[Xianxia]

99.9% of the web novels are free. Revenue from them are from donation and ad revenue.

For some popular novels, they sometimes employ subscription in order to read from chapter 101 onward. The subscription rate is very cheap. $0.005-$0.01 per chapter of about 2000 - 3000 words.

For some popular novels, they just depend on fan donation and ad for revenue.

5.4.1.1 Subscription

Readers can pay for content using Cloudary's virtual currency supported by different payment mechanisms such as Alipay, PayPal, online banking (international bank cards are supported), mobile phone bills and top-up cards.

Cloudary's payment systems included:

A micro-payment policy:
0.05 yuan per 1,000 Chinese characters (Non-members) [about $0.005 per 1000 words)
0.04 yuan per 1,000 Chinese characters (Basic members)
0.03 yuan per 1,000 Chinese characters (Intermediate members)
0.02 yuan per 1,000 Chinese characters (Supreme members) (about $0.002 per 1000 words)
(Membership requirements vary slightly among Cloudary's different websites.)


5.4.1.2 Pay What You Can: 'Reward from Readers'

Cloudary also operates a 'pay what you can' model, giving readers the power to reward specific authors. Only a low proportion of readers use this option, however, though some readers have been willing to pay up to 60 Yuan (£6.40) in a month.

5.4.1.3 Advertising

Advertisements appear widely across the Cloudary platform in pictures, texts, links and other forms. Advertising income from Cloudary's desktop version is more mature than the mobile, attributed by Cloudary to complications in selling advertising on mobile device screens, but it is actively trying to establish a revenue stream here too.