Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 422 Such a Devastating Scene? Is There Still Hope?

How bleak is it?

Cao Sheng replied casually.

Seeing this, Huang Qingya, who was sitting on his lap, fell silent and watched Cao Sheng and Bao Jianfeng's conversation with curiosity. She had originally wanted to say something, but she did.

Soon, Baojianfeng replied: "The first batch of dozens of books have been available for an hour now. Apart from your new book, which has over a thousand subscribers, most of the other works have less than 100 subscribers, and several of them only have single-digit subscribers. Do you think this is a failure? How can you make money like this?"

After reading the message, Huang Qingya turned to Cao Sheng in surprise, "This is too tragic! There are several books with only single-digit subscriptions? These are all the most popular works released on Qidian this time, right? With only single-digit subscriptions, can they even earn a hundred yuan a month?"

Cao Sheng smiled slightly but didn't respond, because he could show her his reply to Baojianfeng.

Cao Sheng: "Most of them have less than 100 subscribers? That means there are still a few works with more than 100 subscribers? How many books have more than 100 subscribers?"

Bao Jianfeng: "Aside from your new book, there are only 8 books with more than 100 subscriptions so far."

Cao Sheng: "To be more specific! What's the highest single-chapter subscription rate for these eight books so far? And what's the lowest?"

Baojianfeng: "The highest number of subscribers is Lao Zhu's 'Nine Sons,' with a current highest number of subscribers per chapter of 339. The lowest number is 'Master's Wife! Master's Wife!', with a current highest number of subscribers per chapter of 132."

Cao Sheng raised his eyebrows slightly, somewhat surprised.

Because he remembered that the book "Teacher's Wife! Teacher's Wife!" was written by Guo Jingming.

Unexpectedly, Guo Xiaosi in this timeline did not stand out in the New Concept Writing Competition, but became one of the first authors to be published on Qidian.

Cao Sheng: "That's good! After all, these are the first batch of works to be released. Every paying reader is a rare opportunity, and things will only get better in the future."

At the headquarters of Qidian in Shanghai, Baojianfeng, who was still working, looked at Cao Sheng's reply with a wry smile.

Because there was something he didn't say—in fact, he felt that the number of subscribers to Cao Sheng's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was far below expectations and quite dismal.

The once-powerful Central Plains A Little Gray, the king of the simplified and traditional Chinese publishing market, has over 108,000 favorites on Qidian, but after an hour of being available, it only has a little over 1,000 subscribers. How can it possibly make any money?

Two cents a thousand words. Each chapter of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" is a little over three thousand words, which is six cents a chapter. With over a thousand subscribers, how much money can one chapter earn? Ten subscribers only earn six cents, a hundred subscribers only earn six dollars, and a thousand subscribers only earn sixty dollars. And even then, the website and the author have to split the money 50/50. No, the author takes the lion's share, at least Cao Sheng takes the lion's share.

Bao Jianfeng remembered the agreement signed between Qidian and Cao Sheng, which stipulated a revenue sharing ratio of 2:8, with Qidian taking 2 and Cao Sheng taking 8.
Moreover, if Cao Sheng meets the full attendance bonus requirements every month, Qidian will also give Cao Sheng the full attendance bonus, and even a half-year bonus.

Based on this calculation, Qidian doesn't earn any royalties from Cao Sheng at all. Therefore, the number of subscribers to Cao Sheng's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" is basically irrelevant to Qidian. No matter how much money Qidian earns, Qidian doesn't get a single penny.

Of course, Cao Sheng's contract is unique.

This is not only because Cao Sheng's reputation is unparalleled in the industry.

This is also because Cao Sheng is the largest shareholder of Qidian.

They are entitled to such a percentage of the profits.

The revenue sharing ratio for other authors is 5:5. Even after deducting the full attendance bonus and the half-year bonus, Qidian still makes a profit.

The problem is that other works are currently experiencing dismal subscription numbers.

Thinking about all this, Bao Jianfeng felt a chill in his heart, realizing that Qidian's attempt at paid subscriptions had been a complete failure.

Not only are they failing to make money, but they've also alienated countless readers. In the coming period, Qidian will likely lose a significant number of readers.

The feeling of regret for opting for a paid subscription service had already begun to permeate his heart.

In this mood, he replied to Cao Sheng with a wry smile.

"Thank you for your comforting words, Mr. Cao. I hope so! Sigh!"

"Is he the person in charge of Qidian? He seems very disappointed?" Huang Qingya, sitting on Cao Sheng's lap, said softly.

Her feelings were also complicated at this moment.

On the one hand, she personally witnessed the first batch of paid subscriptions on Qidian, giving her the feeling of witnessing the latest developments in the industry.

