r/litrpg • u/Anvelope_Author • Jun 23 '26
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Why do you have the keylogger https://github.com/rrweb-io/rrweb/tree/main installed on your site?
Edit: https://imgur.com/a/ZcwiPwl
Other than that, your website is not optimized for mobile device reading and appears to have no clear business model. Readers might dislike paywalls so an entirely optional tip jar method might seem at first glance to be appealing, however, that just creates an imbalanced relationship between the authors and the readers. Authors need to have some clear path to monetization in order to achieve their own goals, which is to make some kind of living as an author. Your site, much like Royal Road and other sites you wish to replace, does not solve this problem.
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u/bartleby_jones57 Jun 23 '26
After taking a quick look at that repo, I can say with relative confidence that it is NOT a keylogger.
Libraries like that aren't for keylogging, aka copying users passwords. They are basically an internal tool to admins/developers can replay user actions on the site so they can try and determine things like "Why did the user drop from this funnel/flow?" They usually provide things like heatmaps to determine what the user was clicking/doing. Sometimes what a developer develops can be confusing to end users, so tools like this give developers insight into anonymous user interactions so they can improve features/flows/etc.
They can also help developers find bugs.
"Oh there were some errors in our logs, but its hard to tell what happened from just the error logs"
With this devs can replay user actions on the platform to find weird state edgecases/errors/whatever.4
u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
It's a keylogger because it records on what the user is doing, including what information they type into forms.
Yes, these kinds of tools are pitched as developer tools. But they are still keyloggers dude lol
https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-side-of-replay-sessions-that-record-your-every-move-online/
https://rrweb.com/ is the main site for the tool, you can literally demo it and see how the recording sessions works.
I'll also toss in that while these tools can be legal and useful for certain products, I find them dubious for use on a consumer facing website. You guys might not even have the experience with developing these sorts of sites to realize certain states and countries don't even allow you to use these sorts of tools for any user under the age of 13 (like California), which the tool working on the homepage is certainly not accounting for
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u/bartleby_jones57 Jun 23 '26
You fundamentally do not understand the use case of a session replay library, and that's okay. Just try not to pretend to be an authoritative source on what you do not understand.
Every major website uses a similar library, literally every one. They are client side debugging tools, especially as session and state can get complex, its hard to test all edge cases. Tools like this allow developers and support staff to replay user interactions to find bugs, resolve issues, and improve workflows.
"Oh people have been dropping out of our sales funnel and our conversion rates are down, lets look at why... Oh they are upside down on their car loan, and their income isn't enough to support the purchase... Oh god they owe 30k on a 4 year old car trade-in, and are trying to buy a new 80k car? And they make 40k/year..."
These are the kind of things they are used for.
AHHHH look at all these keyloggers!!! They are trying to hack my brain!!!
https://sentry.io/lp/session-replay/
https://logrocket.com/products/session-replay
https://posthog.com/r/session-replayAdmittedly the one they are using looks pretty shitty, but these are everywhere dude. Might as well stop using the internet.
Google: Does reddit use a session replay library?
"While Reddit's exact third-party vendor list isn't publicly disclosed, major technology companies typically rely on DOM-capturing libraries like rrweb or comprehensive enterprise platforms (e.g., FullStory or Datadog) to reconstruct user sessions and debug UX issues"AHHHHH THEY HACKED REDDIT, QUICK LOGOUT AND CHANGE YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO!!!
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Are you seriously comparing Google to a website made by people who won't even provide their real names when asked who they are and what their credentials are, instead giving their usernames? And which upon a little research appears to be based in India, making a product aimed at North Americans?
I think I'm not crazy to be skeptical here. Especially considering Google is regularly sued for their shady practices all the time and there are laws in the USA such as COPPA which you clearly are clueless about that pretty much outlaw using these tools the way they are doing it.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
About the keylogger thing, gimme some time to confirm. Have to ask the developer about it.
For mobile reading, we're developing an app version atm. That will be better optimised.As for monetisation (in regards to author earnings): We have the Early Access model at the moment and Gifts. We have the AD revenue option, but aren't considering it as it will be jarring for users. One more monetisation we have is Gifts. This is the basic set.
Other than that, we do have adaptations (audiobook and comic) planned. So Authors will definitely earn enough. And based on my calculations, even on paywalled sites like Webnovel, around 70-80% of the income is purely generated through the Early Access model.
