Pros, cons, & audiences of every writing/webnovel site[a continual discussion]

[Keene]

Might be worth taking NovelPets off the list - development is on hiatus while I focus on writing Amelia Thornheart!

 

[Soulhaven]

Moonquill is giving a 504 this evening (NZDT, now). Will have to see if it comes back, I guess.

And StoriesOnline is erotica (probably worth warning people/letting people looking for that stuff know!)

Booksie
Pros: Decent UI. Link directly to Amazon if you have books for sale there. New readers get a lot of interest. You can join "Houses" of like-minded people to help your book find its audience.
Cons: Requires time to build relationships, which is cool, but might take time you don't have.
Popular genre's: A wide range, including poetry.
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord): Within "Houses"
known scandals and/or business practices: None I'm aware of.


Campfire Writing
Pros: Pretty. Browser, and Desktop and mobile apps. Can monetise or offer free. Can be free to use just to publish (upload completed ebook).
Cons: Expensive if you choose to buy all the modules for the behind-the-scenes stuff, but regularly do 20% sales, too.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi
Unpopular genre's: no NSFW, but not totally prudish.
audiences: Fairly small, broad, growing
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices: None I'm aware of.


Yoru (https://app.yoru.world/en)
Pros: Allows you to offer stories as "Pay what you want", Free, or Premium; and accept "donations". I love that flexibility. Mobile apps.
Cons: Actively under development by a very small team, so not running totally smoothly, yet. Currently not working great on desktop browser without a login, and some other bugs still getting ironed out.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi, Girl love
Unpopular genre's:
audiences: Fairly small, Probably mostly women? English and Japanese speakers
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices: Too new. All good, so far

 

[beast_regards]

Cons: Expensive if you choose to buy all the modules for the behind-the-scenes stuff, but regularly do 20% sales, too.

Worth to point out that Campfire (and World Anvil which are their competitos) have a limit on how much content you could post ...

Campfire allows only about 25000 words worth of content to be posted. Look for a Manuscript module section when you want to publish a story. Rest is their premium paid account.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I wouldn't recommend Penana. The only interaction I've had with "readers" have been spam bots every time. I'm probably going to finish uploading the books I've already got in progress, then drop it.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I wouldn't recommend Penana. The only interaction I've had with "readers" have been spam bots every time. I'm probably going to finish uploading the books I've already got in progress, then drop it.

Yeah, I've had similar luck with Penana. The hope is that more people go to it after seeing threads like this and change it for the better.

 

[Soulhaven]

Worth to point out that Campfire (and World Anvil which are their competitos) have a limit on how much content you could post ...

Campfire allows only about 25000 words worth of content to be posted. Look for a Manuscript module section when you want to publish a story. Rest is their premium paid account.

If you only want to publish, you can upload an entire ebook that you've written and created in epub format elsewhere for free. But, yes, if you want to use their writing tools to actually research, plan, & write, there are limits on the free stuff.

 

[Lysander_Works]

Spoiler

I want to produce a helpful comprehensive list of all the writing/webnovel/publishing sites and what each provide so I come asking for your knowledge. What are some of the pros, cons, audiences, popular genres, unpopular genres, communities, and scandals or unethical business practices that each site has. This can be from personal experiences to events that can be traced. If I don't have a site on this list, please let me know so I can add it. All additions are welcome as this is an incomplete list. I will also be putting this on other writing forums to get thoughts directly from the source.

What does each site offer best and what is so bad about it that you wish you never had to use it? What genre's do the readers enjoy and what genre's do they hate? Is the audience good, toxic, and/or something else? Are the communities helpful or are they gatekeeping? What business practices do you support and what do you hate or believe to be unethical? Have they done anything illegal? These are all questions I want to know before I put a story on a site so I figured this would help. It would also give an immediate source of where to publish their works.

Scribblehub:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: promotes new stories, easy to use UI, friendly to new writers.
Cons: low moderation, lack of reader interactions.
Popular genre's: isekai, migration, smut, fantasy.
Unpopular genre's:
audiences: good but mostly lurkers.
community(forums & discord): very nice and helpful to new writers.
known scandals and/or business practices: unknown.

