Where did VM Publishing (Star of Depravity) Come From All of a Sudden?

Just did some digging and found the novel in webnovel under original novels section (https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-star-of-depravity_17671185706361505)

Checking further and I found that all of its reviews seem fake as all of the reviews are done by people who joined webnovel in august and are of lv 1. And on Discord (above screenshots) saw the above guy from active translations asking their readers for a higher level webnovel account. from above I can say that those reviews are fake and they are asking for accounts from users to post fake reviews to make them seem legit.

I don't know if this novel is actually there in Korean or it is actually licensed by VM publishing but I can say this that they are trying very hard to create fake hype for the novel. it could be similar to the case of "The Empyrean Overlord".

There are many suspicious points as a legal publisher wouldn't try to create a fake hype like this. Also IDK why would they want to post their translations on webnovel originals if they have got the license.

P.S - Sorry for any grammatical mistakes

 

I mean, hey, I can't exactly blame them for wanting to try and create hype, since they want their novel to succeed. Not exactly the way I would go about it, but I can understand it. More to your point, though, go look at all the lists their novel The Star of Depravity is recommended in on the novel's NU page. It's real strange how every list has a) a ton of views and b) contain multiple popular novels with thousands of readers, and then randomly include their novel with like 127. Seems kinda forced in there, almost as if its some kinda marketing ploy. Not gonna fault them for trying whatever they think will work - I include my company's own novels in my personal reading list cause, y'know, why not - but they're really forcing it there.

 

Yes, I noticed that too. Also from the message in above ScreenShot, one point is making me more suspicious
" but the end goal is to license them out to another company while we focus on the English translations"

license them out to another company? License out what Korean raws?

it makes me wonder are they writing the novel themselves?

 

Not to say that it's not suspicious, but I can imagine some scenarios where what they're saying is true. It could be that their Korean author is trying to get their work published with another Korean Publisher. However, I don't know any KR publishers that would take a novel when its English rights are already owned by some other random company they didn't know beforehand. I also don't know why this Korean author wouldn't have any of their work publicly available in, well, Korean... Tons of independent authors have their work posted somewhere for Korean readers, so why would you go through the effort of writing a novel in Korean if no Koreans are ever gonna read it. Maybe there's some more information I'm missing or I've misunderstood what they themselves have said, but it's not my job to make the final verdict on whether or not they're telling the truth.

 

@Tony That is what it looked like from the outside months ago, so we just made that assumption. Since then, we have been informed by Runsing and are fully compliant and are in touch. It has only been a few days since we were informed and are working on it.


----------

Like we have said already, we are taking care of the guidelines given to us by the admin. This process is not as simple as just posting the original Korean content online for us. We are not a fan translations site, and we cannot make these decisions on a whim. We have agreements and contracts to abide by. We have no complaints of not being posted on NU until we hit the guidelines.


I’m personally here just here to diffuse false information.


Our marketing consists of three sources.

• Webnovel
• Novel Updates
• Google Adverts

Now to further elaborate on the Webnovel part. We have already exchanged emails with a Webnovel commercial advisor and have concluded that posting our work as an original would be more beneficial for our end goals. We own the franchise outright, and overall, it was a natural choice for us. Having our work posted as a translated work would give our staff an unnecessary amount of stress and pressure to hit Webnovel deadlines. We also wanted to keep our staff all in-house. “The Star of Depravity” was uploaded under the bi-weekly Writing Formula Practice competition as an Original and is currently in first place. It is entirely normal and even welcomed by Webnovel to have applicants promote their series to friends, family, or other sources. We made sure to contact the Webnovel support staff that is supervising the competition. Now, the Power Stone votes are only one metric they judge the applicants by. Each novel on Webnovel has a detailed statistic page that is very hard to falsify. It would be counterproductive to falsify information. If we win the competition and are awarded the contract, we will consider porting our series under Webnovel. Webnovel contracts are typically all-inclusive, and we would have to sign off all legal rights to even our Korean content. Many stipulations will disrupt our original business plan, which is why we are slightly apprehensive and are taking things slowly with our progression.


