WordExcerpt x Tappytoon Partnership — A Step Foward to K-Novels Becoming More Mainstream

Hello my BAYOG luvlies!~ It’s Minty again! I’ve got some exciting news for my fellow Korean novel and manhwa/webtoon fans! Y’all know I love my novels and manhwa series. You also know I’m a fan and avid user of services from both [WordExcerpt] and [Tappytoon]. Well, these two companies have formed a partnership! WOO! This is exciting news since it means Korean novels would be more widely accessible to readers outside of Korea (aka me and y’all). Before we get to discussing this exciting news, let’s briefly talk about these two platforms~

WORDEXCERPT

First up, we have WordExcerpt. I’ve previously did a [post] last month reviewing them. Anyway, they originally started off as fan-translators of various Asian novels, but mostly Korean novels. Around August or September 2020, they announced that they were going to become a legitimate publishing house. They revamped/rebranded as a legitimate publishing house that officially launched earlier this year. They describe themselves as, “…a publishing company dedicated to producing Korean novels and making it available to read in English officially, producing it as a webnovel, ebook light novel, paper books, and possibly audiobooks.” They aim to increase awareness of Korean novels, make them more easily accessible in English for international readers, as well as to legally support the authors. They carry series of various genres from romance, fantasy, mature, BL, etc. At the moment, they carry a handful of different titles. However, they’re only just getting started. They do have plans for many more titles, and I believe that includes other Asian novels as well. Their web platform is a subscription service. Which is great since it allows you to read many different series for a low and affordable price. There are different tiers with different perks to suit your needs and budget. However, they do also have physical and ebook copies of their series on their store page, as well from other sources like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Kobo. Aside from the upcoming collaboration with Tappytoon, one of their most popular series, [A Villainess for the Tyrant], was also recently made available on [Tapas]. Funny enough, the manhwa/webtoon adaptation of that series is actually available on [Tappytoon]. I’ve been a fan of WordExcerpt’s translations since before they became the publishing house and service that they are now. I have the Hero subscription of their webnovel service. I do enjoy and recommend it, especially if you like to read a lot of different webnovels. The other pro to their subscription service is that I can try a bunch of different novels without feeling buyer’s regret if I’m not that into a certain series.

Some WordExcerpt titles on my reading list:

• [Daddy, I Don’t Want to Marry!] ♡
• [A Villainess For the Tyrant] ♡
• [I’m Not The Final Boss’ Lover] ♡ **VIP Novel
• [Fairytale for Wizards] **VIP Novel
• [I Adopted a Villainous Dad]
• [Heroine On Strike]

TAPPYTOON

Tappytoon is a popular webtoon platform with officially translated webtoons in English. I believe it first launched around 2016-2017? I’ve been an avid user of Tappytoon over the past year; Since April 2020 if we’re gonna be specific… I’m pretty sure I started using Tappytoon after seeing a Facebook ad for My Life as an Internet Novel. I recognized it as being from the same artist as [Oh, Lord Jesus!/Oh, Holy!], and I was reading the novel at the time. Bruh, I spend a lot of coins for my series here haha. But honestly, as I’ve said in my first [Manta post] and my recent [podcast episode], Tappytoon is probably one of my top favorite webtoon apps that I use frequently; daily, really. In terms of my current interests and series I’ve been enjoying the most, Tapas and Tappytoon have been my top favorites over the past year. I love the look of the app, and how it’s very user-friendly. They also have series from just about every genre from romance, fantasy, comedy, BL, isekai, thriller, action, adventure, etc. They have mature series as well, but those can only be viewed on the web platform version and not the mobile app (has to do with app store rules/regulations I think). Of course, the reason I love Tappytoon is the fact that they have many of the romance fantasy series that I really like. Many of the romance fantasy novels are actually adaptations of popular Korean novels as well. So this partnership is just perfect~

Some Tappytoon titles on my reading list:

• [The Villainess Turns the Hourglass] ♡♡
• [My Sister Picked Up the Male Lead] ♡♡
• [Touch My Little Brother and You’re Dead] ♡♡♡♡♡ This a BAYOG Fave
• [A Villainess for the Tyrant] ♡♡
• [The Beloved Little Princess] ♡
• [The Villainess Lives Again] ♡
• [The Concubine Contract] ♡♡
• [The Villainess’s Maker] ♡
• [It Was All a Mistake]
• [The Lady and the Beast] ♡
• [Ginger and the Cursed Prince]
• [The Villainess Becomes the Leading Lady]
• [The Reason She Lives as a Villainess]
• [There’s No Use Hanging On]
• [The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion] ♡
• [The Tyrant’s Tutor]
• [Father, I Don’t Want This Marriage]
• [I Woke Up as the Ugly Duckling]
• [I’ve Been Proposed by a Villain]
• [The Duchess Who Sees Ghosts]
• [I’ll Marry Him!]
• [As You Wish, My Lady]
• [The Lady I Served Became a Master]
• [I Stan the Prince]
• [The Night When the Crow Caws]
• [My Life as an Internet Novel]

