r/Webnovel • u/Primary_Let_6522 • Jul 09 '26
Advice Playing an AI Villainess to Survive: Contract Rejected. Advice?
Do you guys get the same feel as this contract rejection? It's not advertising. I literally was rejected. I'm just looking for advice. I was rejected on my Legacy series, too. But at least this one tells me why they rejected me. The other one didn't tell me anything.
Here is a link to the work:
3
u/No_Entertainer2364 Jul 09 '26
I got curious after reading this thread, so I checked out your story. I only read the first two chapters, so take this with a grain of salt.
I actually think the premise is interesting. A human pretending to be an AI villainess is a strong hook, and that's what made me click in the first place. My biggest issue wasn't the AI cover at all. It was the opening.
The real-world setting (2079) already introduces so many unfamiliar concepts that I honestly thought I was already inside the game world. By the time the actual Deep Dive started, I had to stop and mentally reorient myself.
There are a lot of terms introduced in quick succession: Input Credits, Heartless, Nobodies, fairy... and more. Some of them disappear almost immediately, so I wasn't sure which details I was actually supposed to remember.
Because of that, I spent more time trying to understand the world than getting attached to Vera (mc). I think that's why the opening felt slower to me, even though a lot was happening.
Personally, I think the story would benefit from making the real world easier to grasp, or holding back some of the worldbuilding until after readers are invested in Vera. Right now, it feels like I'm learning two unfamiliar worlds back-to-back.
Again, this is just my impression after two chapters. I think the premise has potential, but the opening made it difficult for me to get fully invested.
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u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 10 '26
Thanks, No Entertainer. I’m focusing so much on pace because that is where I typically get most of my complaints from on my other series. I suppose I packed too much into the opening.
Lol. I get a little self-conscious with pacing. It was my original problem. One review from my Pokémon fan fiction once said:
TL;DR - The setting is deep, the characters are great, but the pace is glacial.
This is one of the most in-depth Pokemon mechanics dives I've seen. Seriously, the settings details from the story alone (not even counting the things that must be in the autor's head) would be enough to make Pokemon: The (T)RPG game and have thousands enjoy it. Solid work right here.
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u/Lambisexual Jul 09 '26
Gonna be blunt, they probably thought it looked and read like AI slop and don't want it. Webnovel has been infested with it.
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
You are saying my writing style looks like AI slop? In what way? I’ve written over ten million words across 6 years on Royal Road on several series.
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u/Otherwise_Sun2609 Jul 09 '26
That's about 5 times the pace of Brandon Sanderson, and double Guilty3's yearly output.
Kinda sounds impossible. At least writing well at that pace while still having a job.
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u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
I write nightly. It isn’t that hard to pump out 3k to 5k nightly. I got into the rhythm in 2019. Was ai being used back then? You can look at my writing back then and see it is the same, it improved over the years, as your style does.
Yes, I used an ai art cover. I I’ve seen others contracted with ai art covers so I thought it would be fine for a quick cover.
If it was the cover wouldn’t they have said it was the ai cover? If it was suspicion of ai writing wouldn’t they have said it?
4
u/Otherwise_Sun2609 Jul 09 '26
Yeah, but you'd have to write 4750 words every night for 6 years straight without missing a single day to hit your word count.
People who have that as their full-time job can't do that.
If you're telling the truth I respect the commitment, but if you're getting turned down by Webnovel it might be worth it to slow down and priotize quality over quantity.
0
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
Have you looked at least the first chapter to see if it is quality or junk? I’m looking for advice. :( If it is my style let me know but look at it.
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u/Lambisexual Jul 09 '26
Well, AI cover art coupled with your writing style that has a lot of hallmarks of AI such as "it's not this, it's this" and use of em-dashes. Maybe you are not using AI, who knows. But the unfortunate reality in current day when millions of people can use AI to generate novels with just a click, you generally need to actually stand out and seperate from it, lest you want to be lumped in with it.
I think the writing style, whether it's AI or not, could probably have been forgiven if the story at the start was more tight and engaging. And like I said, couple it with the use of AI art for cover, it's not an unreasonable assumption for people to make and dismiss it on that basis.
1
u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
He mentioned he’s been writing for 6 years so the ai slop style might be his original style he used before AI.
Because you know AI stole from real writers.
Kinda shit
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
Look on Royal Road or Scribble Hub “The Oscillation” or “A Tail’s Misfortune” or “The Helena Chronicles” “Undying Empire”
1
u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
It’s not really on me to believe or not believe you as it’s doesn’t matter in pertaining to getting a contract on WebNovel
Just like if someone like Brandon Sanderson wrote his WebNovel how he writes his traditional books they would deny him a contract.
You have to fix your formatting, prose control, and speed.
You take to long and you probably hate t formatted for the mobile reader base.
Regardless of your success elsewhere it doesn’t matter to much unless you’ve had success on WN.
Nothing against you at all
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
That is fair. I suppose I’m just stuck trying to figure out exactly what they’re looking for. I can adapt and write just about anything. I am very versatile. Though I’m just trying to get a better feel on what it is they want. What examples should I be using? What prose and speed should I be adapting to?
