Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 463 A Clever Move, Average Subscriptions Exceed 10,000

"Mr. Cao! We have decided to increase the average subscription rate of your book to over 10,000 in the near future to promote it. We hope you can understand."

The call with Baojianfeng had ended, but Cao Sheng's mind was still replaying Baojianfeng's words.

Do you want to push the average number of subscriptions for my book to over 10,000 in the near future?
A work with 10,000 orders...

Before his rebirth, he had been a full-time writer for so many years, but he had never written anything worthwhile.

And now it seems that it is about to be achieved, at a speed that exceeds his expectations.

In fact, after his rebirth, he knew that as long as Qidian launched paid reading, with his fame, his works would definitely break through the average subscription of 10,000.

But he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

How long has Qidian been offering paid reading? A few months?
How many paid readers does the entire site have in total?
Under these circumstances, the average subscription rate of his book "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" will be pushed to over 10,000. He believes that once the news of his book's average subscription rate exceeding 10,000 spreads, it will surely shock countless people.

"A work with 10,000 subscribers..."

Putting down his phone, Cao Sheng leaned back in his chair in front of the computer, squinting at the screen, his mind drifting back to the many efforts he had made before his rebirth.

Before his rebirth, he wrote for many years, from 06 to 2024, during which time he witnessed the rise of many of his peers.

Of course, many of our peers have simply disappeared.

But who told him not to change careers?
Therefore, some long-time readers who remembered his pen name would slam him in the comments section of his books almost every year.

This year someone said, "Hey! You old idiot, you're still writing?"

Next year someone might say, "Holy crap! After all these years, you still haven't become a god?"

Two years from now, someone will definitely say, "Tsk tsk, look what I've discovered! An ancient, worthless idiot?"

He couldn't reply to these kinds of posts.

Delete the post? It would make you seem narrow-minded.

Should we not delete it? Posts like this will let more people know that he's a loser, and there will probably be even more people laughing at him in the future.

I naturally felt very bad.

In his youth, he aspired to become a god. At that time, there was a popular saying among authors: "Strive to become a god, and then you can hire young models at a club."

Do you think he doesn't want to hire young models at his club?

Doesn't he want to become a god, make a fortune, and achieve financial freedom?

Of course he wants both.

So, although his works didn't perform well when he was young and often flopped, his books were very innovative, and he always had the idea of ​​making a big splash with each new book.

My goal has always been to emulate the top-tier writers on Qidian. I always tell myself: if I haven't become a master, it just means I haven't worked hard enough and I need to keep working hard.

Therefore, the impression his works left on many readers in his youth was roughly as follows: willful, clumsy, with a unique style, and so on.

When people say his works are capricious, it usually means that he always changes his subject matter and doesn't delve deeper into the themes he has already achieved some success with.

However, frequently changing the subject matter can easily lead to a flop.

The reason people say he's clumsy is because he prioritizes the quality of each chapter over the speed of writing. If he puts his heart into writing each chapter, he'll be exhausted after writing five or six thousand words a day. So, his update speed was never fast back then.

The only praise readers gave to his work at that time was probably just one thing: it had a unique style.

When he was young, he wanted to become a god, believing that to achieve that, he had to write in his own unique style.

Therefore, he does not imitate other people's writing style.

I don't write formulaic articles either.

All words come from the heart.

But reality is always cruel.

The path to becoming a legend in online literature is as difficult as a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.

Especially with a group of top authors already on Qidian, becoming a god is incredibly difficult. Only one or two authors on Qidian can become gods each year.

Wait until next year? The year after?

Do not!
In the online literature industry, it has always been a case of the new generation surpassing the old.

Next year, there may be even more outstanding newcomers entering the industry, who will then perform a phenomenal success story.

The same may happen the year after next.

This happens every year.

This is not an industry where you can get promoted simply by accumulating seniority.

You obediently stand in line, holding your number, thinking that one day it will be your turn to become a god, but actually, it won't! Because people will keep cutting in line.

Later, Cao Sheng heard about the ceiling theory.

This was said by a senior editor-in-chief at Qidian.com. He said: This industry has a ceiling because each reader can only remember about twenty or thirty authors. Therefore, the number of popular top authors is only twenty or thirty. When new top authors are born, some old top authors will inevitably decline.

That's roughly the idea.

Therefore, with a group of top players already existing, the difficulty of becoming a god is self-evident.

This is also a major reason why monthly ticket wars frequently broke out on Qidian later.

Especially for those authors who aspire to become masters, after writing a hit book, in order to prove that they have the strength and appeal of a master, they go crazy and actively start a monthly ticket war. This is a major reason why they use all sorts of tricks to get monthly tickets.

These authors know that they cannot prove their own divine status without stepping on a few established masters.

The idea of ​​slaying gods to prove one's enlightenment originated from this.

after that……

As he passed 30, Cao Sheng's youthful vigor gradually faded, and he began to feel a sense of acceptance of fate.

He began to believe that he was just an ordinary person with mediocre writing skills, creativity, and typing speed.

It seems he has already foreseen that he will never have the chance to become a god in his lifetime.

