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shadowkat1. Werewolf erotica is the latest gig world trend
Well this would certainly explain the sudden surplus of really bad Werewolf erotica novels on the market. I was wondering what was up with that. I keep seeing them advertised on Smart Bitches.
The emerging web novel industry spans the globe, taking a business model from Asia, assembling a global supply chain of authors in lower-income countries, and paying them to churn out thousands of words a day for English-speaking readers in the West. Rest of World spoke to four current and former employees at these platforms, who described how the art of novel writing is broken down into a formula to be followed: take a popular theme like werewolves, sprinkle it with certain tropes like a forbidden romance, and write as many chapters as you can. Some novels have hundreds of chapters, most ending on a cliffhanger to keep readers engaged and eager to read on.
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The platforms, some backed by Tencent or TikTok’s parent ByteDance, thrived during the pandemic amid a surge in demand for online content – jobs that can be done from home. Dreame, GoodNovel, Webnovel, and Fizzo consistently rank among the most-downloaded reading apps in the U.S., the U.K., the Philippines, and Indonesia, and together rake in millions of dollars in revenues every month. The model has proven so successful that, in 2021, Amazon launched Kindle Vella, featuring similar episodic titles and plotlines. Kindle Vella even mimics a key mechanic of the other platforms: readers earn coins by spending more time engaged in the apps, which they can then spend to unlock more chapters.
The ability of these platforms to make money sets them apart from Wattpad, an early pioneer in English web novels. Founded in Canada, Wattpad has more users than Dreame, GoodNovel or Webnovel, but lags behind in revenue. Wattpad was acquired by South Korean internet giant Naver in 2021.
The revenue-focused model gained traction in China, where web novels are a $3.7 billion-dollar business. Chinese editors employed by the platforms serving global markets told Rest of World that they sometimes crib outlines from the most popular stories, then pay overseas writers to bulk-produce similar variations. A former manager at a top web novel company, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Chinese apps were better at reproducing feel-good tropes that resonate with readers and generate more income. The profit margins for the platforms can be huge: from some books, he said, the companies could make more than ten times what they paid the authors.
Sigh. But hey reading this on oursin's page woke me up. I was drifting off to sleep. Nothing like a touch of irritation to get the old adrenaline glands pumping.
2. New Reality Show Looks for America's Next Great Author
America’s Next Great Author is exactly what it sounds like: a reality show about writers, eventually pitting six novelists against each other as they each try to finish a book. Still in early stages, the project is now accepting applications from writers interested in appearing in the pilot episode, reports the Guardian’s David Barnett.
Hosted by Newbery Medal winner Kwame Alexander, the show will put an American Idol-esque spin on the publishing process. At first, contestants in cities across the country will compete in tryouts, where they will pitch a book in one minute. Eventually, the winners of these pitch contests will be narrowed down to six finalists, who will get to compete for the title of America’s Next Great Author....
The winner of the pilot will get $2,500, as well as a larger role in a second episode. Per Publishers Weekly, Eckstut expects that “substantial” prize money and publishing opportunities will become available when the show is picked up.
Even if that happens, though, how will a show about authors stack up against reality TV staples?
“I get it. It’s writers writing books. That seems boring, right?” Alexander tells Publishers Weekly. “But, as an author … who has written in coffee shops, parks, writing retreats, subways, lunch breaks, who has sold books at farmers’ markets, who has had his books banned, who has lost friendships over bookish drama, [you’ve] got to see it to believe that it’s drama. The irony is, the stories are drama, so why wouldn’t the writers be?”
To make it more interesting they should rent out The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado for the Winter, isolate all the writers at that hotel, and see if any of them make it out alive? Will they succumb and off each other one by one? Only time will tell.
Now that I might watch.
I'm tempted to write a murder mystery using that set up - something along the lines of The Shining meets And Then There Were None.
3. Went to dinner with Wales tonight. Now, weirdly sleepy. I might go to bed earlier tonight. It's been a week, albeit not as bad as last week. I'm not pissed off like I was last week.
