[IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025
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@morbelek said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
They have also given notice. They have sent out emails, held a stream, even posted on their website. I personally saw the stream and got the email before the October 3rd date.
I have received absolutely no notice and was on a premium subscription, I've upgraded but this has me significantly disgruntled. I only ever noticed because I visited the site today (usually use the app)
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@ShakyrNvar said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
If they want to access to Readers Library, they have to pay 42% more than the old Premium Subscription.
Imo the price hikes are fine in isolation, it's objectively still a good deal (the extra coins each month alone making it "cheaper" than the regular subscription tiers if you are someone who would have bought those coins anyway) but the lack of proper notice ahead of time really doesn't sit right with me at all and is something I will not excuse a second time.
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Plenty has already been said, so I'll just provide additional votes for the key items from my perspective.
@admin The communication lack was the biggest negative with this whole thing. With it not on the official site in any official manner until after the change became effective, and email notifications relying on the newsletter opt-in, this was guaranteed to be a mess. Specific to emails for future reference, this is why 99% of companies have separate toggles in email preferences for notification of terms and other critical items separate from marketing (aka newsletter) opt-ins - please put this on the list to get implemented.
Regarding the new Reader memberships, yes they are great for anyone who doesn't buy books. JNC can get a little something for series that have passed their sales prime, and people who don't want to buy can Reader subscribe permanently and have access to all those complete titles and all future additions of older series.
What saddens me about the new tiers how nonsensically Premium was wrecked. Not only did the currently paid for Premium subscriptions get value removed from them (the top discount is why my subscription was on auto-renewal), but there is no equivalent replacement in the tiers for what was lost. Why did Premium Club not retain the 15% discount, and/or why is the new Reader option the one with it instead?
Premium Club isn't really premium because of this, and doesn't give the urge to upgrade from standard Club like it did in the previous model. Buyers don't need Reader, so giving Reader a better discount seems to be for show - more personally it is felt as being penalized for being a Premium member for many years and buying over 1400 JNC novels instead of just reading them.
I realize I am a minority group of members here with my library size, but you really don't want me to maintain a Premium membership at all with this change. I'll leave my 9 months of remaining legacy Premium active until we get some official word of how annual legacy membership upgrades/downgrades will be handled. The remaining thing I am questioning is whether paying $5/month after that specifically to gain access to the marketing I do use (volume 1 pre-pubs of new series to see if I want to add the series to my buy list) is worth it or if I should drop to Amazon reviews or something once the books are out. I feel like I've got a black eye and a couple busted ribs from how this change was handled so yes I am a little gun shy now.
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@Cryten said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
Im not particularly fond of the credit I earned from last months premium subscription being not enough to buy a book this month. And finding out about it after the price change went through. No before price change get it while you can event, which would of softened it all.
The actual price change I do not mind. Just that month not equalling a book credit despite that being its purpose.
JNC previously advertised "Premium Members get 699 Coins every month to download a Premium light novel directly from J-Novel Club" which implies they will be able to spend those monthly benefits on a whole premium book.
As such it would be reasonable for anyone who did not spend their JNC premium credit to request a refund on the premium they paid for premium if they wish to downgrade or cancel their premium tier and have unspent monthly premium coins in exchange for returning those coins.
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i've been a premium member for a couple of years now, with my main purpose to read the catchup books that i like every month. now i have to spend $170 some a year to do read some books every month for the same and am finding about the financial impact after the fact instead of like a month ahead of time?
i get there was a youtube video or something, but i avoid youtube, why would it not be on the front page here instead as big news?
Now i contemplate downgrading or cancelling entirely ( i went ahead and cancelled the membership i had since 2023.) not worth it anymore. Honestly heartbreaking. This website and the series carried me through some tough times.
i have to find light novels elsewhere. i do have a lirbrary around the corner. this is mentally exhausting.
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@subarctic said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
So my understanding of this is that, for those on the "Legacy" Premium Annual Plan, it's better to just stay on the current Legacy plan? Switching to the "new" Premium Annual Plan is $12/year more, gives 1200 coins/year more, but we can spend $12 to get 1333 coins.
depends: when is your renewal date? also depends on if you care about catchups? if so - you can upgrade and get pro-rated credit for however much is left of your annual subscription (pay slightly less for premium+reader annual than otherwise) , if (like me) premium annual is about having access to pre-pubs, allotment of coins, and access to forums, just leave it alone (renew when the time comes into the new premium plan, not the premium + reader plan) and pay the $12 more a year
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@eroschilles said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
i've been a premium member for a couple of years now, with my main purpose to read the catchup books that i like every month.
This should have never been why you were premium instead of normal member. With that reasoning, you were overpaying for no reason to begin with. So I am unsure why you care about a price change now.
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I think I've adjusted to the new tiers.
Premium has kinda became a dead end, both Premium Club and Premium Club Legacy. If you miss Catch Up AND you like using coins to buy favored books and get all their premium content, or just to read all the other 293 series that are not part of the Readers Library, then Premium Readers Club is the way to go.
