The Webnovel Writer's Chatgroup

For new authors like me, the reader's comments give us support. Reviews give us direction, and collection gives us motivation.

So what is collection? Collection is the number of people that add our stories in their libraries. It is a way for authors to gauge whether their story is popular or not. There is a hidden truth that most readers don't know about the "Collection" count on Webnovels.

The Collection count is the number one killer of new authors. Killing would be an extreme word for it, more like…the number one "reason" why authors drop their stories.

Why? Because a story that no one reads is a dead story.

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Xandarx: You guys have any idea how to build mercenary?

WWFire: Money can answer most of things.

Elyon: If all else fails USE LOLIS.

WanderingQi: I got flamed for introducing a loli in my novel LMAOO!

Elyon: Who is that heretic?

WanderingQi: And all my collections dropped by like 200 lol.

Elyon: Give me the name and I'll set LittleSister loose on him.

Madreader: @WanderingQi 200? Really?

WanderingQi: Yea, I dropped a lot. Made me go on hiatus and considering dropping the entire novel.

WWFire: Do u lewd the loli?

Elyon: Are you sure it's the loli's fault? I don't believe it.

WanderingQi: No. I made the system take the loli form lol.

Elyon: That doesn't make any sense.

Murakami: I bet it was those MILF lovers.

Elyon: Having a loli system gives you brownie points. Maybe you did something wrong?

Murakami: Loli Grand Summoning.

WWFire: That is highly possible will lead to lewd the loli path.

Madreader: @WWFire loli lewd path will achieve top ten ps ranking.

Elyon: Adding lolis will guarantee that you get high ratings it's a fact.

WWFire: What a dilemma of lewding the loli. #lolialwaysright

Elyon: Yes.

Madreader: @WanderingQi you must've added them late.... after absorbing the 1 percent loli haters.

WanderingQi: Haha, it was added in the beginning. Well, near the beginning. But then again, I'm also a scrub author.

Madreader: @Elyon Probably his dao of lolis is low.

Elyon: @Madreader sir my respect to you have increased by ten points.

WanderingQi: What is your dao? "The dao of lolis."

Elyon: The Dao of lolis is a passive. It just boost your skills. It allows you to freely give lolis head pats and hugs without making them run away.

WanderingQi: Favorability +1 towards lolis

Elyon: Yes +2 to charisma. Oi oi I'm not a lolicon SMH <-- member of the Lolita no Touche Faction.

[A/N: Let me say it loud and clear! I, AM, NOT, A, LOLICON. Don't listen to the authors of Webnovels, they are besmirching my good name especially Zenith. Hmmph! I saw your comments while I was sleeping. Don't make me catch you later!]

WanderingQi: I'm a trash author, but I think it works lol.

Elyon: Fellow trash author hello.

WanderingQi: Hello.

Elyon: *Shakes hand*

WanderingQi: *shakes hand* Nice to meet you fellow trash author!

Elyon: It's good to see you too fellow trash author!

Murakami: *looks in disdain at the trash discovery writers*

WanderingQi: We can continue to write junk food novels for the masses!

Elyon: Yes, give them diabetes, kidney stones, and gallstones.

WanderingQi: Haha.

Elyon: Haha! cheers to trashy authors.

Murakami: Kek.

Elyon: Wtf is this nonsense? I posted that I'll be taking 2 days vacation and I get 3 collections? What kind of logic is this? *is considering taking an extended vacation*

Murakami: Goes on hiatus, collections shoot through the roof.

Elyon: *goes back with 1k collections feels good man*

Murakami: Kek.

Rychil: @Elyon you also write smut?

Elyon: AHEM!

Rychil: I thought you're a pure and innocent person.

Elyon: I am pure and innocent. *nods*

Murakami: Rychil you are trolling me.

WWFire: *suddenly posted a real loli with big muscles.*

Elyon: Aargghhh! My eyes! What is seen cannot be unseen.

Rychil: *laugh emoticon*

Elyon: OMG! She has Ladybeard with him?!