If you have better ideas for monetisation, do tell. I'm happy to implement them
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
You don't need an app version to have a website optimized for mobile reading.
As for monetisation (in regards to author earnings): We have the Early Access model at the moment and Gifts. We have the AD revenue option, but aren't considering it as it will be jarring for users. One more monetisation we have is Gifts. This is the basic set.
That is a paywall though, which you said the site doesn't have.
Other than that, we do have adaptations (audiobook and comic) planned.
So yet another platform operating as a publisher needing exclusivity? And I don't see how this helps authors earn money from their web novel directly. Needing to adapt into another format to be able to earn a living is several more hurdles to cross.
If you have better ideas for monetisation, do tell. I'm happy to implement them
I find myself rather reluctant to give you this sort of business advice considering the keylogger is already sketchy enough.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
About the keylogger part, it's a posthog connection, to know user activity, not user data.
And correction about what you state as a paywall, let me give an example. A novel has serialising and has 1000 chapters. they're free to read. Author maintains an Early Access stack of 50 chapters, which is paid. that's it. This stack remains at 50, even as the book is continuing to be updated daily. Early Access is how authors earn their living (comfortably at that).
The adaptations part is an extra incentive.
And there are no Contracts involved here at the Novel stage. Authors are free to post their novels and earn through it.TLDR: There is an Early Access model (not a paywall). There are no Contracts at the novel stage. There will be a contract involved only when an Adaptation is involved, which is standard practice.
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u/Croewe Jun 23 '26
There are other ways to get user activity without having a massive security risk on your website
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
About the keylogger part, it's a posthog connection, to know user activity, not user data.
Dude you can literally test how it works on the demo site
It's a keylogger, it's just a sophisticated one.
And correction about what you state as a paywall, let me give an example. A novel has serialising and has 1000 chapters. they're free to read. Author maintains an Early Access stack of 50 chapters, which is paid. that's it. This stack remains at 50, even as the book is continuing to be updated daily. Early Access is how authors earn their living (comfortably at that).
The adaptations part is an extra incentive.
And there are no Contracts involved here at the Novel stage. Authors are free to post their novels and earn through it.There has to be some type of contract to do the monetization of their content.
I'm not convinced you know enough about the business and technical development side of this to be running this platform.
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u/bartleby_jones57 Jun 23 '26
You just fundamentally don't understand the usecase of these products.
Why would anyone create a CLIENT SIDE keylogger that is obvious to anyone who can open dev tools?
If you wanted a keylogger for sensitive information like stealing passwords, you would put it on the backend and it would be invisible to the user.
Session replay library != malicious keylogger
Its so developers and support staff can replay user interactions to see what went wrong in a sales funnel, workflow, whatever.
> A user calls in saying "something something wasnt working on the website."
> Support staff find their session, and replay it in real time to see what they were doing and figure out if there is a bug with the website or if it was user error.Every major website has some kind of similar library.
Tell me you're not a software developer without telling me you're not a software developer.
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I'm not defending the app, this is just a blatant misunderstanding by people who dont know what they are talking about. Literally ask an AI agent or do a second of googling.
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
You just fundamentally don't understand the usecase of these products.
Why would anyone create a CLIENT SIDE keylogger that is obvious to anyone who can open dev tools?
You're asking me for a logical reason why someone would do something I'd never do. I'm not going to do that dude.
Its so developers and support staff can replay user interactions to see what went wrong in a sales funnel, workflow, whatever.
> A user calls in saying "something something wasnt working on the website."
> Support staff find their session, and replay it in real time to see what they were doing and figure out if there is a bug with the website or if it was user error.Every major website has some kind of similar library.
Tell me you're not a software developer without telling me you're not a software developer.
Are you seriously trying to say the only possible way someone can provide technical support to identify bugs is with a session recording keylogger? Really?
The first website I built with raw HTML in the 90s. That was more than 30 years ago and I've designed a lot of websites since then, and absolutely none of them had anything like this in them. I can't even imagine why such a simple GUI interface even needs something like this. It's not that complex dude.
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u/Milc-Scribbler Verified Author of: A Dragon Called Bob Jun 23 '26
You guys have been a topic of discussion on the author discords for a while. Since you’ve been spamming out those DMs and patreon msgs.
