Offer from Webnovel
Added 2019-10-21 08:17:56 +0000 UTCMy Dear Readers.
As I have mentioned in the comments of the last chapter, I have been contacted by a certain well-known (and somewhat reviled) web novel publishing company. They put two offers on the table: one would be an exclusive deal with them, combined with promises of lots of lucrative benefits, with the "only" caveat being that I would have to remove The Simulacrum from literally everywhere and grant them exclusive publishing and copyright and allow them to put my work behindvabehind a paywall. This offer was naturally dead on arrival, as I would have to be in some pretty dire straits to sell my brainchild (and maybe my soul) for money.
However, they also provided another, considerably more appealing offer as well. In this non-exclusive contract, the only thing they require is that the last two chapters be always exclusive to their site. Here is the response I received for my questions regarding this deal:
"Hi, for webnovel terms, each chapters is around 1000 - 2000 words per chapter.
for Non-exclusive contract, all the copyrights of your novel belong to you, and you can post anywhere you want. Webnovel will open the gift function on webnovel where fans can donate to you when you post on our platform. The profit will be split into 50% to you and 50% to webnovel. Webnovel just wants you to post 2 chapters before anywhere else that you post. This is only for English novel. There isn't any real requirements on frequency, you can write based on your own pace."
As you can see, this is a very hands-off deal, and based on the word-count they require, I could get away with a single part of a chapter being divided in two for fulfilling their exclusivity criteria.
Unfortunately, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, as the two-chapter exclusivity means their version has to be ahead of EVERY other version, including the early Patreon releases. For example, this would mean that if the last released public chapter was Ch50, then you guys would have access to Ch51, while readers on Webnovel would have access till Ch52 Part1. Needless to say, this would completely undermine the benefit you guys receive for supporting me and my work.
So, since I wish to be as transparent as possible, I decided to openly ask you guys what your thoughts are on this offer, whether you would still be willing to support my work even without the early releases, and whether the promise of a new, possibly broader audience would be worth risking your continued goodwill and support.
Comments
Also, just so that you know, personally it's not important where you write first or later. The money donated it's not to "buy" something, but just to give support and show appreciation. Giving too much importance to a couple of weeks earlier or later to a story so long and complex is simply silly
GianP
2019-12-22 13:36:49 +0000 UTCMmm I'm a bit late (just discovered your novel like 7 days ago) so I don't know if it's still useful but... I suggest against this since you would need double the amount of support there. I have a third suggestion: publish your story there like on any other site so you can reach more people. If these people will be interested in supporting you and your story they will come to patreon, where I hope the cut for the creator is way more than 50%.
GianP
2019-12-22 13:31:10 +0000 UTCWhile I don't like webnovel.com at all, I believe you should be paid way more for the work (like 3 times what you get here at least), so I don't see any issue with you getting a new source of financing.
Faiir
2019-10-25 05:54:52 +0000 UTCI personally use https://www.webnovel.com/ for a couple translations, so if you started dropping two early chapters there, I'd probably pick you up there, but drop you here, and I imagine a lot of others would do the same. I'm fine either way, so if it's more money, it'd make sense to make the move. The only thing I don't like about webnovel.com is that authors can remove reviews, so everything on the site is 4.5 to 5 stars regardless of quality.
closeded
2019-10-21 15:44:48 +0000 UTCThrand seems to have the right of it. Whatever makes you more money
Sean Austin Gartland
2019-10-21 13:48:42 +0000 UTCI gave my opinion last chapter but I'll go ahead and say it again. Please don't, if you feel like you need to then do it. But if you don't then don't. I hate webnovel with a passion due to several reasons (I have spent way too much money on it and never feel like I get anywhere close to my money's worth each time). But at the end of the day it's up to you man.
Sebas Tian
2019-10-21 12:58:24 +0000 UTCI don't know how the split is for spirit stones (webnovel's currency) for the paywall but it's 1 per 200 words, so about 10 per chapter and each spirit stone costs like 0.05$. Unless you can guaranty you can get a lot of readers, I wouldn't recommend it.
Azareck
2019-10-21 12:27:37 +0000 UTCWhatever you do negotiate the contract to make sure you keep ownership of the work and can have it removed from the site with an exit from the contract (any “in perpetuity” you run)
mars kiyu
2019-10-21 10:47:32 +0000 UTCYour call. Personally, I'm more inclined towards support for quality of work. But I'm curious, what is the penalty incurred if you accidentally breached their 'latest 2 chps' agreement? If there will be lawsuit(s) involved, then I'll advise you against it.
2019-10-21 09:56:51 +0000 UTCI haven't heard of webnovel before so I don't know how big it is, but I think the main question is whether you'll get atleast twice as much support there, otherwise the 50% split likely means you'll make a loss If you take the deal I'll still support your work, I'm not sure if I'd continue through patreon or move to webnovel, I'd have to try using it before deciding. But support there is worth 50% less and at least some people would probably move.
falcon
2019-10-21 09:09:10 +0000 UTCOk, no need to look at any other message. Take the non esclusivity "2 chapters ahead" deal. THEN do a crunch. Dedicate every free moment for 2 weeks to writing. No outside dinner. No bar. No nothing until you get your 2 chapters ahead. Then resume life as normal, and enjoy the double income. The lazy ones like me will stay on patreon, and you will get money from the other scummy source. PROVIDER, I MEANT PROVIDER! Cmon mate, it's a small sacrifice. Business is business
Max Lopo
2019-10-21 08:20:03 +0000 UTC