If you don't care about bonus book material and are happy for now reading the 44 full series in the Readers Library list and the 21 partial series (ie first three volumes are free to read), then Readers Club is probably where you want to be. But you may want to go month to month so you can easily upgrade in the future.
Also, if you have accumulated so many coins that you're concerned about inflation reducing their value, you should probably coast on Readers Club for a while and spend out your reserves.
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After reading this thread, I agree with many of the opinions given. I would have expected to have been informed of major upcoming changes at least a month prior as well as given a choice to move existing subscriptions to a new plan or cancel them with a pro-rated discount. The way this change has been handled is highly unprofessional and reflects poorly on Kadokawa, as they're ultimately responsible for your actions.
The majority of what I have been reading has been catch-up series, so I am losing my main reason to be using this service. I grew up reading printed novels, so I personally prefer reading full volumes over reading a chapter at a time. This is is why I hadn't used this service until recently, as I was rightly under the impression that the focus here is on reading chapters as they release. This is a valuable service for many, it makes sense to focus on your strengths and I'm sure you have thousands that love what you provide, but it just isn't for me.
I started an annual Premium subscription back on July 30th as the terms offered seemed to have good value and I thought locking in a year would be a good way to support the company. With this change I'm essentially paying $10 a month to get 699 coins and am locked in for 9 more months. That doesn't even buy me a single e-book each month and I'd much rather just go to my local bookstore and buy a physical book for $10. To be completely honest, at this point, I don't even want to spend the coins currently sitting in my account. It kinda feels like I got scammed, even though I know that wasn't your intention.
Honestly, I think most people would have been perfectly fine with both the price increase as well as a change in what the subscriptions offered if it had been done in a more professional manner. I hope you can do better going forward and will provide a positive experience to your current and future customers.
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I started a new topic w/ a suggestion : but I can't imagine it hurts to post it here also:
my anniversary month is May, so I essentially pre-paid for the next 7 (8?) months of my premium membership; however, my membership grants an allowance benefit of 699 credits, and a ebook now costs 799. JNC should honor the terms (at least the implied terms) that a membership includes enough coins to purchase an ebook per month.
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JNC should honor prices of ebooks (1 per month) for premium annual members for the remainder of the subscription year. Alternately, JNC should add a credit of 100 coins per month remaining to accounts of annual premium members to 'make them whole'
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a nice thing to do, (in addition) would be grant members that pre-paid annual memberships access to reader library for the remainder of the annual term (until their respective anniversaries) - this would lessen the 'sting' of losing catch-ups to those who valued that, and encourage upgrading to premium+ reader when they renew at anniversary time
I know the cost is going up when I renew next year, but the value of what I already 'own' for the remainder of my membership subscription should not be eroded. I am not talking about legal terms and conditions or EULAs, or what a member is 'entitled' to. I'm talking about what likely feels right for member community
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Thanks for implementing the price changes before actually posting on the front page or emailing about changes. All my saved coins just became 15% more worthless but cool, we still get a book worth per month with a 10% price increase.
Even steel and fastener suppliers I barely use for work are capable of giving 3 months notice of price increases across the board. It’s an email list. It’s not hard. Take all the crap you just wrote for the website, dump into email. Done.
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@sygish They did. I received an email from them about a week ago.
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@Nubz_Unite I and many others in this thread didn’t.
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@Nubz_Unite the email was part of the regular newsletter, if you aren't subscribed to it (or the youtube channel), you didn't get a notification about this change
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@Neshura-0 said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
@Nubz_Unite the email was part of the regular newsletter, if you aren't subscribed to it (or the youtube channel), you didn't get a notification about this change
yes, a definite mis-step
- JNC has a "BLOG" link on their home page - where they list what is on catchup every month *(and where they posted the changes after they happened) they could have posted something there
- I believe every JNC member has an email address linked to their account / billing info (you know they can reach you if a credit card transaction doesn't go through) they could've send the details out ahead of time
I want to offer constructive suggestions on how to move forward instead of piling on complaints:
- maybe expand the "blog' section - make it 'news and announcements' I know you can't announce things before they are official - but as soon as you can - get stuff out there
- archive the newsletters, and include a link to them on the homepage (and make that easy to find) as opposed (in addition) to just an opt-in email
- post an article (as a blog post? in a newsletter? in a forum?) where is some of the money going? We all know the 'cost of business' is continuing to go up, professional translators and editors need to be paid, no one wants MTL/ChatGPT based translations/localizations of LNs, licenses cost more$, websites cost more$, corporate overlords have demands- let us know where some of the money is going and we'll feel better about paying an extra couple of dollars a month
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@sygish Okay, I was just correcting you on saying that they didn't send an email out. They did, you didn't receive it. but there was an email.
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To be honest, I didn't find the video very explanatory, and the looping background music was too loud, distracting, and made it difficult to follow what was being said.
Also there were only 60 people watching it live according to the stats window that came up at one point.
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@Nubz_Unite I don’t care that they sent an email to other members. I care they didn’t deem it necessary to send myself and other 8 year paying customers an email. Like others said, this wasn’t an advertising email. It was a major change of terms. Good for you though, opting out of extra marketing emails is usually a good thing.
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