I've kind of hit the comfortably numb stage again.
Wales is upset about her estrangement from her family. She's not really that estranged, she just doesn't get along with her siblings as well as she'd like. Seriously, does anyone? (Okay, I guess a few do. You can go away, we don't want to hear from you - shoo.) I've seen true estrangement - she doesn't have it. But explaining this to her - gets me nowhere. (True estrangement is when people don't talk to each other at all, and have no clue nor care what is happening in each other's lives.)
Mother: Your brother told me once that just because he doesn't want to travel with you doesn't mean he doesn't love you or care about you.
Me: Well, to be fair I can't travel with him either. We argued for three hours over the color of paint once. We can get along for short periods of time, but no more than that.
Mother: Yeah, yeah. Oh, I've asked him to speak at the funeral. I was told we should only have one family member talk - although we could have three. But I know you and I won't make it through the funeral as it is - without crying.
Me: No, I know myself well enough to know I can't get up in front of a bunch of people and talk...I won't make it through the first paragraph. Now I think I would, but I won't at the funeral. Not happening. (Plus I hate public speaking. I shake. It's embarrassing. I'd rather not.) Been there, did that, at my grandmother's - I didn't make it through the first paragraph without crying - and I made everyone else cry as well. And that had less people.
Mother: I suggested that you, your brother, and your niece bring up the offertory, but he said...no.
ME: Oh good for him. Thank god. [Pause] You realize we're not Catholic, right? Only you and Dad are, we're not.
Mother: I don't know if the church would mind, maybe it would...
ME: We'd mind. It's not happening. For the same reason you and Dad didn't want to bring up the candles/do the blessing at my church - when you visited and it was offered to you.
Mother: Yes, well, I get it. We'll do something else.
It's a Catholic service, and about 80% of the family extended and otherwise isn't Catholic. I think the only ones who are, outside of my parents, may be Uncle D, Uncle P (The Catholic Priest who will be doing the ceremony), and one of the cousins.
I told Wales all of this. Wales was horrified my mother wanted us to do the offertory. "You shouldn't be doing anything, you want to be consoled."
As opposed to being on display. Mother meant well.
Mother had to talk to caterers for the reception - she can't do it. And no one is down there to do it for her.
Me: all I ask is you find some way to provide gluten-free items. I'd like to be able to eat something other than fruit and salad.
Mother: Well, they have finger sandwiches, which you can't have, crabmeat on croissants, oh you can't have that, muffins, no, okay...I guess I need to look into this. Also I got a couple of vegetarians and vegans.
ME: There's more than one person who is gluten-intolerant in there.
So she found a caterer who has gluten free bread options. It's actually easier now - at dinner with Wales, Wales was astonished at how many items on the menu now had gluten free next to them. In the past we had to ask.
Apparently they got tired of folks asking? It's gotten much easier now.
I told this story to mother, and she reminded me of how I used to have to send a little card stating what I couldn't have to the chef each time I went to a restaurant.
Wales recommended The Other Black Girl" - and tried to give it to me. But I told her that I don't tend to read "paperback" novels any longer - because I can't see the small print. The Kindle allows me to enlarge the print - so I can read it without reading glasses. Also, I don't have the space for them. She's going to donate it to the library. Neither of us have space for books - small one bedroom apartments in NYC with not enough book shelves.
I've too many as it is - they are almost falling off my book shelves, and I have them in an old coffee table pushed against the wall, and in bags on top of it. I need more book shelves - or to take more to the basement, although there's no room down there either.
I'm almost through Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Act I - Preludes & Nocturns, and The Dollhouse - on audible. It's kind of grotesque, okay not kind of, it is grotesque. Definitely adult dark fantasy. Has some of the problems that are in all Gaiman novels - too much focus on the world building and all the subsidiary characters, not enough development of the leads. Morpheus feels a bit like a cypher, as do various protagonists, while side characters are more developed.
