Veteran columnist and editor Han Haoyue disagrees.

"Online works employ a straightforward language, humor and imagination," he says. "They may lack profundity, but they are so close to and full of life."

Biluohuangquan believes the market is the best arbiter of the quality of these works.

"Let the market decide," he says. "Works of poor quality will die a natural death."

JAS, a Zhejiang-based online writer believes the Web offers one of the best ways for a writer to grow up.

"The feedback from readers is so immediate and substantive," she says. "It encourages you to go on and if you keep writing you will improve."

Tie Ning, president of the Chinese Writers' Association, said earlier this year that online writing offers an equal chance to those who want to express themselves through their writing.

The Lu Xun Literature Awards, a top literature contest in China, announced in March that from now on it will include online publications.

The biggest headache for JAS and her fellow writers is actually not the evaluation of their works, but how to protect them from illegal use.

It is common for a novel to be copied and pasted on free websites 30 minutes after it appears on the Net. Some websites hire writers to create sequels and prequels of popular books to attract readers. Many writers even find their stories "published" as shabby pirated books sold by street vendors.

JAS says one of her stories was adapted into a film, but the director removed her name from the credits when it was shown at an international festival. And she did not get fully paid until this year, two years after signing on the dotted line.

"Most of the time writers just let it go, because we do not have the time or the money to follow these cases, there are just too many," she says.

Some websites do help their contracted writers to sue the violators, but faced with tens of thousands of illegal websites and pirated works, most only focus on some important authors and books.

"The same thing happens in traditional publishing but online literature makes piracy far more easy," Han Haoyue says.

"It really hurts to see my work sold on the street, in the form of a 'book' but 'published' by somebody I don't know," says Futian.

"We feel proud to see legitimate published versions of our books. After all, it feels so good to have your book sitting on the shelf."