Having been in the webnovel scene for a few years I wanted to produce a helpful comprehensive list of all the writing/webnovel/publishing sites and what each provides so I am asking for your knowledge. What are some of the pros, cons, audiences, popular genres, unpopular genres, communities, and scandals or unethical business practices that each site has. This can be from personal experiences to events that can be traced. If I don't have a site on this list, please let me know so I can add it. All additions and changes are welcome as this is an incomplete list. I will also be putting this on other writing forums to get thoughts directly from the source.
What does each site offer best and what is so bad about it that you wish you never had to use it? What genre's do the readers enjoy and what genre's do they hate? Is the audience good, toxic, and/or something else? Are the communities helpful or are they gatekeeping? What business practices do you support and what do you hate or believe to be unethical? Have they done anything illegal? These are all questions I want to know before I put a story on a site so I figured this would help. It would also give an immediate source of where to publish their works.
Scribblehub:
Summary
Pros: promotes new stories, easy to use UI, friendly to new writers.
Cons: low moderation, lack of reader interactions.
Popular genre's: isekai, migration, smut, fantasy.
Unpopular genre's: Slice of life
audiences: good but mostly lurkers.
community(forums & discord): Forums are very nice and helpful to new writers.
known scandals and/or business practices:
Royal Road:
Summary
Pros: large readerbase, active commenters, knows what they want. people will correct your grammar mistakes. can be great place to learn for beginners. Readers are more willing to pledge on patreon. Good tag definitions. Polls available for each chapter.
Cons: very high standards, knows what they want. No exposure without ads. anime stuff, gender bender or sexual stuff get review bombed to oblivion. Authors doing so many review swaps and shout out swap. Strict content requirements.
Popular genre's: litrpg, transmigration, high fantasy.
Unpopular genre's: mostly anything else.
audiences: Very active.
community(forums & discord): 50/50 chance it is helpful or nice.
known scandals and/or business practices:
Tapas:
Summary
Pros: Large readerbase, has comics too, basically Webnovel/Webtoon without any sketchy contract. Better chances for smaller stories to be featured in the community section. Anti AI content.
Cons: mostly for comics. Tapas readers and non-Tapas licensed writers are very separate. small character limit for chapters.
Popular genre's: LGBTQ+(BL), fantasy, thriller/horror, romance
Unpopular genre's: AI Generated Content
audiences:
community(forums & discord): Forums are very active but mostly writers and artists looking for subscribers. Discord is mostly readers and fairly nice,
known scandals and/or business practices:
Webnovel:
Summary
Pros: most popular reading site. copyrighted the entire medium, very well known. can make money immediately once contracted. good exposure and they will actively promote contracted stories. very nice readers, quite similar to SH. They also have low standard and they read anything. paragraph comment system that let you post memes
Cons: terrible contract deals, bots, fake interactions, stolen stories, little interaction with new stories. very limited exposure without contract. 2000 words per day minimum if you want to success there. Lots of chapters needed.
Popular genre's: isekai, litrpg, fantasy, transmigration
Unpopular genre's:
audiences: bots and lurkers
community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices: stealing/swindling the rights to peoples works, charging for unfinished stories, Chinese censorship
Ritoria:
Summary
Pros: very good for romance
Cons: very bad UI, glitchy site, possibly abandoned by mods as the site is silent.
Popular genre's: romance, smut, furry smut, supernatural, historical
Unpopular genre's: action, adventure
audiences:
community(forums & discord): lots of discussion, very small forums
known scandals and/or business practices:
Honeyfeed:
Summary
Pros: Gentler readerbase than Royal Road and Scribble Hub.
Cons: Gatekeepers, more focused on Japanese-style stories.
Popular Genres: Hachiman-style, kinda edgy, drama stories.
Unpopular Genres: Non-JPLN stories
Audience: Global, though anime-focused.
Community: Some gatekeepers and elitists, but if you can look past beyond them, HF community can be helpful.
Known Scandals and/or business practices:
Wattpad:
Summary
Pros: Okay interface for stories. Established readership. Community isn't harsh. Story stats and demographics. Inline comments. Good scheduling system.
Cons: Less features for editing. Baffling ranking system. Basically shouting into the void.
Popular genre's: Romance. Billionare Romance. Werewolf Romance.Mafia Romance. Sports romance.
Unpopular genre's: Everything That Isn't Romance.
audiences: Romance seekers.
community(forums & discord): No forum or known official discord
known scandals and/or business practices:
Fanfiction.net:
Summary
Pros:
Cons:
Popular genre's: Fanfiction
Unpopular genre's: Original works
audiences: Fandoms
community(forums & discord):
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Penana:
Summary
Pro: easy to use UI. Small community of writers.
Cons: Small audience. Original works rarely make it. Lots of bots.