I actually did read these comics back in the day - I wasn't certain, because I had no memory of them. But listening to it - brings it all back.
Also trying to read another romance novel - it's a historical, takes place in 1522 Spain and Italy, entitled The Devil to Pay by Kate Bateman. It's okay. Way too much focus on the heroine being fussy, and rebellious in an annoying fashion. Her father is killed by his half-brother aka her uncle right in front of her. She (Cara) flees for her life to her father's best friend, comrade and associate - a dangerous mercenary named Il Diablo or Alessandro Del Salvto (or something like that). She's been stabbed, and is losing blood by the time she reaches him. Even faints. He agrees to help her if she will be his hostess for two weeks and share his bed. She balks. Understandably. He has someone patch her up, give her a luxurious bath, and feeds her. Still holding true to his bargain. She tries to escape almost injuring herself again. And every time she's around him - she either is about to swoon with desire or hit him. He has good one-liners. Hers could be better. For some reason female romance novelists struggle with female characters - I'm not quite certain why.
Anyhow, I've been listening to the Sandman instead - it's more compelling.
I may just be bored of romance novels.
**
Wales and I are pathetic. I suggested Governor's Island, but it requires work to get to and alas planning. As in subway, and ferry. And wait time. It would be about two hours to get there, maybe three, and two-three hours back. By the time we get there- we'll both be spent by the logistics of travel. And we'd have to meet up before hand to coordinate it.
Work is exhausting. I used to be able to do this stuff when I was younger. Now, not so much. I'm always tired after work. And I crash during the weekends. My work has made it difficult to have a life outside of it.
But hey at least everyone including Wales really likes the new haircut. So do I. I may actually pay to maintain it. I liked Wales haircut and color as well.
Well this would certainly explain the sudden surplus of really bad Werewolf erotica novels on the market. I was wondering what was up with that. I keep seeing them advertised on Smart Bitches.
The emerging web novel industry spans the globe, taking a business model from Asia, assembling a global supply chain of authors in lower-income countries, and paying them to churn out thousands of words a day for English-speaking readers in the West. Rest of World spoke to four current and former employees at these platforms, who described how the art of novel writing is broken down into a formula to be followed: take a popular theme like werewolves, sprinkle it with certain tropes like a forbidden romance, and write as many chapters as you can. Some novels have hundreds of chapters, most ending on a cliffhanger to keep readers engaged and eager to read on.
Most Popular
The second wave of India’s crackdown on Chinese tech is here
The overworked humans behind China's virtual influencers
Mexican scam loan apps will edit your face onto X-rated photos and send them to your family
The platforms, some backed by Tencent or TikTok’s parent ByteDance, thrived during the pandemic amid a surge in demand for online content – jobs that can be done from home. Dreame, GoodNovel, Webnovel, and Fizzo consistently rank among the most-downloaded reading apps in the U.S., the U.K., the Philippines, and Indonesia, and together rake in millions of dollars in revenues every month. The model has proven so successful that, in 2021, Amazon launched Kindle Vella, featuring similar episodic titles and plotlines. Kindle Vella even mimics a key mechanic of the other platforms: readers earn coins by spending more time engaged in the apps, which they can then spend to unlock more chapters.
The ability of these platforms to make money sets them apart from Wattpad, an early pioneer in English web novels. Founded in Canada, Wattpad has more users than Dreame, GoodNovel or Webnovel, but lags behind in revenue. Wattpad was acquired by South Korean internet giant Naver in 2021.
The revenue-focused model gained traction in China, where web novels are a $3.7 billion-dollar business. Chinese editors employed by the platforms serving global markets told Rest of World that they sometimes crib outlines from the most popular stories, then pay overseas writers to bulk-produce similar variations. A former manager at a top web novel company, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Chinese apps were better at reproducing feel-good tropes that resonate with readers and generate more income. The profit margins for the platforms can be huge: from some books, he said, the companies could make more than ten times what they paid the authors.
