income is around 1,000 yuan.

Next up are the Xiaoshen (low rank god) writers with a fan base of more than 100,000 and annual earnings of more than 100,000 yuan ($16,100).

One step further up the ladder are the dashen (super god) class of writers with earnings of more than 1 million yuan ($161,200) with fans counted in the millions as well.

At the very top of the tier are the 20-30 web writers known as platinum authors or zhigaoshen (the Supreme God) class of writers. The 2014 Chinese web-writers list ranks Tangjiasanshao first, with earnings of 50 million yuan (around $8.06 million) per year from royalties, while second and third on the list both raked in more than 25 million yuan ($4.03 million) each.

How could these authors earn so much money?

1) Fast release. The author usually release 2 chapters a day.
2) Qidian pays 70% royalties.
3) China has 1.3 billion people. So even if 90% of the readers pirated instead of paying, there is still a very large reading audience that is willing to pay.

The first 80-100 chapters are free to read. Qidian then charges about $0.02 per chapter. 70% of that go to the author. Fans can also tip the authors.

Basically, in China, there are several hundreds of full-time web authors who are making a decent living from it. The most popular web authors can make over $1 million a year. There are also tens of thousands of web authors who don't make much at all since very few readers buy their novels (the "poor guy writer" described in the above article).

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 04:15

Hey~ It's you again~

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 04:16

Tencent bought Qidian for $747 million back in March 2015.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/online-f...rce-1469035251
Online Fiction Becomes Chinese Cultural Force
Tencent, Alibaba, others add internet literature businesses; film and video adaptations

Quote:

Some 43% of China’s online population, or 297 million people, read novels online in 2015, according to a government report. The best-known authors have millions of followers. Their works are made into films, TV series, animations and games.

In March 2015, game and social-media company Tencent Holdings formed the biggest online literature company in the country, China Reading, after combining its own literature division with Shanda Cloudary, which it had reportedly acquired for five billion yuan ($747 million). China Reading has eight websites, with categories including fantasy, romance, kung fu and business. It has altogether four million writers and 10 million book titles.

Income for some authors has skyrocketed as a result of the increased interest in online fiction. Zhang Wei, pen-named Tang Jia San Shao, was the top-earning author in China from 2008 to 2012, during which time his royalty income rose to 110 million yuan from 26.5 million. It would have put him behind romance novelist Nora Roberts as No. 10 on Forbes’s 2015 list of highest-earning authors in the world.

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 04:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuhugm

Hey~ It's you again~

Hi.

There are a lot of Qidian novels in this forum so I thought a discussion thread for Qidian might be a good idea.

Qidian pretty much dominate translated web novels.

https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/
(most of which are Qidian novels)

http://www.novelupdates.com/opublisher/qidian/

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 04:30

webnovel.com being chinese doesn't sit well with me

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 04:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuhugm

webnovel.com being chinese doesn't sit well with me

www.webnovel.com is in English though, not Chinese.

similar to how www.webtoon.com is in English and not Korean.

Qidian said that in the near future they will recruit talented original English webnovels authors to join similar to how www.webtoon.com has recruited many talented English webtoons to join the site as featured artists. Qidian is paying translators $30-40 per chapter so I'm pretty sure they will pay good money to talented English authors also. Imagine the savings they would have without paying for translations since the novels will be in English...

I wouldn't be surprised if www.webnovel.com in the future buy the English copyrights to popular web novels from Japan and South Korea.

Tencent is loaded with money so if they want to compete with Yen Press for the English rights to Japanese novels, they can if they choose to do so. If https://j-novel.club can do it, Tencent will be in a much better position to do so.

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 04:51

^I'm saying that the contents are chinese novels

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 05:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuhugm

^I'm saying that the contents are chinese novels

so?

because they are English translations of chinese web novels, they don't belong on www.webnovel.com?

What kind of novels rightly belong there then in your point of view?

They just launch 2 weeks ago.

In 2 years time, they will have web novels from

China (translated into English)
Japan (translated into English)
Korea (translated into English)
English speaking countries (no need for translations....lol)

etc...

guyy · 2017-03-20, 06:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigerdragon2

so?

because they are English translations of chinese web novels, they don't belong on www.webnovel.com?

What kind of novels rightly belong there then in your point of view?

They just launch 2 weeks ago.

In 2 years time, they will have web novels from

China (translated into English)
Japan (translated into English)
Korea (translated into English)
English speaking countries (no need for translations....lol)

etc...

You said it yourself. It's only chinese webnovels. You can see on the top, "Become a Creator" means become a translator for chinese webnovels.

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 08:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyy

You said it yourself. It's only chinese webnovels. You can see on the top, "Become a Creator" means become a translator for chinese webnovels.

so what's wrong with them using the domain name www.webnovel.com again?