Popular Genre: K-Pop fanfictions
Unpopular Genre: original stories
Audience: International, though mostly Southeast Asian and East Asian.
Community: pretty chill with a lot of artists.
Known scandals and/or business practices:
Soyetsu:
Summary
Pros: Your gateway to JPLN market. Many of the big name anime, manga, and Light novels outside of Shonen Jump come from this site.
Cons: Catered to Japanese audience; Foreigners not welcome. Site in Japanese, you'll have to use Google Translate to navigate if you can't write Japanese. Site uses web hosting site called Mitemin.
Popular Genre: anything JP, but isekai, yes.
Unpopular Genre: anything non-JP
Audience: Japanese
Community: Japanese and mostly unfriendly toward foreigners.
Known Scandals and/or business practices:
Pixiv:
Summary
Pros: More formatting options for a UI similar to Syosetu, can upload images mid-chapter without hosting site.
Cons: as an image-majority site, novels are a second priority. Also, author's notes are at the beginning of the chapter. Scheduling releases is a subscription option. system/editor is very barebones, and to add proper tags, you must know Japanese. Not good for newcomers.
Popular genres: whatever is popular in Syosetu coz yeah Pixiv is Syosetu with pics.
Unpopular genres: nothing comes to mind.
Audience: Japanese, though many can understand and converse in English.
Community: more JP readers for English works than Syosetu
Known scandal and/or business practices: Hentai of all sorts and depravity.
Infinite stories:
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Writing.com:
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AO3:
Summary
Pros: No ConCrit Culture, Relaxed Content Rules, No Overbearing Moderation, No downvotes.
Cons: Restriction on Original Works*, Fan-fiction focus, poor use of tags, no way to advertise your work. Monetization is banned on site!
Popular Genres: fan-fiction (with shipping and smut)
Unpopular: Original Works
Audience:
Community: No Forums. Only Reddit or Discord. No ConCrit Site Attitude. Occasional trolls and attempts at gatekeeping
known scandals and/or business practices: Monetization is Banned
Remark (important): *) Original Works are restricted / not allowed on the AO3, which could be "bypassed" by considering your work "fannish" (by the moderator's own words) which means it couldn't be ever monetized and posted on AO3. Any attempt at monetization result in ban, links to patreon etc. not allowed. However, if you just post the story without any strings attached (no monetization, no advanced chapter patreon etc.) and declare it free and "fannish" (they love the word, it means writing for fandom) it's valid. Few people will moan about Reddit, but it is not strictly agains the rules.
Tumblr:
Summary
Pros: Great for short fiction or blog-style fiction. Good for original stories and fanfiction.
Cons: Very fanfiction leaning. Limited to blog format.
Popular genre's: Fanfiction. Short stories.
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Amazon Kindle:
Summary
Pros: Lots of author tools. Huge market.
Cons:
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community(forums & discord): Forums for publishers, indie authors, and/or Amazon booksellers.
known scandals and/or business practices: Yes, a lot of bad stuff that a Google search could show
Barnes & Noble:
Summary
Pros: Physical bookstore and online.
Cons: Requires money to publish.
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Inkitt:
Summary
Pros: great UI, you can upload your manuscript, and the site can automatically assign a chapter based on your chapter count. Wattpad-like simple UI.
Cons: can't upload pics, save for the cover. Limited formatting options. Bots. Lack of forum space. Takes rights to story if you go premium.
Popular Genre: Ladies' Romance; novels with Alpha in the title, or with naked macho men in the cover.
Unpopular Genre: male-oriented works.
Audience:
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Creative Novels:
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Moonquill:
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Pros:
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Popular genre's: Smut
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community(forums & discord): Royal Road sister site.
known scandals and/or business practices:
Booknet.com:
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Spacebattles.com:
Summary
Pros: Forum Based, Latest Post On Top, Weekly ranking system, Quest system
Cons: Prudes, paranoid moderation, strict site rules. No sexual content allowed.
Popular genre's: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Fan-fiction, Worm related
Unpopular genre's: Stories conflicting with rules, OP Protagonist(overlord-type stories)
audiences: Fan-fiction, power-fantasy, self-inserts, and attempts to "fix" the story
community(forums & discord): Forum based. Accommodating unless conflicting with rules.
Known scandals and/or business practices: Strict moderation. Political discussion arguments spilling over to the entire forum result in bans based on the words, or perceived political allegiances.
Questionable Questing:
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Fictionpress:
Summary
Pros: Fanfiction.net sister site
Cons:
Popular genre's: Original works
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StoriesOnline:
Summary
Pros:
Cons: erotica only
Popular genre's: erotica
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Sofurry:
Summary
Pros: Furries. Good UI for posting novels, and passable text editor!