Royal Road:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: large readerbase, active commenters, knows what they want.people will correct your grammar mistakes. can be great place to learn for beginners. Readers are more willing to pledge on patreon.
Cons: very high standards, knows what they want. No exposure without ads. anime stuffs, gender bender or sexual stuffs get review bombed to oblivion. Authors doing so many review swaps and shout out swap. be ready to receive a lot of hate. Little to no lewd writings.
Popular genre's: litrpg, transmigration, high fantasy.
Unpopular genre's: mostly anything else.
audiences: Very active.
community(forums & discord): 50/50 chance it is helpful or toxic.
known scandals and/or business practices: unknown.

Tapas:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Large readerbase, has comics too, basically Webnovel without any sketchy contract.
Cons: mostly for comics, large readerbase
Popular genre's: LGBTQ+, fantasy, thriller/horror, romance
Unpopular genre's:
audiences: lurkers
community(forums & discord): very active but mostly writers and artists looking for subscribers.
known scandals and/or business practices: unknown

Webnovel:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: most popular reading site. copyrighted the entire medium, very well known. can make money immediately once contracted. good exposure and they will actively promote contracted stories. very nice readers, quite similar to SH. They also have low standard and they read anything. paragraph comment system that let you post memes
Cons: terrible contract deals, bots, fake interactions, stolen stories, no care for new stories. very limited exposure without contract. 2000 words per day minimum if you want to success there. Your story will also have to have hundreds of chapters.
Popular genre's: isekai, litrpg, fantasy, transmigration
Unpopular genre's:
audiences: bots and lurkers
community(forums & discord): poor and losing activity
known scandals and/or business practices: stealing/swindling the rights to peoples works, charging for unfinished stories, Chinese censorship

Ritoria:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: very good for romance
Cons: very bad UI, glitchy site
Popular genre's: romance, smut, supernatural, historical
Unpopular genre's: action, adventure
audiences: unknown
community(forums & discord): lots of discussion, very small
known scandals and/or business practices: unknown

Honeyfeed:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Gentler site than Royal Road and Scribble Hub. Good for people seeking to heal their traumas from RR and SH.
Cons: Gatekeepers, more focused on weaboo style stories.
Popular Genres: Hachiman-style, kinda edgy, drama stories.
Unpopular Genres: Non-JPLN stories get less attention, though it can still get popular.
Audience: Global, though anime-focused. Will seek more JPLN-style stories than western ones.
Community: Some gatekeepers and elitists, but if you can look past beyond them, HF community can be helpful. Seriously serious though.
Known Scandals and/or business practices: Nothing of the sort.

Wattpad:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Okay interface for stories. Established readership. Community isn't harsh.
Cons: Less features for editing. Baffling ranking system that seems completely random.
Popular genre's: Romance. Billionare Romance. Werewolf Romance. Vampire Romance.
Unpopular genre's: Everything That Isn't Romance.
audiences: Romance seekers.
community(forums & discord): No forum
known scandals and/or business practices:

Fanfiction.net:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Penana:

Spoiler: Stats

Pro: easy to use UI.
Cons: if you write original, it will seldom gain traction.
Popular Genre: K-Pop fanfictions
Unpopular Genre: original stories
Audience: International, though mostly Southeast Asian and East Asians.
Community: pretty chill, though if you're lucky, you can encounter someone accusing you of stealing your own drawing because he saw it in a dream.
Known scandals and/or business practices:

Soyetsu:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Your gateway to JPLN market.
Cons: Catered to JP audience; gaijins not welcome. Site in JP, you'll hafta use Google Translate to navigate if you can't talk weeb. Site uses web hosting site called Mitemin.
Popular Genre: anything JP, but isekai, yes.
Unpopular Genre: anything non-JP
Audience: Japanese people, most can't read English.
Community: there are friendly JP peeps talking to gaijins like me, but it's seldom.
Known Scandals and/or business practices: they say it's the JP Wattpad, and I agree.

