Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 464 The announcement shocked the online novel community.
It's hard to tell who deserves the credit right away.

But the editors at Qidian all felt the same way: they had learned something!
They learned the tricks Cao Sheng used to achieve 10,000 subscriptions.

Originally, I updated three chapters a day, but in order to reach 10,000 subscribers, I suddenly started updating three chapters at once, and the average number of subscribers soared.

Some editors have already secretly told their top-performing authors to use this method to push for an average of two or three thousand subscriptions per author.

Some editors are getting restless, thinking they can start their own book and use this method of boosting subscriptions to increase the average subscription rate of their own works.

An editor immediately went to knock on Bao Jianfeng's office door to tell him the good news that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had sold over 10,000 copies per day.

Baojianfeng already knew about this news.

Three days ago, on the day that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" appeared on three recommendation slots on Qidian, he noticed that the book's average daily subscriptions increased by more than 800 that day.

At that time, he estimated that the number of copies of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" would soon exceed 10,000.

Therefore, for the past three days, he has been paying close attention to the average subscription data of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

When the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" exceeded 10,000, Bao Jianfeng noticed it almost immediately, so there was no need for anyone else to report it.

He is now considering how to announce this good news to the entire internet.
Publishing it across the entire internet seems a bit impossible.

Qidian's current strength is limited to its influence in the online literature circle; its media resources are far behind.

So……

How should we announce this to the entire site?

Should we be a little more humble?
After the editor who reported to him that the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had exceeded 10,000 left his office, Bao Jianfeng looked at the announcement about "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" on the Qidian homepage announcement board on his computer screen.

This week, Qidian gave "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" three recommendation slots, one of which was a "Qidian Announcement Board Text Recommendation".

The recommendation reads: "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts will give you a great time!"

At first glance, this book looks like it's about to fight, but it's quite eye-catching.

He originally thought that the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" might not break 10,000 this week, and it might not break 10,000 until next week.

After a gap of more than a week, announcing in the bulletin board that the average subscription of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had exceeded 10,000 should give the outside world a decent impression.

But now?

If another announcement about "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" is posted on the bulletin board after only three days, what will the other authors think?
What will the readers think?
Do you think Qidian (the website) is showing too much favoritism towards Zhongyuan Yidianhui's work?
……

The next morning.

Everyone who logs into the Qidian homepage, whether they are authors, readers, or editors from other websites, is surprised to see a red banner at the top of the Qidian homepage.

A line of text on the banner startled many people, causing them to widen their eyes in surprise.

—"Warmly celebrate Zhongyuan Yidianhui's brand new masterpiece, 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts,' surpassing 10,000 average subscriptions!!!"

The three striking exclamation marks seemed to possess a magical power, astonishing everyone who saw this text.

Average subscriptions exceeded 10,000?

Nonsense, right?
Qidian has only been offering paid reading for a few months? And already some works have average subscriptions exceeding 10,000?
Many people would rather believe that Zhongyuan Yidianhui has recently had another successful project than believe that his book's average daily subscriptions could exceed 10,000.

Because the former, given the conditions of the Central Plains being a mere speck of dust, is very easy, so easy.

But the latter?
There's a limit to bragging. Even if bragging isn't illegal, you can't brag like this, right?
There are tons of free resources for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" online. Every time a new chapter of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" is updated, you can find free resources for free online within minutes.

Under these circumstances, how could this book's average subscriptions have exceeded 10,000 so quickly?
Are there really that many wealthy book fans now?
Are they out of their minds? There are too many netizens who refuse to watch free content and insist on watching paid content.
Some writers are familiar with the subscription situation of some of the works on Qidian. They know that even the most popular works on Qidian only have an average of one or two thousand subscriptions per chapter. Under such circumstances, how can Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" have an average subscription of over ten thousand?

Is his book special? Is it an exception?
Is he the only one who can be him?
For example, Old Pig.

His novel "Nine Sons" currently has an average subscription of over 3300. When he suddenly saw the banner on the Qidian homepage announcing that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "The Romance of Martial Arts" had surpassed 10,000 average subscriptions, Lao Zhu's first reaction was to frown.

My second reaction was disbelief.

Third reaction...

He seemed to be deep in thought.

He strongly suspects that this is a fraudulent publicity stunt by Qidian.

Just like in the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", when the warlords went to war, they always made deceptive propaganda about their military strength.

They sent 200,000 troops, but dared to falsely claim 500,000.

