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 steamy 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.
Dear Grace,
Thank you so much.
Thank you for continuing to read my translations!
I just came back and saw this note… Grace, I just wanted to binge read :c
Anyways, I see you still have problems with the bots, why don’t you try the same method as the guy from butterflyscurse.stream?
Or maybe you already tried it and I didn’t know since I just came back tto binge read lmao
Thanks for reading!! I appreciate your comment. Lol. I’ve tried everything.
slap the world back Grace! XD
and thank you so much for continuing to translate this novel (plus all your other translations! an your blog posts, your one about new years resolutions still makes me keep my ones XD)
Thank you for the chapter!!!
I’m so glad to know you’re still keeping your new years resolutions! <3 Thanks for always being there for me. I appreciate all the time you took to write comments and record your sexy voice for the eunuch is pregnant. Haha. I LOVE YOUR ACCENTTTTTTT
Honestly if it wasn’t for novelupdates I might have been the same as the others and went to the aggregator sites. In fact I didn’t even know there were aggregator sites until the I saw the translators complaining on their sites. So I’m thankful that I found novelupdates before those sites and I’m also thankful that the translators’ rants informed me what those sites’ true forms are, thieves!
Anyway I make sure to always click on ads. I know it’s not much but it’s all I can do.
I’m ashamed but I don’t have the means or the money to help you out as I’m in quite a lot of trouble myself. Novels are a breather to me in my life.
So truly truly thank you for all the effort you put in this Grace!
Thank you so much for clicking an ad for me! (Make sure you only click one or else the ad provider might assume it’s fake and take money back from me). As long as you are reading my translations and my other translations, I’m already really grateful. <3
My deceased ex-supervisor loaned me that book when he was alive… I really missed him and I need to re-read the book again. Thank you for all your hard work in translating this novel. I try to come once per say to click on an ad for you since this is the only way I could show my support for your hard work.
I’m sad to hear about your deceased ex-supervisor. 🙁 This is a really good book though. Thank you for coming by daily and clicking an ad for me. It means a lot. I am thankful to have readers like you.
Thank you for continuing with this noveo.
Thank you for being such a huge fan, fan63!
Grace, your perseverance is true the roof.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your comment! Nice readers motivate me. 🙂
Grace .. I really love read your translations. Thank you for your hard works.
I read aweb novel translation in azzure4cielo, she was succes stop the stealing with password n quiz.. I think you can check her site. I hope it will work on you too.
Ohhhh I have tried passwords and quiz but still failed. -_-” Sigh. Thanks for your comment and I’m glad you love my translations! I work really hard on them.