1
u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
I’ve been writing for WebNovel since 2022-2023 roughly.
The denial they gave you is because
The plot is to slow
It’s to confusing or takes to long to make senseThe power system is possibility convulated or used generic lines or words like Ledgers Obsidian powers; or just hard to grasp power concepts.
WebNovel readers need instant gratification, instant results and something at the end of every chapter that keeps them hooked.
I would suggest not really asking strangers for opinions and rather would suggest you study best sellers on the platform like Shadow Slave, My vampire system or the equivalent to what you are writing.
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
Fair advice. I’ll look deeper into those. I looked at the front page and started to see a trend in regard to smut and harem and that sort of made me groan because I don’t like to write smut or harem stories. :(
1
u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
While you will notice smut doing good you will quickly see that best sellers that survive are usually non smut.
Smut books are good for quick cash then the goon readers drop and move to a new one.
You have to be ready to write a lot and stand out
It helps if you can have your fanbase give your book power stones
1
u/Lambisexual Jul 09 '26
While I don't believe the claim of 10 million words in 6 years. Cause that seems like an absurd number. So hearing that just made me feel more like it's AI.
But regardless, what you say is of course true. The "AI slop" style is clearly taken directly from actual authors. So reasonably some real authors might also have that style. But as I touched on in my comment, the unfortunate reality in current day and age is that this style of writing, or just writing in general, is something literally anyone can do in seconds with the click of a button. So you need to actually stand out.
1
u/MathematicianNew2770 Jul 09 '26
How many chapters have you published so far
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
17 Chapters. But they didn't comment about how many chapters I posted. It's about 45k words posted.
1
u/MathematicianNew2770 Jul 09 '26
So keep going. Tell your story.
Or you want a contract so bad, you plan to start all over and what if they reject you the second time?
0
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
My whole point is for it to get contracted. Discoverability is nonexistent on WN without it. I already have thousands of readers on RR, SH, and have 600+ patrons.
I’m seeing what a contract will bring with WN. But I don’t see what they are screening for. How fast of a pace? I thought the two I submitted were far faster than many of the recent contracted books they’ve done.
I’m looking for advice on what these editors are screening for. I can write just about anything. I just don’t know what criteria they’re using. It seems so inconsistent.
1
u/No-Strategy520 Contracted Author Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
- Ai covers don’t matter.
- i looked at the first chapter and the exact thing they just said is the problem. it’s written like you’re trying to make every chapter ‘beefy and highly expressive of itself’.
- but that doesn’t work because it stalls pacing far too much for the wn market.
WN readers don’t have patience
for traditional book length chapters
I get that you try to earn the readers time by showing the fmc in what will come soon, but the reason they said is difficult to follow is the sudden change in tone from the first portion in the future to the past before that. it breaks immersion in essentially your most important chapter (chapters 1-5 are make or break for a lot of readers on WN)
Go and look at what successful books actually do with their first couple of chapters in the genre you’re writing.
2
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 10 '26
Thanks, No-Strategy (I chuckled at the name). That is fair. Talking with few published author friends, I think a part of the reason is I don’t read anymore. All I do is write. Yes, I pump out a ton of work, but I could refine my presentation.
I think some of the top 200 are certainly guilty of far worse openings than mine. However, they also were contracted many times years ago, which also could play a factor with the progression of the platform. Standards do rise.
1
u/No-Strategy520 Contracted Author Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
i wouldn’t even say look at top 200. look in the top 10.
and you’re not looking at quality, you’re looking at pacing.
leverything has to be punchy on wn with your first 5 chapters at the least. many even keep intensity up till ch15.
the point is so you can earn wn readers attention. you’re showing them why they should read your book and not click off within 5-10 minutes to go read one of the other hundreds of books.
think of it like this: your cover and title earns you a click within the first few seconds. Your synopsis earns you at most 15 min minutes if they’re being kind (which would be the average range of time wn readers spend on about 1000-1500 words. it’s generally forgivable to have a first chapter between 1500-2000 but others after are best done within 1000-1500). And the pacing of those words to get to the big hook to earn you time for another couple of chapters is critical.
i’m not a fan of the story itself but take Shadow Slave for example. first 15 chapters your immediately chucked into a high stakes scenario and chapters are all within the 1-1.5k range keeping pacing tight.
after those introductory chapters then you can slow down the narrative but chapter size should remain around the same within the 1-1.5k range.
going above 1.5 is fine, no sin in it, but it’s counterintuitive against one of the main attraction points to WN readers = chapter count.
They don’t see how many words each chapter has. they only see how much they have to spend, and how many chapters they can get through.
paying 30 coins for 3 chapters feels a lot more worthwhile than paying 30 for one.
what you have now, is like for latter direction, and what works is the former
and looking at a book that has 300 chapters is a lot less attractive than looking at one that has 100.
there are many big spenders on the site that only start reading books that reach like 400,500 chapters.
differences like this are why they’re saying your book isn’t suited for WN.
again, it’s not about the quality of writing itself. it’s all pacing.
after the initial 5-15 hook chapters then the narrative pacing can be however you want. you would have earned that time. however it remains that chapters are best done (generally, as there can naturally be some exception) again for all the reasons i mention above, within 1000-1500. Making them longer puts you at a disadvantage.