The authors in the discord chatroom once again descended into procrastination mode, and some of them failed to write their chapters for the day. Another normal day in the discord chatroom.

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Author's Thoughts

When I first started writing, I was unaware of the importance of collection. I just want to write my story so that people can read it. But, after posting it in this platform called Webnovels, you tend to learn about things that make you change your perspective.

When I got my first ten collections, I was very happy. I thought that this number will continue to rise as I write my story. Then my senior authors started talking about collection count and I found out that my collection/view count is way "toooooo looooooooow".

Mmm, thinking back, it was one of the most depressing days of my life as a new writer. I only got ten collections after writing so many chapters and I thought that, how can people not love my story? It's so awesome, so epic, so fabulous that they will be pestering me instead to release more chapters.

Authors are like that. They think that their stories are the best. The most beautiful, the most exciting, the most engaging, the most…so on and so forth. Unfortunately, in the face of reality, all of "THESE" crumble.

That day, I stared at my collection and asked myself. Why did they add it? Is my story interesting enough? Did my drop-dead, gorgeous, sexy body passed through the walls of space and time, and forced them to reconsider to add my story to their libraries?

For them to survive my story that had been labeled as… a story that will make people want to stab their eyes for the horrible grammar, tenses and sentence structures, breaks my heart.

To this day, I still don't know the answer. But, I'd like to believe that these ten silent readers of mine are there because they genuinely loved my story. That was enough, that was more than enough for me.

Silent readers is a term used by some of the authors in Webnovels. They are the people who love to read stories, add them to their libraries, but don't give comments or leave reviews. They're just there. Silently reading, silently supporting their favorite authors with their presence.

We appreciate these readers, but you know…we want you to talk to us too. We want you to say something. We want you, to make your presence known.

Do we really have to say "Please notice me Senpai?".

My friend, sleepteddy, said a few words before about improving his grammar for the sake of his reader's mental health. Believe it or not, some of the authors worry about our reader's mental health as well (Sleepteddy and I are the perfect examples of responsible authors!)

My beloved readers, I'm not telling you this so that you will avoid removing stories in your libraries. No, that's not the reason why this chapter was written. I want you to know that every time you remove a story from your library, somewhere out there, a new author is facing a heartbreak (LMAO! Guilt-tripping eh?)

A small snippet is needed to show you, how a decrease in collection count affects new authors.

(Some of the conversations here was made up…or was it?)

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A Certain Story Teller: We ain't genius authors mate we're just amateurs. I'm not crying TWAT! TWATS!

A Certain King: *kicks the chair next to him* Damn it... I knew I had a problem with character connections.

A Certain Chat Killer: I'm depressed, please give me a shoulder to cry *cry emoticon*

A Certain Story Teller: BOI WE THE DEPRESSED DUO.

A Certain Hateful Person: *sings* Hello Darkness my old friend…I've come to talk with you again.

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Mmm, I'm surrounded by these kinds of authors. Can you think of my mental health whenever you remove a story in your library?

Joking aside, I do believe that a good story will always have fans waiting for the author to upload the next chapter everyday. If a story is interesting enough, then having a big collection count is just around the corner.

A gem will always shine once it is discovered, so it's just a matter of time, a bit of luck, and pray to the RNG GODS that your novel will be featured on the trending and daily updates list.

For new authors, their first 100 collection is a milestone. This gives them the assurance that there are people, somewhere out there, that are reading their story. The second milestone is 500 collections, then next 1,000, then 5,000, and finally 10,000.

The moment a story hit a collection count of 10,000, the authors can give themselves a pat on the shoulder because they had crossed a certain threshold. It means that a small minority of people deemed their story to be worth reading.

Of course, it doesn't stop there. There is a certain author in Webnovels that I know that have…millions in his collection.

Perhaps, someday, some of the authors in the discord chatroom will also reach that milestone. Until then, we just have to keep writing, keep improving, and keep making exciting stories that will make people "Want to ADD our stories in their libraries."