It is with a heavy heart that I must announce a significant change to our release schedule. Due to financial constraints, we are reducing the weekly release of Demon Sword Maiden from 4 chapters to 2, and Automata Maid from 2 chapters to 1.

Here are the key reasons behind this decision:

1) Financial Constraints
Our limited budget is the main reason for this adjustment. This year has been tough on us. Our ad revenue has plummeted, and our Patreon funds are running low. A policy change on NovelUpdates (removing links to novel chapters for logged-out users) has drastically decreased our traffic from that source since last October, leading to lower overall page views and, consequently, less ad revenue. Additionally, Google’s phasing out of cookies has further impacted our ad impressions, reducing revenue from that stream. Since picking up God’s Gofer last December, we’ve been spending more than we earn from Patreon, forcing us to dip into our reserves.

2) Popularity
Given our budgetary constraints, we’ve reviewed our subscriber counts and found that Demon Sword Maiden isn’t significantly outperforming other projects, casting doubt on the need for a double quota. Additionally, Automata Maid has one of the lowest subscriber counts, and we’re nearing the final chapters for translation, prompting us to cut expenses on these novels.

3) Overdue Work
The third reason is the difficulty in maintaining a consistent schedule due to the personal circumstances of our translators. Demon Sword Maiden requires three translators, two of whom are struggling with health and academic pressures. One has a spinal injury and is still recovering, while the other is in their last semester of college, overwhelmed with assignments. The translator for Automata Maid also works on Pupil of the Wiseman and Destiny Unchain Online, contributing to delays due to their heavy workload. We hope that reducing their workload will ease some of their burdens.

We understand that these changes may be disappointing, but they are necessary for the long-term sustainability of our projects and the well-being of our team. Thank you for your understanding and continued support during this challenging time.

Hello,

We’re reaching out to provide an important update on Re:Library’s current situation and our proactive strategies moving forward. We’re facing some financial challenges, and we believe it’s important to be open with our dedicated readers like you.

Let’s talk numbers for a moment. Our average annual views have been on a downward slide since 2021. Back then, we were proudly hitting around 1.2 million monthly views. Fast forward to 2022, and that number dropped to 850,000. Now, in 2023, we’re looking at an even lower average of 700,000.

If this trend keeps up, we’re looking at potentially hitting just 500,000 monthly views by 2024. And the grim reality is that if things don’t turn around, Re:Library might have to close its doors by 2026.

So, what’s causing this dip? Here are some possible reasons for this decline:

Rise of Machine Translations: The allure of machine-translated content is growing as the tech gets better. Some of our readers who are hungry for new chapters are turning to these translations while waiting for our releases, which is impacting our readership.

Aggregators in the Mix: Aggregator sites are a double-edged sword. Some readers, unknowingly, are sharing links to these sites. These sites copy content from original sources without permission, and readers are drawn to them for their convenience. Unfortunately, this is hurting our earnings, and it’s a battle we can’t easily win.

Niche Genre Constraints: Our specialty in Gender Bender is both our strength and our limitation. We’ve been focusing on what our current readers love, like male-to-female transformations and girl’s love stories. But we’re hitting a ceiling; there’s only so much interest in this specific genre.

So, what’s our game plan to fight back against these falling numbers? Here’s the scoop:

Exploring Machine Translated Teasers: In response to the growing interest in machine translations, Re:Library is taking a nuanced approach. We’re introducing machine translated teasers, carefully curated to acquaint readers with unexplored novels. These teasers have a dedicated section on our site, ensuring they won’t clutter the front page. While not immediately visible, we hope they’ll contribute to increased views. Furthermore, these teasers might even become candidates for human translation through a future popularity vote.

Opening Up to New Publishers: We’re toying with the idea of letting other writers and translators host their novels on Re:Library. We know our posting process isn’t the friendliest, and we’re aiming to fix that to make it easier for newcomers.

Merchandise: You might have noticed the “Merchandise” menu hanging around on our site. We’re planning to open up a shop with cool stuff like t-shirts, mousepads, and pillows featuring the original characters we’ve designed over the past few months. We’re just running one final shipping test before the grand opening. The idea behind this merchandise venture is to not only offer awesome goodies but also to spread the word about our platform.

Genre Expansion: To draw in new audiences, we need to broaden our horizons. That entails moving beyond our current repertoire. While we’ve catered to male-to-female transformation and girl’s love, it’s time to venture into traps, female-to-male transformation, and boy’s love. Our aim is to diversify our offerings and capture a wider audience. We value your feedback, especially since our main focus has been male-to-female Genderswap. If there’s strong interest, we might even form a new team for these genres.

Thank you for being part of our community and your continued support. We’re dedicated to overcoming these challenges and ensuring a vibrant future for Re:Library. If you have any suggestions or feedback on how to improve our views/readership, feel free to leave your comments below.

Recently, an intriguing idea was brought to our attention, and we can’t help but consider it as an exciting experiment. What if Re:Library started hosting 100% machine-translated novels on our site as teasers and later allowed human translators to pick up the most popular choices through Patreon polls?

We’ve been inspired by the potential benefits of such an endeavor, aiming to introduce you all to a broader range of Gender Bender novels and potentially uncover hidden gems along the way. These MTL teasers will be housed in a brand-new section on the site, ensuring clear labeling to distinguish them from human-translated works.

The MTL teasers will be further divided into their own language group:
Chinese Novels: https://re-library.com/tag/machine-translation-cn/
Japanese Novels: https://re-library.com/tag/machine-translation-jp/

Now, for a quick FAQ to address your concerns:

Q: Will Machine Translations replace human translators?
A: No, machine translations won’t replace human translators. While tools like ChatGPT can help with quick and basic translations, they lack the nuanced understanding, cultural insight, and linguistic finesse of human translators.

Q: What is the purpose of these MTL Teasers?
A: These machine-translated teasers introduce readers to undiscovered novels, acting like extended synopses. They help patrons decide which novel to vote for human translation.

Q: Will these 100% MTLs be edited or proofread?
A: While we understand the importance of quality, these teasers won’t undergo extensive editing or proofreading. Our intention is to use AI assistance to generate the text, serving as a glimpse into the fascinating stories waiting to be discovered.