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We are partnering with Tappytoon to make Korean novels widely accessible to international audiences. pic.twitter.com/dxT6PEUqCl

— WordExcerpt (@wordexcerpt) July 29, 2021

WordExcerpt first dropped the news about this partnership on July 29, 2021. As I had stated before, many of the popular webtoon series on Tappytoon are actually adaptations of Korean novels. I’m pretty sure the titles from my entire reading list from Tappytoon are all based on novels. I think a lot of these titles are actually some very popular and famous series too.

Some examples of popular webtoon series that are adaptations of novels:

• Light and Shadow
• A Villainess for the Tyrant
• Solo Leveling
• The Villainess Turns the Hourglass
• A Villainess for a Tyrant
• Father, I Don’t Want This Marriage!/ Daddy, I Don’t Want to Marry!
• A Villainess Lives Again
• The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion
• Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp
• The Abandoned Empress
• I’m the Soldier’s Ex-Girlfriend
• The Antagonist’s Pet
• A Tender Heart: The Story of How I Became a Duke’s Maid
• Daugther of the Emperor

I honestly find this partnership to be exciting news for Korean novel fans. Personally, I feel like the popularity of Korean webtoons and novels has especially spiked up over the past year or so. However, the novels aren’t as well-known as the manhwa/webtoons. The reason being, there haven’t really been official English releases of Korean novels. Of course, that’s starting to change with WordExcerpt and Meteor Strike Media (another US-based company focused on translating and publishing Korean novels). I believe some other publishing companies that had been focused on Japanese and Chinese media, such as Yen Press, are also picking up on translating and publishing English translations of Korean novels. I will say that I feel like the novel community may be smaller than the webtoon/manhwa community. The webtoon/manhwa community may be seen as something like a niche, but I would say it’s even more so for the novel community, in my opinion. However, Tappytoon is a huge webtoon platform. They’re really well-known, pretty well-established, continually growing, and it has a ton of users. This partnership would obviously help WordExcerpt expand its reach and audience amongst Tappytoon’s larger userbase. Likewise, this partnership would give exposure to the original novels amongst the webtoon readers who might not have any idea that many of their favorite series are based on novels. So it’s another way to help garner some interest in these novels. Especially if they’re like me, and are interested in comparing the adaptation and source material. I also just love reading novels because they can help give a bit of extra context too. Either way, this partnership is a great way to help make Korean novels more mainstream and easily accessible to the international audience.

You may have heard from the grapevines but… Tappytoon Novels is coming!

We’ll kickstart the service with the original novels of your favorite comics.

Vote for the one you're most excited to read, and maybe win 3,000 points! 😉
👉https://t.co/6K8vjVtKpu pic.twitter.com/KDjJa4WZmG

— Tappytoon Comics (@Tappy_toon) August 5, 2021

Tappytoon confirmed the news of their new upcoming service to the platform on August 5, 2021. At this moment, I don’t have a lot of information regarding this partnership. However, what we can infer is that it’ll be a service to the platform under Tappytoon called Tappytoon Novels with the translations being by WordExcerpt. I don’t think there’s any information on a launch date or details…not yet anyway. However, we do know some of the titles that we’ll be seeing on the new platform.

Some series we’ll be seeing from Tappytoon Novels:

• Light and Shadow
• A Tender Heart: The Story of How I Became a Duke’s Maid
• A Villainess for the Tyrant
• Daughter of the Emperor
• Dungeon Reset
• Empress of Another World
• Father, I Don’t Want This Marriage
• Lady Beast
• My Life as an Internet Novel

The other thing we know is that with this partnership, WordExcerpt transferred exclusive ownership of Light and Shadow for this new platform. So basically it’s no longer available on WordExcerpt’s platform, and will now only be available on Tappytoon Novels instead. The translations will still be by WordExcerpt though.

EDIT:
Tappytoon Novels has gone live as of August 24, 2021. However, it is only available on the app version of Tappytoon. While it does have some already existing titles from WordExcerpt’s platform, many of the titles are series that are not available on WordExcerpt’s web platform. I’m not sure if they will eventually be made available on WordExcerpt as well. However, I take it that it’s most likely that these series are Tappytoon Novels exclusives that will only be available on the Tappytoon app.