On the other hand, Cao Sheng and Bao Jianfeng's completely opposite assessments of the current state of paid reading left her unsure of whom to believe.

She felt that Cao Sheng was the most famous and highest-earning author in the industry, and his predictions about the future of online literature should be very forward-looking, so what he said should be correct.

She also felt that Baojianfeng, as the person in charge of Qidian, was a professional in running a novel website, and his judgment should not be wrong.

So, who is really in the wrong?

Cao Sheng replied: "Do you think I'm trying to comfort you?"

Baojianfeng: "Isn't that right?"

Cao Sheng: "Currently, the highest number of subscribers per chapter for 'Nine Sons' is over 12. By midnight tomorrow, the number of first-time subscribers in the last 24 hours should be 800 to 1000. With this kind of data, as long as you allocate more recommendation slots with good recommendation effects to this book, the number of subscribers should increase very quickly. If you put in a lot more effort, the average number of subscribers per chapter should reach 3000 in a month. How many do you think it can reach in two months, three months, and six months? You can also calculate how much the monthly royalties for this book will be at that time."

Magic City.

Qidian Headquarters.

After reading Cao Sheng's reply, Bao Jianfeng's expression shifted slightly, and he frowned as he carefully analyzed whether Cao Sheng's words made sense. Would allocating more recommendation slots to "Nine Sons" really cause the book's subscription numbers to rise so quickly?
Also, if the average number of subscribers per chapter of this book is 3000, or even 5000 or 10000, how much money can this book earn in a month?
He first tried to calculate it in his head, but couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, he sat up straight, typed "calculator" into his browser, found an online calculator, and began to calculate seriously.

To be honest, he hadn't actually calculated carefully how much an author could earn in a month with that many subscribers.

Before he could fully calculate, Cao Sheng sent another message: "We need to look at things from a developmental perspective! The quality of these first batch of dozens of books should all be quite good. I suggest that for the next period of time, as long as these works are continuously updated, you should allocate more recommendation slots to these books. I believe their subscription numbers will all increase."

Before Baojianfeng could reply, Cao Sheng sent another message: "Also, since the number of subscribers is so low right now, let's enable the reader reward function! Allow any reader to directly reward any book, such as 100 Qidian coins, 588 Qidian coins, 1000 Qidian coins, 2000 Qidian coins... or even 100000 Qidian coins. Enabling this function should make up for the current problem of a low number of subscribers."

Bao Jianfeng was surprised when he saw the suggestion. He put his hands on the keyboard and was about to reply when Cao Sheng sent another message.

"Also, add two more lists in the most prominent position on the website homepage! One is a bestseller list, which includes the works that earn the most money that day. This list should encourage some readers to tip. The other list is a monthly ticket list! The monthly ticket list includes all the works that are available for purchase. After a while, when there are more works available, we can also create a new book monthly ticket list. That's all for now! Get it done quickly, it's getting late, I'm going to sleep, you should go to sleep early too!"

After this message was sent, Cao Sheng indeed did not send any more messages.

In front of the computer.

Bao Jianfeng read Cao Sheng's suggestions over and over again, his surprise beyond words. He had originally thought that Cao Sheng's suggestion of paid reading was already very bold and highly innovative.

I never expected Cao Sheng would think of the tipping feature.

Furthermore, in order to encourage readers to give rewards, they came up with two lists: the bestseller list and the monthly ticket list.

Do readers really give tips?
If they can't even afford to subscribe, how can they be willing to tip?
However, he quickly thought of something else—readers who are willing to subscribe and support might also be willing to tip, but... it seems a bit like squeezing a group of sheep for profit, which doesn't seem very ethical.
but……

He wasn't torn between wanting money and wanting morality; of course, he wanted money!

What is the purpose of establishing a starting point and experimenting with paid reading?
Is it simply to give readers more books to read?

Of course it's to make money!

Who would want to do a business that doesn't make money?
……

On Cao Sheng's side.

Cao Sheng turned off the computer, patted Huang Qingya on the shoulder, and said, "Get up! Go and rest! It's getting late."

Huang Qingya obediently got up and walked towards the bedroom, turning back to ask curiously, "Do you think many readers will be willing to give tips? I think subscriptions are reasonable. It's only right for authors to write and readers to pay to read, but asking readers to give tips... isn't that a bit inappropriate? Isn't that treating authors like street performers? It's a bit ugly to do things like this for cultured people?"

Cao Sheng carried the teacup towards the bedroom.

He casually remarked, "'Poor scholar,' 'impoverished literati,' and other such terms, where do you think they came from? Are they all because literati had no way to make money?"

