# Jianlai Global -- anyone have personal experience?



## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

I was contacted by Jianlai Global, which seems to be a small multinational getting into the translation and publishing business. They seem interested in translating and publishing my books in certain other languages, such as Chinese and Spanish.

Anyone else been contacted? Does anyone here know of them personally? I did the usual Google searches--no obvious red flags, but they are very new.

They have ads up on many websites for freelance work and for hiring employees.

This is their website:

https://www.jianlaiglobal.com


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## Guest (May 20, 2019)

Did they give you some indication of market, terms, royalty shares etc.,?
From their website, which is pretty scarce of facts, there is nothing to indicate they have anything except the possibility of translation into Chinese. Their lack of information indicates they probably don't know the indie market very well, or they do and want to catch the naive and unwary.


Are you seriously considering them?


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

Years ago someone offered to translate one of my books into Chinese, and my agent at the time told me to stay away because  the Chinese didn't respect copyrights. As far as I know, that hasn't changed.


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

These are valid concerns, but I'm certainly willing to explore the situation with these guys. There's always risk in getting involved super-early in a company, but there can be great payoff potential. They seem to be looking for content that they can put up on the Chinese serialized online reading market, which is quite different from the standard ebook market.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jinshanhong/2017/07/17/chinas-online-reading-craze-is-so-big-its-challenging-amazons-kindle/#141de5774a8c

As long as I'm not paying for the translations, and the translations are decent, and I get paid, it could be a win-win.

That's why I was hoping someone else here had some experience, or at least had been contacted by these guys.


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## mmatting (Nov 16, 2014)

Hi David, I know a bit about the chinese publishing industry in general, having visited a few of the companies in Beijing. Basically, all official publishing houses are state owned. There are private publishers, but they need to work with one of the few state owned companies. So it would be interesting to know with whom Jianlai is working and where they are publishing. Kindle is a very small platform in China, for example. Generally, doing business with chinese publishers is not different from those in othe countries. They will take care of translation, involving the  censors etc. You could also ask the german book office in Beijing (in English too) at biz-beijing.org, they are very knowledgeful and should be able to tell you more about that company.


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## bluecollarbobby (Sep 11, 2012)

I've just been contacted as well, David, and am also curious as to what this could mean re sales.  My books are all in KU--would signing with these guys violate Amazon's terms of service?


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

KU would definitely cause a TOS violation.

I'm in the process of reviewing the contract they sent me and asking for modifications. It seems like it's all legit, but that doesn't mean there's not room for negotiation. The seem eager to get the rights to content--no advance, but basically a 50/50 split of net income from the daily micro-reads. The intent is to publish 1000-1500 words per day to the web, and people pay a few cents to read the new chapter, every day--or they can read in arrears, of course. But this seems to be a popular model in Asia partly because of the serial nature and the buzz and commentary surrounding each chapter--kind of like fans talk about a weekly TV series.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

If they translate and publish a version in Chinese, this would be another book, and would not violate the terms of KU.


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## Guest (Jun 12, 2019)

David VanDyke said:


> The[y] seem eager to get the rights to content--no advance,


Seriously? How does that work for you? They get the rights to your words and you have no copyright - seems a highly dangerous move for you. If it was a non-selling author with nothing of a reputation, I could see the gamble being equal, but I can't actually believe you're even considering it.


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## Lady Runa (May 27, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> If they translate and publish a version in Chinese, this would be another book, and would not violate the terms of KU.


I agree: if it's a translation, it won't violate the terms of KU in the slightest.


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> If they translate and publish a version in Chinese, this would be another book, and would not violate the terms of KU.


As the laconic Spartans said to Philip of Macedon when he said, "If I go down into your country, I will level your great city to the ground":

"If."

They start with you in English (or another original language) and only if you do well in English will they invest in translations. They aren't offering to translate right away.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I got an e-mail from them, too. I'll write back and ask more about their terms, how their system works, etc...  I'm wide anyway and a new distribution channel is always good. And the Chinese market, whether in English or Chinese, is largely closed to indies anyway, because most of the big e-book vendors don't operate there.

Everything else depends on the actual terms, of course.


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## mcahogarth (Jul 27, 2014)

I'm bumping this to see if anyone else has information? I'm reading the contract now and it's no worse than any other initial boilerplate contract.


