About signing a contract

[RepresentingSilence]

Hi guys, I got an offer today from Webnovel, but I haven't heard a lot of good things about being contracted (not firsthand, though). Also, I read that having a Patreon and whatnot is better.

But the contract gets you visibility, it seems...

What do you all think? Do you have a contract with them? Is it a good or bad experience?

Cheers

The visibility is fake its Chinese bots used to entice authors to sell the rights to their works

If you don’t think it’s an important work, sign it, then start writing incest and scat into it when you’re ready to abandon it. So when someone else takes over it’ll be fun to see what they do.

I always suggest making a evil dictator that looks like whinnie the pooh that rules the hundred acres with an iron fist and demands he's payed in hunny

 

[Erios909]

I realize that it seems great to get a contract, but this is really a big no. The contract is legally binding and you are giving all your IP rights to them forever. The person contacting you is an author acquisition agent, who receives a bounty for every author they scam into accepting. New authors often fall for this thinking they made it big.
Webnovel's contract is remarkably predatory and purely for making them as much profit as possible while fucking their content creators hard.
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/01/20/bad-contract-alert-webnovel/
If your writing is good enough for them to give you 200$, then you're almost certainly going to make way more self-publishing on amazon, or starting a Patreon. Check out some of the many guides, but whatever you do, don't feed the most predatory company out there.

 

[Fallen_Pages]

I realize that it seems great to get a contract, but this is really a big no. The contract is legally binding and you are giving all your IP rights to them forever. The person contacting you is an author acquisition agent, who receives a bounty for every author they scam into accepting. New authors often fall for this thinking they made it big.
Webnovel's contract is remarkably predatory and purely for making them as much profit as possible while fucking their content creators hard.
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/01/20/bad-contract-alert-webnovel/
If your writing is good enough for them to give you 200$, then you're almost certainly going to make way more self-publishing on amazon, or starting a Patreon. Check out some of the many guides, but whatever you do, don't feed the most predatory company out there.

Thanks for the advice and the link! It was very detailed.

 

[Premier]

1500 words daily for a month is not worth $200. You could easily make that much from Patreon, Amazon publishing and/or Commissions for far less work.

 

[Fallen_Pages]

Don't contract unless you're writing a dual cultivation smut novel. You need to be within top 10 to even get out of MGS and the MGS isn't worth being saddled with a contract. If it was $2k/mo then you could consider it.

I knew I had seen your novel somewhere; it is always recommended when I check my novel's page. The world is small, or this site, maybe, haha.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Hi guys, I got an offer today from Webnovel, but I haven't heard a lot of good things about being contracted (not firsthand, though). Also, I read that having a Patreon and whatnot is better.

But the contract gets you visibility, it seems...

What do you all think? Do you have a contract with them? Is it a good or bad experience?

Cheers

Don't do it if you wish to still have the freedom to write.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Why isn't there a sticky thread for this yet?

 

[T.K._Paradox]

Don't.

You'll be their patsy for years, especially after they debt trap you.

 

[Syringe]

Please don't. It's the equivalent of selling a piece of your soul.

 

[Fallen_Pages]

Why isn't there a sticky thread for this yet?

Hey, I have seen your book before! It is attention-grabbing, to say the least. Good luck being a mother!

 

[Erios909]

Some people might not realize this, but its possible for a contract like this to take ownership of everything you write. Not just the one work that you sign to them, but sequels and completely unrelated works you might write in the future, too. Forever. A detailed analysis and reading of the contract is required. It isn't something to play around with. I take it back, webnovel's contracts aren't even the worst (after reading some other entry on writer's beware.)

There are legit writers who signed these contracts, and now they can never profit from their writing again without having a Sword of Damocles over their head that the people they signed with find out and then sue them for everything they make/damages.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Webnovel Contract | Royal Road

Hey there! So, I recently received an invitation from Webnovel for a contract, and I'm feeling a bit unsure about what to do. I thought it would be great to get some advice on this matter. Just to give you some context, my novel on Royal Road has around 330 followers, and it's been hanging out...

www.royalroad.com

Well well well.

Webnovel cast their nets far and wide.

Please don't do it.

 

[Saberfang]

I echo what eveyone has said. Don't do it. Webnovel contracts are incredibly predatory. You might be signing away much more than you think.

 

[HungrySheep]

I knew I had seen your novel somewhere; it is always recommended when I check my novel's page. The world is small, or this site, maybe, haha.

Ahaha, I'm honored!

 

[Rodri1999]

I really do not understand how do they enforce those contracts. I am a lawyer, and I do not understand the fear of them; I honestly would probably sign it and get money for a while, and when I am burned out and can't write at the speed they want, I would stop publishing in Webnovel and post it elsewhere. They would literally have to hire a lawyer from my country, go to a court inside my country, and sue me there. This would cost them a lot more than a web novel. There is no way of enforcing that contract, at least in most countries. And how would they prove in court that the one posting it elsewhere is me? It makes no sense.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

I found a similar thread; I'm reading that. I am sorry for posting an old and repeated question, haha.

I think I will read the contract at least; I don't care about the 200 dollars; I can't possibly write and translate 1500 words daily with my work and everything.

Also, I don't think my novel is such a great masterpiece that I would miss it if they stole it, but yeah, if there is something like that in the contract, I would think about it twice.

A friend of mine did it. He was pretty steadily hard at work for awhile.

I'd hate it. I can do more than 1500 words for a chapter, but some days I simply have other things I gotta do.

I'd recommend Kindle Vella instead. You aren't required to do a exclusivity contract from what I remember, and you're charged flatly on people reading your book (the price is based on word count, though there is a limit). I decided against mainly because I am bad at having chapters with consistent size because I do chapters by topic.

 

[RyujiSakamata]

If you're proud to write a shit story for dollars, you can. But I think it isn't possible for now since you need to have a quota income before earning. You could write a 1.5k word count chapter and paraphrase it thirty times, and you'll still enter their attendance bonus for a month.

Also, WN wasn't for free readers. The paid chapters cost too much, and you won't get a worthy story. Most premium stories there breaks after the firtst/second volume. I only posted my stories there for the sake of convenience and translation.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

If you're proud to write a shit story for dollars, you can. But I think it isn't possible for now since you need to have a quota income before earning. You could write a 1.5k word count chapter and paraphrase it thirty times, and you'll still enter their attendance bonus for a month.

Also, WN wasn't for free readers. The paid chapters cost too much, and you won't get a worthy story. Most premium stories there breaks after the firtst/second volume. I only posted my stories there for the sake of convenience and translation.

Basically, I would completely write a shitty story of like 30+ chapters in advance, and just release one at a time.

If it's too good, you'll want to actually publish it (no contract), and if it's not finished yet, you'll have to set aside time (life tends to happen).

 

[Comiak]

No offence here. WN offer contracts to pretty much everyone once you reach a certain level of popularity. Happened to me as well even though at the time I had a lot less views.

Guess I'm not that popular... .

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Guess I'm not that popular... .

But you can have a cookie! This one is on me.