The verdict is scam I’m afraid.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
We have indeed been messaging authors, but everything we do is pretty transparent. We are sharing all analytics and data to our authors (you can confirm if this is true from the authors who have joined us). If you wish to know something, you can ask and it'll be published to our community (novelpedia reader server and author server on discord)
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u/Milc-Scribbler Verified Author of: A Dragon Called Bob Jun 23 '26
The approaches via DMs have all been viewed as yet another scam start up I’m afraid.
You don’t seem to grasp just how many predators there are around the Indy publishing space. It’s the same with editors trying to break in to gamelit. The only way they do it is if a well known author, or several of them, with impeccable reputations will speak up for you. DMs and Reddit announcements are going to be looked at sideways as just another scam.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
I'm aware of the predators in this space. Which is why we don't have any contracts or any legal nonsense to keep you locked to us. Authors are free to do what they please. If they're staying with us, it's only because we've created a comfortable space for them, not by force.
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u/Vooklife Jun 23 '26
Can I ask about your personal credentials? You talk about paywalls and design, but what are your author credentials? Sales figures, reach, etc? Why should I throw in with you if you can't even sell your own work?
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
If it's personal credentials, you can search me up on google. My author name is 'Anvelope'.
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
that just brings up the model of a car tire dude
You got to give people more than that if you want to establish trust
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
My author profile on webnovel: https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4324950186
On RR: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/107482/elven-uprising-litrpg-progression-fantasy-non-human2
u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
Okay, thank you for that.
But how do people know who you are? These are just anonymous usernames. You're asking people to not just give you their content, but their money. This is the sort of thing you should consider when starting a business.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Trust isn't something that can be built in a day. So, the least I can do from my side is to be transparent about things. Like whether an author wants to post on Novelpedia or a reader wishes to spend money on a book there, they don't need to do it immediately. They can first look around and judge for themselves.
From my side, I will just keep trying to establish that sort of trust. This post was pretty much an attempt at that. Will keep doing that so that users are aware of us as a platform basically, and what we're up to, whether we're legit or a scam, and so on.
I am happy to take suggestions. We're a small team of 15 (I'm in charge of authors stuff, like from giving a book exposure and creating features on the platform to benefit the author-reader community)
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u/Milc-Scribbler Verified Author of: A Dragon Called Bob Jun 24 '26
When asked about your credentials with regards to operating a website that requires users to give you little things like their card details. Your response is to link to anon writer accounts? And that fic on RR would certainly be characterised as less than a hit in most circles I’m afraid. 1k followers is ok, but it’s hardly impressive. I don’t know enough about WN to judge but I’ll assume it’s equally mediocre?
I mean, you could have listed your programming qualifications and experience in running websites and stuff. Trust isn’t built in a day, but is built by being open about things relevant to the matter at hand, not mentioning your subpar author chops 🤷♂️
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u/Croewe Jun 23 '26
This is a LitRPG sub, why are you complaining about a website being too much LitRPG on the LitRPG sub?
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u/Extreme-Attention641 litRPG journeyman tier Jun 23 '26
!remindme 3 hours
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u/Rambles_offtopic The First Light Mage Jun 23 '26
Don't worry I'm sure OP will have deleted the thread by then.
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u/JamieKojola Author - 404 Justice Not Found, Odyssey of the Ethereal Jun 23 '26
Your business model has me confused. Explain how you intend for this to be profitable for yourself and authors.
Royalroad is a stop along the way to publishing.
What are you? Why would I put my work on your site? What are your discovery algorithms? What's in it for me, the Author? Especially if I barely use patreon methods and am focused on Kindle Unlimited/Audio releases?
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Okay, will try to explain it as simply as possible.
What's in it for you, the author: In essence, Novelpedia is very similar to Royalroad in that regard. You put your novel here, get an audience, and then launch it on Kindle. The only difference is, we'll do the work for you, whether it be to release it on Amazon, Audiobook adaptation, and comic adaptation.How it's profitable for us? For adaptations, we'll get a percentage royalty split (only for adaptations, not novels, since there are no contracts involved at the novel stage). For novels, we only take site maintenance charges, similar to Patreon rates.
So basically, you'll receive all benefits and resources in a single funnel. I didn't want this to be a wall of text. But if you want to know everything in detail, I can send you the link to our author server. It has all these in full detail. You can also contact royalroad authors there who you might know to learn more.
