News Thanks to foreign translators, China’s thriving online lit scene is heading overseas

I'm just waiting for some hidden celebrity with eccentric taste to say in an interview:

Interviewer: What are some of your favorite hobbies?

Celeb: I'm not really into out door activities, I just really like to stay at home by myself and just read a good novel

Interviewer: Oh that's interesting what kinda novels do you like reading; do you like some Tom Clancy, maybe your into sci-fi, or maybe some high fantasy?

Celeb: Well a lil bit of everything you know don't want to limit myself, but you know these days I'm really into foreign novels!

Interviewer: Really, tell me a bit about that are we talking UK, Canadian, American?

Celeb: Oh I'm not talking about Westernized novels, I'm into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean!

Interviewer: I wasn't informed that you knew any foreign languages *Flips through notes while smiling awkwardly

Celeb: Oh I don't I'm really into amateur translated works of famous or semi-famous armature to pro authors from overseas!

Then they go into the whole bit and then it gets hella mainstream and NU gets taken down WW gets DMCA'd while Chinese authors and publishers rush at trying to get English / Japanese / Spanish / German / etc... to translate their works

 

Time to start learning Chinese.

 

I say they are over reacting. Even if it will happen, there's still a long way to go until then...
Time will prove.

NU will get taken down for what? And by whom? At most it can get taken down by the administrator/founder(/ancestor) because there won't be a point to it anymore if those other things really happen but I don't really thing so. The last part, I don't think will happen because Chinese authors already get enough money in their country and it's not even sure whether they will make any profit from doing that. Even if the waters are tested by WW and other websites and novels, that's just a small amount of novels and I don't think the non-Chinese fans of these web novels are in such enormous numbers, even less than that would be able/willing to pay for them when they are just some web-novels and not real quality novels. If anything, people who buy them will still illegally spread them and nothing can be done about it. Not to mention, there are lots of people who don't spend money on any novel at all, even western ones or of any kind. There are always free or less expensive sources for such things.

 

All the chinese I know is "wo ai ni" from an ex

 

To much to read so I pass

 

that thing won't happen before their local pirate site purged.

 

At this point we know WE*RE FUCKED!!

 

Another similar overlord case happening in the future i guess. Well it was a good run anways

P.s hopefully my statement wont come true though

 

If something happens, it will happen in a few years so don't worry about it now. If Qidian and other 17k go crazy and start DMCA'd websites, it will only be the well known english websites. If english isn't your first language or you know another one and are lucky enough to find translations in said language then you are lucky. It is due to this, that I don't see Qidian and 17k going to other markets other than the English-speaking one (the biggest one). I doubt they would go and translate many web novels into many different languages at least in the first few years of they taking the English market for their novels.

So, we have a few years to be free of worry (if something indeed happens) and if you know another language and there are translators to said language then you have even more time of free stuff

 

Honestly this article doesn’t really do much besides making Chinese audience more aware. The publishing sites rely on market of scale so them going after sites with dmca isn't really worthwhile as they are almost losing profit instead of gaining. Also tencent tends to invest by buying existing companies and 17k is mostly hobby authors no way they start hunting down shit unless they create their own platform.

 

As long as the case with Japanese novels won't happen to Chinese novels, I'm good. I know it's pessimistic but once something has happened... who can say it won't happen again? If the DMCA's will come in the future, I might as well drop novels I haven't read at all and finish off the ones I'm reading now so that I won't have to drop novels halfway. On the other hand, if they don't come then I can continue cultivating with all these novels .

 

Not sure I agree especially with the views Chinese webnovels get. The views get so big you can't even compare it to Japanese. Japanese is probably more famous though but I won't say more popular. Yeah they get animes but animes are not even really big in Japan. Just ask people in Japan. I will say Japanese light novel scene is probably more professional since they probably have editors. I'm pretty sure the top Chinese authors is making more money than the top Light novel authors. Then again I saw IBM want to do a Sword Art Online vr game or w/e. So yeah Japanese novels is way more famous.

 

I chuckled at this.

Considering the overarching general acceptance from CN authors, it SEEMS unlikely that they will get a DMCA strike on them, that is to say it isn't 100% either, if the companies/sites that host the novels get involved, then the chances will probably depends on a "you're with us or against us" sort of affair (The <INSERT PUBLISHER HERE> Sect shall prevail! ect. ect.).

Other cases fall under authors who have NOT given permission from, or have otherwise ignored emails/messages from TLs.

Ultimately, money is going to be involved, and then all the Heaven Rank Cultivators Expensive Lawyers get unleashed onto this lowly plane.

 

I love you? It might come in use some day

 

have faith in Lord Fifth, we're fine for now

 

I think he/she mostly refers to over-seas popularity... Chinese web novels only recently made their way into the over-seas scene and there isn't such a big audience for them yet. There's no point in comparing them in their country of origin. You're not going to compare China's population with Japan's, right? Japanese light novels simply have a more solid foundation over-seas, they became even more popular due to manga/anime and other media and stuff and they are even being commercialized in English language and a few others while Chinese web novels, for all I know are just that, web novels, and haven't really made their debut over-seas, except the online free sources like wuxiaworld, gravitytales, shiroyukitranslations and a lot of others which came to be only recently...

 

You can't compare with the number of views JP and CN get in their own countries. Japan's population is aging and only about 127 million. China has 10 time that population!! So the top web novelists naturally earn well. And only the top ones earn well. The others get swallowed, seeing that the income they earn is unstable.

When you say that anime isn't popular in Japan, you're right. Anime status in Japan is what's cartoons status is to the world. Lots of people watch it, but they aren't die hard fans, and they don't watch many anime in a season.

But anime has potential overseas. If Japan just tapped into the potential if animes being watched online, they'd earn a lot. Sadly, they failed that. Their thinking is too rigid, trying to ban anime sites was idiocy.

You said that JP is more famous than CN, but not necessarily more popular. I disagree. More famous= better advertising hence more viewers/readers, so popularity increases. The reason why oversea physical sales of JP is decreasing isn't cos of lack of popularity, it's cos it's just easier to read the same stuff online for free. In CN's case not that many people know about it, so naturally less people read it.

^this. He knows what I'm trying to say.

 

I don't have permission for TMW...

 

I see well them SJWs are already trying to get as much shit banned from Japan already. I'm not sure about anime potential in the states but if it has a loli on it now good luck. lol. I dont even like lolis myself but them Social Justice Warriors are bat shit insane. If a woman is looking sexy in anime they will try to get it censored, especially if you want it on regular networks.

 

Ah, okay. The way I'd understood it from your posts on Gravity was that you were in contact with the author and had his permission. I still wasn't sure if you had permission from the publisher/site though. Thanks for correcting it!