As well, just as a clarification, Korean novels are not priceless artifacts sculpted by Author-nim Faker-Gods. Many of them are serialized through similar contracts like ours. They are worked on by the author and a team of developmental editors. This is an entirely standard concept with book publishing in Asia and even throughout the west. You are just looking at it from the perspective of a secondary market. The typical business plan for a secondary market involves websites such as WuxiaWorld purchasing publication rights from the original rights holders. Furthermore, that is not what we plan on doing. Think of us as the publishing company selling the legal rights to a website like WuxiaWorld in a secondary market. What makes us shine is that we are putting most of our focus in the western market and have tailored our developmental editing for western audiences. We have toned down the typical nationalistic and Confucius filial piety tropes and introduced more relatable themes.


I impede you just to wait, time will tell of our legitimacy. And until then, maybe try reading our first novel, you might even like it!


By the way,


We have nothing against Meteor Strike Media. They were our inspiration, and many of our staff actively read their novels. I personally read Fallen Monarch. I apologize if we put them on the spot by mentioning them.

 

there are still many suspicious points in your above post but still, we will wait for more info.

 

I will chime in and give my two cents on this topic.

1) However VMPublishing plans on delivering RAW source to @Tony or other admins, I would be very skeptical as the RAWs simply do not exist in Korean at the moment. Searching for the titles or the authors' names do not bring up anything, which makes it highly likely that these "Korean authors" are simply Korean-Americans that have some kind of relationship with the VMPublishing admins and are writing straight-up in English.

2) To support the above point, reading the "translation" of the Star of Depravity immediately shows that the writing style isn't really Korean-esque. Of course, it might be the case that the chapters are very heavily and professionally edited, but that seems like a poor argument given that there are many grammatical mistakes (namely in tense) that are very evident even in the first few lines of the first chapter.

(Let me add that the novel itself is very well written, purely from a language point of view. I would totally believe that an aspiring author is writing these)

That said, there are also parts that make me believe the novel has a Korean counterpart. But I would personally be on the side of skepticism until RAWs can be provided.

3) It is true that, as @vmstaffaccount said, Korean novels are generally licensed out to secondary markets through by selling publication/distribution rights. It seems VMPublishing is trying to do what Korean publishers do, which is contracting Korean authors directly and working on distributing their novels on different platforms.
But this is highly unusual, to say the least, as it doesn't make sense for a publishing group that don't have any have presence inside Korea to somehow have contacted "Korean" authors and acquired rights to their novels. This is especially so considering that these authors and their works don't exist in Korea.
This poses the questions: how did VMPublishing discover these authors? What made these authors entrust their work to VMPublishing? Who even are these "Korean" authors?


Now, all that said, I am fully supportive of VMPublishing and their efforts if they are a truly legitimate group. I am just giving a warning as I've dealt with... an illegitimate group, let's say... and are not particularly fond of them (though, I guess you can argue the results weren't bad).

 

This is what I was thinking about, why did they decide to licence a totally unkown author and how did they get to know the author in the first place?? I haven't researched a lot, but I couldn't find anything.

On top of that, can we talk about that cover? It looks quite fan-made, I mean, y'all have seen how Korean covers usually are: masterpieces (ah, there are covers I would just stare at them for a whole day). Well, I know that VN must have been the ones making the covers (as the cover for the other story they're going to translate is obviously made by the same artist). The thing is, doesn't the author have his own cover? Because I doubt a novel with 300+ chapters doesn't even have one. On the other hand, it could have been idea of VN publishing, but If it had been me, I would have just used the Korean one as I would need to pay an artist to make a whole new cover, and buying art isn't thaaat cheap.

The last thing, why can't they provide raws to NU? Even if they can't share them in public, they could send the admins one or half a chapter just so they know the raws actually exists (as long as NU doesn't share the raws I don't think there should be a problem? Or that's what I think. Correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know how this works^^)

 

Soooo there have been 300+ chapters released in Korean since 2019 last year, but no Koreans have read this.

 

there are many other suspicious points

 

Hmm, this seems to be all the rage lately. perhaps I should open a publishing company xD who would like to sign up??

stay tuned

 

Skimmed this thread. I hate bandwagoning, but this makes zero sense. On top of the points everyone else raised, why would a Korean author not publish in the Korean market, which is much larger and better funded, and instead withhold it and give it to an unheard-of translation group to do an English version? Why would they spend over a year writing hundreds of chapters for a novel in Korean with no money coming in from the Korean market?! And why would there be a delay to even show raws? Not publish, just show. It literally takes minutes at most!