Pixiv:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: more formatting optiona for a UI similar to Syosetu, can upload images mid-chapter without hosting site.
Cons: as an image-majority site, novels are a second priority. Also, author's notes are at the beginning of the chapter. Premium sub gives you option to schedule releases. system/editor is very barebones, and to add proper tags, you must know Japanese. Not good for newcomers.
Popular genres: whatever is popular in Syosetu coz yeah Pixiv is Syosetu with pics.
Unpopular genres: nothing comes to mind.
Audience: Japanese, though many can understand and converse in English.
Community: more JP readers for English works than Syosetu
Known scandal and/or business practices: Hentai of all sorts and depravity.

Infinite stories:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Writing.com:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

AO3:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: No ConCrit Culture, Relaxed Content Rules, No Overbearing Moderation, No down votes.
Cons: Restriction on Original Works*, Fan-fiction focus, poor use of tags, no way to advertise your work. Monetization is banned on site!
Popular Genres: fan-fiction (with shipping and smut)
Unpopular: Original Works
Audience:
Community: No Forums. Only Reddit or Discord. No ConCrit Site Attitude. Occasional trolls and attempt at gatekeeping
known scandals and/or business practices: None / Monetization Banned
Remark (important): *) Original Works are restricted / not allowed on the AO3, which could be "bypassed" by considering your work "fannish" (by the moderator's own words) which means it couldn't be ever monetized and posted on AO3. Any attempt at monetization result in ban, links to patreon etc. not allowed. However, if you just post the story without any strings attached (no monetization, no advanced chapter patreon etc.) and declare it free and "fannish" (they love the word, it means writing for fandom) it's valid. Few people will moan about Reddit, but it is not strictly agains tthe rules.

Tumblr:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Amazon Kindle:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Barnes & Noble:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Inkitt:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: great UI, you can upload your manuscript, and the site can automatically assign a chapter based on your chapter count. Wattpad-like simple UI.
Cons: can't upload pics, save for the cover. Limited formatting options.
Popular Genre: Ladies' Romance; novels with Alpha in the title, or with naked macho men in the cover.
Unpopular Genre: male-oriented works.
Audience: Ladies
Community:
Known scandals and/or business practices: nothing comes to mind.

Creative Novels:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Moonquill:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord): Royal Road sister site.
known scandals and/or business practices:

Booknet.com:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Spacebattles.com:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Forum Based, Latest Post On Top, No Rating system or Active Competition,
Cons: Prudes, paranoid moderation, strict site rules. No mentions of sexuality allowed.
Popular genre's: Sci-fi and Fantasy, Fan-fiction
Unpopular genre's: None (Unless conflicting with rules)
audiences: Fan-fiction, power-fantasy, self-inserts, and all attempts to "fix" the story
community(forums & discord): Forum based. Accommodating unless conflicting with rules.
Known scandals and/or business practices: overbearing moderation. Political discussion argument spilling over to the entire forum result in random bans based on the words, or perceived political allegiances.

Questionable Questing:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Fictionpress:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

StoriesOnline:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons: erotica only
Popular genre's: erotica
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Sofurry:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Furries. Good UI for posting novels, and passable text editor!
Cons: Furries. Less active than FurAffinity. Poor discoverability.
Popular genre's: Furry / Smut
Unpopular genre's: Non-Furry. Non-smut.
Audiences: Furry. Smut. Non-Smut stories are very rare, and get very minimal attention.
community(forums & discord): Furry. Have their own forums and discord, but considerably fewer members compared to FurAffinity.
known scandals and/or business practices: none.

Furaffinity:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Furries. All furry content welcomed. Visual / audio / etc. Strong AI aversion.
Cons: Furries. Short stories are common, but the UI is unfriendly for posting novels. They would either become an unformatted text, or could be uploaded as the PDF file. Better upload your novel as the single PDF file, as the site created with the visual art in mind doesn't comprehend the next chapter/previous chapter. Requires including artwork to get attention! Strong AI aversion.
Popular genre's: Furry. The short story - smut. All furry content welcomed, but you need to work around the UI for text.
Unpopular genre's: Non-Furry. Non-Smut.
Audiences: Furry.
Community (forums & discord): Furry. Main site for furry community, large community, active Discord.
Known scandals and/or business practices: None. Hacking attempt promptly resolved by active moderation.

