To my dear readers,
Today, I'm in the mood to share/write. I would like to recommend a book called, "Who moved my cheese?" to you all! This book is very easy to read and super short! Basically, there are lessons in each chapter that teaches you about life. For example:
CHANGE HAPPENS (they keep moving the cheese)
ADAPT TO CHANGE QUICKLY (the quicker you let go of old cheese, the faster you can enjoy new cheese)
The "cheese" could be your work, school life, relationships, money, health, and etc. I really love this book because it's so simple but applicable!! Sometimes, I'm guilty of being stuck in my own negative state and refusing to budge.
But I realize that no one will feel sorry for you. (Even if they do, you're still screwed). So, just get up and keep going. I know it sounds really hard and may be very difficult, but don't give up on whatever you're doing!! There were many times that I had debated whether I really wanted to continue translating this novel. One of the first times when I really wanted to quit was when I got banned by Wordads (back on my original site). I still remember how I burst into tears when I found out I made $0.88 after 100000 views. I was so depressed. I felt like I was being punished for choosing a novel I enjoyed. The site made it so that I couldn't earn any more revenue on any of my other posts. At the time, it was before chapter 50, so it wasn't even sexual yet!!
I tried to argue with wordpress and they said they would take away the blockage, but then I never ended up making more than a dollar the following two months. I was ready to quit.
But then a reader/translator came along and helped me created another site. (Thank you, Kiki!) She taught me how to apply for adsense and helped me with a lot of the coding too. Eventually, I was approved!! I was so happy and things were good for another 100 chapters.
However, around chapter 154, I realized just how many aggregator sites were stealing my work. I was losing MILLIONS of views to sites that never even did a single thing to help me. I was so mad. I started going on these aggregator sites and arguing with readers. I told them I was the original translator and that I wanted them to read on my site. Some said ok (but continued reading on the aggregator site anyway). Some argued with me and said it was too inconvenient and that they prefer going to one site where all the novels were. I was SO PISSED.
Although I knew I had a lot of supportive readers, I felt like the readers are/were so entitled. They expected me to translate novels for free and not only do they refuse to support me by reading on my site, they deliberately chose to read elsewhere. So, I was ready to quit again.
That time, I was really really close to quitting. I don't even remember how I carried on. (Actually, I think several people donated to me so I felt too guilty since they kinda paid me). I decided, fine. I'll keep going for the readers that do care about me!!! I didn't want people to feel scammed.
So, things were fine for another 75 chapters or so. But then, I decided to do this whole stop the bot thing where I would try to make it so that the bots couldn't find my next chapters by linking it to my older announcement posts but not linking it on the actual post. It worked for a while and I was really happy. But it came with a price. I ended up losing 2000 readers and more than 50% of my ad revenue.
I was so sad. I thought my readers would stay by me because it is free to read. I thought their love for this novel would be enough to be loyal. It was only a few additional clicks and I even linked the table of contents. But, I was slapped with reality.
Fortunately, I still had enough supporters that kept me going. I decided I was just going to finish the novel since I was already 75% finish. I don't like breaking my promises.
But then, I started getting daily emails from adsense. They were violation reports and adsense was threatening me A LOT. Basically, I was violating their policy because my content is adult and it is way too inappropriate. It has to be PG/child friendly.
I was so stressed. It took me a week or more to go through all the pages. They've stopped now, but my ad revenue dropped even more. Now, I'm like 70% down from what I used to have. It is so sad. At the same time, I have received a lot of donations/patrons in the past month. So, it somewhat balanced out.
Now, I'm going through the ad testing with ezoic. Hopefully, this will turn out for the better.
I'm writing this to let you guys know that this journey has not been easy for me. (And I haven't even included the 700+ hours I have spent on this). It is very tough to stay in the translating scene when it's almost impossible to make $$. I'm very thankful for all of you guys though, and ultimately, I find it very fulfilling.
I put a lot of effort in translating this novel because I want to leave the world something that I am proud of. Although I'm not the author, I helped translate this into a language where you guys can enjoy it. It does feel pretty good.
Anyhow, the point of this post is to tell you that you must constantly adapt to change. The world is going to slap you with a lot of obstacles, but you must keep going! Don't remain on the ground. Get up!
Ok, come back in an hour or so for the actual chapter. I want the bots to steal this first. Wow, I wrote more than a thousand words.