[IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025
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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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G GeorgeMTO referenced this topic on
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I understand you won't care in a meaningful way, but I can't stress how much I hate all the coins I've gotten from years of premium membership losing 15% of their buying power without any notice unless I was following the marketing communications.
When you raised the price in 2023 you sent me an email!
I wouldn't even know why my subscription stopped next month if I hadn't come to try and find out if the catchup titles were bugged or late or something.
I don't have any issues with the price increase. Losing 6 books worth of coins with no heads up feels like a scam.
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No catch-up, no book a month of coins, reduced discount... No notice given to members that aren't part of the newsletter...
That's egregious. Horrid. And unacceptable. My coins from last month that I was saving for the next volume of Exp is Golden will now not be enough. And catch-up, which was the entire reason I first subscribed, is gone without any favorable changes to compensate... Instead I have to pay even more for an arguably worse option... Yeah I guess I'm downgrading.
What the hell guys? Why did you neuter the plan with functionally 0 notice and without a single benefit? Why did our legacy subs still get neutered too? We lose 5% of our discount, 15% of our current wallet, and catch-up and are told to spend more money for literally less than what we could buy directly with the difference. It's laughably bad how this was handled.
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Had there been a Premium Reader option for $12 a month, I.e: 15% discount, 799 coins, access to reader catalogue, but no prepubs, then maybe your customers would have been less upset about how this was handled...
Losing catchups hurt, man.
I follow a ton of series and I personally see value in a permanent reader catalogue... But if this bad taste sticks in my mouth, and I stop enjoying your products as a result of how this was handled, then I might end up dropping my j-novel subscription and read epubs from Libby instead.
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I'm not particularly bothered by losing catch-ups. It's been months since I've found something I wanted on catch-ups, so my value for subscription isn't changing much except that the price of books is going up. I'm mostly here for the prepubs anyway.
That said, I'm with others that this should have been announced better. It's not a great first impression if the first time I hear about changes is people raising concerns or complaining about the changes, before I see any official announcement of what the changes are.
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@Phabiohost said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
What the hell guys? Why did you neuter the plan with functionally 0 notice and without a single benefit? Why did our legacy subs still get neutered too? We lose 5% of our discount, 15% of our current wallet, and catch-up and are told to spend more money for literally less than what we could buy directly with the difference. It's laughably bad how this was handled.
Not sure what exactly you mean here but at least the way I see it the premium subs still have their value if you assume the coins from Premium will be bought anyway:
Club vs. Premium Club:
Club + 799 Coins: 4.95$ + 7.99$ = 12.94$
Premium Club (which also has a 10% discount): 11.95$Price Difference Club compared to Premium Club: 0.99$ / 7.9% more expensive
Readers Club vs. Premium Readers Club:
Readers Club + 799 Coins: 7.95$ + 7.99$ * 0.95 = 15.54$
Premium Readers Club (with an 10% additional discount over Readers Club): 14.95$Price Difference Readers Club compared to Premium Readers Club: 0.59$ / 3.9% more expensive
These differences arguably aren't much but a 4%/8% saving isn't exactly no value either. On top every coin purchase over the 799 coins included anyway makes the Premium tiers more beneficial due to the discounts.
On the other hand I agree about the lack of notice, something like that should not happen and imo some form of compensation to those affected would go a long way in repairing trust.
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@Lacin well written.
Since I frequently visit the forums for small talk here and there I have also followed this thread and over the past days this and that thought also crossed my mind.
Overall, the sudden changes and >>miscommunication<< which I want to call it, are leaving with me overall a very bitter taste with J-Novel Club. It is not the first time that I am not happy. Which makes it even worse considering my support for JNC, where I think the translations made are in quality better than what I could get from other translators and publishers.
As mentioned before, I feel similar put off like back then, when it changed from 1 credit = 1 book to the coin system. I faintly recalled that we were rushed to exchange the coins as well, otherwise they would become invalid? Either way, is a bad memory I am not thinking enough about it.
By the end of the day I can also say: the change in pricing is probably the least issue here.
The coin system was introduced back then in anticipation, something like this would happen eventually in the future. And I still got my coins. They are not being taken away. It is just that the prices of books have risen.
Therefore I can accept my own fault for the static thinking that every month I get coins worth a book <=> 1 book every month as part of the subscription.
However.
This miscommunication in part of the sudden change effectively devalued the subscription I have already paid for. Alright - that might be, again, - debatable since the amount of coins did not change - but the price for books definitely did.
Which is absolutely infuriating, because if I knew about the change beforehand, I would have spent my coins and books and still got the value I had before 699 coins = 1 book.
Even that would have angered me a lot, because it is the same push to "spend your credits on books, or they become worthless" - the only difference is just that there has been no warning beforehand and I can only react in form of my complaint here.
Would I still be angry if I had been informed two, or better four weeks in advance? Yes. But not as much as not having the chance to redeem the coins for books in the 699 = 1 book ratio.