Huang Qingya followed him into the bedroom, and upon hearing this, asked curiously, "What do you want to say?"

Cao Sheng: "Face has always been a liability! Especially for scholars, they seem to care a lot about face and can't bring themselves to do many things. It's as if lowering one's posture to make money would be shameful. But in reality, everyone in this world is selling what they are good at and what they have. For example, those with strength sell their strength; those with beauty sell their beauty; those with talent sell their talent. What's wrong with that?"

At this point, Cao Sheng placed the teacup on the bedside table, sat on the bed, and smiled, "Letting readers tip is just giving them a choice. No one can force readers to tip, and authors don't even need to ask for tips in their works. As long as Qidian opens this function, readers who want to tip can tip directly. For authors, it's also a source of income, so what's wrong with that?"

Huang Qingya: "???"

She sat down on the bed, thought for a moment, and said, "I think there will be very few readers who give tips, so this won't increase the author's income much."

Cao Sheng smiled.

I think she's still too naive.

He recalled that when the original Qidian website first launched the tipping function, many people criticized it, saying that it was too mercenary and trampled on the authors' dignity.

Many people, like Huang Qingya, thought that very few readers would tip authors, and that few would be willing to spend real money to tip them.

Subscribing is unavoidable, but as for extra donations? Are you just throwing money away?
But actually?
There are far more wealthy readers than people imagine.

Initially, the highest level of tipping offered by Qidian was Alliance Master (tipping over 1,000 yuan).

However, they soon had to launch the Silver Alliance (for donations of 10,000 yuan or more) because the amount of donations from readers far exceeded 1,000 yuan.

Not long after, as many Silver Alliances appeared, they could not satisfy the readers' enthusiasm for giving rewards, so Qidian had to launch an even higher level, the Gold Alliance (rewards of 100,000 yuan or more).

Do you think only works by top-tier players can have Silver and Gold memberships?

wrong!
In the original timeline, Cao Sheng, this old loser, also had a Silver Grand Alliance appear in a certain book.

He remembered that the book's subscription numbers weren't high, but the readers' enthusiasm for tipping was very high. This was probably because his book was a niche book. Despite having only a little over a thousand average subscriptions, after it was released, the total amount of tips for several consecutive months exceeded ten thousand yuan. After splitting the revenue with Qidian, the tipping income that he could get was five or six thousand yuan every month. The tipping income even exceeded the subscription income.

That's why, even though his book's subscriptions were a flop, it still earned him over ten thousand yuan for several months after it was released, and he was living a very comfortable life, not at all like a flop.

Therefore, Huang Qingya said that not many readers would give tips, which made Cao Sheng just laugh.

Just like when the original time-space network live streaming appeared, many people didn't understand why so many people would give female streamers tips, even millions of yuan?
Because these people don't understand the psychology of fans.

They have no idea how great it is to be the top-ranked fan.

……

Cao Sheng cuddled Huang Qingya as they fell asleep.

But Bao Jianfeng at the Shanghai headquarters was still in his office, frowning and pondering the suggestions Cao Sheng had given him before going to sleep.

By this time, the other editors had already left work.

The headquarters of Qidian was very quiet.

Bao Jianfeng sat in front of the computer in deep thought for a long time before getting up to shut it down. As he left work, he continued to ponder the situation.

He was skeptical of Cao Sheng's words.

The subscription data for the first batch of works released tonight was so dismal, yet Cao Sheng actually said it was alright? He even said that as long as Qidian strongly recommends these works, their subscription data will continue to rise, and he even suggested opening a reward function.

When "Nine Sons" was released, it had over 50,000 favorites. An hour later, it only had around 300 subscribers. Cao Sheng actually said these numbers were okay? He even claimed that the book would average 3000 subscribers per chapter after a month? Is that even possible?
……

Another city.

Old Pig, still sitting in front of his computer, constantly refreshing the author's backend, felt a sense of emptiness as he watched the number of subscribers to "Nine Sons" slowly increase.

He originally thought that with over 5 favorites for his book, he would have at least several thousand subscribers, but to his surprise, the highest number of subscribers for a single chapter has not yet exceeded 400.
Is my book poorly written?
Or do these 5+ readers think my book is worth reading if it's free, but not worth paying for?

All those readers who say they like my book and praise my writing in my book review section, are they just lying?

I thought I had become a top-tier writer, but I was exposed as a complete novice as soon as my work was published. Ha... a top-tier writer? It's all fake! It's all fake!
He felt extremely bitter.

I felt very uncomfortable.

They had no idea that his book was already the second most subscribed book among the dozens of books released this time, second only to Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book.

(End of this chapter)