He began to delve deeper into the themes he was good at, writing works that had little to no innovation.

Because these kinds of works are not very innovative, he finds them easy to write.

His longtime readers also believe that he can write such good works, so every time he writes a new book, many longtime readers will come to support and follow his work from the very beginning.

Their grades weren't too bad.

After giving up his dream of becoming a god, the success of his works gradually improved, and earning over ten thousand yuan a month became the norm.

It has to be said that this is quite ironic.

Of course, even a salted fish sometimes wants to turn over.

Occasionally, he would come up with a good idea and want to try to achieve an average subscription of over 10,000. He believed that as long as he wrote a book with an average subscription of over 10,000, no one would call him a flop anymore.

but……

Writing a novel is sometimes like pursuing a girl.

If you're just casually chatting, your tone when talking to girls will be very natural, and you might even have a slightly suave air about you. Your demeanor might be a bit like a rogue, and your success rate in winning over girls is often quite high.

Because many girls like men like that.

But if you're aiming to pursue a girl as your girlfriend or future wife from the very beginning, then... you're doomed! You might even tremble when you speak in front of her, carefully considering every word before uttering it, fearing you might say the wrong thing. Forget about being dashing; you'll just be tongue-tied and very unnatural.

Most girls wouldn't be interested in a man like that.

You will fail.

The same applies to writing novels, at least that's how it is for Cao Sheng.

If someone writes a book with the goal of reaching 10,000 subscriptions, their writing tends to be too serious, lacking a relaxed and casual feel, and not very enjoyable, which readers often don't like.

Occasionally, he would write a work that performed well and try to boost the average subscription per chapter by updating it frequently, aiming for 10,000 subscriptions...

There will be another situation where, after a surge in updates, the quality of the chapters drops significantly, and then the average subscriptions decrease instead of increase.

and many more.

It can be said that before his rebirth, he had accumulated a lot of bitter tears on his writing journey.

Now?

Sitting in front of the computer, Cao Sheng recalled these past events and gave a self-deprecating smile.

He said to himself: It's all in the past! The first book with 10,000 subscribers in this time and space will be born from my pen.

A speck of gray in the Central Plains...

After his rebirth, when he chose this pen name, he deliberately did not use "Zhongyuan Yidianhong" (meaning "A Little Red in the Central Plains"), just to be humble. But humility was just a posture. As a reborn person, he naturally wanted to become famous after his rebirth. Therefore, the pen name that came to mind was actually "Zhongyuan Yidianhong".

Qidian wanted to concentrate its resources on promoting his book to achieve an average subscription rate of over 10,000 as soon as possible. Cao Sheng didn't say anything, but he was secretly working hard as well.

For the next week or so, he stayed indoors in the villa all day, never leaving the house.

His only activity each day was practicing martial arts in the yard a few times in the early morning.

At other times, I mostly sit in front of the computer, pulling out the recently updated chapters and revising them carefully.

On Sunday, the day "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" appeared on three recommendation slots simultaneously, he played a little trick, which is also a common tactic used by many top authors in the original timeline when their works are aiming for 10,000 subscriptions—releasing long chapters with more than 10,000 words every day.

He used to update three chapters a day, each with three thousand words.

In order to match the popularity of Qidian and to push the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" to over 10,000, Cao Sheng combined three chapters into one chapter every day.

Before combining the three chapters into one, each of his chapters was about 3300 words. This was a little trick he used to boost subscriptions. According to Qidian's pricing rules, it costs two cents per thousand words. Paid chapters cannot be less than 2000 words. If they exceed 500 words, the price increases by one cent.

He adds three or four hundred words to each chapter, which is essentially a free gift to the readers.

Therefore, after the three chapters were combined into one, the combined chapter had more than 10,000 words.

Such a long chapter is not very friendly to some readers.

Because some readers decide whether to subscribe to a chapter based on its title.

The combined three-part chapter has over 10,000 words. If you skip chapters and subscribe, you might easily miss some key plot points, making it difficult to understand the subsequent chapters.

But for Cao Sheng, this is an effective way to increase the average subscription rate per chapter.

Because the average number of subscriptions per chapter is calculated by dividing the total number of subscriptions after the book is published by the number of chapters.

Combining three chapters into one chapter per day reduces the growth rate of the denominator, making it easier to increase the average subscription data.

Sure enough, thanks to his clever maneuvering and the help of three recommendation slots on Qidian, the average subscription growth rate of his novel "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" has once again entered a fast track.

On the first day that it appeared on three recommended spots, the number of subscriptions increased by more than 800.

The next day, it rose by more than 700.

On the third day, it rose by more than 700.

In just three days, the average subscription for his book exceeded 10000, leaving all the editors at Qidian stunned.

Many editors don't feel a sense of accomplishment.

Because they had all noticed Cao Sheng's shady tactics these past few days, they estimated that if Cao Sheng had used such tactics earlier, even if Qidian didn't give his book three recommendation slots this week, the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" would probably have exceeded 10,000 in no time.

So, whose credit is it for this book's average daily subscription exceeding 10,000?
(End of this chapter)