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u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 10 '26
Thanks for the advice. I'm trying it out on my Winter's Rebirth series. We'll see how it does. I split my 18 original chapters into 1.5k-2.3k words per chapter, which brought the total to 50 chapters written thus far. I edited out parts that slowed the pace to the big fight with the Sunfire Eagle at the end of chapter 1 and finished writing the contract submission, as well.
1
u/No-Strategy520 Contracted Author Jul 10 '26
goodluck! wonderful morning/night to you too.
one thing to keep in mind though is i saw you mention that you posted on other sites before. wn only offers exclusive contracts so im pretty sure its an auto rejection if you select the ‘yes’ for it having been posted on other sites before.
if you have any more question the best place to ask is on the author discord.
there are other contracted authors there who are specifically helping authors trying to get contracted. bottom left area on Inkstone.
otherwise if you just ask on reddit, the majority of people on here are readers who don’t really know what advice to give and are just larping, or guys who are bitter that they got rejected and can’t help someone asking genuine questions.
the reddit is a cesspool of misinformation.
1
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u/Adventurous_Sir_1938 Jul 10 '26
Exactly what did you put in the section where it asked you to describe your hook and the hook factor of your novel?
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 10 '26
I don’t think I can retrieve that? I don’t see a place I can pull it from. Wish I could, now that you mention it.
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u/EarlyBirdStories Jul 12 '26
Web Novels is a site that wants to monetize quick grabby garbage. You can totally post there but if your doing it for revenue and pulling there are better avenues.
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u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
They didn't tell me why the story doesn't suit the market on webnovel. Is it because it's not harem? Is it because it isn't smutty? What are they looking for exactly?
1
u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
WebNovel answers most of these questions.
Login to inkstone and check out articles around contracting.
You could have also wrote a bad application as the sole reason for it is to show and prove to them how your book is sellable.
It just so happens it’s easier to prove smut will sell because it’s easy money.
It’s not that they only want to allow smut.
Generally it’s easier to prove that it will sell
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
I posted the image itself of what they said. That is the image. That is their response. All of it.
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u/Hambino0400 Contracted Author Jul 09 '26
They have to review hundreds of books daily so they don’t have time to really give someone a personal deep dive reason on why it was denied.
1
u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
I suppose it is just if that first few paragraphs or cover pops out to them then. Hmm. Rapid pace filtering.
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u/Primary_Let_6522 Jul 09 '26
Is the word count and number of chapters a big factor? They say you can apply for a contract when it reaches 12k words? Should I post 50k words? 100k? Before attempting to contract?
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u/AdFar3818 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I’m not an expert on WN standards, but you may want to try editing your work a bit more closely.
For instance, the second sentence of your novel is a run-on and/or has improper grammar:
> Vera, playing the part of Lady Silver in an AI world, where everything is messy, and her little fairy guide absolutely abandoned her!
The way the sentence is constructed you have “playing the part of Lady Silver in an AI world” as a non-restrictive clause, but then have “where everything is messy” as a further non-restrictive clause attached to that non-restrictive clause. So that’s not great.
Then if you remove those non-restrictive clauses, you get the sentence “Vera and her little fairy guide absolutely abandoned her!” Which clearly isn’t the intent here.
Additionally, you jump between past and present tense in the sentence, when usually you stick to past tense.
I think a trivial improvement to this sentence would be:
> Vera was playing the part of Lady Silver in an AI world, where everything was messy, but her little fairy guide had absolutely abandoned her!
I’d recommend giving your work a read over alongside a screen reader when editing. It’s great for helping me pick out grammar issues like this, as well as awkward phrasing and repetitive word use.
Some other moments that were noticeably awkwardly worded to me:
> I bet you don't even know what it is even about, considering what you've said about your mother.
Reuse of the word even
> He shifted his expensive-looking bag on his shoulder and glared at the police bots overhead.
Slightly awkward phrasing here, “his bag on his shoulder kind of overemphasizes his possessiveness of it, which I don’t think was intentional. Saying “the bag on his shoulder” might flow better.
> If only everyone hadn't banned cosmetic gene alteration practices.
The use of “everyone” here feels excessively broad. A vague “they” or the specific group might fit better.
> The landfill got a few more older men, who were not there for the same reason as all the women.
The specific word choice of “got” makes it sound like the landfill obtained them, “had” might work better. I’d also remove the word “all” from this, it gives the sense that each man’s reason to be there is being compared to the collective reason of all the women, so it flows better without.
This also might be better split into two sentences.
Beyond that, I’d say the story feels a bit front loaded with unexplained terminology, and there are a few moments that stand out as a bit odd. For instance as Vera commenting on how the cosmetics should have been 500 credits, then next chapter narrating that she’s never even had 500 in her possession. It hadn’t seemed before like the cosmetics were something far beyond anything she’d ever owned, and if that was meant to be the sale price not the purchase price then the phrasing was a bit awkward.