Discussion Why isn't NU as popular as I would expect it to be?

I find NU and NUF to be a really awesome community and I really wished it had more recognition.
The statistics for the number of forum members are 95,650. And of course, like with all stats on members of a website, some of those members are going to be bots, alt-accounts, forgotten or no longer used, etc. That number is honestly quite a large one. However, with the current popularity overseas and rising popularity of anime in the west and many similar media, it doesn't feel like a lot. Or at least, IMO not the number NU deserves.

Spoiler: On the reason I think why WARNING: somewhat long tl;dr material

Now the reasons or possible explanations could largely be due to NU being relatively new (Happy 2nd Birthday BTW) as well as the audience being towards English speakers (not necessarily as their first language, just as one they understand somewhat) yet Eastern/Asian novels. NU also is obviously translated Asian (or Eastern) novels. That means when it comes to at least the western members, there are some cultural differences.

That doesn't just include the traditions, culture, language difference in the novels. It also includes the West's unfamiliarity/smaller popularity towards things like anime, light novel, web novels, manga, manhua, etc. There's also imo the biggest factor towards why not just NU, but web novels, light novels, and eastern media/novels aren't as popular: The values we place on literature here in the West. In the East, especially due to the economic and cultural boom and modernization in China, Japan, and Korea, the rising industries of light/web novels, manga, etc. are that AN INDUSTRY. It is viewed with the same value we see our comic books today in the West. It's seen as profitable as well as something that can thrive. It also doesn't have the West's view that has made publication and literature something exclusive, difficult to enter for amateurs, etc.

The West puts literature on a pedestal and views it as an ART that requires "literary skill" and evaluates it harshly. Even in our schools, there is so much emphasis on proper writing and ALL stories MUST have "important literary elements" like symbolism or theme. Escapism literature is looked down upon (My 9th grade English teacher even said that it wasn't "real" literature). Only some YA escape literature are successful (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc). There's also a social avoidance and negative reputation towards things like Nerd culture and especially what the west thinks is "fan fiction" (often seen as weird or perverse). There's also the fact that kids in the west don't read as much here as compared to some other places(look at Japan where light novels are a huge industry).

Adding to the pedestal that literature is put on. Amateur writers are looked down upon. Most writers have to have the skills and "qualifications." It's like with paintings and fine arts where are an exclusive wealthy few are allowed(don't get me started on modern art). It makes people that are new to writing not want to get their works published(at least as actual paper books). The publishing industry is also old and exclusive since unlike Asian countries where new companies are rising and being created, the west have the old that are stuck in their ways and hold a monopoly in such things. There's also ghost writers since amateur writers are discouraged from actually writing it themselves with their amateur skills. There's also the whole strict view on gramma rules which in reality doesn't exist since language changes and is flexible.

So any comments or things to add on?

 

Can you write me an essay for my english class?

 

People hate to read

 

It could be that people use NU but not NUF. They don't need to make a account or use the reading list. They would be the casuals, the guests.

 

Rather than new it's just niche. It's only useful to those people willing to make an account and who somehow stumble across it. I forget how I found NU, but it's either something you know or you don't; my first couple years I happily navigated my novels through bookmarks or even memorization.

 

Very true, but OP asked about NU so I assume he looked up statistics on NU, not NUF

 

I know someone that use the NU website but not the forum...
WHen I checked their phone, I found over 100 tabs of novels

 

You forgot the lurkers. they may or may not have accounts, but they do exist. Like the M&Ms guys.

 

Americans rather watch a 20 - 30-minute anime video than reading a never-ending book (Light Novels take a long time to finish)

 

Well first of all, not everyone who uses NU will use NUF. Even those that use NUF may simply read and not make an account.

Second of all is the barrier to entry. Anime viewers > Manga readers > Novel readers

Not everyone likes to read books, and then you go into a niche of that of Asian translated ones. If anything it is pretty astounding how large the community actually is.

 

There are also people who use NU as areference to know when something comes out but don't have an account

 

I do that too except I read the stuff posted on Forum once in awhile but never reply

 

Err i used NU for over 3 months before even finding out NUF existed, it took even longer before i made an account.

 

Ha! i just got what NUF mean is the forum right

 

Well actually it isn't that strange. See not many westerners watch anime, and those that do don't usually read manga. Those that read manga dont usually read the light novels. The most popular light novels are japanese, but NU is geared more towards chinese novels. So even those that read light novels wouldn't usually find themselves here. Bakatsuki yes, they would find that since they read jap novels. Chinese? Not really, its more "niche" than you would expect. The popularity of such novels have soared, hell i even see apps and ads for chinese novels too now, but still it isnt as well known. In fact i only find myself here though the novel coiling dragon i found on bakatsuki, then i found out about wuxia and xianxia novel, and through that i discovered NU.

 

Do you mean NUF? Cause NU is used by loads of people.

 

Until several months ago, I just kept track of several sites manually. Didn’t seem worth the effort to come to NU unless I wanted to maybe find something new to read. Then I happened to make an account one day and put together a reading list.

Suffice to say, I was able to tidy up my crazy bookmark situation soon after.

So yeah, I’d say it’s not (or at least wasn’t when NU only had 700-ish pages of updates) immediately obvious how handy NU is as a repository of translated online Asian fiction, and therefore not apparently worth the effort on first glance.

 

For a site like this it makes up a large portion of them. With a little search the breakdown of site traffic comes out as the following:
novelupdates.com 89.76%
forum.novelupdates.com 10.08%
cdn.novelupdates.com 0.16%

 

Because we are too cool

 

because nuf is a niche within a niche within a niche within a niche.