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## F. Scott (Jun 18, 2019)

I was contacted by JianLai via email early last week and subsequently spoke to a North American contact. She sent me an agreement which I've been contemplating over. I've had a little success as an indie but the royalties have slowed considerably. My "breakout" came when I starting giving away the first book of a sci-fi trilogy -- after six years, I still get maybe 20-30 monthly downloads of that free book (To The Stars by Thomas C. Stone) and a few sales of the others (nothing to shout about). JianLai offers nothing upfront. It's a non-exclusive agreement that I am assured will not squirrel my deal with Amazon or Smashwords. Additionally, with written notice, the author can cancel the 10 year agreement. 

The story is serialized per chapter and accessed by online subscribers -- the sample platform I was given is www.webnovel.com.

If my work turns out to be popular, it may be translated into Chinese. I might even get another offer like an audio book, but like I said, upfront, JiamLai offers nothing except an opportunity for exposure to Chinese and Asian audiences.

Am I going to do it? I don't know.

The "project" has not yet kicked off. That is to say, so far there are no American authors being presented at this time. JianLai Global is 2 years old and appears to be legit.


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## dkudler (Mar 31, 2013)

F. Scott, I was just sent a similar query. Haven't reached out to them. 

What it sounded like when I looked at the email was a ScribD-style subscription model. When I go to webnovel.com, however, I seem to be able to read whole works without even logging in -- more like WattPad or FictionPress. The stories are plain text, not obfuscated (as they are on ScribD or in Amazon's Read Inside feature), so anyone could copy-and-paste them any way they wanted. I mean, I know ebooks can be hacked pretty easily, and I've shared previews on my blog, but having the whole of one of my books on the open web makes me very nervous!

Does the agreement actually talk about compensation, or is it all "exposure"? They're talking about serializing some of my bestselling stuff; I don't mind giving away a taste, but the whole thing? Forget it.


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## F. Scott (Jun 18, 2019)

David,

The agreement says 70% of the subscriber payment; however, who knows what the subscribe price is. I saw what you saw, but I think when things get rolling, a subscriber actually pays for access. Yet without some upfront compensation, I don't think I'm going to throw my hat in ring.

I like the idea but not the risk.

F. Scott


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## Jeroen Steenbeeke (Feb 3, 2012)

F. Scott said:


> I was contacted by JianLai via email early last week and subsequently spoke to a North American contact. She sent me an agreement which I've been contemplating over. I've had a little success as an indie but the royalties have slowed considerably. My "breakout" came when I starting giving away the first book of a sci-fi trilogy -- after six years, I still get maybe 20-30 monthly downloads of that free book (To The Stars by Thomas C. Stone) and a few sales of the others (nothing to shout about). JianLai offers nothing upfront. It's a non-exclusive agreement that I am assured will not squirrel my deal with Amazon or Smashwords. Additionally, with written notice, the author can cancel the 10 year agreement.
> 
> The story is serialized per chapter and accessed by online subscribers -- the sample platform I was given is www.webnovel.com.
> 
> ...


Your situation sounds kind of similar to mine, and I've also just received a message from Jianlai (haven't replied yet).

Not sure what to do with it yet, though I do think it's a bit weird that they want me to get in touch with their North America regional manager, since I'm based in Europe (the Netherlands). Then again, my books are in English.


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## Joanne L (Jul 31, 2012)

I was also contacted by them--and I signed the contract and moved forward. I had a lawyer look at it, and he flagged a few things that they addressed. I'm not in KU, so that's not a conflict for me. They start in English--apparently there's a very big English-speaking/reading population eager for works in English--and then would translate if they prove successful. Author retains copyright for all work--even the translations. I liked what the US rep had to say (I have a feeling she started the company) and I felt better about it after getting legal advice. Having come to E-book publishing after the initial Wild West gold rush when the market started to be glutted, I decided to to put myself on the forefront of the next new hot business model if that's what it turns out to be. Didn't seem to be a lot of downside, but time will tell!


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## ldenglish (Jul 18, 2009)

Joanne L said:


> I had a lawyer look at it, and he flagged a few things that they addressed.


Just curious. Did you tell Janlai you had a lawyer involved? My attorney looked at the contract and suggested some amendments, but after I sent the amended contract to them, and said an attorney had looked over it, I never heard from them again!


