Expiring Volumes (Light Novels)

Terrence

Expiring May 15th:

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar: Volume 1

Ao Oni: Vengeance (Volume 2)

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 7

Demon King Daimaou: Volume 4

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: Volume 8

Me, a Genius? I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They've Got the Wrong Idea! Volume 1

If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 4

The Faraway Paladin: Volume 4
Arifureta Zero

Definitely reading the bolded. Dunno about Arifureta (I haven't kept up with the main series).

hatguy12

@terrence said in Expiring Volumes!:

Arifureta Zero

Definitely reading the bolded. Dunno about Arifureta (I haven't kept up with the main series).

My two cents: Arifureta Zero was better than Arifureta. It has the world/world-building of Arifureta without Hajime being edgy or the narration randomly interrupting itself to talk about how beautiful his harem is (aka my two biggest pet peeves in the main series). Villains are still 1-dimensional caricatures though.

That said, it's hard to separate motivation for a prequel series from it's main series for me.

sinkingship

wtf? I pay for this stupid scam site when I could just as easily not and the content periodically disappears?
im sort of beyond words right now
like the stuff I'm paying you for is online, elsewhere, for free if I just let my fingers do the walking... but no, I sort of want to "support the cause" or whatever - and you dont even give me access to the content. its like if netflix had a membership fee and also made me pay by the episode.
whatever.
grats you got my 5 dollars.
I hope you enjoy it because you're not getting anymore.

edit: also in my netflix analogy the entirety of the netflix catalogue is behind a curtain that says "Do not look behind pretty please."

Microdynames

@sinkingship They're pretty open with the fact that the sub won't give you more than the two monthly series plus latest prepubs (if you read the How It Works page before subscribing), calling it a scam is pretty harsh. Two full series are also unexpired to become open to read every month, I think $5 for a dozen or two volumes a month isn't too bad. You could really just ignore the subscription and buy books from Amazon like a normal reader to "support the cause" if you still consider the subscription to be poor value.

its like if netflix had a membership fee and also made me pay by the episode

IMO the monthly credit makes it more like Audible's membership, though that's a premium tier thing.

I'll be honest though I agree somewhat in that I really don't think the basic membership is worth it in the long run unless you're the kind of person who doesn't care about being able to read what you want when you want and are happy to just read whatever they decided to make available that month. At least the premium membership will let you 'keep' about two series for yourself. I guess though that if they didn't make it this way they would have trouble convincing people to buy books, or would have to raise the price well beyond $5/mo to stay profitable.

I also agree that at first glance, without actually reading the description of how the site works before going on to subscribe and just skimming through instead, it can be easy to make mistaken assumptions about what exactly the $5 a month is buying. On the "How It Works" page, you actually need to click a "Learn More" to see the "Prepub releases available only until final ebook published, so become a member today!" part of the explanation. Maybe an interface issue to correct, @sam-pinansky

sinkingship

Yup. Completely on me; like I said. Ofc what a reasonable person would assume their five dollars a month would buy them from a place like this (when looking at comparable sites ala crunchyroll or something) has no relation at all to what a person actually receives.

so like i said gg

you got my 5 bucks

fool me once and all that

BartzBB

@sinkingship
The only thing I can say is that you should've asked in the forums first about the whole system before paying. Unfortunately, what's done is done. You should just enjoy the series that still has their volume 1 and wait for the next Catch Up Series next month so that your $5 won't go to waste.

Or you could read Rokujouma since volumes 1-22 will never expire.

Microdynames

@sinkingship Yes, I agree that the existence of Netflix, Crunchyroll etc can lead to mistaken assumptions, which is why I believe the How It Works page needs to be much, much clearer with the "Prepubs only open until final book is published, except when on catchup" part so things like this don't happen. Things would definitely be much simpler if expiry didn't happen at all, but most of the profit probably comes from people buying books on Amazon so they wouldn't want to cut into that.

Steelblaidd

@bartzbb
Reading Rokujouma is worth it anyway.

Paul Nebeling

@sinkingship One wonders if you realize how little $5 actually buys you in this day and age. I'm equating you to someone that has a free CR subscription, then complains about the advertising. All of us, even the Premium members, live with the same title availability. The benefit of membership is being able to read the prepub and then deciding if you want to buy the ebook or not. Catchup months are icing on the cake.

As for me, I'm a Premium member, and I greatly appreciate both the free credit every month, and the $1 discount on additional credits. Not to mention that the Premium E-books here are both less expensive and have bonus content than what you get from the retailers. Almost makes me feel like I'm in Japan getting bonus content from bookstores.

And since I'm building a library that will include well over 100 volumes, that "measly" $1 discount adds up quick. I've already spent at least $80 extra on credits. Rokujouma and Smartphone both have a lot of volumes.