Quotev:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Chyoa:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons: you need to log in to read
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

StoryForge:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Substack:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's: Non-fiction
Unpopular genre's: Fiction
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Medium.com:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Reddit Serials:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

SufficientVelocity:

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Forum Based, Latest Post On Top, No Rating system or Active Competition
Cons: Spacebattles sister site (!!!). All the issues of the Spacebattles in different colours, strict content rules.
Popular genre's: Sci-fi and Fantasy, Fan-fiction
Unpopular genre's: Harem or Anything Conflicting with rules.
audiences: Same as the Spacebattles, sharing a lot of users.
community(forums & discord): Forum based. Active discussion on site.
known scandals and/or business practices: Spacebattles Sister Site. The forum identity is heavily based on the fact they were split from the Spacebattles over pointless disagreement, inheriting all the same issues, and even though it is largely pointless conflict between two identical twins with different hair dye, you need to know because everything revolves around it.

WebkomPH

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: UI similar to ScribbleHub.
Cons: Website sucks, overall. You can't even reorder the chapters you already released.
Popular Genre: Romance and action
Unpopular stories: preachy stories (with moral lessons and similar)
Audience: Filipinos
Community: if you can get along with us, Flips, then you're all good. Though, at times, there are crazies who compete against you for no reason.
Known scandals: occasional favoritism.

Belletristica

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: nice, simple UI
Cons: German-language, hard to get traction if you're writing English-language novel.
Popular Genre: haven't got to navigate that site much coz it is in German.
Unpopular genre: similar to my answer above
Audience: Germans
Community: it's in German, but it seems like a lively site if you can speak and understand German.
Known Scandals: nothing comes to mind.

Booklat

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: dead.
Cons: dead.
Popular Genre: Romance
Unpopular genre: action, male-oriented stuff
Community: dead.
Known scandals: dead.

DeviantArt

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Fox-Teller

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Neovel

Spoiler: Stats

Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's:
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices:

Booksie

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Decent UI. Link directly to Amazon if you have books for sale there. New readers get a lot of interest. You can join "Houses" of like-minded people to help your book find its audience.
Cons: Requires time to build relationships, which is cool, but might take time you don't have.
Popular genre's: A wide range, including poetry.
Unpopular genre's:
audiences:
community(forums & discord): Within "Houses"
known scandals and/or business practices:

Campfire Writing

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Pretty. Browser, and Desktop and mobile apps. Can monetise or offer free. Can be free to use just to publish (upload completed ebook).
Cons: Expensive if you choose to buy all the modules for the behind-the-scenes stuff, but regularly do 20% off sales. Max of 25000 words posted without paying for a premium account.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi
Unpopular genre's: no NSFW, but not totally prudish.
audiences: Fairly small, broad, growing
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices:

Yoru (https://app.yoru.world/en)

Spoiler: Stats

Pros: Allows you to offer stories as "Pay what you want", Free, or Premium; and accept "donations". I love that flexibility. Mobile apps.
Cons: Actively under development by a very small team, so not running totally smoothly, yet. Currently not working great on desktop browser without a login, and some other bugs still getting ironed out.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi, Girl love
Unpopular genre's: no NSFW, but not totally prudish.
audiences: Fairly small, Probably mostly women? English and Japanese speakers
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices: Too new. All good, so far

Known Aggregators:
these are sites that no one should publish their story on because they steal other peoples works. Use this list to see if anyone is stealing your work.

Spoiler: Aggregator List

AudioBook AI - Listen to the Best Audiobooks Online

Explore a wide selection of audiobooks on AudioBook AI. Choose from various genres and enjoy seamless, high-quality audio experiences.

audio-book-ai.com

search.app

search.app

This is a really impressive and comprehensive list. I don't know if you have mentioned this or perhaps made a subforum for it, but I'm also interested in websites that specifically focus on using Documents (or PDFs) for physical book printing (at cost to the author), kind of like comparisons to Ingram Spark.

Also also, don't know if the replies mentioned an amendment or not yet, but Belletristica will be shutting down and turning into something else (if their plans go to plan). Mentioning it in case anyone was curious.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

This is a really impressive and comprehensive list. I don't know if you have mentioned this or perhaps made a subforum for it, but I'm also interested in websites that specifically focus on using Documents (or PDFs) for physical book printing (at cost to the author), kind of like comparisons to Ingram Spark.