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## Joanne L (Jul 31, 2012)

Yes, I told her. She was fine with that. There were more queries than amendments. I talked through them with her and she explained in a way that made sense. There were a few things I asked to change: length of contract, threshold for payment, and she made those changes. It is an interesting business model. Depends on volume obviously. But the four books in my detective series, last one published in 2016, are just sitting there, so I figured I had little to lose.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

Tobias Roote said:


> Seriously? How does that work for you? They get the rights to your words and you have no copyright - seems a highly dangerous move for you. If it was a non-selling author with nothing of a reputation, I could see the gamble being equal, but I can't actually believe you're even considering it.


I'm here in China. There are a bunch of these. The companies have very draconian terms of ownership for your work, with little promise of pay. For example, with the biggest platforms, they legally own your stuff and can even cut you off from the site and continue to sell your stories indefinitely. As far as I know this is just a way to snatch up content at a cheap price. By the way, the Chinese daily content producers will put up 8-16K words daily just an FYI.


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2019)

Herefortheride said:


> I'm here in China. There are a bunch of these. The companies have very draconian terms of ownership for your work, with little promise of pay. For example, with the biggest platforms, they legally own your stuff and can even cut you off from the site and continue to sell your stories indefinitely. As far as I know this is just a way to snatch up content at a cheap price. By the way, the Chinese daily content producers will put up 8-16K words daily just an FYI.


Yes, I thought as much. BUT! As DVD says 'I know nothing'


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## eGlobal-Creative-Publishing (Nov 7, 2019)

I am a representative of EGlobal Creative Publishing. I want to thank you all for your interest in our publishing program, and would like to clarify some of the major points that have come up in this thread.

Firstly, please be assured that we are a legitimate company working in the publishing industry. We are affiliated with Jianlai Global (JLC), and our North America division, EGlobal Creative Publishing, is an incorporated business in New York State. All works published with EGlobal fall under U.S. Copyright Law.

Secondly, I would like to clarify the distinction between our two major business divisions: our translation program and our copyright program. The former translates existing web-novels into different languages, including English and Spanish; The latter helps authors publish original English-language works, in English, on partnering platforms. At this time, we are offering authors the opportunity to serialize English-language novels in their original form, not to have them translated.

If you are an author and have any questions about our publication model, the profit sharing, minimum guarantees, or any other matter, please feel free to reach out to [email protected], or to submit your inquiry at https://www.jianlaiglobal.com/publish-with-us. Thank you!


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## Everstar (Nov 8, 2019)

RebeccaRegan said:


> I am a representative of EGlobal Creative Publishing. I want to thank you all for your interest in our publishing program, and would like to clarify some of the major points that have come up in this thread.
> 
> Firstly, please be assured that we are a legitimate company working in the publishing industry. We are affiliated with Jianlai Global (JLC), and our North America division, EGlobal Creative Publishing, is an incorporated business in New York State. All works published with EGlobal fall under U.S. Copyright Law.
> 
> ...


Hi there, thank you for the information!Could you provide some more details regarding the minimum guarantee?


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## tired1680 (Sep 24, 2017)

RebeccaRegan said:


> I am a representative of EGlobal Creative Publishing. I want to thank you all for your interest in our publishing program, and would like to clarify some of the major points that have come up in this thread.
> 
> Firstly, please be assured that we are a legitimate company working in the publishing industry. We are affiliated with Jianlai Global (JLC), and our North America division, EGlobal Creative Publishing, is an incorporated business in New York State. All works published with EGlobal fall under U.S. Copyright Law.
> 
> ...


So, I haven't received an offer; but the thing that made me wonder is how this works with Webnovel? I know from what I've seen about Webnovel contracts that they include areas about minimum quantity of words and even a ghost-writing clause to finish off works. Recently, there's been some discussion about taking rights for the universe including derivative works.

Are you signing individual agreements with Webnovel for each publication? Or are people working under a Master agreement that you have that is different from these other agreements? Do authors get to review those master agreements? Is there a specific deadline / word count / indication of when Webnovel would lock chapters?


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

tired1680 said:


> So, I haven't received an offer; but the thing that made me wonder is how this works with Webnovel? I know from what I've seen about Webnovel contracts that they include areas about minimum quantity of words and even a ghost-writing clause to finish off works. Recently, there's been some discussion about taking rights for the universe including derivative works.
> 
> Are you signing individual agreements with Webnovel for each publication? Or are people working under a Master agreement that you have that is different from these other agreements? Do authors get to review those master agreements? Is there a specific deadline / word count / indication of when Webnovel would lock chapters?


