Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 197 Awards Ceremony, Cao Sheng takes the stage

At 10 a.m., the first Internet Literature Award held under the Banyan Tree officially began.

Several leaders from Shanghai came to the scene, the highest-ranking one was a secretary-general, and leaders from writers' associations of several cities also came.

We also invited representatives from more than a dozen mainland publishing houses and seven or eight Taiwanese publishing houses.

Many media reporters also came.

Some were shooting with cameras in the front, while others were shooting with video cameras in the back.

There were about fifty or sixty authors invited to attend the award ceremony, with eight people sitting at each table. Together with the leaders, special guests, and others, it looked like there were more than a hundred people gathered together.

But compared with those leaders, guests, and reporters, the authors present today seemed a little poor, especially authors like Qingwawanzi who have not earned any royalties yet, and the air of poverty was even stronger.

In comparison, Cao Sheng, who was sitting at the same table with Zhu William and others, did not look like an online writer of this era at all. Not only was he well-dressed but his hairstyle was also so exquisite. At first glance, he looked more like a star in the entertainment industry.

Cao Sheng occasionally glanced at the authors sitting at the tables in the back, and suddenly thought of a rumor he had heard before his rebirth.

The rumor goes that after Qidian was acquired by Shanda, when it held its first annual writers' conference, some great authors were still using old-fashioned mobile phones that could only make calls and send text messages.

The company was so poor that it attracted a lot of attention. The CEO of Shanda Literature at the time couldn't help but promise on the spot that he would improve the treatment of writers and everyone's lives.

Thinking of this rumor, he subconsciously glanced at Zhu William beside him, thinking: Zhu Zong saw that these authors who participated in the award ceremony today were so poor, would he also want to improve their treatment? Or give everyone some treatment?
After all, Under the Banyan Tree has never paid a penny in royalties to its authors.

Pure freeloading.

It’s okay for the very few authors whose works can be published, as their income is considered high in this era, but those authors who have not yet published a single work are purely motivated by love.

As one of the shareholders of Rongshuxia, Cao Sheng also thought about proposing that Rongshuxia start paid reading so that authors can earn some royalties.

Paying for reading does not seem to be very friendly to readers.

In fact, there are benefits.

Because after the paid reading is enabled, authors can earn royalties, and their enthusiasm and seriousness in creating works will be greatly improved.

It will also attract more newcomers who are confident in their writing skills to try their hand at creation.

It will bring online literature into a period of rapid development.

Readers will also be able to see more and better works.

In addition, some niche works that would not have been noticed by publishers may have the opportunity to appear in front of readers under the paid reading model. Sometimes, as long as a few hundred readers pay to subscribe to this niche work, the book may continue to be written.

Some people may say: Since it is a niche work, what is the need for it to exist? If it doesn’t exist, then it doesn’t exist!
But in the online literature industry, there has always been a saying that "high-quality works come from niche areas".

Don’t those authors who write about niche topics know that it is easier to achieve success by writing about popular topics?

But why do they still insist on writing about niche topics?

It’s usually because of love.

Because of this passion, they will be very dedicated when writing about these niche topics. They also know that not many people will read the topics they write about, so when writing, they will generally pursue quality and strive for perfection, just to retain as many of the few readers as possible.

So, gradually, there came into being the saying “high-quality products come from niche products”.

However, reason told Cao Sheng that now was not the time to start paid reading.

First, the number of readers of Under the Banyan Tree is not large enough at present; second, there are too few channels for readers to recharge, and they are too inconvenient; third, piracy in the mainland is too serious.

The collection and subscription ratio in this line has always been very low.

A subscription ratio of ten to one is already very high.

Most of them are twenty to one, thirty to one, or even fifty to one or one hundred to one.

What is this concept?
Even if you have a very beautiful subscription ratio of ten to one, it means that out of the ten thousand readers you have worked so hard to accumulate, only one thousand of them will eventually pay to read your book.

The remaining readers are just getting it for free.

Therefore, with such a low subscription ratio, if the total number of readers is not large enough, the authors will not make much money even if paid reading is enabled, and Rongshuxia may even lose most of its readers.

Not worth the candle.

Therefore, Cao Sheng does not intend to suggest paid reading in advance. He is worried that if Rongshuxia tries paid reading in advance and fails, it may eventually lead to other websites never daring to try paid reading again.

If that kind of situation occurs, it will probably be a long time before online literature can develop rapidly.

While he was thinking these things, the leaders who were invited to come had already spoken on stage one after another, including William Zhu, who also gave a speech.

It mainly summarizes how rapidly online literature has developed in the past two years, how many times the number of authors has increased, how many times the number of readers has increased, etc.

Finally, let’s look forward to the future of online literature.

The atmosphere at the scene was not warm.

There will only be polite applause at the end of each leader's speech.

After almost an hour, the award ceremony finally began.

As one leader after another came on stage to present awards and announced which work had won what award, the atmosphere at the scene became tense.