Also also, don't know if the replies mentioned an amendment or not yet, but Belletristica will be shutting down and turning into something else (if their plans go to plan). Mentioning it in case anyone was curious.

I should probably add a few of those. Ingram sparks is okay but I would also recommend Atticus.

Thank you for the info on Belletristica. Do you happen to know what they are becoming?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Just put this on the Tapas forums so let's see how it changes.

 

[beast_regards]

Just put this on the Tapas forums so let's see how it changes.

Isn't Tapas' forums just a bunch of writers pinging each other for views? A review swap equivalent?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Isn't Tapas' forums just a bunch of writers pinging each other for views? A review swap equivalent?

Yeah. However, many of them use other platforms do their insight will be needed. I intend to ask many of the listed sites forums.

 

[beast_regards]

Yeah. However, many of them use other platforms do their insight will be needed. I intend to ask many of the listed sites forums.

That's seem reasonable, and logical.

However, wouldn't there be some repercussion for authors then?

Amazon requires exclusivity (or at least, Kindle does) hence no suggesting other sites, for example. You even mention Barnes & Noble which is a traditional publishing house. Tapas is very close to a professional publisher too.

And then there are unprofessional sites...

Some may do not allow linking to other sites.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

My conversations with moderator John
The first time I got in trouble.

View attachment 32839
View attachment 32841

The Second Time I got in Trouble.View attachment 32842
I typoed. I meant to say (You mean the cover?)
View attachment 32843
View attachment 32844
Thrid Time John talked to me.View attachment 32845
View attachment 32846

Happens to the best of us.

Yeah, I have also had no problem posting my work up there.

Which site is that for? RR? SH?

 

[beast_regards]

Which site is that for? RR? SH?

It's quite obviously Royal Road.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

It's quite obviously Royal Road.

Oh, okay. I was just wondering.

 

[beast_regards]

Oh, okay. I was just wondering.

I admit I did consider creating the account named Moderator John here on the Scribble Hub, but I doubt I could roleplay douchebag on such competitive level

 

[Lysander_Works]

I should probably add a few of those. Ingram sparks is okay but I would also recommend Atticus.

Thank you for the info on Belletristica. Do you happen to know what they are becoming?

Yes. They have released some info to existing users, and they will be called it Shattered Throne (name might change later). Still waiting on precise details regarding what the final domain will turn into. Even though ordinary Bell lacked some text-editing features, they had other areas in the site (such as interactive achievements) that felt like it filled those gaps. However, the new website is only going to have those same basic features for the book/content editor, and they plan to add more (their words).

Looks like Belle will shut down at the end of March 2025 (existing users can still log in and access draft data after this date). New site should launch either earlier than this date or around the same time. I don't have much more info than this.

I'm gonna go out on a wild guess and predict that the new site, in terms of content editor will have a very similar feel and variety to that of Ritoria. (As in, lack of ability to insert images into a chapter, lack of hyperlinking capability, essential features for text only). I will still be sticking with them though, out of existing loyalty to Belle when it was at its peak. Oh, and they are going to be Ad-free, so I assume this means further website development will still happen, just not at a quick pace. Assumptions and guesses are what I have to go on for this paragraph. I know new users cannot create accounts for Belle at this time, so it's kind of strange how the info is being handled.

 

[Paul__Michaels]

Which site is that for? RR? SH?

RR

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I just deleted my Penana account. I had two complete books on there, and neither of them got a single like or comment. But I couldn't go a day without getting at least one message saying "Hello writer! You so good at writing am moved to emotion! Please pay me to art for you!" I've reported every single one of them, but the fact that they keep coming tells me the people in charge of Penana clearly don't care about fixing the problem. Probably because if they got rid of all the spam accounts, they'd have nothing left. Massive waste of time, don't recommend.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I just deleted my Penana account. I had two complete books on there, and neither of them got a single like or comment. But I couldn't go a day without getting at least one message saying "Hello writer! You so good at writing am moved to emotion! Please pay me to art for you!" I've reported every single one of them, but the fact that they keep coming tells me the people in charge of Penana clearly don't care about fixing the problem. Probably because if they got rid of all the spam accounts, they'd have nothing left. Massive waste of time, don't recommend.

Been getting the same problem.