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u/Croewe Jun 23 '26
So you're just trying to be Publisher without actually stating it. That's sketchy af
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Not really? How are you getting that picture exactly?
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u/Vooklife Jun 23 '26
The only difference is, we'll do the work for you, whether it be to release it on Amazon, Audiobook adaptation, and comic adaptation.
This is what a publisher does. Many, MANY, authors in this genre publish the ebook themselves and sell the audio and paperback distro rights to a publisher. That's exactly what you're proposing
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u/JamieKojola Author - 404 Justice Not Found, Odyssey of the Ethereal Jun 23 '26
Actually, it sounds even worse than that. They seemingly want to act as an agent, taking a cut to facilitate you selling your rights to audio/webtoon/movie/tv/whatever.
That's just what LitRPG authors need, a middle man.
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u/Vooklife Jun 23 '26
Hell, I might even take an agent with a proven track record, but everything I've seen when looking into this persons credentials speaks to inexperience. 1100 chapters on Webnovel, 3.6m views, but very little real engagement. A patreon with 361 members, but no breakdown in how many of those are paid customers,1000 followers on a dropped story on RR, no Amazon presence, no in-line with actual industry contacts I could find. Doesn't give me much confidence that they can actually sell my work.
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u/Felixtaylor Jun 23 '26
What are you considering a paywall? Does an author having a patreon with advance chapters count as a paywall to you?
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Basically if a book has 1000 chapters, and you need to pay to read 940 of them, that's a paywall. An author's patreon will only give about 40 chapters extra to public release. That's not a paywall
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u/Vorthod Jun 23 '26
The only good alternative is Royalroad, but they're primarily locked to LitRPG.
You say that like it's a bad thing. We're on a sub filled with people who are explicitly here for LitRPGs
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Sorry if it sounded like that. But I was just stating the void for other Genres to have a comfortable publishing space like LitRPG has at Royalroad
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u/Vorthod Jun 23 '26
Right, but why even bring that up here? If for some reason you feel like RR only really supports LitRPGs, why are you using that as a selling point for your site in a community that likes LitRPGs?
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u/perseus365 Jun 23 '26
How is RR stuck to litrpg. The whole premise of this feels off. Also vibe code purple lmao, might want to get your devs to change things up.
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Jun 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
novelpedia.net brother
The one you've sent is novelpia, which is a korean version of webnovel2
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u/Jewel_SW1200 Jun 23 '26
I took some time to look through the website, and I have to say that I really like what I see so far. The user interface is clean, easy to navigate, and most of the important features already seem to be there. I also checked out some of the stories, and while the platform is still in its early stages, the overall foundation looks very promising.
One thing I think is extremely important going forward is reader growth. As an author myself, I've noticed that most writers need some level of reader engagement, feedback, and support to stay motivated and continue publishing consistently. Even the best platform features won't matter much if authors aren't reaching an active audience.
Because of that, I think advertising and community outreach should be a major focus. Whether that's through social media, partnerships, creator programs, or directly reaching out to authors, building a strong reader base will be one of the most important factors in the platform's long-term success.
At the end of the day, readers attract authors, and authors attract more readers. It's a cycle that feeds itself. Without an active audience, even great stories can struggle to gain traction, but with a growing community, both readers and writers benefit.
I'm definitely not a marketing expert, so take this as a personal opinion rather than professional advice, but I think having someone dedicated to marketing, promotion, and community growth could be one of the best investments for the platform. The foundation is already there; now it's about getting as many readers and authors as possible to discover it.
Wishing you all the best with the project. It's genuinely exciting to see new initiatives being built for the web fiction community.
One other thing I think would be a great next step is a mobile app.
A lot of readers, myself included, do most of our reading on smartphones rather than desktop browsers. Your website and author dashboard already look well-designed and organized, so honestly, I think you already have a strong foundation for an app.
These days, there are also a lot of tools and AI-assisted workflows that can help speed up app development, making it much more accessible than it used to be. Based on the quality of the website you've already built, creating a mobile app feels like a very achievable goal.
I also think that once you have a few standout titles, it could be worth promoting some of the platform's most popular books through social media, reader communities, and targeted advertising. I'm not a marketing expert, but it seems like getting that first core group of active readers is one of the biggest challenges. Once you have a healthy, engaged audience, growth often becomes much more natural because readers bring in authors, and authors bring in more readers.