Are they being dishonest by using it?

translated Chinese webnovels are still web novels.

They just launch 2 weeks ago. Wait a year or two and then you can criticize them for not having original English web novels, translated Japanese and Korean web novels etc...

you guys are making a mountain out of a molehill.

As for "Become a Creator," right now they are focusing on bringing more Chinese web novels over. They are recruiting translators ($30-40 per chapter).

Qidian spoke person on NovelUpdates Forum (and Reddit) have stated that they will recruit talented English web novels in the near future. Right now, they are still developing the site.

Naver/LINE didn't recruit original English webtoons when their launch www.webtoons.com either. Now they have many original English webtoons on there.

guyy · 2017-03-20, 08:21

Just saying it would've been better if webnovel.com was left for something a bit more... inclusive. Looking at the length and seriousness of messages here I'm not sure who's the one making mountains

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 08:23

Webtoons official site have a whole section dedicate to Original English webtoons. They launched that section only when the site is developed.

When you go to the site now, you see

Daily Featured
Genres
Popular
Discover

If you click on "Discover" you get a whole section dedicated to up and coming English original webtoons.

http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge

Each month, a few talented works get promoted from "Challenge" to "Daily Featured" and receive a monthly salary from LINE webtoons.

Qidian will do the same thing in the near future.

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyy

Just saying it would've been better if webnovel.com was left for something a bit more... inclusive. Looking at the length and seriousness of messages here I'm not sure who's the one making mountains

Qidian strength right now is Chinese web novels because they are the largest publisher of Chinese web novels.

It makes no sense right now for them to buy copyrights to Japanese web novels and Korean web novels and finding translators for these novels just to make the webnovel domain more inclusive at launch.

It would be a stupid business decision.

Focus on your strength and build up.
In the future when you are strong enough, you can expand.

Gaining some very popular Japanese web novels/ light novels English copyrights would be a great move in the future and will increase their traffic. I'm sure they are looking into it.

According to J-Novel Club, the licensing fee for a decently popular Japanese book is about $2000. This is very doable for Tencent.

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 08:35

^Well, I mean, this is animesuki and all
Not being rascist, but Japan should be the priority
This sub-forum was originally created to host Japan's webnovels like Mushoku
It's great that other countries are pitching in as well
But now you find a webnovel.com practically coined the term webnovel forever, and it's exclusively chinese
Should've named it cn.webnovel.com or something until they actually has other countries' works

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 08:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuhugm

^Well, I mean, this is animesuki and all
Not being rascist, but Japan should be the priority
This sub-forum was originally created to host Japan's webnovels like Mushoku
It's great that other countries are pitching in as well
But now you find a webnovel.com practically coined the term webnovel forever, and it's exclusively chinese
Should've named it cn.webnovel.com or something until they actually has other countries' works

cn.webnovel.com

vs.

webnovel.com
webnovels.com (they own both domain)

Which is easier to remember?

And when they have web novels English original authors, should they have a separate website for that?

en.webnovel.com

etc..

jp.webnovel.com
kr.webnovel.com

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 08:58

^What immense greed

Rasty · 2017-03-20, 15:31

Lets be a bit more realistic. I would bet a rather large amount of money that they will NEVER have decent amount of Japanese webnovels.
Setting original english novels aside, there is really no reason for them to publish the Japanese ones.
Firstly they make much more profit from Chinese novels (as they are kind of the owners of them, or at least have much easier time negotiating). Secondly they are gonna build their audience around the Chinese novel style and thus reduce the benefits from incorporating Japanese ones. Thirdly big companies tend to hold back in trying new things unless the profit gainable seems really big (which isn't the case for Japanese novels on this site). And lastly if they are at least a bit patriotic or have some ties with China's goverment (which they most likely do), then they will push Chinese culture and Chinese literature (with some sidekick english one to lure more people) and while Korean might be still bearable, the aversion to Japanese culture would be great (yeah, Chinese and Japanese like each other sooo much).

As for why Hentaiga's complaining, it's because Chinese company overtook Japanese ones and gained the most prominent domain name in this business (for english speaking audience). Now they are gonna push for branding web novels to be the Chinese ones (contrary to animesuki where web novel is almost equal to Japanese web novel).And also because someone has the guts to celebrate this major defeat of something, for which this whole subforum has been created... can't say I don't share his feelings.

wuhugm · 2017-03-20, 21:07

^Exactly bro

Also to add, webnovel.com IS Qidian International
So it will always only host chinese's
Or even if it will host others' it will be in the form of chinese webnovel conquering them and monopolizing the market

tigerdragon2 · 2017-03-20, 21:52

if Japanese publishers / syosetu want to expand into English markets and paying translators $30-40 per chapter, they can always buy a domain name similar to webnovel.com

webliterature.com
internetliterature.com
internetnovel.com
novel.com
novels.com
books.com
book.com
literature.com

etc...