Honestly, the only explanation that fits all criteria is that this is an English original written by Korean Americans as @FudgeNouget suggested, and @vmstaffaccount is now trying to produce Korean translations of this English Original for NU advertising purposes - hence the delay. If that's the case, just fess up to it then keep writing. It'll cause some momentary pain, bitching, and moaning, but I promise it'll be better than trying to perpetuate a lie for a long period of time, and if your novel is good, you'll still be successful, arguably even more so!

 

We never said that it was a published author, or anyone well known or renowned. The whole point of this company is that we are serializing novels ourselves to cut the extra costs of purchasing licenses and to have some developmental control to fit the content to our needs. With full ownership of the franchise, we can commission promotional materials such as comics without additional fees or legal permissions.

We take an aspiring Korean writer, have them create their roughs, and then approve their work if it fits our criteria. Once we approve the roughs, we begin translating straight away to English and have the team prepare it for the English release. The Korean copies are not sales-copies and have not been fully prepared for a public release since that was not in our initial business plan. Korea is like any other country; writers are writers. They are not supernatural people. Some are college students. Some are housewives. Some are fathers, and some are jobless old men picking up writing from their youth to try to make a living. That is beside the point; not everyone can fit the mold required by the Korean publishers and have the time to create the first draft for a 700,000-word web novel. We are not a big company, and we do not have such privileges. We are more compliant in the sense that we do not require extensive weekly submission counts or extensive drafts. We work with their schedule and provide support in the development stages.

If you do not understand this.. I do not know how to help you. Think of it this way, write a book, and try to be accepted by a publisher. In the same way that "XXX" Korean author is not a Toika or a Ro Yu-jin, you will not be a JK Rowling. It is freaking hard to get your book published in America and even HARDER in Korea, where 70% of the population has a college degree. Now, what do you do when a small company approaches you or has a job opening offering money for your work?


How did we get in touch with writers in Korea?


A few of us are Korean. Moreover, it would not even matter what we are. We set up job openings and accept applications like any other company. Job employment is universal and does not require people to be of the same nationality.


Why would someone in Korea work for us?


Because we pay them in a situation where someone in Korea would not. People work because money is offered to them… We exchange their service for money. What else?


Where did VM Publishing (Star of Depravity) Come From All of a Sudden?


It came like all companies: from nothing. Nevertheless, like all companies, after some funding, and a hardworking team, it creates something from nothing.


Let us all start a Publishing Company!


Try it; if you succeed, congratulations, you have caused a net good in the industry. Fail or succeed; however, I guarantee you that it is not as easy as it sounds.


Now, why are we trying to get on NU so badly?


We are not. We understand that they have rules. We are abiding by them, and we have no issues with anyone. Once we have completed their guidelines, then we will begin posting our novels on their database. We are not trying to scam anyone… we are fully compliant.


So why am I here?


Because I cannot stand by and watch misinformation spread about something 15+ people put their hearts and souls into. It is not even logical banter. Like, why is our site so barebones? Just take a look at WuxiaWorld. It is to lower the server load. Why are our covers not commissioned by out of this world artists? Because it is not in budget. It costs a lot to get these projects running. Spending $700 on an early launch novel's cover is not worth it. Just take a look at all your favorite series. Most of these series have been released in Korea for years. The chances are that they have had several editions with different covers. It is like putting $2000 rims on a $10,000 car. The Second Coming of Gluttony didn't always look that bad%ss.


Why can't we just provide raws privately to the staff? Because they will not even accept it if we did. Raws have to be public. We've already asked.


----

I am sorry if this comes across as rude, I am just trying to defend our name. @rwxwuxiaworld I personally deeply respect you and a comment like this hurts man. I am not lying. It was our fault for prematurely uploading our English copies on Novel Updates without knowing that it would come across to some compliance issues. It was our fault; again, we assumed we were in the clear because of similar groups that were approved.

We have caused no harm to anyone. We were just trying to put out a net good. It is a shame that people are ripping us apart. Here and in trolls spamming us directly. It may look counterproductive, especially at scale or in your perspective to do it the way we are vs. WuxiaWorld (licensing, etc) but it makes sense with a more limited budget. It's the only way for us to get our feet in the door without betting all of our funding on only 2-3 series.

