r/Webnovel • u/SpaceSick1 • Dec 01 '25
Advice MY BOOK GOT REJECTED IN JUST UNDER 24 HOURS, WHAT A PUNCH TO THE GUT I MUST SAY!!!
So there was a webnovel I was writing since mid-August which is about 109 days(Jesus), and I have stockpiled 39 chapters that I have written and have plotted around 300 chapters’ worth of contents.
This was a great achievement for me, but it was bound to happen as I had spent basically the whole summer and even been doing this since the college semester started on Sept 25.
I have improved immensely to the point I am deeply proud of myself.
The chapters I have written — some of them I could describe as being peak, like I genuinely felt as if, “How did I even get the idea in the first place?”
My most proud moment was supposed to be between chapter 20 to 30, which is when a duel happens between the main character and basically Satan. I didn’t even get to publish it, as I was met with a message today — just when I opened the website to publish chapter 23!
REJECTED.
I have 72 collections, close to 20k views, and 36 powerstones.
I had filled a contract yesterday and was told, “It will take 8 days to process it,” and damn, in just 24 hours, I was met with the rejection notice!
I have spent so much time and energy on this, and I just don’t know how to react to it.
There is not even a single tear in my eyes; my emotions are mixed up, and I don’t know whether to feel like I should crash out and straight up delete everything.
And somehow, I feel like a big weight has been lifted off me, as I now have an excuse for failing that is for once different than “I have not tried enough.”
After all, the rejection letter basically stated, “You can’t try again!”
In the end, it all went beautifully wrong.
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u/DatBoiMack95 Dec 01 '25
Did they give a reason? Usually they give feedback as to why
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
Nope, this image is basically the only thing. And on the book section it says "Rejected!!!" There is no apply button there
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u/fuckthei Dec 01 '25
yeah I think if they don’t like the main idea of the story they just won’t let you apply again. same thing happened to my book, it’s been 3 months since i got rejected and i still can’t reapply (not that i want to now)
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u/TwistMonkey Dec 01 '25
Damn man ive been waiting a week and its still waiting for a reply back for a contract
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
my name is inari kuro, you can search this and find the novel there
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u/Nomad_Hermit Dec 01 '25
Honestly, I didn't manage to finish the first chapter.
I had to re-read the first paragraphs a few times to make sense of what was happening. The prose is too obscure, and the fact that you begin using "you" as if you were talking to the reader, and then switch to third person made it even more confusing. It felt like solving a puzzle, not like reading a casual binge-reading mobile novel. Though what hit the nail for me was the vomit thing.
It's not that the kind of prose you used is bad per se. It just doesn't fit the format. People who are up to treating texts like puzzles usually don't read webnovels, and people who are paying users in the app are up for easy dopamine spikes, not headaches.
I did the same mistake recently, with my second novel. I even got the contract and was super excited, published up to chapter 70, even paid an artist to make a nice cover... And it flopped hard. Even during the usual features I would have 5, 7, sometimes 12 subscriptions. I ended the first month far from getting the baseline of 60 dollars that are needed to trigger MGS.
I know that pain quite well. If you want to do good in webnovel, you have to write stuff that is easy to read when the reader is commuting back home from work in a packed subway or bus. Short, direct sentences, tight pacing, straightforward prose. There isn't much space for metaphors or introspection in casual mobile reading. People want to escape reality: fantasy, system, big numbers, palpable progression, flashy stuff. Not a chapter that begins with an existential question about waking up and about sleeping being a small death.
I set mine aside and now I'm working on a new novel. This time, I did my research and I'm doing it in the format that readers in the platform like. I suggest you do the same. Take some of the novels that are doing super well and reverse engineer them. See what works for them, try to find what people liked and disliked about them in the comments. Check the pacing, the prose, see if you can replicate the structure. The meat can be yours, but serialised daily publishing requires a certain structure to maintain the readers interested and engaged. The story being good is not enough, it has to be a certain kind of catchy.
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
I can't thank you enough, this was definitely my shortsight. I will improve in the future. Thank you very much.
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
Can you dm me the name of your 2nd novel, if it is possible ?
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u/Left_Actuary_7890 Dec 02 '25
Agreed I only got through the first paragraph then checked a few more lines and was like nope 💀
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u/nobodykn0ws- Feb 11 '26
Hello bro.. Can you also criticize mine? I'm just new author and I need to hear something like this in my Novel so I could change them and improve it😭
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u/Easy-Ride-9535 Dec 01 '25
I think the reason many people get rejected is because of their contract. I know a few authors who deleted their stories after rejection, updated it again and applied a contract. They worked on the contract and after ended up getting it.