The business model is to translate and sell books that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day in English speaking countries. Without @sam-pinansky we would all be at the mercy of Yen Press.

Microdynames

@paul-nebeling To play the devil's advocate, it's still an easy enough mistake to make if you don't read the "How It Works" page closely, owing to the existence of such subscription services as Crunchyroll, Netflix and Kindle Unlimited which grant access to the whole catalog for a single monthly fee. One might reasonably expect the J-novel club "streaming" service to function similarly at first glance were it not to be made absolutely clear up front that it does not. One might then understandably feel somewhat sore having one's expectations turn out to be short of the mark having already paid for the service.

sinkingship

@Paul-Nebeling
Here's the experience I had with this site:

My favorite fan translator says "pop on by those guys are doing something cool and we should support it"
I click on volume one of something I've read a dozen times before; but what the heck sometimes fan tl and official tl are different
15 minutes later, I hit the paywall - "click this button to become a member" it says.
So I do that.
Oh. Whoops. Turns out that doesn't actually let me continue reading.
...that's not misleading at all

All in all it was a 10/10 experience.

And you say at the mercy of yen press like it's a bad thing. Up until today I've bought every light novel I own from Yen Press and I have four more on pre-order right now. Mostly because they don't charge me a subscription for the privilege of ...???
i dunno what this thing I paid for does...
Allows me to jump in at volume 12? Because that's right where anyone would want to start reading I guess.

Rahul Balaggan

@sinkingship you could just buy the ebooks instead of the subscription, if you feel cheated out of money just email support@j-novel.club and ask for a refund cause you jumped on a sub too fast.

As for being at the mercy of yen press I am on the side of more light novels overseas fast and well translated, so JNC all the way Yen press is a stain on the overseas light novel fan.

myskaros

@sinkingship That was similar to my experience, though I did some research before pulling the trigger on the membership.

Anyway, while this won't wipe away your bad experience, know that each month a couple series are on "catch up," meaning members can read all volumes that were released for that series. Only a few days left in March, but right now it's Arifureta and Infinite Dendrogram. Soon we'll know what's on offer for April, so it might be the series you want to read.

To look at it from the other side, JNC is still new enough that giving members infinite access to the entire backlog could easily result in people signing up for 1-3 months, reading everything, then canceling. This isn't great when they're looking for sustained memberships. But yeah, I don't think the current model is great either.

To sum up, I completely agree that this model is counterintuitive and the website needs to be fatally clear that you cannot read non-catch up prepubs with a membership.

Paul Nebeling

@sinkingship I can understand your frustration. When I first got here, less than a year ago, they weren't doing catchup months. I had to debate which ebook I wanted to buy to start reading the series. Several of them were at volume 4 or 5. I honestly can't remember. Then came the first anniversary catchup.

Prepubs for the first five series that were licensed were made available. I tore thru two series that I really wanted to read, and by them, it was getting close to the end of the month, so I had to pick one of the remaining three. How did I chose? I read the first part of the first volume. Overall, I was happy, and pretty much still am.

I honestly don't know what you were expecting when you arrived. Obviously, what you found wasn't what you were expecting. That happens sometimes. It doesn't make what is offered here a bad deal. I've been to movies that I wish I could have gotten my money back afterwards. That's just how life works sometimes.

As far as YP goes, I really don't have any overt beef with them. I do have two issues with them, which are more business decisions on their part than anything else. First is speed of translation. They translate three volumes a year. Period. After getting used to seeing 4-5 volumes a year here, it's underwhelming. We won't mention the prepubs that come out almost weekly. Second is since they are majority owned by Kadokawa, it means that a good percentage of their titles are Kadokawa, and (and this is more of an issue with Kadokawa) outside of YP, noone can license Kadokawa titles. Sins of the parent company, if you will. Enough about that. P.S. I do buy two titles from YP.

In the end, I will say this. Getting the most out of a JNC membership really does require some flexibility in what you're reading. Pick up the new acquisitions and reread along. Binge Read the current catchup titles. Read the preview parts and buy the ebooks that interest you. Or just buy credits and buy the ebooks you want. Credits here are cheaper (generally) than what you would pay for a retail ebook, and generally come with something extra.

The most important thing, whether from this site or a retail outlet, is to support the authors and buy their books.

</soapbox>

Microdynames

@sinkingship said in Expiring Volumes!:

i dunno what this thing I paid for does...
Allows me to jump in at volume 12? Because that's right where anyone would want to start reading I guess.

The subscription has two very niche functions:

Allows people who are already caught up on the latest volumes to read a new part every week instead of waiting for 8-10 weeks to buy it. That's all, it's just a 'official' paid version of how fan translators release parts regularly instead of one volume at a time that sends some royalties back to the authors, with the caveat that stuff expires a few weeks after the book is finished and you don't get to read it after that unless you put a credit towards owning it.
Additionally it opens two different series every month to read from start to end to let people pick up new things.
Gives people access to the noDRM epub store which have some bonuses.

