Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 388 Shareholders Meeting
After listening, Bao Jianfeng remained silent for a while before speaking: "President Cao, you explained this system in such detail, you must have considered it for a long time, right?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

Bao Jianfeng remained silent for a few seconds. "President Cao, other websites offer free reading, but we're suddenly charging. Aren't you afraid of the consequences if we fail?"

The lessons learned from Longkong's past mistakes are still fresh in our minds.

Trying to make money from readers could very well lead to them abandoning the site. This is the current dilemma for all online novel platforms. If they don't find ways to make money, they can only keep burning through investors' money, losing money to gain publicity. If they try to make money from readers, they risk losing a large number of readers, just like Longkong did.

The problem is: investors' money is also limited. If they don't make money, which investor will keep throwing money in to burn?
As the person in charge of Qidian, Bao Jianfeng is well aware of Qidian's current situation. On the surface, since its inception, Qidian's reader and author community has been growing continuously, and the website's daily traffic has increased many times over. The website appears to be thriving and full of vitality.

But what about the situation inside?
The initial funding is almost exhausted.

This is still the result of Qidian constantly accepting some advertisements and earning some advertising fees to subsidize the operation of the website.

However, online literature is still just a small circle.

In reality, most people are still unaware of the existence of online novel platforms.

Therefore, even though Qidian accepted some advertisements, the advertising fees were pitifully small.

Those who want to advertise prefer to advertise in newspapers and on television, since the cost of newspaper and television advertising is generally the same these days.

In contrast, advertising on novel websites is not very effective for many products.

The companies that most frequently advertise on novel websites are usually games.

Qidian is not yet the leading novel website, and the advertising revenue it can obtain is limited.

Therefore, Baojianfeng is currently looking to Cao Sheng for more investment to maintain the normal operation of Qidian.

result?

Before he even asked for investment, Cao Sheng had already told him about this paid reading system. He felt that Cao Sheng was urging him to quickly find a way to make Qidian profitable.

In this situation, if he were to ask Cao Sheng for investment, would Cao Sheng agree? Even if he did, how much money would he provide?
Cao Sheng: "There are risks in any attempt. The consequence of failure is simply losing a group of readers, but if it succeeds, Qidian will have the ability to generate its own revenue. From then on, there will be no need to worry about the broken capital chain and the inability to continue operating. What do you think?"

Baojianfeng: "..."

Cao Sheng explained both the advantages and disadvantages clearly.

Bao Jianfeng thought there was some truth to it.

But he was still very worried.

Other websites allow readers to read books for free, but Qidian requires payment. It's obvious where readers will go to read books.

He hesitated before voicing his concern.

"Mr. Cao, if you were a reader, would you go to other websites to read free works, or would you choose to read paid works on Qidian?"

Cao Sheng: "In the short term, many readers will indeed go to other websites to read free content, but in the long run, I believe many readers will come to Qidian to read paid content."

Baojianfeng: "Huh? Why?"

Cao Sheng smiled, "Because every author wants to make money. If Qidian can enable many authors to earn royalties, it will naturally attract all talented authors. Therefore, it won't be long before there are more and more excellent works on Qidian. Readers do prefer free novels, but what if paid novels are generally better than free novels on other websites? Wouldn't some readers be willing to read our paid ones?"

After a pause, before Bao Jianfeng could respond, Cao Sheng continued, "Furthermore, we don't expect all readers to be willing to pay for a book. If a book has a thousand readers willing to pay, the author can earn enough to make a basic living; if two thousand readers pay, the author can live like a human being; if three thousand readers pay, the author can earn no less than the royalties from physical publication, live a very comfortable life, and occasionally even go out and have some fun; if five thousand readers are willing to pay, the author can afford to hire young models at a club."

Baojianfeng: "???"

Magic City.

Bao Jianfeng's eyes lit up.

Although he had long since stopped writing novels and it seemed that the idea of ​​hiring young models at clubs was no longer his forte, Cao Sheng's words suddenly made him feel that the paid reading system might actually be feasible.

As Cao Sheng is right, the requirements for the success of paid reading are actually not high.

For each book that becomes available for paid reading, as long as a few thousand readers are willing to pay, the website and the author can earn enough to make a living.

This can create a virtuous cycle.

Many of the currently popular works on Qidian have tens of thousands of people collecting them. Even if only one out of ten people who collect them is willing to pay to read them, that would still be thousands of people.

If we increase the promotion of these popular works, the number of collectors and paying users will definitely rise further.

There's something going on!

He also owns a significant number of shares in Qidian. If Qidian can profit from this, he, as a shareholder, will receive a steady stream of dividends.

Getting rich was also his dream!

Who doesn’t want to get rich?

"Then, shall I call a meeting tomorrow to discuss this?"

Bao Jianfeng took the initiative to make the suggestion.

Although Cao Sheng is the largest shareholder of Qidian, he does not have a controlling stake. Even with the addition of his shares in Baojianfeng, he still does not have a controlling stake.

