I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but since authors hang out here to discuss stuff... Anyway, I came across this blogger who exposed some bad author contracts drawn up by big publishers such as Webnovel, so I thought I would share the links here. WebNovel: https://writerbeware.blog/2023/01/20/bad-contract-alert-webnovel/ GoodNovel: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/02/18/bad-contract-alert-goodnovel/ NovelCat: https://writerbeware.blog/2021/11/05/bad-contract-alert-novelcat/
Yes it is good to protect yourself so many sites taking advantage of the naivety of rookie authors. It is disgusting behavior. I hope the best for those who have already been trapped in contracts with them. I think this is a very good warning about the dark side of online publishing.
I was offered a contract by webnovel, they basically wanted the rights to my IP in exchange for a salary. In the contract wording, they have the right to use a different a writer if you can't keep up writing at the pace their editor decides you need to write at. When I turned the contract down the views my story was getting slowed to a crawl, then when I went to post new chapters the add chapter form on the website kept having issues losing my input. Probably a coincidence, but it was enough of a problem that it made writing even more of a hassle than it needed to be.
What I would like to know is: Is Wattpad the same as the other 3 mentioned here? I did some Googling but haven't really found anything bad about Wattpad, but I would like to hear from authors who have worked with that company.
wattpad has had similar issues for contests https://writerbeware.blog/2022/01/31/wattpad-contest-controversy/ I have never seen their actual contract though but I know for contests its been pretty shit