Personally I like to think, instead of the legacy subscription silent change, the right way for JNC to do it would have been either
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cancel the subscription altogether, so people with annual subscriptions get a refund and a change to decide whether they want to continue with a new subscription and exchange their coins as long as the ratio is 699 = 1 book
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change the annual subscription to a new one but giving the current subscribers additional coins to make up for it for the length of the rest of their current ongoing subscription
Putting the problem with communication all aside, that would have made me a happy understanding continous subscriber which I could fully support and recommend to new customers. The experience of this silent change which only seemingly gives me disadvantage does the exact opposite of that.
Another thing which personally bothers me is the explaination regarding pricing.
It might be not a big thing, but I feel it is worth mentioning. Maybe it is due to currency differences, but when JNC mentioned the prices of their books have been risen elsewhere too - I nodded in understanding at first for the price changes. But then I looked closer into it at amazon.de where I got my books mainly, because they have been always cheaper there. I still happen to find manx titles cheaper there. It is no big discount, but the pricing is not... what is the English word? Unitly? As in: all the same - e.g. one series I am reading has the pricing of their books 6,76 , 6,81 , 6,84 - some other have even a whole EUR or more discount despite there is no same sale on JNC.
I do not know the mechanics behind it, but it gives an additional bitter taste, thinking that the pricing reasoning of JNC is not as solid as they made it sound. In addition to that, the main reason I prefer buying my ebooks here than rather elsewhere has been diminished greatly with so many titles I have been reading not getting any bonus materials.
I mean that was always the main argument for me to say: buying at JNC is worth it! because you not only get it DRM-free but also get bonus material you would not get anywhere else.
@Jon-Mitchell I definitely support your suggestions. Especially your ideas regarding how JNC should improve their communications and make up for what happened.
Maybe the fault lies entirely with me as well. I mean in how I see JNC.
I have mentioned it before that I see myself as a supporter, probably moreso than just a customer as subscriber. I have always the image of JNC being a team of publisher and translators with the passion to bring us Japanese light novels in high quality as a form of entertainment we had not before.
I see them as grown from a small team to a big and significant market share, where I still nowadays think that the Japanese translated light novel market would not exist as it is today, so many competitors, if it was not for JNCs first bold steps.
I was really happy when thinks took off awesomely with obvious picks like Bookworm or Apothecaries Diary - back then I did not even know JNC is part of the Kadokawa group and I found out about that with surprise just earlier.
In my image JNC was strongest by being close to its supporters and fans who came along for the ride - I mean I recognise a lot of users with whom I have interacted five years ago, them still being subscribers to this day.
But if JNC is really all that, would it have made this sort of miscommunication error?
Mayhaps it is just me who feels that way.
So therefore it is my own fault for thinking like that.But you know what: the world is bad enough people just complaining and being toxic over the smallest things in the internet, that I am not in the mood to be more angry than pissed off (the bad thing, not the good thing). I still got the coins, and if I treat it as pseudo-currency, for what it is, I cannot say I lost anything. It is like holding back money to buy later just to find out there has been a price increase. The money is not gone. But it is annoying like hell to miss out on the price I was counting them for, and I cannot exchange the pseudo currency back into actual money, hence my two suggestions from before.
By the end of the day I just wish for maybe two things
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JNC apologizing for their miscommunication
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JNC improving on that topic moving forward
We here, who are writing and reading this stuff at the forums, are doing it because we care.
We could have just unsubscribe and not say a word, but instead we give feedback.
I am just worried at the moment that there might be an unknown number of subscribers who did not get any news at all about the change. Because I definitely would have not known if I did not visit the forums.
And I wonder: is JNC really okay to go on without correcting the matter?
Just imagine how they will feel without any communication. In fact, all I have is just in the form of the forums as well, as there was no other information so far...
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Hello,
I am not going to stop the criticism aimed at J-Novel Club.
What I am going to stop is attacks on fellow users. Please keep any comments aimed at the company, not each other.
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So as not to momentarily confuse people…
@Rahul-Balaggan said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
Hello,
I am going to stop the criticism aimed at J-Novel Club.
Give what you said below, I assume you meant to put a “not” in that sentence above? (I am not going to stop […])
What I am going to stop is attacks on fellow users. Please keep any comments aimed at the company, not each other.
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@Jon-Mitchell said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
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-
I totally understand all of that, for the new books. It aggravates me to no end that they increase the price for old books too. The cost of "printing" a new copy of an ebook is practically zero. It can be argued that our stack of coins doesn't lose value if the old books' price stays the same. But no, they raise the price of all books, with zero notice on their own website. Even if you somehow caught the YouTube stream, it is only a week notice. It should've been at least a month.