Sigh. But hey reading this on oursin's page woke me up. I was drifting off to sleep. Nothing like a touch of irritation to get the old adrenaline glands pumping.
2. New Reality Show Looks for America's Next Great Author
America’s Next Great Author is exactly what it sounds like: a reality show about writers, eventually pitting six novelists against each other as they each try to finish a book. Still in early stages, the project is now accepting applications from writers interested in appearing in the pilot episode, reports the Guardian’s David Barnett.
Hosted by Newbery Medal winner Kwame Alexander, the show will put an American Idol-esque spin on the publishing process. At first, contestants in cities across the country will compete in tryouts, where they will pitch a book in one minute. Eventually, the winners of these pitch contests will be narrowed down to six finalists, who will get to compete for the title of America’s Next Great Author....
The winner of the pilot will get $2,500, as well as a larger role in a second episode. Per Publishers Weekly, Eckstut expects that “substantial” prize money and publishing opportunities will become available when the show is picked up.
Even if that happens, though, how will a show about authors stack up against reality TV staples?
“I get it. It’s writers writing books. That seems boring, right?” Alexander tells Publishers Weekly. “But, as an author … who has written in coffee shops, parks, writing retreats, subways, lunch breaks, who has sold books at farmers’ markets, who has had his books banned, who has lost friendships over bookish drama, [you’ve] got to see it to believe that it’s drama. The irony is, the stories are drama, so why wouldn’t the writers be?”
To make it more interesting they should rent out The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado for the Winter, isolate all the writers at that hotel, and see if any of them make it out alive? Will they succumb and off each other one by one? Only time will tell.
Now that I might watch.
I'm tempted to write a murder mystery using that set up - something along the lines of The Shining meets And Then There Were None.
3. Went to dinner with Wales tonight. Now, weirdly sleepy. I might go to bed earlier tonight. It's been a week, albeit not as bad as last week. I'm not pissed off like I was last week.
I've kind of hit the comfortably numb stage again.
Wales is upset about her estrangement from her family. She's not really that estranged, she just doesn't get along with her siblings as well as she'd like. Seriously, does anyone? (Okay, I guess a few do. You can go away, we don't want to hear from you - shoo.) I've seen true estrangement - she doesn't have it. But explaining this to her - gets me nowhere. (True estrangement is when people don't talk to each other at all, and have no clue nor care what is happening in each other's lives.)
Mother: Your brother told me once that just because he doesn't want to travel with you doesn't mean he doesn't love you or care about you.
Me: Well, to be fair I can't travel with him either. We argued for three hours over the color of paint once. We can get along for short periods of time, but no more than that.
Mother: Yeah, yeah. Oh, I've asked him to speak at the funeral. I was told we should only have one family member talk - although we could have three. But I know you and I won't make it through the funeral as it is - without crying.
Me: No, I know myself well enough to know I can't get up in front of a bunch of people and talk...I won't make it through the first paragraph. Now I think I would, but I won't at the funeral. Not happening. (Plus I hate public speaking. I shake. It's embarrassing. I'd rather not.) Been there, did that, at my grandmother's - I didn't make it through the first paragraph without crying - and I made everyone else cry as well. And that had less people.
Mother: I suggested that you, your brother, and your niece bring up the offertory, but he said...no.
ME: Oh good for him. Thank god. [Pause] You realize we're not Catholic, right? Only you and Dad are, we're not.
Mother: I don't know if the church would mind, maybe it would...
ME: We'd mind. It's not happening. For the same reason you and Dad didn't want to bring up the candles/do the blessing at my church - when you visited and it was offered to you.
Mother: Yes, well, I get it. We'll do something else.
It's a Catholic service, and about 80% of the family extended and otherwise isn't Catholic. I think the only ones who are, outside of my parents, may be Uncle D, Uncle P (The Catholic Priest who will be doing the ceremony), and one of the cousins.
