News GGP Official Response

GGP's official response to http://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/ggp-is-lying-gravity-is-owned-by-china-reading-qi.44064/

Spoiler

By now you guys should have seen the previous reddit post. If you haven’t, then I’d suggest that you guys check it out before reading below.

I haven’t been able to talk about what was in the agreement, and honestly, that’s been putting a lot of pressure on me. However, now with it already being public domain, I want to explain my position.

Honestly, at the start last year, I was very against China Literature who is the parent company of Qidian. I’ve been working towards licensing before the end of last year and hitting many roadblocks with deal terms a little too harsh to sign. However, despite all of that, China Literature (Qidian) was the only one who came to me after the exodus with licenses for the same deal they’d offered previously, even though Gravity Tales—at that point—had people dropping out left and right. This was when I changed my thoughts about them, and in the end I chose to go with them. Funny how such a small thing makes such a big difference.

Since I’m touching on the exodus, let me clear some points about this.

First, people jumped ship because of their free will; not because of any stringent contract that they have to sign. Any Gravity Tales member can back me up on this. In fact, Gravity Tales has not signed a contract with any translators until July of this year.

In addition, the time when the exodus happened were some of the darkest days of my life. There were people who I considered friends, who I had just joked around with, suddenly leaving the site and appearing on a different site the next day. Experiencing that, I was antsy and I reflected with myself to see if I was untrusting. In the end of the day, I just wanted to remember the scars and keep moving forward.

So that’s the background to this whole thing. Now, more about the deal. Yes, I gave up a majority share in Gravity Tales for some financial compensation and for the maximum support in Gravity Tale’s future development from Qidian. One thing I’d like to point out: while talking to Qidian, I got a significant part of the valuation put aside in the form of motivation and compensation prepared for the translators and editors, who I believe to be the essential part of Gravity Tales, even including those who had left during the exodus. I can’t give specific numbers, but for every dollar I have in my pocket, there are more than 5 dollars been set aside for the core translators and editors on top of normal CPMs and whatnot, and that’s for this and next year alone.

Now, back to the non-money side of the deal. Another part of why I decided to go with China Literature (Qidian) was because their licensing deal after the investment was also the best compared to other publishing companies. We would get full support from China Literature. And that also comes with clear channel of communication with the the original authors, Chinese editors, publishers and other copyright owners in the industry. In addition, we were authorized with the rights to publish ebook and hardcopy books. Who knows, maybe we will be producing our own animation series one day.

For translators, the huge benefit they get is that there shall be no concern about being forced to take down any work any more. We made sure that all the translators in Gravity Tales working on the tens of thousands titles from Qidian would forever be at ease of knowing that they won’t get hit by a DMCA and at the end of the day, that’s more important than anything else.

For authors, I did a bit of research online, and found that, usually, going to a hardcopy publisher meant that the manuscript would be owned by the publishing house. Not any more. I am working with the publishing experts in China Literature (Qidian) to find a way that the original authors and translators could publish their work without surrendering their rights over the the publishing houses.

Now, what would be changed in Gravity Tales? Honestly, nothing will, besides the fact that the pioneer of online literature and the industry giant is now standing behind us offering unlimited support. For those who may wonder, Gravity Tales is still completely operated by me and full autonomy is guaranteed, which means no paywall. If there is one thing that was lost, it’s that I gave up my major slice of the future value of Gravity Tales, in exchange for a bigger pie for the translators, the readers and everyone supporting Gravity Tales.

To those feeling betrayed, for whatever the reason it may be, I’m sorry. If you’re looking for an explanation from me, call it nerves, call it being in the moment, call it me being sneaky, being untrustworthy. The good guy always has his flaws.

In the end, hate me, love me, whatever you want. I believe that I did the right thing for Gravity Tales and everyone in it.

Thanks for reading,

GGP

Rainbowturtle's reply to GGP

Spoiler

I wish you and the translators good luck. Sincerely, I hope it turns out well for Gravity Tales since I had a good time there.

I just wanted to state something regarding the exodus, and its the only thing I will say about it.

Contracts were brought up and it was pretty serious. In fact, it played a major role in my decision to leave, although not the only one.

So stating that no one left because of the contract that you eventually decided not to implement for a few months isn't exactly true.

https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/6rjjyw/ggp_official_response/

Oba-sama: Changed quotes to Spoilers.​

 

@R3C4P we've been waiting for this..
Come now.
Edit
Now I can give my opinion with clear conscience I really waited for the reply of GGP before giving my opinion.
Coz I trust him even a little since I know him from when he still in gravity translation translating zhan long.
But this reply shattered my trust for him I even wish him good luck on his announcement post. lol then this happened?
No wonder they leave you..
Now I feel sorry for your staff defending you last night was that posshz something like that.
Well that's your choice anyway and only the Reincarnator I read in your site now.
P.S
You really should have inform your staff first about this not like they know from third party.

 

hmm actually I prefer GGP explain it here~

 

Response from rwx:
"This was your decision to make, and I respect that. I also understand the pressures an NDA brings. I'm just gonna repeat what I said to you in private a while back: Good luck, and make sure you take care of and protect your boys (and girls)."

 

Proposal to move this to qi megathread @Parth37955

 

Is this why a bunch of novels left Gravity a while back?

 

watching this...

 

It sounds like he did it for revenge because everyone went to Wuxiaworld.

 

Thank you so much for lying to our faces. And the excuse of an NDA doesn't fly. Silence is golden. You could have kept your mouth shut. At least then, we wouldn't have felt so betrayed. =/

 

This isn't directly related to QI though. Perhaps a GT megathread should be created?

 

Another QI & Gravity tales drama

 

I've always said this. As long as it still remains as a "fan translation" then I am OK with it. This means, no professionals involved who use the laws to copyright every single sentence they write, no paywalls, no creating stupid fights against other translation sites to degrade them and such things. Also, translators have to get their money, however much they deserve.

 

"I wish you and the translators good luck. Sincerely, I hope it turns out well for Gravity Tales since I had a good time there.

I just wanted to state something regarding the exodus, and its the only thing I will say about it.

Contracts were brought up and it was pretty serious. In fact, it played a major role in my decision to leave, although not the only one.

So stating that no one left because of the contract that you eventually decided not to implement for a few months isn't exactly true."


"No one left because of some kind of contract that we were going to force on translators. I understand that you left because of the rumor of a contract but didn't actually wait to see the actual contract.

Did I ever say, sign this contract or leave? Did I not give people the option to not sign the contract? Did I not repeatedly state that the contract would be more or less an NDA?"


"It isn't a 'rumour' when you specifically stated it would happen. And no, you never said that people had to sign the contract or leave. But you did say that anyone who didn't sign the NDA wouldn't be involved in anything important regarding Gravity Tales, which I didn't feel comfortable being left out of important decisions like that but didn't want to sign a contract.

I understand and I'm not faulting you for that. I'm not saying if you were wrong or not. All I'm saying is that I did leave because of a contract and specifically told you that, which goes against what you stated above.

That's all."

"I don't want to argue with you on semantics but I did specifically mention that no one was leaving because of a stringent contract. You left because you didn't want to be left out, not because of some contract which you didn't even wait around to see. If in your mind, you left because of a contract, then that's your choice. I will remain my opinion and wish you the best."

I hope nobody starts with the theorys about the gravity exodus again...

 

Perhaps, maybe they would make one

 

No, some left because of an unrevealed contract, some left for undisclosed reasons.

 

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< I'm ready!

 

expected.