Yikes, their web novel authors get into contracts? With who!? The website? Seems so backwards from our work for yourself patreon web novel authors like you see on RoyalRoad
Webnovel originated in China. They are very predatory there in terms of contracts and financials, so the things I mentioned are just a
portion of the red flags I saw in the contract personally.
They even do things like take other stories you may write while using any pen name that you use to write for them. It's really crazy. The second you sign it, they practically own you , your work and any money you make.
On top of that -- they lie about the amount you can make. That is the major factor for why people sign up. Not many writing services pay well or at all. In fact, they promise consistent payment which is something RR doesn't. with RR you're on your own and not many people actually make well from there. The "rock stars" do, ofc -- but it's not as easy as you might think for many reasons.
But I digress, in the case of WN:
They offered me an exclusive contract, which I refused in favor of one that seemed more beneficial. Aka the "free" agent type deal.
The deal was that they would offer 25% of all the coin my work made -- in reality, what they said was only partially true.
I got 25%, just 25% of HALF of everything my work made. This essentially means they would have kept the lion's share. I only picked up on this because they directed me to some sort of middleman.
I suspect they also do this with the exclusive deal, as there is absolutely no way to verify anything they say about the figures they produce for your payment.
Furthermore, they muzzle anyone from speaking about the amount of money they make, so there's no real way to verify that any of the authors on WN make 1,000 a month, or the 100,000 a year they claim is possible. In fact, they will ONLY pay you monthly after 3-6 months and if you have signed with them but fail to generate a certain amount.
It's all shady, dubious stuff with iron clad contracts heavily skewed in their favor.
It's nuts.