I told Wales all of this. Wales was horrified my mother wanted us to do the offertory. "You shouldn't be doing anything, you want to be consoled."
As opposed to being on display. Mother meant well.
Mother had to talk to caterers for the reception - she can't do it. And no one is down there to do it for her.
Me: all I ask is you find some way to provide gluten-free items. I'd like to be able to eat something other than fruit and salad.
Mother: Well, they have finger sandwiches, which you can't have, crabmeat on croissants, oh you can't have that, muffins, no, okay...I guess I need to look into this. Also I got a couple of vegetarians and vegans.
ME: There's more than one person who is gluten-intolerant in there.
So she found a caterer who has gluten free bread options. It's actually easier now - at dinner with Wales, Wales was astonished at how many items on the menu now had gluten free next to them. In the past we had to ask.
Apparently they got tired of folks asking? It's gotten much easier now.
I told this story to mother, and she reminded me of how I used to have to send a little card stating what I couldn't have to the chef each time I went to a restaurant.
Wales recommended The Other Black Girl" - and tried to give it to me. But I told her that I don't tend to read "paperback" novels any longer - because I can't see the small print. The Kindle allows me to enlarge the print - so I can read it without reading glasses. Also, I don't have the space for them. She's going to donate it to the library. Neither of us have space for books - small one bedroom apartments in NYC with not enough book shelves.
I've too many as it is - they are almost falling off my book shelves, and I have them in an old coffee table pushed against the wall, and in bags on top of it. I need more book shelves - or to take more to the basement, although there's no room down there either.
I'm almost through Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Act I - Preludes & Nocturns, and The Dollhouse - on audible. It's kind of grotesque, okay not kind of, it is grotesque. Definitely adult dark fantasy. Has some of the problems that are in all Gaiman novels - too much focus on the world building and all the subsidiary characters, not enough development of the leads. Morpheus feels a bit like a cypher, as do various protagonists, while side characters are more developed.
I actually did read these comics back in the day - I wasn't certain, because I had no memory of them. But listening to it - brings it all back.
Also trying to read another romance novel - it's a historical, takes place in 1522 Spain and Italy, entitled The Devil to Pay by Kate Bateman. It's okay. Way too much focus on the heroine being fussy, and rebellious in an annoying fashion. Her father is killed by his half-brother aka her uncle right in front of her. She (Cara) flees for her life to her father's best friend, comrade and associate - a dangerous mercenary named Il Diablo or Alessandro Del Salvto (or something like that). She's been stabbed, and is losing blood by the time she reaches him. Even faints. He agrees to help her if she will be his hostess for two weeks and share his bed. She balks. Understandably. He has someone patch her up, give her a luxurious bath, and feeds her. Still holding true to his bargain. She tries to escape almost injuring herself again. And every time she's around him - she either is about to swoon with desire or hit him. He has good one-liners. Hers could be better. For some reason female romance novelists struggle with female characters - I'm not quite certain why.
Anyhow, I've been listening to the Sandman instead - it's more compelling.
I may just be bored of romance novels.
**
Wales and I are pathetic. I suggested Governor's Island, but it requires work to get to and alas planning. As in subway, and ferry. And wait time. It would be about two hours to get there, maybe three, and two-three hours back. By the time we get there- we'll both be spent by the logistics of travel. And we'd have to meet up before hand to coordinate it.
Work is exhausting. I used to be able to do this stuff when I was younger. Now, not so much. I'm always tired after work. And I crash during the weekends. My work has made it difficult to have a life outside of it.
But hey at least everyone including Wales really likes the new haircut. So do I. I may actually pay to maintain it. I liked Wales haircut and color as well.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 04:37 pm (UTC)I mean, if you could get the book from the public library, then maybe it makes sense to read it. I use the library ebook apps, which then let you put a book on your Kindle where you could adjust the print size.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 10:20 pm (UTC)I'm not in a hurry to read the book. I can barely read the books I have right now. My work is eating my brain.