They sent 500,000 troops, but dared to falsely claim 800,000.

It's all about bluffing; if we can fool one person, we'll do it.

If we can truly frighten the enemy into a state of demoralization and panic, then we've made a huge profit.

Thinking of this possibility, Old Pig sighed softly, thinking: People with brains like me are ultimately a minority, and I'm afraid many people have been fooled by this propaganda.

To verify his conjecture, he logged onto QQ and sent a private message to his editor to inquire about the matter. He believed that given the success of his book "Nine Sons," his editor would reveal some of the truth to him.

"Boss, what's the actual average number of subscriptions for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts'? It can't really be over 10000, right?"

Not long after, his editor replied with a screenshot.

The screenshot shows the title of the book "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", along with data below the title such as total subscriptions, new subscriptions yesterday, average subscriptions per chapter, and highest subscription per chapter.

The average number of subscriptions per chapter is a staggering 10092.
"Ha ha……"

Old Pig stared blankly for a moment, then chuckled.

I thought to myself: My editor is quite humorous, but doesn't he tell me the truth in private?

He sent another message, "Boss! Stop messing around! This picture is photoshopped, right? I'm asking for real data. Tell me quietly, and I promise I won't tell anyone. Can you trust me this once?"

In the internet age, photo editing is nothing new.

He already knew that online pictures could be photoshopped.

The editor quickly replied: "You think it's fake? You should have Zhongyuan Yidianhui's contact information, right? You can go ask him!"

Old Pig frowned, quite surprised.

I wondered: Could such outrageous data really be true?
This is outrageous! Isn't this just the most outrageous thing ever?
As the author with the second-highest subscription rate on Qidian after Cao Sheng, he did indeed add Cao Sheng as a QQ friend.

We were able to contact Cao Sheng.

After hesitating for a moment, he sent Cao Sheng a private message.

"Grey King! Your new book has really surpassed 10,000 average subscriptions?"

Cao Sheng replied with an "Mm" around 1 p.m.

The old pig looked at it and remained silent.

I was skeptical.

But he was too embarrassed to ask Cao Sheng to take a screenshot and show it to him.

……

Guo Xiaosi also saw the banner announcing this news on the homepage of Qidian that day.

Upon seeing the words "The number of copies of 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' has exceeded 10,000," he was stunned and felt a sense of awe, like a shepherd boy at the foot of a mountain looking up at the ethereal figure of an immortal on the mountaintop.

His novel, "Master's Wife! Master's Wife!", has also been published on Qidian.

Currently, the average order is over 1800, and last month it was close to 3000.

He felt a great sense of accomplishment when he received his payment for the article.

I thought to myself: This month I'll make 3000, next month I'll try to make 4000, and the month after that I'll try to make 5000. In less than a year, I might be able to make over 10,000 a month.

When the time comes, if others laugh at me for being short, I'll laugh at them for being poor. Even if those from wealthy families laugh at me for being short, I can laugh at them for sponging off their parents, while I earn money through my own abilities!
How can one judge a person's excellence solely based on their height?
Height is determined by genetics.

It doesn't prove that they are inherently excellent.

Only talent, acquired through hard work, can prove a person's excellence. Occasionally, he would fantasize about the day when his works surpassed Zhongyuan Yidianhui in subscription numbers and income; how glorious he would be then?

He was well aware that the subscription numbers for Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "The Romance of Martial Arts" far surpassed those of his own "Master's Wife! Master's Wife!"

But he never dreamed it would reach this level, with average subscriptions exceeding 10,000?

Is the gap between us really that big?

Is my writing style that much worse than his?
Or is it that the teacher's wife's charm isn't attractive enough?
He frowned in thought. He had already written "Senior Sister! Senior Sister!" and tasted the sweetness of using a senior sister as a gimmick to attract readers.

Therefore, going a step further, and skirting the red line of ethics, I wrote "Master's Wife! Master's Wife!"

As it turns out, many readers really enjoy this kind of thing, and the statistics for "Master's Wife! Master's Wife!" do indeed surpass those for "Senior Sister! Senior Sister!" by a significant margin.

But it seems that the master's wife is still not attractive enough.

This made him wonder if... his next book would be titled "Master! Master"?

……

Han Er, while browsing the internet in Shanghai, logged into Qidian and saw this banner at the top of the Qidian homepage.

I saw the news that the average subscription to "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had exceeded 10,000.

