Request How do Web novel authors make money

So, you want to do original manga/comics for web novels? Or you want to translate manga that already exists?

And yeah, you don't hear about them that much, but if you do the legwork, you can find plenty of venues to get your work in print, or at least viewed by others.

 

Manga/Comic will be to expensive for a start.
I am thinking using the manga magazine format for web novels
instead of a one novel per ebook, compilation of multiple novels in one ebook

 

So if you were to make this kind of website, how do you plan on going about this? Do you already have a design? What CMS do you plan on using?

 

Still on the drawing board, I am still getting information

 

How would you differentiate yourself from sites that host multiple translators or translation groups and have daily releases from multiple WNs (like WW, GT, QI, etc)?

 

Apart from the monthly contests and the magazine system, I am considering publishing a manga/comic for the most successful authors down the pipeline. Still a work in progress so I am bouncing off ideas

Magazine will be essentially a paid ebook subscription
I would have preferred a comic magazine but that will have a higher upfront cost

 

Well, the best and most successful webserial authors seem to be those who really develop their novels and give something of their own personalities. They also all keep to a schedule for a long period of time with a large and consistent output, which convinces readers to buy in. And yeah, Amazon ebook sales are usually pretty valuable as well. They all typically have their own main websites which they publish on as well, along with other sites like RRL.

 

Are you looking to do Western novels or translations of Eastern novels? One-shots or serials? Who's your target audience?

 

Original Western Novels. Both serials and one shots
Target audience: teens and young adults

 

Sounds like you want to do something similar to what j-novel.club does, but for Western works. Not a horrible idea, but it might be hard to get it started.

 

Yeah that is why I am doing market research

 

For Eastern novels, it's easy to get interest. All you have to do is say, "Japanese Light Novels," and people will swarm to it. I wonder what kind of interest there'd be in translated Western web novels in the Eastern market.

 

Grass greener on the other site, exotic as you said
SFACG is essentially a Chinese novel site with a Japanese feel, explains why it is so popular

 

I haven't been following the conversation, so I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but it seems like you're wondering what kind of revenue model I (as a reader/consumer) would prefer?

I don't know much about what works best as a book publisher, but personally, I'd rather pay a subscription fee or buy individual books/ebooks rather than deal with ads or pay for premium features/content. I've bought a lot of physical books over the years, even though I have access to free manga/novels, and I've bought a few ebooks from Amazon and some manga from JManga before they shut down.

I think an important factor is that I'm more willing to pay for niche or hard-to-find content. I bought from JManga, for example, because they had a lot of yuri manga that I couldn't otherwise buy, at equal or better quality to fan translations (most manga publishers tend to have lower quality). I wouldn't pay a single dollar for a fully translated 10k chapter generic xianxia, even a really good one that I enjoy reading, it's just too common, but a xianxia with female/female romance or a little girl as a protagonist? I'd definitely pay for that if the quality was passable, since that's not something I can easily find. Similarly, if you were a provider of a large number of CN yuri novels or some other unique niche, I'd be more likely to spend extra (paying for novels I might not normally read, for example, or paying for a higher subscription tier or something) to support that niche and help ensure that more is translated.

Now that I read more of the thread, it looks like you're thinking more about western novels, but the above points still stand; in my opinion, you should find an unfulfilled niche to fill and focus on quality over quantity, and you'll have a much stronger fanbase who are more willing to pay to support you.

Since you mentioned a format like manga magazines but for novels, I'm not sure how well that would work without an established fanbase to start with. Shonenjump.com, for example, is supported by the existing popularity of the individual titles, as well as the popularity of WSJ (the Japanese publication) and the previous English Shonen Jump. Viz also partnered with Cartoon Network, did advertising at cons, and was an established company with a sizable budget to start with, in order to create a market where it didn't already exist. And even with all of that going for it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was shut down at any time (though I couldn't easily find numbers for how well they're really doing or how many subscribers they have). An ordinary subscription model like Crunchyroll would almost certainly be a far better choice.

As an aside, one of the biggest issues I have with ads (even good ads, even if they're just plain text with no images) is that they necessarily disrupt the reading experience. After all, if they aren't disruptive, nobody is seeing them. It's a very unpleasant way of reducing quality in exchange for offering the product for free; just charging money is a much more palatable option to me, and feels much less exploitative.

 

I think they also get a decent amount of money from the rankings where their readers "donating" boost their rankings. Its kinda like patreon like that.

 

That's true enough lol. Not for them.

 

@Sena Fair point on the unique content. I think I heard about JManga, big dreams and big failures. I think they underestimated the market.

@Westeller Even immigrants like the Hispanics were taught birth control, what a travesty, so many shee... students of literature nipped in the bud. The population certainly is an advantage . I would say target India but I had an Indian argue with me about prices of books only for him to admit later that he was comparing to bootlegged copies lol.

Both your points reminded me of why it will be very difficult.
Unique is good but the percentage of the population that will purchase is too minuscule which would be catastrophic especially in the smaller population of the west

Also, I believe that even though Western readers consider things like otome games repetitive, cliche etc Japanese authors have created a successful niche for themselves

 

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