Tappytoon Novels is live on the app. Just make sure y'all update to the latest version first.
Lots of series~ It is pay per chapter though. https://t.co/jxvxoCrE7D pic.twitter.com/2U124Bu7mY

— มิ้นท์ • Minty⁷ ʕ„• ω •„ʔ (@piecesofminty) August 24, 2021

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Honestly, I’m pretty excited. Again, I’m an avid reader of both webtoons and Korean novels. So I’m incredibly thrilled to see two of my favorite platforms are working together. I think it’s thrilling news for the Korean novel fans. I think it’s a great step forward in the globalization of Korean novels since it will definitely make Korean novels more easily accessible for international readers. I would think it’ll definitely help Korean novels gain more exposure, as well as gain new potential fans from the webtoon/manhwa community. With this, I definitely see WordExcerpt and Tappytoon’s goal of making these novels more mainstream a reality. I sincerely and excitedly wish them the best of luck and success. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing this journey unfold, and y’all know I’ll be using that platform once it drops. I’m also really excited to see what other titles they plan on having for the platform. Personally, I really hope to see the novel for Touch My Little Brother and You’re Dead since I’m really enjoying the webtoon. What are your thoughts on the news of their new partnership and the new platform? Are you excited as well? What title(s) are you looking forward to seeing? Let me know in the comments, my socials, or come chat with me on the BAYOG discord server! Anyway, that’s all from me for today! I hope y’all are having a lovely day and summer! Take care, stay safe, and enjoy the rest of your day fam!~

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Stay safe and healthy out there, y’all.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

AS A GROUP OF BIPOC, BAYOG strongly stands with Black Lives Matter. We are all too familiar with the racism that we, our friends, and family have faced on a daily basis. Every life is precious. However, as BIPOC, we also recognize that black people are a group of people that face extreme racism and at a higher risk for their safety. We’ve individually done several donations. Of course, donations to support the cause and support change isn’t the only thing needed. Support for the cause and change also requires conversation and understanding. Make sure to have those conversations. Please remember to be an active supporter, be it through donations, sharing information, and/or conversations and speaking up.

If you can, please consider donating. I’ve donated more than once as well. For one of my donations, I donated through the BTS ARMY x BLM project. I recommend that if you’re unsure of where to donate. This is because the donation will be split amongst several different non-profit organizations. Of course, you can also choose a specific organization(s) if you wish as well. You can find that [HERE].

You can also check out the following:

• http://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
• http://blackliveswillalwaysmatter.carrd.co
• http://saytheirnames.carrd.co

STOP ASIAN HATE

As an Asian-American, racism, xenophobia, and hate crimes against AAPI isn’t new. It’s always been around. Unfortunately, misinformation and the pandemic has caused an insane surge in racism and xenophobia. There has also been an insane rise in hate crimes. More recently, we’re seeing a surge of hate crimes against the Asian elderly. Particularly in the California and New York areas. Some cases even leading to injuries and even death. The sad thing is that many cases do not get alot of attention, or are just looked passed. It breaks my heart and is cause for concern since it affects our community. Since some of the BAYOG Crew (including myself) are Asian-Americans ourselves, I wanted to use our small platform to help in anyway. Hate, racism, and xenophobia is an ugly thing. We’re friends, in the same community, and against the same social injustices. So be kind and let’s fight these things together.

You can also check the following for more information, ways to help, & to donate:

• http://hateisavirus.org
• https://gofundme.com/AAPI
• http://advancingjustice-aajc.org
• [Donate to Different Organizations to Support AAPI Communities]
• https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co
• https://stopasianhate.carrd.co/

Please report hate crimes at Stop AAPI Hate:

• http://stopaapihate.org

Volunteer
You can see if your community has a volunteer chaperone or neighborhood watch/patrol program.
Some examples:

• Compassion in Oakland @ Oakland, California| http://compassioninoakland.org
• Safe Walks @ NYC, New York| https://safewalx.com/en/welcome
• Guardian Angels| http://guardianangels.org/volunteer
  They’re well known patrol volunteers in NYC, but they do have other branches too.

Volunteer at any other organizations that provide assistance to Asian-Americans; Particularly the elderly.
Some examples:

• Heart of Dinner @ NYC, New York| https://www.heartofdinner.org/
  An organization that supports local businesses and provides meals and care packages to the Asian elderly in NYC.