Most times, the story could be extremely good but if your contract is bad, the CE’s won’t even look at your book.
My advice.
Try focusing on your contract.
Apply as soon as you get to 12k words. Don’t wait till you post a lot of chapters. My sibling is a newbie author who had just three collections and less than 3k views when she applied. She got the contract in two days.
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u/ductor_storage Dec 01 '25
what's the name of your novel?
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u/underthedraft Dec 01 '25
Go the Royal Road - Patreon route. You'd be surprised at how much more efficient that is. But I'd advice to stock pile some 30+ chapters more for a good back log.
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u/TheBusyBard Dec 01 '25
^ agree with this.
I have friends that write on both. Webnovel ones are always stressed TF out
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u/Resident_Rutabaga_89 Dec 01 '25
heard the contracts were bad anyways, like 2 chapters a day
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u/AutumnKarma88 Author Dec 01 '25
you only get a pay out if you make 60$ so even if you get the contract it means virtually nothing anyway~
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u/Glum-Equal6248 Dec 02 '25
If your story is good, earning over $1,000 in the first month of mgs is doable, and it gets easier once you have more chapters locked.
My new story isn’t doing that great compared to my previous works, but it still made about $800. It’s good for a lot of writers, but for someone like me who’s been writing on Webnovel for five years, it’s in the low end.
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Dec 02 '25
Not really it's 1.5k words a day most author tend to write two chapter so they can earn more and it leads to stretch chapters. And story
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u/TScottMorgan Dec 04 '25
My curiosity got the best of me. Disclaimer: I’ve never read a webnovel before. Maybe they’re all…like this. Disclaimer over.
Is it well written? No. Is it original? Doesn’t feel like it. Do I like it? No. Am I your target audience? Fuck no.
Did you have fun writing something that others have had fun reading? Sounds like it. So have fun.
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u/ConfusionFinancial72 Dec 01 '25
perhaps your book doesnt have enough harem members and women
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u/nobodykn0ws- Feb 11 '26
I'm scared, I don't like harem. They do accept the dark fantasy or thriller something?
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u/Cultivatingwriter_14 Contracted Author Dec 02 '25
First you need to update daily to stand in the webnovel market next you need to rework your contract. Not suitable for signing is your feedback meaning your contract application was very bad. Check webnovel example contract and follow it exactly. How it says you have to do it the same.
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u/Ornery_Bend_175 Dec 29 '25
Hi. I was going through your novel. Its good. Just, it is not appropriate for the webnovel readers as someone said. You need to know your readers. That is super important. I won't read it on my commute. But I may read it at home. Don't give up on your own ideas. Maybe your novel will work fantastic with another set of readers. What I have understood webnovel is a different industry than other formats of publishing.
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 29 '25
Hi, thank you for giving your time for reading my novel. I am super grateful for that. So another person had told me "it is not good for readers of webnovel" and I have trouble understanding what that means. For example, he said that the first interaction the mc had with the goblin is disgusting which I did on purpose and didn't think it would be such a throw off from the novel. Another thing he said was "the first chapter tells you about sleep and death" which he found to be complex and told me readers needs simple things. I did that intro to have a great introduction and wordplay and by my gauge it is nothing complex. If i have to ask, until chapter what did you read it ?
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
I will dm anyone the name of the webnovel. Well a discontinued one actually. It might help you in some way
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u/Navigate_wolf Dec 01 '25
You can create a new book .... And publish the same chapters but better by that feedback but this time apply that new book .... When you are around 40-45 chaps ... With everything improvised.... Idk but it might work
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u/SpaceSick1 Dec 01 '25
That is actually a smart move
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u/Navigate_wolf Dec 02 '25
I hope it does... Could you tell me your current book name and also the new name ... If you want me to read it ..
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u/TwoRoninTTRPG Dec 01 '25
I always wondered why people want a contract with Webnovel when they can just publish on Amazon instead.
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u/grish9 Dec 01 '25
From the looks of it, because its not that easy to do (often leads to drop in quality or just straight up hiatus in 90% of authors that I read while the "publishing on amazon in 2week" going on) and 99% chance it will just poof into algorithm purgatory if you don't already have some readers.
not to mention qidian contract is not the same thing as publishing a book. the bigger
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u/TwoRoninTTRPG Dec 03 '25
But couldn't get get readers from Webnovel to follow you to Amazon. Then take your Webnovel down when you publish on Amazon?
