Quantity over quality?

[IndomitableX]

When I sign with an online writing platform, I see that most of them don't care about quality, just the quantity (how many words are written in a specified amount of time) and not to lie, those books get good reads and I am very sure the authors earn. On the other hand, some books that have good quality and less quantity are not properly promoted. It seems like that the readers still enjoy those books (books with less quality). Some times, I think that there are a number of factors attached to this topic.

So what are your opinions. What do you prefer as an author and a reader, quality over quantity or quantity over quality?

NOTE: I am not talking about self-publishing (e.g Amazon Kindle) or traditionally published books. I am referring to ONLINE NOVELS/WEBNOVELS.

[Zei_15]

I feel like when we talk about online webnovels, quantity definitely plays a part in getting views since more quantity means more time it spends on the 'Newly Updated' sections of those sites. But, I've seen a general trend that while some primary chapters might get a good amount of reads, the more they advance, the less views they get per chapter. So, I feel like both are important in some ways when we're talking about online serialization.

[cherrystark]

I don't think it's an issue of quality v quantity. I think it's a matter of what the author's individual goals are for their work. Quantifiers such as word count or reads, are comforting to a lot of writers. Reads let writers know how "successful" they are. If they plan on pitching to a premium program or getting it published, they need to hit certain word count guidelines.

Everyone thinks that their work is high quality. And everyone's goal should be to create the best story possible. I think it's really closed-minded to assume that since a writer gets excited about hitting a daily word count goal they only care about quantity so therefore their work isn't good quality.

[darthmongoose]

I feel like it's not that webnovelists don't care about quality, in the same way as webcomic artists, it's just a format where you kind of have to complete a page or chapter and then upload it. We don't really have the benefit of an advance, so we can't sit making 200 comic pages, or writing 20+ chapters of a novel all while living off money paid upfront, and then send it for feedback and do edits, and then finally release this whole, cohesive work created with help from a team of experienced professionals, and have it promoted by a dedicated marketing team with the stamp of approval of a respected publishing company.

Webcomics and webnovels make money or build an audience by generating regular engagement. It's a way where people who lack contacts, and perhaps lack some higher level training or support, can build an audience based on having a good idea and writing something that consistently keeps people entertained. They're often not as polished as a published novel, because they're often a first, or at most, second, draft, but they're mostly free to read, so readers understand to expect that.

[NickRowler]

I think a lot of online readers want popcorn lit. Something that is easy to read that you can read in parts or easily binge.

You could try to write a story with a serious tone, politics, and deep symbolism, like the types of books you read in a Literature class. But maybe casual readers might not want to invest in something like that.

I think having both types of books are important. I think part of it is finding where publishing your story will work best.

[Katzalcoatl]

I feel like you are referencing the platform webnovel which is the main one who goes quantity over quality.

And no, those authors don't really earn anything due to the predatory one sided contract from webnovel. They get paid $200 USD per month for writing daily 1.5k words. With a maximum bonus of an extra $200 USD basically $400 per month (only if your story sells if not then you only earn $200).

So yeah... not the best example for quality work. Did I forget to mention you lose all your IP rights?

[harlan]

As an author, I want my writing to be of good quality on a structural level, a style level, and a plotting level. For me, the plotting part requires me to either write well in advance of publishing or have a detailed outline, especially if publishing more than once a week.

As a reader, I want to be entertained. The whole package is great, but if I love a story, the characters, the setting and the unrolling of the plot, I am not a stickler for occasional typos, misused words (especially where English is a second language), or less than perfect execution or styles different from my usual preference. Some of my favorite comics here have more simple art, for example. Overall, I have been very pleased with the quality of the novels I read here and am super impressed by my fellow writers.

I think novel writers who want readers here have to do some promotion specific to this type of publishing. Every once in awhile I scroll down the Fantasy/Free to read/all category and seeing so many works with 0 likes or only a few makes me sad. One of these days I will start a thread challenging people to find, read, and promote a 0 likes work, just to give random people whose work is getting missed a cool spike in interest.

[IndomitableX]

Yeah. That's very true. An early access creator once advised fantasy comic creators (but it can also go for novels too) that there are a lot of good works in the fantasy genre and the popular ones over shadow the less power ones so therefore a new creator might not stand a chance in the fantasy genre. He advised using another genre as a main genre which isn't as crowded as fantasy and then using the fantasy as a sub-genre. It's actually sad, but understandable.

[IndomitableX]

Yep. I definitely agree with you, Kate. Cause what you said just made a lot of sense to me on why readers actually enjoy online books even though some aren't professionally edited yet.

[Kaisei]

I have a hard time reading badly written novels. It's the main reason I tend to avoid webnovels. Some are well-written, but they aren't the majority. There are works I enjoy that are raw and not fully edited. Minor editable mistakes are annoying, but bearable. It's the plot holes big enough to drive a truck through and the "See Jane Run" writing that's painful.

The "system" doesn't incentivize quality. A webnovelist would starve if they spent too much time lingering on the right word choice or elaborately planning a complex story line. However, they can improve their writing instincts by continually reading a wide variety of material (not just webnovels, but formally published works as well) to expand their horizons.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I am not a stickler for occasional typos, misused words (especially where English is a second language), or less than perfect execution or styles different from my usual preference. Some of my favorite comics here have more simple art, for example.

I'm kind of like that in terms of 'quality of detail', but I'm still quite picky in terms of 'big picture quality'; as in, I like stories with well-developed ideas and themes that build on stuff that's already been said rather than just repeat them^, and I also don't have much patience for meandering plots that don't say much so I's say I'm quite picky wrt structure as well XD But the little things like typos/grammatical errors (with prose) and simple/'unfinished-looking' art certainly don't bother me

^ though I'm not even sure if professionally published stuff is really any better on average in this area