Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 417 is now available for paid reading!
More than an hour later.

Some people who logged into Qidian's homepage were surprised to find that Qidian's announcement board had posted another announcement.

Moreover, the title of this announcement is quite intriguing.

—"Important news: Major decision made by this website."

What important news?
What major decision?
Authors, readers, and editors from other websites, piqued by their curiosity, clicked on the announcement and read its full text.

—Dear authors and book lovers:
Since the establishment of our website, we have been well aware of the plight of our writers. We know that many writers are writing out of love and passion, and may not have earned a single penny in royalties.

Many of my writer friends have changed careers or stopped writing altogether.

Many other writer friends are also struggling to keep going.

Only a very small number of writers can earn royalties, and there is only one writer like Zhongyuan Yidianhui who can earn over 100 million yuan a year.

Regarding the future of online literature, we have always believed that it depends on all the writers who keep writing. Therefore, since the establishment of our website, we have been thinking about how to enable more writers to earn some royalties to make a living.

Recently, we reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Yangtze River Literature and Art Publishing House, but the number of works that can be published is ultimately very small.

We have been recommending our Qidian works to Taiwanese publishers, but only a very small number of our works are published in traditional Chinese characters.

Therefore, we recently made a major decision, a decision that we hope will enable more writers to earn royalties and maintain a basic living – to launch paid subscriptions!
When we made this decision, we staked the future and fate of our website. But in order to enable more writers to earn a living and a decent living through their writing, we are willing to share the same fate with all of you!

We hope that our book fans can understand and support our decision.

The more the merrier!
We hope that all of us book lovers can give writers a little love, so that those writers who pour their hearts and souls into creating their works can earn enough to cover their internet access, their living expenses such as rice and vegetables, and their rent, electricity bills, and the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

We have already announced the author benefits.

We have also opened up channels for readers to recharge their accounts. Our first batch of works for sale will be available next weekend, including the popular novel "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" by Zhongyuan Yidianhui. Friends who intend to support these works are encouraged to recharge in advance and subscribe to support them when they are released. Thank you!

Below this announcement, Qidian thoughtfully included two links.

One toast to freedom, one toast to death...

No!

It's a link to the newly released author benefits.

Another link leads to a payment channel.

Many people were stunned when they saw this announcement.

"What the hell? A paid subscription? Are you kidding me?"

"Sharing the same breath and fate with fellow writers? Why not say sharing the same breath and fate with us readers?"

"You have to pay to read books online? That's ridiculous! We already pay for internet access!"

"Writers who pour their hearts and souls into creating their works? If they really did, shouldn't their works be published? If they can't be published, how can they claim to have poured their hearts and souls into their works? Who would believe that?"

"Really? Can my book be put on the shelves for sale?"

"Zhongyuan Yidianhui's works don't need our financial support, do they? Which of his books hasn't been published? He earns hundreds of millions a year, why would he need us poor students to support him?"

"Although I think the quality of 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' is worth our money, wouldn't it be better to buy a physical book? Why should we spend money to read it online? What will we have left after reading it? If we buy a physical book, at least we can use it as toilet paper after we finish reading it!"

……

The comment section below this announcement quickly filled with a bunch of posts.

A number of readers and authors spoke out.

Most of them were posts from readers.

Judging from these readers' comments, they are clearly very dissatisfied with Qidian's decision to launch a paid subscription service.

but……

Many writers, after seeing this announcement, did not post any comments, but they all subconsciously read the announcement repeatedly.

This applies not only to struggling writers, but also to some top-tier authors.

Because the matter announced in this notice is related to everyone's income.

These days, a small number of online novelists are highly educated people who are well-off and have decent jobs or come from wealthy families, so they don't need to worry about making a living.

They write online novels not to make money, but more out of love and an irrepressible desire to create.

These people's works are generally well-written, and the overall structure and plot refinement of their works are also above average.

But many more writers are disillusioned individuals with bleak futures.

