Does anyone know what lunarwrite is?

[Emalie]

Hello everyone. I received a message on Instagram from a company called lunarwrite, which publishes novels (similar to Tapas or Wattpad). Apparently, they were interested in publishing a BL novel I wrote and shared here on Tapas. They said my work meets their platform's guidelines and that they invite writers with stories like mine.

They mentioned that I could schedule my novel however I wanted, that I also have the option to offer free or paid chapters, and most importantly, that I retain the exclusive rights to my work.

Honestly, I have no idea who they are. I checked their page, and it seems to be a new platform. If anyone knows more about it or has published their work there, I’d love to hear about your experience. Thank you.

https://www.lunarwrite.com

[kyupol]

Haven't heard of them until you mentioned it.

[bulgariansumo]

From what I've been able to find, it's a Thai site. It doesn't seem to be that popular; very few search results turn up for it.

Personally, my general rule of thumb is to ignore any DM from a site requesting to sign you on. At best, it's just spam. At worst, it's hiding a predatory contract.

[cherrystark]

Don't sign up. When signing up for a new platform, ALWAYS check the TOS. They say they own everything published there so you'd lose your copyright. It's a Thai site.

If you're Thai and/or have connections to Thailand, you could do more research about their reads and payment situation is but 1 Thai bhat equals 3 cents USD/Euro. Something to keep in mind when you go look to publish elsewhere.

[Vayvaction]

They've been contacting a lot of bl and gl tapas creators

[justanothernerdling]

I got a message from them too, and some moots and I took a closer look, the TOS are super sus. They say you maintain rights, but right after that, it says they own everything. Big nope from me

Also, their message to me said they found my novel in the BL section, but it's in Fantasy, so idk man

[Emalie]

Thank you so much for the info. I was actually going to say no but I needed to confirm before I made a hasty decision. I will definitely not accept, thanks again.

[thepenmonster]

Rule of thumb: Legit companies don't seek out creatives, creatives seek them out.

(Which is backwards from what it should be since we ARE the means of production. But the system helps in making it obvious who you should deal with.)

[ShidoDraws]

@thepenmonster

I'm not defending this unknown company but sometimes people who works for these companies do seek unknown creators. Models, artists and authors alike. It's just a matter of if they are a reliable company or if they are even a real company or if they even work for said company or if that company is the same company you think they are.

That is why these small sites and companies exist, they do the thing that traditional companies have always done. Small or big creator, everyone should be careful when you approach a company as well.

[cherrystark]

The biggest takeaway for everyone is internet safety, and reliable companies don't approach unknown creators to sign them. A creator (author, artist, model, etc) might get approached because they have high numbers so the algorithm distributes their content further. Their numbers "prove" that they're a solid investment. A new author doesn't have those kinds of numbers, so signing them is a MAJOR gamble.

Legitimate reliable platforms will have information available such as pay scale, benefits, copyright information, tax details, etc for potential creators to read. A lot also have a pitch process that you have to go through if you want to start earning money. The problem with the smaller/unknown platforms is that they go after inexperienced/unknown writers with the promise of a lucrative publishing contract and then steal their work. So it's best to be careful as you said.

[WriterLinXiaolong]

From what I found out, Lunarwrite is developed by MEB Corporation Private Company Limited. They began on 2014 and recently went public on 2023.

They are apparently the top EBook Store in Thailand and was even Thai's highest grossing app since 2015.

In 2017 they launched readAwrite. A Thai publishing platform.
Lunarwrite is I guess their recent project which is basically an English version of ReadAWrite.

I assume they are following tencent's (owner of webnovel) approach now that they have already found success in their home ground and hope to penetrate the international market. The only difference is that unlike webnovel, lunarwrite seems to be dedicated to BL/GL/Romance content.

Their method of going international is different from Kakao who became owner of Tapas Media by acquisition.

It is understandable that people are skeptical about it since it's not well known in the west as they are still new, I guess. We can give it maybe few months to a year and see where they go XD

[silverraven0]

I only saw them a few times on YouTube ads (low effort 5 seconds ads). And the way they messages you on Instagram was a strategy that webnovel/webcomic done in the past (idk if they still did it), which I found interesting. I wonder if other comic/novel hosting site have done the random 'messaging to join the site' thing.

[Paul_Tromba]

I haven't heard of it at all. Gonna have to check it out and add it to my list.

[Ippo_Fighting]

Lunarwrite is owned by MEB Corporation, a listed company in Thailand.
(https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MEB.BK/financials/)

They are quite well known in their home country on their Apps, MEB (Mobile E Book) which sold mostly fiction novel e-books and they also have an App for serialized novel called ReadAwrite.

I could tell you a bit more on their Readawrite Apps,

Writers on the platform have options to put coins to unlock any chapter or decide give it for free or free on some chapters and then monetize by selling e-book in MEB. It is all up to the writer on how they choose to monetize it. Writers are also able to post their stories on other platforms as they want (most of writers do that) and I think there is no schedule for them, there are several uncompleted works to be seen on the platform. The platform is in Thai language. They only focus on Thai Writer/ Readers . You can search "ReadAwrite" on X platform or Tiktok as many writers promote their stories there.

So Lunarwrite is their new platform to get international users. Currently Most of novels on the platform are Thai-Translated novels that adapt to TV/Series. So now, I think they want to expand their users base so they starting to contact writers to publish there.