Marking its third anniversary Friday, Naver’s webfiction service has shown rapid growth, with the number of subscribers surpassing 5 million, up 53 percent from 2013, according to the Internet giant.

The monthly sales of Web novels published on the platform also hit the 100-million won ($82,800) mark. 

Currently, 150 authors have rolled out 197 Web novels over the past three years. Ninety-seven writers published 117 literary works on the online platform last year.

So far, 64 Web novels have been published in hard copy form and 11 online novels are slated to be made into TV shows or movies.

The number of cumulative views in 2015 stood at around 1.8 billion, which translates into around 15 million views for each literary piece.

Roh Seung-a, who wrote a romantic novel titled “Honey Honey Wedding” said, “Publishing novels on the Naver platform helps me focus on writing novels without having to worry about profit-making or marketing activities.”

The Internet firm has been making efforts to nurture new writers holding competitions and refurbishing its subscription system.

Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)