But what are the chances of Japanese publishers / syosetu want to expand into English markets and paying translators $30-40 per chapter similar to what Qidian is doing?

Right now, they are selling to Yen Press and other English publishers ...

2017-03-20, 03:49	Link #1
tigerdragon2 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2016	Qidian (the biggest fantasy publisher in the world) discussion thread http://www.qidian.com/ The official English website for Qidian was launched 2 weeks ago: www.webnovel.com For the ranking: Monthly Tickets Ranking (readers pay money in order to vote for their favs) http://r.qidian.com/yuepiao?style=1 (for example, Release the Witch is currently #11) 24 Hour Best Selling Novels: http://r.qidian.com/hotsales?style=1 Weekly Recommendation List: http://r.qidian.com/recom?style=1 etc... There are several ranking list. Similar to the "Syosetsuka ni Narou Discussion Thread" this discussion thread will be for Qidian. Quoting amatsunagi post: This thread is for discussing several other titles that doesn't have their specific thread. Feel free to discuss, suggest, introduce, or talk anything else about Qidian here.

2017-03-20, 04:15	Link #3
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	Hey~ It's you again~ __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 04:30	Link #6
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	webnovel.com being chinese doesn't sit well with me __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 04:51	Link #8
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	^I'm saying that the contents are chinese novels __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 08:35	Link #15
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	^Well, I mean, this is animesuki and all Not being rascist, but Japan should be the priority This sub-forum was originally created to host Japan's webnovels like Mushoku It's great that other countries are pitching in as well But now you find a webnovel.com practically coined the term webnovel forever, and it's exclusively chinese Should've named it cn.webnovel.com or something until they actually has other countries' works __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 08:21	Link #12
guyy Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2015	Just saying it would've been better if webnovel.com was left for something a bit more... inclusive. Looking at the length and seriousness of messages here I'm not sure who's the one making mountains

2017-03-20, 08:23	Link #13
tigerdragon2 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2016	Webtoons official site have a whole section dedicate to Original English webtoons. They launched that section only when the site is developed. When you go to the site now, you see Daily Featured Genres Popular Discover If you click on "Discover" you get a whole section dedicated to up and coming English original webtoons. http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge Each month, a few talented works get promoted from "Challenge" to "Daily Featured" and receive a monthly salary from LINE webtoons. Qidian will do the same thing in the near future.

2017-03-20, 08:58	Link #17
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	^What immense greed __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 15:31	Link #18
Rasty Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2015	Lets be a bit more realistic. I would bet a rather large amount of money that they will NEVER have decent amount of Japanese webnovels. Setting original english novels aside, there is really no reason for them to publish the Japanese ones. Firstly they make much more profit from Chinese novels (as they are kind of the owners of them, or at least have much easier time negotiating). Secondly they are gonna build their audience around the Chinese novel style and thus reduce the benefits from incorporating Japanese ones. Thirdly big companies tend to hold back in trying new things unless the profit gainable seems really big (which isn't the case for Japanese novels on this site). And lastly if they are at least a bit patriotic or have some ties with China's goverment (which they most likely do), then they will push Chinese culture and Chinese literature (with some sidekick english one to lure more people) and while Korean might be still bearable, the aversion to Japanese culture would be great (yeah, Chinese and Japanese like each other sooo much). As for why Hentaiga's complaining, it's because Chinese company overtook Japanese ones and gained the most prominent domain name in this business (for english speaking audience). Now they are gonna push for branding web novels to be the Chinese ones (contrary to animesuki where web novel is almost equal to Japanese web novel).And also because someone has the guts to celebrate this major defeat of something, for which this whole subforum has been created... can't say I don't share his feelings.

2017-03-20, 21:07	Link #19
wuhugm Confused Shark Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlantis	^Exactly bro Also to add, webnovel.com IS Qidian International So it will always only host chinese's Or even if it will host others' it will be in the form of chinese webnovel conquering them and monopolizing the market __________________ ------------------------------------------ [SPOILER] Manga, Anime, & LN Where The Girl MC Ended Up With Is Not The Main Heroine All My Threads

2017-03-20, 21:52	Link #20
tigerdragon2 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2016	if Japanese publishers / syosetu want to expand into English markets and paying translators $30-40 per chapter, they can always buy a domain name similar to webnovel.com webliterature.com internetliterature.com internetnovel.com novel.com novels.com books.com book.com literature.com etc... But what are the chances of Japanese publishers / syosetu want to expand into English markets and paying translators $30-40 per chapter similar to what Qidian is doing? Right now, they are selling to Yen Press and other English publishers ...