St. Patrick’s Day is this Sunday! This is just a reminder that if you haven’t read my short story about a guy who captures a twink leprechaun and keeps him as a sex slave, you might want to do that. It’s called Fucking the Leprechaun. You can learn more about it here. Btw it’s a macrophilia/microphilia story featuring forced feminization and weird object insertions for all of us freaks out there.

So I received another ad. This time on my fic Dumbledore’s Little Pet.

So this doesn’t have an audiobook on youtube nor is it by the same author. So what’s going on? My best guess is that these aren’t ads for fanfics but the site they come from: Webnovel. Both ads mention the site and both fics seem to be well-recieved…though after reading comments on their site I noticed that a lot of good reviews are bots.

So, is Webnovel trying to steal readers from AO3? Or maybe authors? I have literaly never heard of Webnovel until these comments. Have any of you? Seriously, let me know. Maybe Webnovel is huge in the fanfic community and I’ve just been living under a rock this whole time.

I just browsed the site a bit (I’m literally writing this as I’m researching it). They have more than just fanfiction. It’s a place to read originals too. So far it looks like the site is free to use, but I should mention that you can give “gifts” to authors. I haven’t seen this option for fanfiction at least.

Ok, so I just stated that you can’t give “gifts” to fanfics, but you can give “power stones”. Still don’t really know what that means exactly, but I bet I could guess.

Also, the site features ads for companies like Temu and Walmart. Not exactly a deal breaker for me, but also not what I want to see on a fanfic site.

I just made an account on the site so I can do a deeper dive.

Ok, this site is literally making reading and writing fanfiction into a business. Check out their membership info (I don’t think you technically need a membership to read fanfics on the site, but I think you do need a membership to “vote” and give fanfics “power stones”)

So it seems like you don’t need to be a member to purchase coins either. But…

So you do need coins in order to read? My guess is that the first few chapters are free, then you need to start paying for more chapters. And is that true of the fanfiction as well? Shouldn’t this be illegal?

So I just tried to read a popular fanfic on their site. I didn’t actually read it, I just scrolled down on the page to see how much of it I could read before it asked for my money. I scrolled down to chapter 41 and stopped there because I got tired of scrolling. It seems like fanfiction at least is free. It might have just been the one I was on, but I’m willing to give the site the benefit of the doubt on this.

Ok so I found a youtube video where someone is talking about Webnovel and unlike me, they actually know what they’re talking about.

So I think I get it now. This whole thing, the ads on my fanfics, the site, I get it. The ads were to promote the site Webnovel. They want authors and readers to shift to their site so they can exploit both of us and make as much cash as they can.

Mystery solved. Webnovel sucks. Have a great rest of your day.

I just got a comment on my fic Life Drinkers this morning and responded before taking both comments down. I want to show you, but at the same time I don’t want to give this asshat any attention. Please don’t read the fanfic they mentioned (or do…but…). I checked out the site and saw the ratings and comments. I believe most positive comments are bought and the whole fic is just a money making scheme (if not anything worse).

I don’t know, maybe times are just changing. Are fic authors posting new chapters of their fics on Patreon before posting to fic sites? That’s what this guy’s doing. Clearly he’s just trying to make money.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to make money, but not from fanfiction. That’s why I have my originals on sites like Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. I love fanfiction, but I also want to make money doing what I love.

Here’s the comment he/she left and my reply (Sorry, I know it’s a little hard to read).

So is it just me, or is this an ad? I feel like their guest username is a giveaway.

Ok, just did some more digging. Not only is this story on fic sites and Patreon, it’s also on Youtube as an audiobook. But apparently the chapters are so short that they have multiple (a.k.a 15!) to pad out the runtime. So their getting money on Patreon and Youtube ad revenue for fanfiction.

Ok, so the account on Youtube is called Mythic Audiobooks and they are a brand new account (Joined Feb. 10th 2024) . So far I’ve heard two different voices narrating these chapters.

So I just found out this fic has over 400 chapters! What?!

Is this actually a company putting this fic out there? What is going on? I feel like I just stumbled upon a rabbit hole. I still have not read this fic, just comments, but maybe I’ll do a deeper dive and find out more shit. But anyway, this isn’t normal, right? I’m not crazy, right?

I have to go to work right now, but I’m not done talking about this. I’m going to keep diving into this shit.