Premium content idea.
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I don’t really how how possible this would be, but since I found out that you can’t get the premium content without buying the full book on this site, I began to wonder whether or not there should be an option akin to DLC for JNC novels.
Let me explaining a better way; so you know how a bunch of the games on the AppStore have extra content that can be purchased in game? It’s similar with buying a season of a show from iTunes. You can buy the season all at once or stagger out the purchase over time until you have all the episodes.
Surely this means there is a system in place for this kind of situation; a program in the AppStores code that allows for purchase to unlock the complete experience. Can we do that for the Premium Content?
True, the way I make it sound would make the Premium Content seem less special if it can be bought on the store, and J-Novel Club will in theory lose money this way, but there is a bright side to this.
Let’s say that in exchange for unlocking Premium Content on Non-Premium Purchases the consumer is paying $1 USD. How would this affect the sales of Premium Content for the JNC?
Well let me just say that I have every so far released copy of Smartphone, Realist Hero, Arifueta, If it’s for my Daughter, Mixed Bathing, My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World and Little Apocalypse. For those of you keeping track at home, that (at time of typing) is 40 separate books. Not a single one of which are the Premium Versions of which.Which sounds more like a person would buy; 40 $7 Premium Editions of books that a person already has which totals at $280 or 40 $1 additions to what they already have that total at $40? It’s simple math yeah?
This doesn’t just apply to me. A lot of people don’t have $280 just sitting around that they would happily spend to buy something they already bought a cent cheaper with a bit less content. If they want to read the content but don’t have the money, than that content won’t be sold to them right? If they can’t buy the content, they may go somewhere like a pirating site and look for the content there, find the books they want to read later in the future that they were going to budget their money for later, and then just go to the pirating site around the time one of the releases comes out.
Not everyone has $280 just on hand, but a lot more people have $40 on hand. By allowing what I’ll be referring to from now on as ‘Premium Cents’ to be purchased that can be redeemed on this site, an update can be sent to previously purchased content after purchasing the additional content that would have come with the regular Premium purchase.
I do admit that I’m not likely the first person to bring this up on this site, so it’s not likely to go through because to a lot of people one $7 sale is worth more than eight $1 sales, but I just wanted to give my two cents about how I would make it easier on not only the customer but the marketer.
Someone please let me know if I am overstepping my post with this one. I’m an idea person and opinions matter a lot to me, so if this seems possible or even reasonable to anyone, than I’d like to know.
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I don’t know like how would royalties work in this situation, we know that when the amazon sale happened a while back JNC took the monetary hit, if people could pay a dollar per Volume already owned on another e-book seller to get premium editions that would be a new sale of the book and then they would take another hit.
Also I don’t know how the Japanese publishers would take it, especially when it comes to the bonus stories. Even SS couldn’t get bonus stories for the physical editions, the publishers wanna keep the special stuff on lock down, and I get that, after all if anyone anywhere could get it then it’s not a special bonus anymore.
Plus let’s not forget one of the biggest hurdles, actually checking that people own the books and thereby qualify for this supposed special pricing, there could be a lot of negatives from time it takes to verify from people who buy a book get a receipt show it get a premium edition and then return it to amazon and such for an immediate refund.
I can’t say I know it all and I may just sound negative but I just feel like it won’t happen.
Sorry but J-Novel Club does not publicly comment on any potential licensing decision or acquisitions.
J-Novel Club, Future Volume Release Schedule
Manga FAQ
Premium Content List -
It is most likely impossible to implement such a system since from what I know in Japan you normally need to buy the limited edition of a book or buy a one copy of a book from different stores just to get all the bonus content.
You can say we are already lucky enough that we only need to buy one copy to get all bonus content while the Japanese people need to buy one copy of the book for each bonus content.
JNC LN Ranking:
1st - Rokujouma
2nd - Realist Hero
3rd - Bookworm -
If you want an answer directly from Sam (the founder), then ask it on https://curiouscat.me/jnovelclub
He answers just about everything people ask him, and there are some very interesting things in there.
Personally I agree with you in that it would be awesome to pay for discounted access to premium content of books I bought elsewhere (Amazon, BookWalker, etc). I just don’t know how it would work in practice. -
@rahul-balaggan See, the ‘checking’ part is the beauties of it. I think I mentioned using an Update system to it right? Well if they don’t have the content, than they can’t get the update right? Makes sense to me.
