Request How do Web novel authors make money

In your honest opinion, how would a fair contest be run?
https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/4917/

 

It depends. When I'm looking at this, it looked more like

"we have x money, we want y quality, and to ensure we get the best value, we'll want z participants".

Something to tell the "stakeholders" that we've got this number of participants for so-and-so project, and from this, the "best looking" was this that this that.

Not shabby, per se. Could be more upfront.

Each should have "seeded" writers themselves, to gauge what's their worth against the "unknowns". Who knows, if the seeded ones will win, or the unknowns will stage a surprise.

Either way, the organizer wins.

 

Nothing in life is fair

 

Indeed. Hence, you asked, and I gave what I felt it was (well, not felt, more of like, I've got knowledge on how those happened, since I knew somebody who's in the industry that laid it bare for me when I tried my chances back then)

 

I guess it is more like a lottery
I am hoping to build a site like Syosetu but I know it is only successful because it is backed by Publishers
People who think it is a freely run site are quite naive

 

Well, Publishers are like banks. They protect their intellectual property zealously. They won't look kind towards "upstarts" and "new kids on the block". They were tools utilized by governments for spesific propaganda before they're now what they are (just mere publishers publishing for the sake of money, or whatever)

 

Syosetu is essentially a feeder establishment for Japanese publishers so it is cost effective for them than publishing a book that fails

 

I think besides ads, there's really no other way for authors to make money.

I mean, money doesn't fall out of the sky, right?

In China, on the legit sites like Qidian, the author will put out free chapters and then after that, you have to pay to read the locked chapters.

In Japan, there are stories of web authors who get noticed by traditional publishers and they get a book deal. Not so sure about China. I suspect the light novel authors exist mainly on the internet.

 

Thank you all for all the responses

https://www.thebillfold.com/2016/05/the-cost-of-running-a-literary-magazine/

 

Using comiket to publish indie H novel

 

Authors can ask readers to advertise for them, like recommend to friends or paste a link to Facebook.

 

Patreon

 

I have seen some pretty crazy stances on this, some wanting to get books for the same price asas bootlegs..I am very interested in those who can offer tangible ideas to an aspiring author like myself

@Jeebus @ToastedRossi @Sena

 

I don't know if there are any particularly good venues for aspiring English-language writers out there. As far as I know, most new writers get their start by writing short stories or novels and braving the slush piles of magazines and publishers. You can also see if your government has any cultural enhancement money to support newer writers. It's not like East Asia where webnovels are much more highly regarded and used as places for publishers to find new talent.

 

I will consider myself more of an aspiring publisher than author.
Given all the mistakes I made on my translating website, I don't intend to go into this venture blind
Running monthly writing contests with cash prizes seem to be the best way to attract and groom writers

@AliceShiki Any ideas?

 

You mentioned you'd rather be a publisher than an author. Publishing is a whole other can of worms. Do you want to publish original works or translated works? A good publisher needs marketing, distribution, and editing staff. There are probably a lot of great self-published works on Amazon, but it's too crowded. No one knows about them because they aren't properly advertised or in locations where people might buy a book of that type. Also, no matter how great a self-published work is, if it doesn't conform to popular elements that are known to sell, it will likely flop. That's what a good editor can help to avoid.

My involvement with publishing is only in what I've read. As for writing, you need to write a novel or novella and shop it around. Learn how to sell your work to publishers. Also, even if you don't win a competition, it gets your name out there. Enter those. Work with an editor not just when your work is finished, but also in its development. As I mentioned above, a good, experienced editor knows what sells and can help you form your work while it's still nascent.

One thing I almost never see mentioned is SEO. The difference between being on the first page of a Google search and on the second is night and day. Invest in SEO and site optimizations to increase your search rank.

Edit:
I almost forgot. Learn how to write a good synopsis. Most publishers won't actually read your work because they don't have enough time to read every work that comes their way. They'll usually take a look at your synopsis. If your novel is great but your synopsis sucks, you may lose out on opportunities. https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/media/press-publicity/how-to-write-a-synopsis/

 

Hmmmmm... From what I took from this post: https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/how-to-promote-your-web-serial-or-writing.18477/ , most webnovel writers actually take money from selling e-books actually... This seems to be reinforced by this post: https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/self-publishing-amalmost-anything.57403/

So... Dunno, western community doesn't seem to be very WN friendly... T.T

 

Thanks. I was thinking of doing a fiction manga, just like Shonen Jump but for Web novels
I was surprised that you have a look of western fiction magazines who have contests

https://www.thebillfold.com/2016/05/the-cost-of-running-a-literary-magazine/

 

It works in China only because of the sheer number of Chinese, anywhere else and the price and value wouldn't match up (each reader would have to pay more for the authors to get a viable paycheck). I'm... not sure how it works in Korea at all. If anything, I'd recommend doing what syosetsu does, but you'd have to put in more money and time before you'd see the profit, and you'd need all sorts of connections to get TV shows, cartoons, movies, games, figurines made (and get a cut of the profit of course).

 

This seems to be another option

https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/4917/

Another option:
https://www.patreon.com/mbfast