Some of these people, like Cao Sheng, had severely unbalanced academic performance during their school years. They possessed excellent writing skills but failed to get into their ideal universities. In real life, they were failures, feeling depressed, yet they developed a fondness for online novels.

First I read books, and when I ran out of books to read, I couldn't help but start writing my own.

Some of their works have been published, but over 99% of them cannot be published; they can only generate electricity out of love.

Some people have already entered the workforce and have a job that allows them to make a living, but they are not satisfied with their jobs. Some of them have even gotten married and had children, but their family life is not happy.

Although these people have no shortage of food and clothing, they feel that their talents are not being recognized.

Creating works online has become a way for them to relieve their depression.

Some people also hope that one day their work will be published, in order to prove their talent and value.

In turn, they can change their lives.

and many more.

In short, the vast majority of online novel writers during this period were impoverished.

After all, how many people who are truly living a carefree and comfortable life in reality have the time and inclination to write novels?

Many people say that online novels are just the wishful thinking of the poor, or simply "yy".

In fact, early online novels were mainly a group of poor writers who led a group of readers in wishful thinking.

Therefore, when Qidian issued such an announcement, tens of thousands of writers were excited, and everyone hoped that Qidian's paid reading would be a success.

publishing?

Many writers who have repeatedly submitted their work to publishers but have been rejected have lost hope of getting published.

And paid reading on Qidian seems to be much easier?
After all, the cost of printing is not involved when a work is listed and sold on Qidian.

In this situation, would Qidian allow my work to be listed for sale?

This idea came to the minds of many writers.

Then, these writers set their sights on Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Because the announcement from Qidian stated that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" would be one of the first works to be released for sale.

That evening, numerous posts discussing the matter appeared on the Qidian forum. Many of these posts were made by writers.

For example: "Qidian is really bold! They actually dare to implement paid reading, but it seems like readers have a lot of complaints! Will this work?"

"What was Qidian thinking when they made Zhongyuan Yidianhui's 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' one of the first works to be available for paid reading? Everyone knows that Zhongyuan Yidianhui has already made a fortune. He's not short of money at all. Do you think readers would pay to subscribe to his new book?"

Will Lao Zhu's "Nine Sons" be among the first works to be released?

"Just between you and me, I recently signed an agreement with Qidian. It seems my work will be released alongside Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book! I wonder how much royalties I'll earn!"

"With so many pirate websites, you can easily find free resources with a simple search. Do you really think readers would pay to read books online? I don't believe it's going to work!"

"No wonder Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book was published on Qidian! Turns out Qidian promised to put his new book on their platform for sale! I didn't expect Zhongyuan Yidianhui to be so rich, still wanting to make a pittance! Tsk tsk."

"Other websites don't offer paid reading, but Qidian dares to? Are they really not afraid of death? Do they think there are too many readers on Qidian? Are they trying to drive some readers away?"

……

At the time when the forum was buzzing with discussion.

Countless writers, including some writers and editors from other websites, have already opened the author benefits announced by Qidian and are carefully reading them.

The benefits for online novel authors are something that no one has ever experienced before.

Every benefit clause I saw was new.

For example: perfect attendance bonus.

The first benefit announced by Qidian this evening for its authors is a perfect attendance award.

The conditions for receiving the perfect attendance award were written in great detail, and every writer read them very carefully.

For example, only works that are published, with a minimum of 6000 words updated daily in the current month, and works published in the current month must be published on the 1st of the month, are eligible to receive the full attendance bonus, etc.

The second benefit is the monthly pass reward.

This benefit first introduces what monthly tickets are and how to obtain them, and finally announces the prize money for the top ten works with the highest total monthly tickets each month, as well as the prize money for the top ten works in each category.

and many more.

The third benefit is: a semi-annual bonus.

This benefit stipulates that published works must be updated with no less than 120,000 words per month, and a semi-annual bonus will be awarded in July and January of each year. The amount of the semi-annual bonus is the sum of 20% of the monthly royalties for the previous six months.

