# webnovel.com free novels (from Tencent $10M translation investment)



## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

These fantasy novels are way more on the "genre" side instead of "literary" side. So don't expect fantasy that would win a literary award. They are more of the "fun and enjoyable read" type. In China, the top fantasy web authors can earn millions of USD in royalties so these authors are very popular.

Right now, the novels are free to read since the site was launched just 2-3 months ago. It will continue to be free for at least 1-2 years since they want to build readership. They do have one banner ad at the end of each chapter. Very easy to ignore since I just scroll down to the next chapter LOL.

My recommendations:

https://www.webnovel.com/book/7834185605001405
True Martial World









https://www.webnovel.com/book/6831850602000905
Library of Heaven's Path









https://www.webnovel.com/book/7618111306000905
I Am Supreme









https://www.webnovel.com/book/7213811205000505
Swallowed Star









https://www.webnovel.com/book/6838665602003405
Gourmet of Another World









Qidian also licensed 20 of their popular novels to Wuxiaworld.com (I recommend Desolate Era, Emperor's Domination, I Shall Seal the Heavens, Heavenly Jewel Change)

There is also the free www.webtoons.com that was launched some 2 years ago by Naver (Korea's #1 search engine) and LINE (Japans' #1 messenger app). The app has been downloaded 10,000,000 - 50,000,000 according to Google Play Store. For fantasy on webtoons.com, I would recommend Tower of God, Noblesse and unOrdinary.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

Here is the info about their $10 million investment (Tencent is the parent company after buying Qidian for $760 million USD 2 years ago)

https://acts.webnovel.com/2017/59195029/index.html



> In 2016, China Readings shared over hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties with our writers. We are looking forward to the rapid growth that the webnovel translation market will be able to achieve just as the original webnovel market achieved.
> 
> As Qidian International, incubating and developing the market will be always our first priority rather than profit gaining. *We plan to invest over 10 million dollars in next few years *to build a better ecosystem for all webnovel translators and editors.


Here's info about China web novel markets (it kinda like self-publishing in the West since anyone can publish on web literature sites and the top authors can earn millions of USD in royalties). And like Amazon, they pay 70% royalties. Many popular web novels have been made into Movies and TV Shows.

http://publishingperspectives.com/2015/06/is-this-the-golden-age-for-chinese-web-authors/



> Rewarding Your Favorite Writers
> 
> Most websites also include a "reward function," which allows readers to award their favorite authors money or "props" which they can exchange for cash.
> 
> ...


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## roo3story (Mar 15, 2014)

I get what you're talking about and citing lots of dollar signs at the top of the article, I'm sure, draws some hungry to succeed writers/readers in. But how is this any different from Wattpad? (Or youtube, who, for some, is presently in freefall?) They have writers. They pay some of them. They pay some of them, more.

Translating stories to English, would be like translating all the Amazon books to french. (Did you know one of Wattpad's original elements was offering books in the public domain? I could be wrong, but I even think you can publishing books in the public domain on Amazon!) You still need customers. You still need to reach those customers by effective and continual marketing of some kind.

Not drop and run.

Funny how people, so intent on making money, seem to shape their arguments past these realities.

They end up with names on an email list, I suppose.

Hm.

And by the way, Wattpad has stories in all kinds of languages; but you'd almost hardly NOTICE this from the top layers of their advertising. Some of the tighest communities on Wattpad WEREN'T English. 

And that's the sad difference to a lot of these reader websites. There is always an agenda; sometime stated, sometimes, not. And you're fine, if you are part of their agenda.

All their contests, when I was there, were in English too.

A few of us watched Wattpad. We kinda sorta knew where it was heading. And the proof is arriving on that one.

roo3story


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

roo3story said:


> I get what you're talking about and citing lots of dollar signs at the top of the article, I'm sure, draws some hungry to succeed writers/readers in. But how is this any different from Wattpad? (Or youtube, who, for some, is presently in freefall?) They have writers. They pay some of them. They pay some of them, more.
> 
> Translating stories to English, would be like translating all the Amazon books to french. (Did you know one of Wattpad's original elements was offering books in the public domain? I could be wrong, but I even think you can publishing books in the public domain on Amazon!) You still need customers. You still need to reach those customers by effective and continual marketing of some kind.
> 
> ...


The Chinese Qidian site more like Amazon KDP than Wattpad since authors get 70% royalties of each chapter that readers purchased. The only difference is that you read on the web/app instead of ebooks. The top authors on Qidian chinese site earn about as much as the top self-publishers earn (millions of USD in royalties).

Right now, they are translating about 50 popular Chinese fantasy novels into English and put them on the domain www.webnovel.com. Their goal is to have 100 novels by the end of the year. I have no idea if they will accept original English novels on the site. For now, it's just translations of their most popular fantasy.

And they are providing them for free for anyone to read. So they are in the building mode of gaining more readers. They might charge in the future about $0.02 per chapter (about 2500 words). That's what they charge in China for readers. So a 100,000 words book at $0.02 per 2500 words would cost $0.80 for readers.

Here's the Monthly Ticket Ranking they have on the Chinese site (ranked by monthly votes)

http://r.qidian.com/yuepiao?style=1

webnovel.com will probably have only a few hundreds of their most popular novels if they can translate that many. Translation isn't exactly cheap.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

They just added a new novel yesterday and it is a very strange one

https://www.webnovel.com/book/7817011005001205










Synopsis
Zheng Tan returned to 2003 in the form of a black cat. He was found by the Jiao family and named 'Charcoal'. The mind of a twenty-years-old man trapped in the body of the cat, challenges and adventures were just getting started.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

They have added many new novels since I last posted on here.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

There are now several genre on there

Xianxia (see below)
Xuanhuan (see below)
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
Modern
Sports
Horror
Romance
Gaming
Others

https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=Xuanhuan
Xuanhuan
These stories are set in imaginary worlds, and have elements from ancient Asian culture. Clear cultivation level systems are present within these stories. These mystical stories about the esoteric will mainly be about personal mystical power levels, as well as the love and revenge between the characters.

https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=20014
Xianxia

Xianxia or immortal cultivation novels are a type of story fully immersed with ancient Chinese lore. The characters in these stories are striving to obtain immortality and must face many obstacles as well as each other.

https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=20005
Fantasy
These stories are set in imaginary worlds that have elements from ancient or medieval western culture. They will utilize settings that include magic and other fictional phenomena.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

There is a popularity chart where Level 2 Registered Users can vote for their favorite.

https://webnovel.com/ranking/power


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

In China, Qidian has a paywall of about $0.02 per chapter (about 2000 English words) after the first 100 chapters are free.

They might use the same strategy for Qidian International.

The other strategy is freemium that Western digital companies like Spotify, NY Times digital, Wattpad, Pandora Radio, Crunchyroll, Dramafever etc...use. For webnovel.com it would be something like this: all novels are free to read with ads; $5.99 a month to skip ads, read ahead a few chapters.

*Freemium* is a pricing strategy by which a product or service (typically a digital offering or application such as software, media, games or web services) is provided free of charge, but money (premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual goods.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

For those that like romance novels, they are adding more Romance novels on there.

https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=30031


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

A lot more genre were added recently.


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## VEVO (Feb 9, 2012)

They have added a lot of romance novels now

and English original novels (aka not translation from Chinese)

https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=Romance%20Fiction

Sorting by Popularity & Original Novels
https://www.webnovel.com/category/list?category=0&orderBy=4&bookType=2


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