Cons: Furries. Less active than FurAffinity. Poor discoverability.
Popular genre's: Furry / Smut
Unpopular genre's: Non-Furry. Non-smut.
Audiences: Furry. Smut. Non-Smut stories are very rare, and get very minimal attention.
community(forums & discord): Furry. Have their own forums and discord, but considerably fewer members compared to FurAffinity.
known scandals and/or business practices:
Furaffinity:
Summary
Pros: Furries. All furry content welcomed. Visual / audio / etc. Strong AI aversion.
Cons: Furries. Short stories are common, but the UI is unfriendly for posting novels as large amounts of text causes malfunctions. Requires including artwork to get attention! Strong AI aversion.
Popular genre's: Furry. The short story - smut. All furry content welcomed, but you need to work around the UI for text.
Unpopular genre's: Non-Furry. Non-Smut.
Audiences: Furry.
Community (forums & discord): Furry. Main site for furry community, large community, active Discord.
Known scandals and/or business practices: None. Hacking attempt promptly resolved by active moderation.
Quotev:
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Chyoa:
Summary
Pros:
Cons: you need to log in to read
Popular genre's: Smut
Unpopular genre's: non-smut
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StoryForge:
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Substack:
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Popular genre's: Non-fiction
Unpopular genre's: Fiction
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Medium.com:
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Reddit Serials:
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SufficientVelocity:
Summary
Pros: Forum Based, Latest Post On Top, No Rating system or Active Competition
Cons: Spacebattles sister site. Similar issues to Spacebattles. strict content rules.
Popular genre's: Sci-fi and Fantasy, Fan-fiction
Unpopular genre's: Harem or Anything Conflicting with rules.
audiences: Similar to Spacebattles, sharing a lot of users.
community(forums & discord): Forum based. Active discussion on site. The forum identity is heavily based on the fact they were split from the Spacebattles.
known scandals and/or business practices: Spacebattles Sister Site.
WebkomPH
Summary
Pros: Easy and simple UI(similar to Scribblehub). Lot's of action stories.
Cons: The website can be buggy. You can't reorder already released chapters. No subscribe option. No notifications when receiving comments. Can only embed youtube.
Popular Genre: Romance and action
Unpopular stories: preachy stories (with moral lessons and similar)
Audience: Filipinos
Community: Very active Facebook and Discord. Very competitive. Can sometimes bring up political, religious, and social issues.
Known scandals: occasional favoritism.
Belletristica
Summary
Pros: Nice, simple UI.
Cons: German-language, hard to get traction if you're writing English-language novel.
Popular Genre:
Unpopular genre:
Audience: Germans
Community: it seems like a lively site if you can speak and understand German.
Known Scandals: possibly shutting down and changing names.
Booklat
Summary
Pros:
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Popular Genre: Romance
Unpopular genre: action, male-oriented stuff
Community: dead.
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DeviantArt
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Fox-Teller
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Neovel
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known scandals and/or business practices: Sketchy contest practices.
Booksie
Summary
Pros: Decent UI. Link directly to Amazon if you have books for sale there. New readers get a lot of interest. You can join "Houses" of like-minded people to help your book find its audience.
Cons: Requires time to build relationships, which is cool, but might take time you don't have.
Popular genre's: Everything, including poetry.
Unpopular genre's:
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community(forums & discord): Within "Houses"
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Campfire Writing
Summary
Pros: Pretty. Browser, and Desktop and mobile apps. Can monetise or offer free. Can be free to use just to publish (upload completed ebook).
Cons: Expensive if you choose to buy all the modules for the behind-the-scenes stuff, but regularly do 20% off sales. Max of 25000 words posted without paying for a premium account.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi
Unpopular genre's: no NSFW, but not totally prudish.
audiences: Fairly small, broad, growing
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices:
Yoru (https://app.yoru.world/en2)
Summary
Pros: Allows you to offer stories as "Pay what you want", Free, or Premium; and accept "donations". I love that flexibility. Mobile apps.
Cons: Actively under development by a very small team, so not running totally smoothly, yet. Currently not working great on desktop browser without a login, and some other bugs still getting ironed out.
Popular genre's: Fantasy, SciFi, Girl love
Unpopular genre's: no NSFW, but not totally prudish.
audiences: Fairly small, English and Japanese speakers
community(forums & discord): Discord
known scandals and/or business practices: Too new. All good, so far
Fictionate
Summary
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community(forums & discord):
known scandals and/or business practices: when questioned on where they source the voices for their audiobook program, insisted they do not use AI and pay VAs but refused to produce any proof, such as naming the VAs, and have no clear source listed anywhere on their website for this
Known Aggregators:
these are sites that no one should publish their story on because they steal other peoples works. Use this list to see if anyone is stealing your work.
Aggregator List
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