It's standard for new authors though - used to be, the best way to get "in" with a publisher was to write something in a series they owned, under a "house name" - get enough sales, they take a chance on your original work (and you have some clout to negotiate some control with).
99% of webnovel is literal slop tbh. I've checked and it's either shittily drawn manhua with shit stories and pacing or pure slop in written form. I almost had a mental breakdown reading one. There's like 5 or so novels there worth reading and you can just pirate it instead.
60% Slop, 39% stolen content, 1% originals
Be ready to make pennies for writing thousands upon thousands words each day. They also control all the rights over your work, and there is also a chance of your work not getting noticed, if that happens, you would just ended up loosing right to your book for nothing.
But WN without a contract is fine, right?
Ultimately, we must distinguish between exposure and contract. Getting exposure by placing your novel on multiple platforms is a common strategy. Many SH authors release their novels on other platforms. However, signing a contract is another matter because it means you hand over "control" of your fiction exclusively to a platform. It's like to make you to be a slave of the platform.
Oh, that one ended last year.
On Webnovel, you can refresh the page and get 1 or sometimes more views per refresh lol. Try it. Open a chapter and refresh.
So... It's a no for the contract and a yes for the exposure.
Yo, remember me... Man, thanks for helping me before, like the first time.
Webnovel without the contract is okay. Though they do somewhat shadowban authors who refuse to accept their contract by making them harder to find.