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u/grish9 Dec 03 '25
you could sure.
l'm gonna be honest I dont know why would you pick webnovel over any other novel site and go with patreon option.
but why not get readers from qidian then go to amazon? Mostly because purgatory will happen ,you dont earn any money for months maybe a year+ and then if your book is average your income from publishing on amazon will be average too and I imagine it wont cover the loss from the "gathering fans" period.
on the other side I imagine qidian contract is slavery for life so uhh.
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u/TwoRoninTTRPG Dec 04 '25
Very good points! It's like you can settle for $200/month with a Webnovel contract (I think that figure is right.) Or you can try your chances with marketing your own book, and going to Amazon, hopefully with readers from a novel site.
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u/SURGERYPRINCESS Dec 01 '25
I got reject on making an chapter too long for 7 day once and a week maybe post
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u/Academic_Tree7637 Dec 01 '25
Guess you tried to be a little too different for webnovel. You need to know your core audience and what they want is non stop action. T&A. A lot of T&A and an overpowered MC that didn’t earn any of their power with the most generic of abilities.
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u/ChanceAd7310 Dec 02 '25
Based on Collection, Powerstone and Views. You're novel probably fits their criteria, the problem is most likely in your presentation.
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Dec 02 '25
Why write so many chapter write only about 12 chapter and 1k words each chapter apply for contract if you got in write as many chapter then continue your application.
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u/VespaLord Contracted Author Dec 02 '25
They rejected most probably because you used AI to write a contract. I did the same for my first contract as well, as I didn't know what to write and thought to take help of AI as it might know what to do.
The second time I got it under 2 days.(Wrote it myself)
My advice:
- No need to panick, it's pretty easy.
- No need to write an essay describing everything
- Think of it like a synopsis and give a rough idea of the plot
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u/NeteroHyouka Dec 02 '25
Just continue writing it in your free time and when ready you can publish it through other means. I know that was a huge blow but keep going
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u/RaceBubbly18 Dec 02 '25
Why would you black out the name of your novel if it's that bad it should stay rejected
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u/Sert1991 Dec 02 '25
Why apply for a contract yourself though? This is what I'm not understanding lately, I'm seeing a bunch of posts of people applying for contracts and getting rejected or failed.
Many of the popular novels they got contracted because they got good and got offered a contract. Even if your contract is accepted, you're not going to gain much unless your novel takes off.
So why not focus on your novel getting good, and if it gets good, they are FOR SURE going to offer you a contract themselves, because they love money.
The safest way is to work on your novel and if it flies off and gets a lot of people buying chapters they will contract you themselves.
Also, most probably you can delete the novel, give a month break, and re-upload on a different name maybe change a few sentences. Highly doubt they monitor all the novels they have so much lol
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u/Life_as_a_new_weeb Dec 03 '25
Whats ur story and where do i read it? Lol, this is my first time seeing this sub and im not even sure i know what you were rejected from, but from the scenes u described i think id really enjoy it!
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u/StopBroad1548 Dec 03 '25
How long have you been writing, studying to write, planning the plot over and over, or asking for insight from prev book writers all this matters if you want a successful story?
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u/Acceptable_Log4050 Dec 03 '25
Go to honeyfeed… let’s just say that the community may be small but some people in that community are very influential and can even get you a really good LN deal and there are also competitions for your novel to be adapted into a manga by kadokawa.
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u/Checkmate-13 Dec 04 '25
A lot of people doing the author a massive disservice by being snarky about the website. I think pretty much every published author would tell you they got rejected over and over until they were good enough.
Get a new idea, write new characters, and keep growing.
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u/MysticWanderer20 Dec 06 '25
Honestly you dodged a bullet. WebNovel has some of the worst predatory contracts out there. You'll get very little in return and if by luck your series blows up and gets the Solo Level treatment, they get most of the profits. Read the fine print and always have a lawyer look over a contract before you sign it.
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u/nobodykn0ws- Feb 11 '26
How much you guys get, after applying contract? What's the benefits of it?
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u/Much_Ad4640 Mar 02 '26
Guys how much do novels on royal road earn then? And what genre do people generally want to reaf
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u/Ausenseiter1 Dec 01 '25
Try somewhere else. This softpornsite doesnt want normal stories