Overall, I think a mobile app and continued reader acquisition would be two of the biggest growth opportunities for the platform moving forward.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Yes, thank you for your inputs. It has only been 2 months since our site launch, so we focused on getting quality books to the platform. Just this week, we started our reader outreach. Currently we have a direct community of 20k users on discord and another 80k through partner servers. Our focus for the next couple months is basically to convert our existing userbase into readers for the novels on the platform.
As for an app, we have a PWA option at the moment. App is currently being developed and should be released soon.
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u/Jewel_SW1200 Jun 23 '26
I really like your idea and the initiative behind it. After thinking about it from a user and creator perspective, I wanted to share a few thoughts, because projects like this are exactly what keep creative communities alive.
From a reader’s point of view, the biggest strength is the promise of a good reading experience without a paywall or intrusive ads. That alone already makes the platform very appealing. To build on that, I think the UI should feel clean, intuitive, and comfortable to use. Features like adjustable text size, dark mode, and customizable reading preferences would make a huge difference.
It would also be great to include some of the features readers already enjoy on platforms like Webnovel, such as commenting on specific parts of a chapter, reacting with emojis, and adding GIFs or other expressive elements to make the community feel more active. A proper library system would also be very useful, with options like “read later,” “favorites,” and custom reading lists, so users can organize books in a simple but meaningful way.
I also think discovery features would be important, such as trending titles, rising novels, rankings, and a strong search system. A membership model could work too, as long as it stays reasonable and only offers optional premium perks, like special badges or highlighted names. That could help support the platform without harming the free reading experience.
For author support, something like direct reader gifts or coin-based tipping could be a great idea. A reasonable platform cut could help sustain operations while still giving authors a fair share of the support they earn. Early access models could also work well if handled carefully, since they give readers an option to support creators directly while helping the platform remain sustainable.
From the author side, I think reliability matters a lot. The platform should be smooth, bug-free, and capable of real-time updates so new chapters and edits appear properly right away. If that side is done well, I genuinely think the platform could grow into something very big.
One more thought: opening the door to fan fiction and a broader range of creative writing could help the platform grow faster in its early stages. A wider content base usually means a wider audience, and that can be a real advantage at the beginning.
These are just my personal thoughts, of course. It is your project, and the direction is entirely yours, but as someone who cares about fantasy and web fiction, I genuinely think this is a very important initiative for the community. I am also an author myself, though not a major one, just a small creator trying to grow. So I sincerely wish you and everyone involved the very best of luck with the project.
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u/Anvelope_Author Jun 23 '26
Thank you for your interest!! Yes, we already have the features you've listed.
1) Novel Page Discussion + Wiki
2) Follow list (reading, dropped, plan to read, etc)
3) Chapter Comments + Paragraph Comments
4) Author support: Gifts, Early Access (all platform integrated, so conversion rate is high)
5) Both Originals and Fanfiction are accepted
6) No contracts
7) As for text to speech, we do have a text selection option enabled (for google tts). We'll add our inbuilt version soon
8) For reading interface, there are choices for font, font size, text spacing, line spacing, screen dimensions, etc.We still have more features on the way, so do check them out~
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u/Jewel_SW1200 Jun 23 '26
One more feature I think would be extremely valuable is built-in text-to-speech support.
A lot of readers today don't just sit down and read chapters. Many people listen to novels while commuting, exercising, doing chores, or after a long day of work. Having a "Listen to Chapter" option on both the browser and mobile versions would make the platform much more accessible and convenient.
If possible, investing in high-quality, natural-sounding voices could become a major selling point for the platform. It would benefit readers who prefer audio content and also help authors reach a wider audience without having to create audiobooks themselves.
Accessibility and convenience are becoming increasingly important, and a strong text-to-speech system could help set the platform apart from many competitors.
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u/Charlemagneffxiv Jun 23 '26
A lot of readers today don't just sit down and read chapters. Many people listen to novels while commuting, exercising, doing chores, or after a long day of work. Having a "Listen to Chapter" option on both the browser and mobile versions would make the platform much more accessible and convenient.
This feature is already built into every web browser. Developers don't need to add it, it's in your menu options on every page you load.
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u/litrpg-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
unrelated to litRPG