I can understand how creators are with their content. I can actually agree with a lot of that kind of idea. People buy special editions just for bonus content after all. I feel this is very similar to how it is here on JNC already. -
@bartzbb Ah right... the ‘Glass Houses’ approach to it. Taking things for granted and looking for faults may be how I actually seem in this post huh... I can get that...
I know next to nothing about programming or about editing. I do understand marketing which is why I brought up the weight between $280 and $40. A lot more people are willing to part with $40 than they are with $280.
If JNC bring that up to the original publishers, I’m sure they will at least consider it. -
@legitpancake So I left a message to the guy on Curious Cat, but I didn’t sign in before hand (or even have an account till just a few minutes ago). Do I need to rewrite the message I sent to him?
It will be a difficult system to implement, but if time is money, than I feel this will definitely be worth the effort. Again, a lot more people are willing to part with $40 than $280...
JNC could also make it so that if you buy the book from another location (iBook, Amazon, etc.) that you can only purchase the premium updates from this site. That way they are making sells whether from the Premium Content sold for the copy or from the Premium Update sold to complete the story. -
@oathkeeper95 The beauty of Curiouscat is that you never need to create an account and can just ask all your questions anonymously.
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Yeah, let's not have the horrible spiral of DLC enter here, please. I like just paying a sub and buying books to all that.
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I do not like the "DLC plan" The bonus stuff is for the ppl who support JNC directly and buy Directly. I have mixed feelings about how JNCs Credit system works like how you need to be a member to use credits that are yours (You should be able to redeem credits you got as a member even if you lose membership). I do not mind as much that you need to be a member to purchase credits and this directly supports JNC.
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@drone205 said in Premium content idea.:
I have mixed feelings about how JNCs Credit system works like how you need to be a member to use credits that are yours (You should be able to redeem credits you got as a member even if you lose membership).
I believe there are workarounds for this if you let your sub lapse and have credits to spend, but don't want to resub.
Ask @aruseus493
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I see one big problem with this idea. I assume the japanese license holders don't want this. This is only an assumption but normally you need to have the ok from the original publisher for the content of the book. I assume JNC got te right for those Bonus contents (which were in some cases Store exclusiv) only for their premium epubs.
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"Why would anyone pay $280 when they could pay $40?"
Oathkeeper, you are looking at it wrong.
"Why should JNC sell something for $40 when people are happy to pay $280?"
All of the legal/licensing reasons aside of why your idea might not be possible- there might be some $digit between where there may be incremental sales- I don't know
I read banned books
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@jon-mitchell So you are saying you are willing to pay $280 to buy something you already have with a few less pages instead of paying $40 for those extra pages? People have bills and food and stuff they also need to pay for, so by cutting down the cost of a product, they can sell more of that product.
I learned all this from my father who (outside of specific inventory) sells his product at the lowest it can be sold at (usually ~20 cents). He not only sells more than any of his competitors on his own, but also makes more money through people buying from him over and over again.
Besides, buying the premium update would just be a way to show the consumer that there is a cheaper way to get their books with the premium content; buying from this site.
Those are three of the secrets of marketing; Sell cheap to build trust, Show that you have what the customer is looking for and Interest them in upcoming or current product.
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@oathkeeper95 said in Premium content idea.:
@jon-mitchell So you are saying you are willing to pay $280 to buy something you already have with a few less pages instead of paying $40 for those extra pages?
Before anything let me say that I am an accountant and I look at every single penny that I spend in the most frugal way possible.
That said when it comes to the media I enjoy logic goes out the window. I would like to think I make sound logical and economical decisions in all my spending but even I have double dipped when it came to manga and light novels.
I own many digital copies of manga that I also have physical copies on (for various reasons depending on the series) I also own V1 of every single one of JNC’s relase on Kinde as well as buying them all on the site.
Even though I only read the premium edition I still buy any first volume on kindle, and I own all the physical ones SS sells, so that’s like triple dipping.
And I am sure I am not alone as a double dipping buyer.
Sorry but J-Novel Club does not publicly comment on any potential licensing decision or acquisitions.
J-Novel Club, Future Volume Release Schedule
Manga FAQ
Premium Content List -
@rahul-balaggan ... I didn’t think about the people whose wallets are attached to their wrists...
Good to know that even people with big jobs like that enjoy otaku culture though.
I think we should both walk away with saying ‘we both talk sense’. Savy?
