http://publishingperspectives.com/20...e-web-authors/
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In fact, there are now so many web-writers in China (in the millions) that they are now “ranked,” both by their earnings and number of fans.
On the lowest level is the ordinary writer, also “known as poor guy (or poor guy writer).” They have a limited number of fans, and their work is seldom recommended to others. Their annual income is around 1,000 yuan.
Next up are the Xiaoshen (low rank god) writers with a fan base of more than 100,000 and annual earnings of more than 100,000 yuan ($16,100).
One step further up the ladder are the dashen (super god) class of writers with earnings of more than 1 million yuan ($161,200) with fans counted in the millions as well.
At the very top of the tier are the 20-30 web writers known as platinum authors or zhigaoshen (the Supreme God) class of writers. The 2014 Chinese web-writers list ranks Tangjiasanshao first, with earnings of 50 million yuan (around $8.06 million) per year from royalties, while second and third on the list both raked in more than 25 million yuan ($4.03 million) each.
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p.s. Web novel is now big business in China. Tencent purchased Qidian (the biggest web novel site) in China for $800 million USD earlier this year.
If you are a talented fantasy writer in China today, most likely you will publish through web novel site like Qidian and not through a publisher.
Why? That's where the money is.
If Wattpad could pay top fantasy writers millions of USD in royalties, many top fantasy writers will migrate there too.
The biggest ingredient to web novel success in China is that it is FREE. Author and novel web site makes money through
1) Subscription (similar to Kindle Unlimited but much cheaper, think $1 a month)
2) Donation (similar to Patreon for those that want to directly support their fav authors)
3) Ad revenue
Most web novels are read through smartphone/tablet.
With a reading audience in the hundreds of millions, it's easy to see why web novel are dominating.
Anyway, thanks to the internet and smartphone, web novel is now the future of publishing in China.
Could web novel be the future of publishing in the West one day?
Kindle biggest challenger could be something like this in the future.
Imagine a novel web site that has tens of millions readers and the top tier authors are paid millions of USD in royalties each year. Many top tier genre authors are publishing on this web site instead of with a trad publisher or self-publishing.
And it's FREE TO READ for readers. Income come from subscription, donation and ad revenue. Author get 70% and the web site keeps 30%.