He was both surprised and delighted.

Surprisingly, the book's average daily subscriptions exceeded 10,000.

Surprisingly, Qidian.com already has works with an average daily subscription of over 10,000.

He seemed to see a gold mine, glittering and waiting for him to dig it out.

He had been following this book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," since its initial publication.

It's clear that this book is very original and has a strong appeal.

He loved it.

Now, he can't help but wonder what kind of work he could write and publish on Qidian? To make a quick buck?
However, he couldn't write a work like "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" because he didn't understand Chinese martial arts.

He sat in front of the computer, lost in thought for a long time, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.

That evening, he created a document on his computer.

Document title: The Romance of Money.

He can't write about traditional Chinese martial arts.

But as a native of Shanghai, he was surrounded by the smell of money from a young age.

Therefore, he had long been aware of the power of money.

Money can cause fathers and sons to turn against each other.

Because of money, a pure and innocent young woman was willing to take off all her clothes with tears in her eyes.

Because of money, even the most unruly man can kneel down to someone.

Because of money, the inferiority complex of the insecure is cured without medicine; the arrogance of the arrogant vanishes without a trace; and the gentleness of the mild-mannered transforms into ferocity and evil.

Therefore, he had long believed in the power of money.

I also believe that anyone, whether suddenly rich or suddenly losing all their wealth, will undergo a drastic change in temperament.

He can't write about traditional Chinese martial arts.

Yet he is confident in writing a book about a poor man who suddenly becomes rich, titled "The Story of Money".

"He was eighteen years old and used to living in a small attic of less than five square meters every day; he was used to his master's scolding, his master's wife's ridicule, and his junior sister's disdain. He persevered silently, just to learn cooking skills so that he could have food to eat in the future."

One day, he unexpectedly received a huge sum of money.

And so, his life was turned upside down. He changed, everyone around him changed, and a dreamlike life unfolded before him.

In this document, under the title "The Romance of Money," Han Er wrote the following introduction.

After he finished writing, he smiled.

I have a lot of confidence in this story.

Traditional Chinese martial arts?

Tai Chi? Bajiquan? Baguazhang? Xingyiquan?
No matter how skilled you are, can you compare to the power of money?
Martial arts can kill, and so can money.

Traditional Chinese martial arts can make people kneel and surrender, and so can money.

If traditional Chinese martial arts can boost a practitioner's confidence, why can't money do the same?
Besides these, money can also bring a dying person back to life.

It can make tall buildings rise from flat ground.

It can also transform mountain peaks into lakes.

Its magic is comparable to magic!
……

Bao Jianfeng is right; paid reading needs a guiding principle.

After the news spread that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had surpassed 10,000 average daily subscriptions, the number of authors flooding Qidian with new books every day continued to grow, and the number of works on the new book charts almost exploded.

The entire starting point presents a vibrant and unbridled growth trend.

but……

Just like a smile doesn't disappear, it just moves to someone else's face.

When Qidian was showing signs of vigorous and unbridled growth, other websites in the industry suffered greatly, as if they had all been poisoned by Qidian's magic.

Authors are constantly leaving the company.

The veteran author suddenly stopped updating his work.

The editor assumed the author was experiencing some kind of real-life crisis, perhaps being ill, but unexpectedly discovered on Qidian that the author had started a new book.

New author?
The number of new authors publishing new books on these websites every day has plummeted.

Even the once industry leader, Banyan Tree, has experienced this phenomenon.

The number of new books entering the warehouse each day has decreased sharply.

The number of older books that are consistently updated is decreasing.

The authors left without even saying goodbye.

If it weren't for the website editors occasionally spotting these authors on Qidian, they would have thought they were dead!

What about the authors whose works are available on Qidian?

Authors with good track records, spurred by the fact that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had surpassed 10,000 average subscriptions, generally became more consistent and faster in their daily updates.

The number of updates is generally much larger than before.

The phenomenon of updating two or even three chapters daily has become quite common.

An author whose work was performing poorly suddenly cut off his published work and quickly started a new book.

They seem determined to start all over again and fight their way back into the world.

……

Huizhou.

Cao Sheng unexpectedly received a call from Fan Jinsuo. After the call, he mentally prepared himself to fight Fan Jinsuo again.

Because Fan Jinshuo said gently on the phone, "Brother Cao, I happen to be free these two days. How about I come to Huizhou to see you?"

(End of this chapter)