Therefore, he felt that such a crucial decision concerning the future and survival of the company required a meeting with other shareholders to discuss it and gain more support.

This is why Cao Sheng cannot make a decision on his own and needs to discuss it with him.

Cao Sheng: "Okay! We should reach a resolution as soon as possible, and then make all the necessary preparations for charging fees, such as adding a charging function to the website, formulating a specific charging system, and developing a publicity plan, etc."

Baojianfeng: "Okay! Okay! I understand! I will do my best to persuade everyone." ...

The next morning.

Baojianfeng then held a shareholders' meeting within the company.

Upon receiving the meeting notice, Li Bin, Hu Jinyi, Zhang Yonglong, and others arrived at the meeting room one after another. Their expressions varied as they arrived. Bao Jianfeng had not yet told them the topic of the meeting, so they were all a little curious about what the meeting would discuss.
When Jia Hui entered the conference room, he saw that Li Bin and Zhang Yonglong were already there. He sat down next to Zhang Yonglong with a smile, and as he put down his teacup and notebook, he asked Zhang Yonglong with some curiosity, "Old Zhang, do you know what this meeting is about?"

Zhang Yonglong shook his head. "I don't know. Do you know?"

Jia Hui shook his head. "I don't know either."

At this moment, Qiao Lei and Hu Jinyi entered the conference room one after the other.

Qiao Lei saw Jia Hui, smiled, and called out, "Old Jia! Want to go eat sauerkraut fish for lunch? We'll split the bill!"

Jia Hui chuckled, "Just the two of us?"

Qiao Lei walked over and sat down next to him, smiling as he said, "Adding more people is fine too, it's all split the bill anyway. We can just add a few more dishes. Anyone want to come along?"

As he finished speaking, he looked at the other people in the conference room.

Li Bin raised his right hand, "Count me in!"

Immediately, the shareholders in the meeting room began discussing what to have for lunch.

When Bao Jianfeng entered the conference room, he heard Hu Jinyi say, "I also like pickled fish, but I've been having some internal heat lately, so I can't eat spicy food anymore..."

Bao Jianfeng was a little puzzled, thinking: How did we end up talking about pickled fish?

As he entered the conference room, everyone gradually quieted down, and no one talked about the previous topic anymore, leaving Bao Jianfeng's doubts unanswered.

Baojianfeng didn't seem to care.

After sitting down, he cleared his throat and said, "Yesterday I received a call from General Manager Cao. He gave me a proposal that concerns the future of Qidian and asked me to solicit everyone's opinions. If most people support it, we will implement this proposal for the next period of time."

"What's the plan, Mr. Bao?"

Li Bin asked curiously.

At this point, everyone else was also quite curious.

Therefore, as everyone knows, although Cao Sheng is the largest shareholder of Qidian, he does not usually interfere in Qidian's operations.

Sometimes when people wanted to report on a certain task to him, Cao Sheng would refuse to listen, saying that he would not participate in the management of Qidian and that everyone should make the decision in a meeting.

But Baojianfeng just said that President Cao proposed a plan that concerns the future of Qidian.

This is very abnormal.

"Yes! Mr. Bao, what proposal did Mr. Cao put forward?"

Jia Hui echoed this.

Seeing everyone's curiosity, Bao Jianfeng smiled and said, "Before I talk about the plan, let me tell you some good news! President Cao said on the phone yesterday that his new book will be serialized on Qidian."

Before he finished speaking, everyone in the room was astonished.

"Really?"

"President Bao! Did I hear that right? You were talking about President Cao's new book?"

"That's great! Mr. Bao, is Mr. Cao's new book being exclusively serialized on Qidian?"

……

Everyone chimed in with excited chatter, their faces beaming with delight.

They all knew that Cao Sheng was the largest shareholder of Qidian and that he held a prominent position in the industry. They had long hoped that Cao Sheng would serialize his works on Qidian.

Unfortunately, Cao Sheng seems to have always looked down on Qidian's popularity, and his works have always been published on Rongshu.

Today, they finally heard that Cao Sheng was going to publish his work on Qidian.

To them, this news felt like a dream.

Bao Jianfeng smiled and nodded. "It's true! But it's not exclusive, though it might be."

His words immediately confused everyone.

Jia Hui: "President Bao, what do you mean by that? Is it Schrödinger's exclusive? Why is it still uncertain? President Cao is going to publish his work on our website, is it possible that he might change his mind?"

Qiao Lei: "Yeah! What do you mean by 'not exclusive? It could be exclusive'?"

Hu Jinyi: "Could Mr. Bao please explain himself more clearly?"

……

Bao Jianfeng raised his hands and pressed them down, signaling everyone to be quiet.

Once everyone quieted down, he said with a smile, "This relates to the plan I just mentioned. According to President Cao, his new book will be published simultaneously on Qidian and his original website. However, if Qidian is willing to implement the paid reading system according to his proposed plan, the day his new book becomes available for paid reading will be the day he stops serializing it on his original website."

His words, while slightly resolving everyone's previous doubts, also raised even more questions.

(End of this chapter)