The fourth benefit is: recommendation for publication.

This benefit seems vague to many people because it stipulates that any work that is published will be given priority for recommendation to publishers.

Recommend for publication?

The word "recommendation" made many people chuckle, with some even thinking: My dad recommended me to Tsinghua or Peking University! Was his recommendation even useful?

Qidian listed several similar, rather vague, benefits.

For example, Qidian will give authors a premium VIP reading account for every work that is published.

For example, prioritize recommended resources for uploaded works, etc.

Even so, the first three benefits are still very attractive to most writers, especially the first one – the perfect attendance bonus.

The attendance bonus announced by Qidian this time is divided into two levels.

The first tier is: update more than 6000 words every day, and receive a full attendance bonus of 600 yuan.

The second tier is: update more than 10000 words every day, and receive a full attendance bonus of 1000 yuan.

Such a bonus would still be very attractive in 2001.

Because most wage earners currently earn no more than 1000 yuan a month, and there are many people who only earn two or three hundred yuan a month.

However... getting a full attendance bonus of 600 or even 1000 yuan per month is a very stressful thing for writers at this time.

Especially for authors who struggle to even guarantee one chapter a day, having to update 6000 or even 10000 words daily makes them realize how difficult it is to earn money.

Of course, for these writers who are terrified of poverty, no matter how difficult it is, it doesn't matter. They can just keep writing and writing. For the perfect attendance bonus, they are willing to sit in front of the computer every day and write as much as they can.

only……

Some writers who need to go to internet cafes to write have calculated in their minds the internet fees needed to write 6000 or even 10000 words a day, and when they look at the amount of their perfect attendance bonus, they can't help but smile bitterly.

I thought to myself: Internet access is so expensive, this perfect attendance bonus isn't even enough to cover my internet fees.

……

It was still that same evening.

After Qidian released the announcement, author benefits, recharge channels, and so on, Baojianfeng started calling Cao Sheng.

After calling seven times in a row, Cao Sheng finally answered the phone.

"Hey?"

"Mr. Cao! You finally answered the phone. Were you typing away?"

Huizhou Teachers College.

In the teacher's dormitory that Cao Sheng rented, Cao Sheng sat in front of the computer, looked at the document on the computer screen, and hummed in agreement.

Bao Jianfeng: "President Cao! We've already sent out the announcements, have you seen them? I see the comments section below the announcements is very negative! Many people are criticizing our decision!"

Cao Sheng was a little surprised, "Oh? You even opened a comment section below the announcement?"

Baojianfeng asked in surprise, "Huh? Shouldn't it be open?"

Cao Sheng chuckled, "You're already asking your readers for money, and you still dare to open the comment section? Do you think they'll be happy that you've started paid reading? And that you're asking them for money?"

Baojianfeng: "???"

After a moment of silence, Baojianfeng asked weakly, "We were just trying to gather everyone's opinions, right? Do you think that's inappropriate?"

Cao Sheng: "What's the point of collecting something so obvious? Of course it's inappropriate! Let's shut it down!"

Baojianfeng: "Huh? It's closed? This..."

Cao Sheng: "Of course, if you have a strong mentality and can handle it, you can leave it on! Anyway, I won't look at those comments."

Baojianfeng: "..."

After a long silence, Bao Jianfeng changed the subject, "By the way, Mr. Cao, with so many negative comments, do you really think our paid reading service can succeed? It seems like things aren't looking good!"

Cao Sheng picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of tea, and smiled, "All consumers hope that all goods are free. You don't think that everyone who likes to watch movies likes to pay for tickets, do you? Or that everyone who likes to listen to music likes to pay for tapes or discs?"

I've made it very clear from the beginning! With paid reading, we don't expect every reader to be willing to spend money. We only need one-tenth, one-twentieth, or even one-thirtieth of our readers to spend money to support a large number of writers. So, it's normal for most readers to criticize paid reading! But I'm sure this measure will win back the hearts of all writers! What do you think?

(End of this chapter)