Discussion Opinions on Qidian Mega-merge thread 2.0 - All future Qidian Opinion Threads Will Go Here

Interesting. However I would like to ask for you to cite sources on the revenue and expenditures your getting here. Especially those pertaining to Qidian International.

We will also need to factor in the margin for additional error for the translator of "I have a mansion in a post apocalyptic world" which has fallen behind on schedule on at least 2 instances that I have seen (currently 3 days without a new chapter, promised 5 a week) without getting bonus releases to catch back up to the normal amount originally stated. Not to say it is a problem in release speed or anything, as long as they don't shirk it off too much, and the translation quality doesn't dip too much (which it has in one notable sentence in one chapter I have seen thus far.) its okay enough.

Also, for what reason do you say 52 weeks instead of a year? It is much more straightforward to just say annually or this year, as I expect many large changes in the coming year(s), so I doubt it will be a stable prediction.

 

Well a lot of this discussion becomes null and void. With the GT (legally) dual hosting some of the best novels that QI has I imagine GT will be creating a revenue stream to Qidian. I've noticed that the bonus chapters will not be hosted on GT. But this makes sense. It will be interesting to see the page hits for GT vs QI over the next few months.

 

As I thought about it the 52 weeks could be misleading and probably valid only for the second year of operation. However it fits in with Qidian's inital posts.

The reason for 52 weeks:

1. Webnovel did not even begin until April or so I believe. It would have been a pain to break it down into a calendar year.
2. Novels have been added weekly/monthly since then and indeed the majority stories with a greater weekly release rate are more recent. Within the last 3 months.
3. The 10 million investment is over a few years. https://acts.webnovel.com/2017/59195029/index.html
4. The initial novel offerings had 20 translations with a planned expansion to 300 by the end of the year. (note: I am skeptical of the 300 novels. Even at only 5 chapters per week that's a planned $3.1 million a year) http://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/2094424/tencents-china-reading-takes-first-foray-overseas-multi-language

It is worth noting that it does make sense for translation & related expenses (editing etc) to be the greatest expense.

Some other information was found in the IPO press releases for China Literature
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/04/tencents-online-publishing-arm-files-for-ipo-in-hong-kong/

 

QI vs WW aside... not that I really care about it. don't hit me!

if I were qidian (or one of the higher ups in qidian). rather than plundering the resources of the 'white magus' like a typical third rate villainous black magi (whom no one dared to offend because of his/their cultivation level). I'd rather cultivate my own 'domain', because hey 'face' is really important in the great internet realm .
cultivating like a madman (adding a lot of novel with questionable translation quality) is not a wise decision to make. blackmailing people to join your sect is okay (as the original publisher it is within their/your 'rights') because in the end these people 'borrowed' your resources without permission. but stealing from your 'aqquintances' hardwork despite the 'blood oath' is worse than not being able to see Mt.Tai ( he is the most sneaky mountain in the universe).

If I were qidian, I would aim to become the number 1 webnovel publisher/organisation/whatever it is.
the list of things I would do if I were qidian:
- open a new section for amateur writer to start their original story in english. and when these 'amateur writer' has proved themselves capable, I would make an offer for them to become a full-pledged writer. ( congratulations on qidian for already making the first step for this, the original novel competition).
- make an offer for a lot of famous webnovel author. to post their works on 'webnovel.com'. even if they don't become a full-pledged author on qidian, their works would still attract a lot of audiences.
- freemium based service, free user can read a bonus chapter by viewing ads meanwhile premium/paid member could get 5-10 bonus chapter wheter it is translated novel or original novel.
- I would make a sign which chapter is a bonus chapter that can be viewed by adwall in the table of content ( this is my personal complain LOL).
- let's be webnovel version of webtoon is for webcomic.

this is my personal advice for qidian . I hope for the best of for the webnovel of community and pardon for my abomination of a grammar.

P.S: beware of pirate sites, this is where 'face' is really important. make the community feel more welcomed on your site so they wouldn't read your works on aggregator site.
P.P.S: I wouldn't mind reading on 'shady sites' if you're still act like a third rated xianxia villain.
another note: blob for the win everybody

 

didnt read the post but how do you get those cute blob things?

 

its their property. so who is stealing actually?

hint: its ww

 

The original raw novel is owned by QI, the translation owned by TL.

For the 20 title that QI and WW have deal with? Original: QI, translation chapter: TL, right to publish TL: WW (don't know about QI since we don't get to see the full contract.

 

Don't know if it has been mentioned or noticed. But I can't find Qidian's app on app store any longer? Can someone confirm that?

 

Apple store? Or google playstore?

I can still find it on app store but can't comment in the playstore

 

Google playstore

 

Last info the apps is gone from google store. Somebody claim that it will be back on August 4, since "google will pull down any apps that DMCA'd and will return it after one week"... Though it seems the apps are missing more than one week

 

That's a lot of money... but that's for a whole year. The website hasn't even been up for that long yet. Somewhere around 2017-04-07 is when the QI website was created so it's only 4 months old. It's going to be a lot more than just $1.1 million in 52 weeks time. They aren't afraid of losing money, they have tons of money. They want to pump enough money into the website right now so that they'll get a return 5/10 years down the track.

^I see you've clarified everything above already.
My own opinion is this. This is not a sustainable revenue model for Qidian. Ad revenue will eventually meet translation expenses as more people read the chapters. It's $40 per chapter upfront. So 5 years down the track the translators wouldn't be getting any money but Qidian would still be hosting the chapters and making money off it. They can make as much money as they want off the translated chapter. If 5 years isn't enough then 10 years and if that isn't enough then 20 years.

They will also eventually paywall the chapters.

 

Qidian steals chapter then proceed to name it bonus chapter then benefit monetary.

How is this tolerated by Novel Updates?

 

NYHAHAHA!

 

NYAHHAHAHAHA

 

It isn't. They remove all stolen releases.

Lock this thread.

 

Flawed argument. So if a merchant is known to steals from other merchants Amazon should just remove the listing? No, they would be completely ban