 

You know what? Putting aside whether you're lying or not, just for being able to write a coherent post--for whatever it's worth--I give you a pass. NU has its own rules though, so that's just how it's going to be.

 

I am here personally to just make it clear that we are not actively trying to get ourselves put on Novel Updates nor trying to abuse it for views. We never tried to conceal anything or had any deceitful intentions. The mods said no and took down our listing until we fit their guidelines. We simply agreed, and that is that.

We are not trying to scam anyone. Our messages were all civil, and both sides completely understood each other. There was never any drama @runsing can confirm. We are not asking for anything; we posted on the site prematurely and took it down. That's it.

 

@vmstaffaccount
summary you want become like ww but cuz condition and limitation you decide to choice something like webnovel hmm direct publisher company? it just currently from korea directly to english audience?
I assume you contact kr author, put them under your brand(?) then publish to english audience? it also seem your group or company plan to acquire legal copyright from other Kr wn publisher~
quite ambitious~ good luck~

 

I respect the hustle and the effort you put into replying to the comments, but to be honest, things just don't make sense. Do note that I am not trying to vilify you, your group, or your authors in any way. If anything, I think what you are trying to do is very respectable. That is, getting official licenses to translate a (supposed) Korean novel into English.

But I have to note that it's just... strange.

This is just false, and it clearly shows that you and your authors don't know how Korean webnovel scene works. It is now easier than ever before for any aspiring author to become one. The only requirement is that you actually write. You don't need to get in contact with a publisher, you don't need to submit drafts or manuscripts to anyone, you can just write.

The reason Munpia has had such a huge success is precisely because it allows anyone to become a writer. And if your novel is popular enough, you can monetize your work, and the publishers will be contacting you, not the other way around.

If this Star of Depravity novel has 300+ chapters as you claim, it just doesn't make sense that it isn't on any Korean platform. It just doesn't.

It just sounds like your explanation of the matter is a way to sugarcoat lying about having Korean novels be translated. There is nothing wrong with an English original. In fact, they may do much better than translated novels and can be advertised as a LitRPG genre.

You don't have to be a genius to know that this makes absolutely no sense.

 

This will be the last reply.


It seems like people are just skimming the explanations and writing what they want.

"That is, getting official licenses to translate a (supposed) Korean novel into English."

Like we stated earlier. We commission the authors just from their short roughs. The author is on a salary and is contracted. The typical business plan requires the company to purchase the license. We do it our way because hiring a Korean author to write IS CHEAPER THAN BUYING THE LICENSES and does not require an upfront payment. We get to split the payments in 50-100-week payment splits (via a salary). We only require 3-6 chapters a week, which is also more suitable for some authors. They did not have that many chapters from the beginning but worked on it for us under a contract and an NDA. You are not going to find it online nor their previous work because we own it, and no one else has ever owned it prior. Roughs = never published or even put online. Remember, we are not licensing translations of finished works. We are a publishing company that creates and owns our franchises.


"And if your novel is popular enough, you can monetize your work".


We don't need any of that; we find someone we like and build up their vision with our team of developmental editors and beta-readers. Some authors prefer the stability of a salary and to work on their series as a secondary form of income.


Our method will allow for more control over the novels. As a smaller company, we don't have 50+ on-going projects, nor do we have the privilege of scale like Munpia or WuxiaWorld. We don't have the leisure to fail in some series and succeed in others. It's not just a metric for us. We focus on each and every chapter in each and every novel. It's less risky for us to do it this way.


We are working on one English original, which is cheaper to do since we don't have the translation aspects. It will be listed as such.


Again, we have no qualms on being delisted on NU. We understand that we have to meet their guidelines first. We've never fought or argued to stay on. There was a misunderstanding. Our main challenge is that since we are not using established authors, we have to work extra hard to match the quality of something licensed by WuxiaWorld or published by Munpia. We will do our best to prove to our readers that our approach can provide something of equivalent value and is worth their time and money.

To those who support us, thank you!

 

Honestly, it still doesn't make much sense to me, but I do wish you the best. I'll take anything else I'm curious or puzzled about to PM's. Best of luck!