Honestly majority of J-Novel Club readers probably don't care for the subscription and just buy the books on Amazon, and I myself am of the opinion that the base tier subscription which does not include monthly credit or discounts on more credits is almost useless for anyone who cares even the slightest about permanency. All I can do is concur with @Rahul-Balaggan and suggest you request a refund via the support email.

To take a diversion, may I presume it was hikokitranslations which brought you here?

sinkingship

@Microdynames isekai soul-cyborg actually - calling them my favorite fan translator was a bit of an overstatement but I love me some hyperbole. (yesyes i have bad taste and that makes me a bad person i know)

@Paul-Nebeling

I honestly don't know what you were expecting when you arrived.

I was expecting to read a book. I got through "part 1" of volume one and a big flashing "pay now" button popped up. I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation that once you get through the teaser chapter and are prompted to pay that you might get to continue reading past the teaser after paying lol

My bad for not reading exactly what I was paying for. But since I paid for it and I'm here I will comment that what I paid for is pretty much legitimately nothing. (Access to a store? Really? A subscription store front? ...just lol) And I would feel much less like i had been deceived if instead of linking me to the option to subscribe it had linked me to a patreon for the site since that seems to be what the subscription is.

Microdynames

@sinkingship

But since I paid for it and I'm here I will comment that what I paid for is pretty much legitimately nothing. (Access to a store? Really? A subscription store front? ...just lol)

Right now subscribers actually have 100% access to all of Infinite Dendrogram and Arifureta which has been translated so far because those two series are on the catchup rotation and will be there for the next couple of weeks or so until the cycle shifts to another two, so that's about 10 volumes of stuff for those two series.

So you could try reading all of those, in addition to those volume 1s which have yet to expire (things like Infinite Stratos 1, Hyakuren 1, Nidome no Jinsei 1 and Isekai Tensai 1) to get the most out of your $5, even if you weren't interested in them before they might surprise you, who knows.

I guess, maybe you could spin reading 14 volumes for $5 as being not an absolutely terrible scam-tier deal with the catch that they're not permanent, given that the $5 is already spent.

As for the subscription store front, it helps a little that aside from no DRM that they often come with Japanese store exclusives added in, and are cheaper which adds up over time and eventually outweighs the subscription cost (only if you're on the premium tier though, again to reiterate I think the basic subscription is silly). I do see your point however.

They did ask in the big survey a few months back if they should make it possible to purchase the books from them without having a subscription but at a higher price, I don't know what the results were or if they ever plan to change it since I'm guessing at the moment it functions as an incentive to get more people to subscribe, or maybe the Japanese publishers told them to keep the store exclusives exclusive /wildspeculation

And I would feel much less like i had been deceived if instead of linking me to the option to subscribe it had linked me to a patreon for the site since that seems to be what the subscription is

I get the feeling that Japanese publishers would take the company less seriously if they relied on a Patreon to handle monthly contributions lol. Patreon being another middleman also takes their own big-ass cut of the proceeds leaving less to split between J-Novel Club, the Japanese publisher and the author. I do get what you're saying however.

isekai soul-cyborg actually

Nothing wrong with that!

Terrence

@terrence said in Expiring Volumes!:

Expiring May 15th:

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar: Volume 1

Ao Oni: Vengeance (Volume 2)

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 7

Demon King Daimaou: Volume 4

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: Volume 8

Me, a Genius? I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They've Got the Wrong Idea! Volume 1

If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 4

The Faraway Paladin: Volume 4
Arifureta Zero

Definitely reading the bolded. Dunno about Arifureta (I haven't kept up with the main series).

Decisions decisions. Ragnarok or Grimgar or Me a Genius first? Dunno if I'm going to drop Walking My Second Path in Life. Just a lot to read.

Falcade

Hey, new member here. Are these actually when the prepub parts expire? I thought they would expire as soon as they got published. For example, Infinite Stratos says that the prepub will expire in 5 days, but its not on the April list on this post. Which one do I believe??

As a side question, do members ever get access to the color illustrations at the beginning of the book without purchasing a credit?

Rahul Balaggan

@falcade these lists are (for the most part) up to date.

Infinite Stratos shouldn’t be expiring in 4 days (unless it’s some very special circumstance)

Typically the prepubs won’t expire until after the ebook has been released, in this case IS V1 comes out April 16 so for all intents and purposes IS V1 prepubs will be pulled from the subscription on ~~May 15.~~ June 15

Members do not get access to the color inserts unless they get the ebook so either they buy from one of the ebook retailers or you use a premium credit.