I think I've wait long enough for them to come up with something better than "Too bad you have to suffer from our mistake. Pinky promise we'll do better next time." I used to actively trying to find a series to enjoy from here. Not anymore. They broke my trust. I'll do my best to spend as little as possible from now on. I'm just one customer so they probably won't care (and I still have a lot of coins left), but that's the only thing I can do.
PS. This doesn't apply to me (I only buy epubs), but some of you may want to check your local laws. Microsoft recently annouced that they will increase the price of Xbox Game Pass subscription, but some countries will not be effected for another month or two due to their customer protection laws require sufficient advance notice. No idea how much of that apply here.
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I don't know the sources of all the costs in this particular business- I do have some knowledge about how corporate sales/ hosting/ licensing work - I've been in that biz for decades.
it is a misconception that a ebook (or any software license ) does not have a cost or that it isn't subject to inflation. Systems must be maintained to keep track of licenses, ensure royalties are paid, to host the websites that do e-commerce and all the back office things that 'keep the lights on' to run a business, 'sunk' costs have to be recouped (acquisition costs, licensing costs, legal fees, marketing, etc.- and JNC might sink cost in a number of titles that they don't actually ever acquire - they get outbid or whatever) -sure the incremental cost of the asset being resold for transaction number 10,001 vs number 9,999 may be minimal (pennies even) but if you take the example of a license of Microsoft Windows 11, the first license sold had a 'cost" to Microsoft of many millions of dollars (maybe a billion) and they sold it for $79 to some computer manufacturer to be preinstalled on a pc. Did Microsoft lose money?
I know I'm being longwinded, and I'm not here to be a spokesperson to defend JNC - but if were are going to be critical - let us be critical of things that are real:
- The communication was bungled. members feel blindsided
- folks on annual memberships, and the folks holding on to banks of coins feel they got screwed
- folks that saw catchups as a 'value add' that now have to pay to get that back feel they got screwed
No one is happy when prices go up- I would prefer that my coins were more like US postage "forever stamps' once bought 1 stamp = 1 first class letter, the price might go up in the future, but the stamps I already own don't lose value - but they are not and we knew they weren't - when JNC moved from 1 credit = 1 book to 699 coins = 1 book, we knew that was to allow for price changes later. some books could go 'on sale' and that meant the prices of others could go up, and that also allowed for rentals and maybe in the future other uses for coins (audio books? physical books? trade to other Kadokawa marketplaces? games? media tie-ins?)
Now, what will JNC members do? for me - I'm salty that my coins have less value but I was holding on, waiting for the next sale anyway (Black Friday?) and I feel the most value in the membership is in the pre-pubs not in the catchups so my pain will come when I need to renew my annual membership and I have to do the math and decide if it is worth it for me to stay a premium member of drop to a 'regular' member, if the juice is worth the squeeze....
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@Zarabada-0h92w38 When I looked at this the other day it essentially said you can cancel but if you're on a yearly subscription your cancellation becomes effective at the end of your subscription term. No refund in other words. All I want to do is upgrade to the highest tier and I don't see a way to do that. I emailed support 5 days ago no response. My subscription renewed as yearly in July.
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Hi,
I am looking at the support and contact email inboxes right now. I see 1 outstanding email that has not been replied to, but that is not related to this.
I also checked the spam folder. Nothing in there,
Could you send your email one more time?
contact@j-novel.club
support@j-novel.clubThank you
Also - you can upgrade your membership and a prorated amount of what is left on your membership will be applied toward the upgrade fee. You do not pay for the entire membership fee.
Before you compete the transaction, it shows you a breakdown of what the charge sand proration are.
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@Rahul-Balaggan said in [IMPORTANT UPDATE] New Subscription Tiers + Readers Library Now Live as of October 3, 2025:
contact@j-novel.club
The process of upgrading was not really clear from the form when I looked at it the other day. But it is as you said. It shows up AFTER you submit. Process was completed. Thank you for the clarification.
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I'm disappointed that the premium membership doesn't include reader's club as a baseline. Having that as an addition isn't "Premium" at all.
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Personally, I would have thought a formal email being sent out to the email list of customers subscribed would have been better and more transparent.
I unsubscribed from the newsletter years ago as many of the topics were irrelevant to me at that time. And I have moved away from social media, though my business accounts are subscribed to J Novel club, but did not pop up on notifications.
My only gripe was that I resubscribed to premium on my renewal 2 weeks before this change came about, and had no idea it was coming, which means I have ended up with a slightly subpar product.
Just means I need to think about my wants and needs in 11 months time.
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One thing I'm glad about is that I spent my coins the minute I got them because I knew a predatory change like this would someday happen that would devalue the worth of coins "Saved". My condolences to the people who were bamboozled.
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So can the premium club membership not read manga prepubs? I keep getting errors when trying and if thats the case this is messed up. I didn't mind the the slight price increase if it meant I could keep the features I already enjoyed but raising the price and cutting services is just aggressively anti consumer.