Webnovel owns all rights to these stories and you will never be able to use them for anything else. They can kick you off the site at their leisure and keep using "your" writing.


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## eGlobal-Creative-Publishing (Nov 7, 2019)

tired1680 said:


> So, I haven't received an offer; but the thing that made me wonder is how this works with Webnovel? I know from what I've seen about Webnovel contracts that they include areas about minimum quantity of words and even a ghost-writing clause to finish off works. Recently, there's been some discussion about taking rights for the universe including derivative works.
> 
> Are you signing individual agreements with Webnovel for each publication? Or are people working under a Master agreement that you have that is different from these other agreements? Do authors get to review those master agreements? Is there a specific deadline / word count / indication of when Webnovel would lock chapters?


Dear author,

For certain contracts, we do offer minimum guarantee, and ghost writing opportunities are a possibility. In terms of how we work with Webnovel - long story short, it depends on the situation. Please kindly reach out to us at [email protected], and we will be more than happy to answer your questions in more detail.

Thank you!


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## TubacGary (Dec 1, 2019)

my question is, has anyone signed up with them and received any compensation?


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2019)

Herefortheride said:


> Webnovel owns all rights to these stories and you will never be able to use them for anything else. They can kick you off the site at their leisure and keep using "your" writing.


That's not legal. If you're wide and your story is already self-published in 10 different places how can they snatch ownership of your copyright just because you published something on their platform? Are you just being hyperbolic or is this something that has actually happened, or could theoretically happen?


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## tired1680 (Sep 24, 2017)

Kwassa said:


> That's not legal. If you're wide and your story is already self-published in 10 different places how can they snatch ownership of your copyright just because you published something on their platform? Are you just being hyperbolic or is this something that has actually happened, or could theoretically happen?


That's their contract they've been sending out for original novels published on their site. At least, that's what I've been told. I haven't seen it, just heard of it.

But that's why I'm asking about how Jianlai works with them. You don't get paid with Webnovel until they lock the chapters. They don't lock chapters till you sign a contract. So, from the replies above, it seems there's a different contract in play? But what if the contract they offer isn't what Jianlai wants / can offer (because again, it's non-exclusive). Is your novel just going to continue being published for free?

I can't say and without an idea of the contracts, I'm concerned. Maybe they've already got pre-negotiated contracts with Webnovel for stuff like this that they can't speak of in a big forum. *Shrugs* Just something to think about and watch for others.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

Kwassa said:


> That's not legal. If you're wide and your story is already self-published in 10 different places how can they snatch ownership of your copyright just because you published something on their platform? Are you just being hyperbolic or is this something that has actually happened, or could theoretically happen?


Not legal where? What are you talking about? It's totally legal in China, and they will use your work. What are you going to do? Go to China, hire lawyers, and translators and take them to court? Good luck.


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## Ross Harrison (May 5, 2012)

Does anyone know anything more about this, a month and a bit later? I've just received a message from them, which seems to be identical to the one that's been going around everyone, everywhere, even Reddit for months:

"My name is Amy Zhang, and I am a talent scout at EGlobal Creative Publishing, the U.S. division of Jianlai Global. We are a company based in New York State and Hong Kong which publishes both translated and English-language novels on multiple online platforms.

My job is to find stories that I think have the potential to work as online serials. I came across your books while searching for promising novels in genres including romance, fantasy, and mystery. I think that your writing would be a good fit for our model!

Our goal is to work with authors to publish on these platforms on a non-exclusive basis, meaning that you would retain all your rights to your work, and would still be completely free to publish your novels wherever you already have them available and in all formats.

In this model of publishing, readers with subscriptions to the platforms must pay to unlock chapters as they read them. I can assure you that EGlobal Creative Publishing will never ask for any costs or payments on your behalf.

We are also aware that many authors may be wary of emails like this one, since most traditional publishers and platforms tend to ask writers to come to them first. However, our philosophy is that readers are the ultimate judges of stories. We’ve seen firsthand how novels, given the opportunity to be adequately promoted, can appeal to many people who wouldn’t have found them otherwise. These platforms cater to a large Asian reader base who also read works in English, and so have the potential to connect your work to a new audience.

If you are interested in learning more about the company, the platforms, how we work, and more, I would love to hear back from you! A member of our acquisitions team will be able to answer any questions that you may have about the process."


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