Many authors keep their eyes glued to the stage.

Because this is not only about honor, but also about one's own financial prospects.

Not to mention that every winning work today will receive a prize, for those works that have not yet been published, if they can win a trophy today, maybe their works will be published soon.

These are all benefits that can be seen with the naked eye.

Cao Sheng sat in the audience, looking very calm.

Because he already knew that all the awards had nothing to do with him. After seven or eight awards were given out, the host on the stage finally called out Cao Sheng's name.

Male host: "The next award to be presented is this year's gold award for Xianxia and Xiuzhen works. All Xianxia and Xiuzhen writers, please pay attention!"

Female host: "Yes! Xianxia Xiuzhen is the largest category of online novels nowadays. Now let's give a warm round of applause to Zhongyuan Yidianhui, the originator of the Xianxia Xiuzhen genre. Please invite him to the stage to present the award to us! Please come on stage! "

Suddenly, there was warm applause at the scene.

This was the loudest applause at today's award ceremony so far.

Those authors who did not write fantasy novels or cultivation stories also applauded loudly at this time.

Authors like Jin Hezai and Li Xunhuan stood up and applauded. Soon other authors also stood up. Only a few authors who wrote short stories and poems did not stand up.

This scene surprised the leaders on the scene, and they all looked at Cao Sheng subconsciously.

A leader turned his head slightly and asked the person next to him, "Is this young man famous?"

However, the representatives of the publishing house and the reporters were not surprised.

They all know what the five words "Zhongyuan Yidianhui" mean in today's online literature circle.

That is the pioneer of the industry!

He is currently the most popular person in the entire industry.

none of them!

Under everyone's gaze, Cao Sheng smiled and stood up.

At this time, a group of reporters pointed cameras and video cameras at his face and took close-up photos.

Zhu William clapped with a smile on his face and looked at Cao Sheng.

After Cao Sheng stood up, he turned to face the authors at the tables at the back, clasped his hands together, bowed his head slightly, and thanked everyone for their applause.

Then, he took off his long down jacket in public, revealing the black suit underneath. He raised his hands to respond to cheers from all directions, and walked gracefully onto the award stage.

The moment he took off his down jacket, everyone at the scene was dazzled.

Some young women couldn't help but squeeze their legs together.

The frequency of camera flashes seemed to suddenly increase a lot.

"handsome!"

"Fuck! Is that down jacket his seal? Why does he suddenly look so handsome after taking off the down jacket?"

"Damn! He's really a bit of a scoundrel in the Central Plains? Why does he look so handsome today?"

……

The authors in the audience were all shocked.

The two hosts on the stage also looked at Cao Sheng in surprise as he stepped onto the stage step by step.

Especially the 27- or 28-year-old female host, who ran over with shining eyes and approached Cao Sheng, "Zhongyuan Yidianhui! You are so handsome! I just saw you take off your down jacket. If you are so handsome, why do you usually wear bulky clothes like down jackets? I see that you have a good figure! Don't you think wearing a down jacket affects your image?"

When she started to ask the question, the scene gradually became quiet, and pairs of eyes with different expressions looked at Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng smiled at her, looked at everyone present, and said into the microphone she held out to him, "It's cold! Do you think only beauty can freeze people? No! Being handsome can also freeze people!"

After the words were spoken, there was no reaction at first.

Many people frowned and pondered his words.

What is beautiful and attractive? Is handsome also attractive?

Nowadays, not many people know the saying that beauty can freeze you.

But almost everyone at the scene was playing with words, and soon laughter broke out and quickly spread to everyone laughing.

At this time, the male host also trotted over with a smile on his face.

The host's intuition told him: This Zhongyuan Dianhui is much more humorous than the leaders and authors who had come on stage to present awards and receive awards before. He could chat with him a little more to liven up the atmosphere.

So, he asked, "Zhongyuan Yidianhui! Today we are holding the first Internet Literature Works Award. I guess you haven't won any major awards in Internet literature yet? What I want to ask is: this is your first time participating in this kind of award, and you didn't win any trophies, but you have to present awards to everyone. How do you feel now?"

This is an interesting question.

It made everyone present suddenly realize that Cao Sheng had never won any award before, and today he could only present awards to everyone.

So, how does he feel at this moment?

Now even those traditional authors at the scene who disliked Cao Sheng showed curiosity in their eyes.

Facing a pair of curious eyes, Cao Sheng looked at Zhu William in the audience and said with a smile: "So, when President Zhu and others invited me to present the award, I refused out of the blue. At that time, I was thinking: When the pork is distributed, there is no share for me, and I am still required to distribute it to everyone? Is it bullying to do so?"

"Ha ha……"

There was a sudden burst of laughter at the scene.

Many people looked at William Zhu.

Zhu William was also laughing.

Amid the laughter, the applause from the audience was also particularly enthusiastic.

(End of this chapter)