Which do you prefer? WN first or Straight to LN?
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I'm just curious as to what everyone else thinks regarding this matter. When I look at my e-reader app from Honto, I can see that roughly 80% of my LN's had a WN before LN publication (and 70% are from Narou where the chapters would remain there after the LN publication). I guess you can call me a cheapskate, but I really do like it better to be able to read at least more than half of what an author had written before committing to buying the books, so the Narou model is a better fit for me.
Of course, there are still plenty of straight to LN series that I enjoy a lot, especially ones from established authors from the pre-WN era, but still, I find it a bit hard to just get up and buy a LN without reading at least a substantial amount of the story first. For example, I first considered buying Elf Bride, but decided against it after reading the preview pages available. It wasn't until the manga adaptation that finally convinced me to dive into it.
Then there's the whole Alpha Polis deal that REALLY annoyed me... But that rant is for another day.
I know that most folks around here read exclusively in English, but you can still substitute the WN-first for Fanslation-first when considering this matter.
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WN first means that the LN will be more polished. But I don't really mind either way as long as I find the story interesting.
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I don't think it really matter, but i agree that it's better to read some of it before buying a serie. With JNC it's quite easy to just wait for a catch up or try the serie when it start.
For other publisher it doesn't really matter either, if there's one, i read the fantrad if not i just pirate the first volume and then buy it if i like it. -
I only read LNs, have never read a WN. I also only read pro translations. I’ve reached that stage in my life where time has more value than money so I just can’t deal with crappy translations.
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Never read a WN or a fan TL before, only read officially licensed stuff
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@the-green-death said in Which do you prefer? WN first or Straight to LN?:
I only read LNs, have never read a WN. I also only read pro translations. I’ve reached that stage in my life where time has more value than money so I just can’t deal with crappy translations.
Exactly. I have enough other books to read, games to play, streaming video to watch. Plus I want to support the authors.
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@phione said in Which do you prefer? WN first or Straight to LN?:
Of course, there are still plenty of straight to LN series that I enjoy a lot, especially ones from established authors from the pre-WN era, but still, I find it a bit hard to just get up and buy a LN without reading at least a substantial amount of the story first.
Most LNs will be pirated same day or a few days after release. One could easily read the entire first volume of a series before deciding if they want to spend money on it.
Or, in JNC's case, read the prepubs via membership.I know that most folks around here read exclusively in English, but you can still substitute the WN-first for Fanslation-first when considering this matter.
I look for fanTLs if I hear they're better than an official translation and/or I have certain issues with said official TL. But I wouldn't really go out of my way to look for them otherwise.
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I've had mixed results on WN (and fan translations in general). When I can, I prefer LN vs WN. Partly because once I decide to read more than a few chapters, I want to support the author (and not support pirates) The membership model here at JNC supports that. (Can read pre-pubs before spending any additional $$ on ebooks)
also the quality of LNs are often better than WNs (The original author may have edited/ cleaned up the work, and all too often translations are amateurish or by 'machine' which can be error laden. Of course there are notable exceptions to this rule
for Fan translations, in the past I was a regular at Baka-T. but haven't read much there once I became a member here (at JNC) Baka-T. had quality translations and attributed the works accordingly and took down translations when asked by license holders (I believe so at least) and didn't sell adverts on their site, nor did I discover any malware hidden on their contents/downloads (unlike some other sites that would post others' translations without attribution, or have pop-ups/ annoying banners/ or mal-ware)
so (for me) there are few reasons today to seek out translations of WNs - licensed LN are often readily available and inexpensive, the exception being when the story significantly is different between WN version and LN version - where I might be tempted to read both (i.e. Shield Hero)
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WN is the raw version of the story.
Manga is the intermediate product, an appetiser, a side dish, something that looks good but isn't filling.
LN is the main dish.If manga or WN is good, then I will read LN without a doubt. But I would rarely opt to read a WN if LN is available. Except if the story is too damn good and has completely hooked me in, then I just end up reading both.
I'd read the manga of the LN I am reading, just because it does not take too much time and most of the time is enjoyable. However, when reading manga the reader is very important, CR & j-novel manga readers are annoying to use.
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WNs and bad translators have burned me too much. I stick solely to LNs.
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I mostly just stick to JNC LNs so I can try before I buy and support the industry. I don't want to waste my time with a poor or dropped translation. The only non-JNC LNs I read these days are because I already know the story from an anime and want to know what happens next. That said, I'm greatful to those who do read WNs and then recommend the good ones to JNC to translate the LN.
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If there is a official LN translation I don’t even look at WNs, if I’m reading a WN and a LN is announced I drop the WN immediately.
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I'm LN or GTFO pretty much.
The only WN translation I've more than just skimmed would be Re:Zero's one, cause I was hooked post anime & totally had to see what happened next cause of all the tools dropping spoilers everywhere. I justified it as the legit LNs in English were taking forever and I was buying them as they came out anyway, so I felt morally ok with "peeking ahead". And now they've finally caught up to the anime, season 2 gets announced, whelp!
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i shovel all forms of media straight into my mouth regardless of form(fan translations of WN/LN) doesnt matter, heck even MTL's. especially if i know that the pro official translation is going to take a minimum of years(assuming it EVER gets officialy done).
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I don't bother with fan translations, or even manga anymore, there just isn't enough time and my back log is too long.
I haven't read any fan translations in over a year and any manga in over 2 years. So it's just the official LN's for me now days.
Once I finally catch up (if ever), then I might go back to some fan translations. -
@timmaaah so if you see a good book that's not officially translated you'll wait forever for it.
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@galactuskahn24 I'm basically in the same boat as @Timmaaah but yeah, I'll wait until it gets licensed. Or if I do happen to ever catch up on official LNs, I guess I can read some fan TLs...
I don't get the implication that somehow I'm missing out if I'm not reading the fan TL of a "good book" as opposed to an official LN. I mean, sure, the premise of a given title might be interesting or it might have good word of mouth but until I start reading it, it's not like I'll know for sure if the title really is as good as it sounds or not. Of course, that applies for officially-released LNs, too, so that's where my preference for those comes in.
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@galactuskahn24 It's not that I'll wait forever, it's just that it is a lower priority to read.
I would much rather read the books that I have paid money for than free ones on the internet that are most likely a poor quality MTL. I've read just under 50 books in the last 3 months, so I imagine that I'll get through my back log by the end of the year, so I'll probably start reading fan translations then.
There are still plenty of them that i want to continue reading, like haichinan tte, world teacher, new life+, etc, but I just don't have time at the moment. -
@timmaaah does New Life plus have a web novel/not taken down? I heard some people on the forum spoil some interesting stuff happening in later volumes, then it got canned.
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@galactuskahn24 yeah, the guys that were originally doing the translation, took it down when JNC picked it up. But when JNC said that they had dropped it, they picked it back up again. I've read vol 4 and 5 on it and it wasn't too bad a translation. It's done by the same group that do hachinan tte. If your looking for it, you can get the links through NovelUpdates.
