Original Novels

This section is for all Original Novel related questions

Yaoyueyi wrote a lot of this section and posted it to a thread which you can check out here.

CAN I WRITE A NOVEL FOR QIDIAN INTERNATIONAL?


Yes, you can! You can go over to https://inkstone.webnovel.com/settings, update your settings (bear in mind, personal details are required) and start writing. Webnovel will check through your chapters to check for any unsuitable content (you can choose your target audience) and they will be published. If Webnovel feels that you have the makings of a professional author, they will contact you and ask to sign a contract with you.

HOW DO I PUBLISH A NOVEL AND UPDATE IT?


You go to https://inkstone.webnovel.com/ and press ‘Create Novel’ in the top right corner of your screen. Fill in your novel details in the boxes shown. Once your novel has been created, you can have the option to ‘Create Chapter’ (a box in the top right corner). You can type in your chapter title and the actual chapter you want to write out. You’ll have the option to save it as a draft or publish it.

I'VE COME ACROSS AN ISSUE RELATED TO INKSTONE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


You can join the Inkstone server which can be found by hovering over the 'Assistants' bar at the bottom-left of your screen. Click on the bar that says 'Join Our Discord' and report your issue in the relevant channel.

HOW DO I GIFT SPIRIT STONES?


You can only gift Spirit Stones to a contracted original novel. At the end of their chapters, you can find an option to send Spirit Stones to the author of the work. You can also find the option to gift Spirit Stones in the novel's main page.

WHY HAS MY CHAPTER BEEN BLOCKED?


Check through your chapter to see if there are any non-latin characters. If there are, delete them. This is most applicable to chapters with Chinese or Korean characters. If your chapter still hasn't appeared on Webnovel, you'll have to delete your chapter and repost it. If your chapter is in the middle of the story, you can either delete and repost all of those chapters, or you can contact a Moderater or Staff member on the Inkstone Server (there's a link to it under 'Assistant' in Inkstone).

SOMEONE IS POSTING SOMEONE ELSE'S NOVEL. WHAT SHOULD I DO?


If you're certain that the original author of the work isn't the one posting the novel, you can contact them and have them email dmca@webnovel.com, along with the following information:


  • Full Name
  • Street Address
  • City
  • State
  • Zip
  • Phone Number
  • Company Name
  • Your Email
  • Location of copyrighted work
  • Link of the infringing novel on Webnovel
  • Additional proof to verify ownership (eg. screenshot of backend platform, copyright ownership documents)
  • Other Information
  • "The information in this notice is accurate."
  • "I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (e.g., as a fair use)."
  • "I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in this notification is correct and accurate and that I am the owner or agent of the owner of the rights described above."
  • DIGITAL SIGNATURE (FULL NAME)


Webnovel will most likely not act solely on reports made by users. You must contact the original author for the highest chance of this working.

To help users, Yaoyueyi has written up a few more questions below.

WHY IS MY BOOK COVER NOT UPLOADING?


Well, that's probably because your book cover doesn't fit what Webnovel requires. Webnovel has very specific (& clear) requirements for your book cover, and they list it very clearly under the space where you can upload your cover.

Your cover MUST be EXACTLY 600 pixels in width, 800 pixels in height, no more than 5 MB in size, and in JPG format.

If your cover does not fit any of the three listed above, it's not going to work.

So... how to fix this issue?

Simple: make your cover fit those guidelines.

If you found an image that's not exactly 600x800 px, make it that way. Use something like https://imageresize.org/ and resize/crop your image! The site above also has functions to optimize/compress your image to make it less than 5 MB if that's the case (i.e... here) and it also has image converting functions to change your file type from whatever it is to JPG.

You don't have to own Photoshop or be a graphic designer to be able to do some basic editing like this. Searching online will give you more than enough results.

HOW DO I CHANGE MY BOOK COVER?


Changing your book cover is another simple thing that clicking around for a while will lead you to the results.

Go to Novels > Explore > Settings (should be a gear icon in the top right corner) > Press to upload book cover.

Again, make sure your new cover fits the guidelines of 600x800 px, less than 5 MB, and JPG.

HOW DO I GET A BOOK COVER?


Either make one yourself, or get someone to make one for you.

On the Webnovel forum, there are currently two threads dedicated to getting you a cover.

Free covers for your stories! by yaoyueyi (me)

Free Covers For Your Stories! by silentscarlettt

Just go to one of the two threads and request! (If they are open! Make sure to read the original post on the threads/any recent posts to see if they are open or closed. Do not request if they are closed-- as the owner of one of the threads, I can tell you that it is 100% frustrating to see people request when they are closed.)

You can also search around on other sites (e.g. wattpad, deviantart) to see if there are any people who are willing to make graphics for your stories.

If you want to make a cover for your own story, then there are programs both online and installable to help you finish the task. I personally prefer Photoshop CS6, but that costs money and there are good free alternatives too (just do some research on your own on what you can use) I've also seen people use online resources like https://www.canva.com/ which seems to work pretty well to get you a simplistic cover.

I also have this thread, Novel Cover Tutorial/Process, that gives some insight or inspiration if you want to look at how I make covers myself. There are plenty of tutorials online that are much better though, but I'm just putting that link out in case people don't want to do research themselves. (which is understandable... research is hard)

WHERE DO I GET IMAGES FOR MY COVER?


Google.

(or any search engines in general)

If you want to use images that don't belong to you, make sure that you're not using them for commercial purposes. Otherwise, there are copyright issues. (so, if you are going to get contracted, you can't use it) You can go on google and apply the filter "Labeled for reuse with modification" (Go to Images > Tools > Usage Rights > Labeled for reuse with modification) to get images that you CAN use commercially too.

There are sites like https://unsplash.com/ and https://pixabay.com/en/ if you want even more images.