Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 477 The Allure of Financial Prospects

The fact that he received over 11 yuan in royalties in a single month shocked everyone who heard the news.

What's most shocking is that this wasn't the royalties paid to Cao Sheng by the publishing house, but rather the amount paid to him by the website Qidian.

If a publishing house were to pay Cao Sheng such a large sum of royalties in a single month, people would be surprised, but not incredulous.

After all, the sales of Zhongyuan Yidianhui's works in recent years have been increasing, with fans all over mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and many Southeast Asian countries.

No one knows exactly how many fans there are.

But it must be in the millions.

However, the more than 11 yuan in royalties was given to Cao Sheng by Qidian.

Can Qidian compare to those well-known publishing houses?
Before this news broke, no one thought that Qidian could be compared with regular publishing houses.

Many people have become accustomed to reading novels online for free.

Many authors have also become accustomed to publishing their works online for free.

But one day, news suddenly spread in the industry that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" earned more than 11 yuan in electronic royalties on Qidian last month.

Who wouldn't be surprised to hear that?

"Have you found out? Was the electronic manuscript fee for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' really over 11 yuan last month?"

on Monday.

At the weekly meeting of a certain sword company, the boss asked the attendees a question.

Everyone looked at each other.

An editor-in-chief coughed lightly and said, "Boss, it should be true. I've asked several well-known authors on Qidian, and they all say it's true."

An editor raised his hand, drawing the boss's attention. The editor said, "Boss, I pretended to be a book fan and added Zhongyuan Yidianhui as a QQ friend. He sent me a screenshot of the manuscript fee in the back office in a private message. It really is more than 11 yuan."

The boss frowned at the editor. "Screenshot? Is there any sign of Photoshop?"

The editor shook his head. "No! I've already had the technical department check it, and they didn't see any signs of Photoshop."

The boss still frowned, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "I remember someone saying that Lao Zhu from Qidian only received a little over 8000 yuan in royalties last month. His novel 'Nine Sons' had the second-highest subscription rate on Qidian, second only to Zhongyuan Yidianhui, right? How come his royalties are so much less than Zhongyuan Yidianhui's? The average subscription rates for 'Nine Sons' and 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' aren't that many times different, are they?"

……

When a certain sword was discussing these issues at the regular meeting.

That morning, Old Pig couldn't suppress his doubts and sent a private message to his editor.

"Boss, can I ask what the average subscription rate is for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' right now?"

After sending the message, he sat in front of the computer and waited for a reply.

Ever since he heard a few days ago that the electronic manuscript fee for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" exceeded 11 yuan last month, his mind has been full of questions.

I just can't understand how the royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" are so many times more than my own "Nine Sons".
Yes!
The average subscription to "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" has exceeded 10,000.

My book, "Nine Sons," only has a few thousand average subscriptions, which is still a few hundred short of four thousand.

But the difference between 10,000 and 3,000 average subscriptions should only be about three times, right? How can the payment for a manuscript differ by more than ten times?
Yes!
The number of donations for "The Legend of Chinese Martial Arts" is much higher than that for my "Nine Sons". The number of fans such as Alliance Leader, Grandmaster, Sect Leader, and Elder is also much larger than that for my "Nine Sons".

But could the income from "The Legend of Chinese Martial Arts" be so many times higher than my "Nine Sons" just from tips?
How can this be?

He couldn't figure it out.

These questions had been nagging at him for days.

I finally couldn't hold it in any longer and asked my editor.

Because these questions have been weighing on his mind, he hasn't been able to focus on writing these past few days. This is related to his income, and if the difference is this much every month, it will add up to a significant amount over a year.

In front of the computer.

Old Pig waited for more than ten minutes before receiving a reply from the editor.

"The average subscription to 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' is currently over 13,000. Why are you asking about that?"

The old pig was startled.

The average subscription for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" has already exceeded 13,000? That's almost 10,000 more average subscriptions than my "Nine Sons"?
How many days has it been since "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" broke 10,000 average subscriptions? How come it has increased by more than 3,000 average subscriptions in such a short period of time?

Old Pig: "Really? Last month, the average subscription for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' only exceeded 10,000, right? How come it has increased so much recently?"

The editor replied: "Yes, it's a winner-takes-all situation! Ever since the news spread that this book's average daily subscriptions had exceeded 10,000, the growth rate of the book's average daily subscriptions has far exceeded that before, averaging several hundred new subscriptions per day."

Looking at this reply, Old Pig fell silent.

He stared at the words "winner takes all" for a long time, finding them extremely jarring.

Winner takes all?

Why does the winner take all?

We're just writing a novel, not gambling, so why should the winner take all?

My novel "Nine Sons" isn't bad either, is it? Among all the works available on Qidian, it's second only to "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts". Why is it that only Zhongyuan Yidianhui's book can win all the battles?

Could it be... that my "Nine Sons" is also among the losers?
After a long silence, he couldn't help but send another private message to his editor.

"Boss, I have another question. Why did the royalties for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' amount to so much more than mine last month? Even if its average subscriptions are more than four times mine, the royalties shouldn't be that much different, right? I heard that 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' earned more than 11 in royalties last month, is that right?"

This time, he waited four or five minutes before receiving a reply from his editor.

"Sigh! You can't just look at the average subscription rate when it comes to royalties! Yes! Your 'Nine Sons' average subscription rate isn't that much lower than 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts,' but have you noticed how many people have tipped for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts'? And have you noticed the amount of tips from those book fans? 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' now has more than twenty alliance leaders, have you noticed?"

More than twenty alliance leaders.

Even at the lowest possible standard, if each alliance leader tipped 1000 yuan, the total amount tipped by more than 20 alliance leaders would exceed 20,000 yuan.

Based on a 50/50 profit-sharing ratio, Zhongyuan Yidianhui could receive over 10,000 yuan.

but……

Old Pig: "Even if the number of people tipping and the amount of money for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' are much higher, it would only be 10,000 to 20,000 more in royalties than mine, right? But it has more than 100,000 more in royalties than my 'Nine Sons'."

Editor: "No! In terms of tips, 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' has received almost 40,000 more than your 'Nine Sons'."

"what?"

Standing in front of the computer, Old Pig exclaimed in astonishment, hardly believing his eyes.

The tips for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" are so much more than my "Nine Sons"?
How can this be?

"how is this possible?"

He sent those four words to his editor.

Editor: "Nothing is impossible. You underestimate the enthusiasm of book fans for giving rewards."

Old Pig fell silent.

I recall that every time I opened the page of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", I seemed to see that there were dozens of people giving rewards to this book that day.

However, the number of people who tip him for his novel "Nine Sons" is usually only a few per day.

At that time, although he envied the number of people who tipped for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", he did not pay much attention to it. He subconsciously thought that the amount of royalties mainly depended on the number of subscribers, and tips were just small change.

Dozens of people tip "The Legend of Chinese Martial Arts" every day, most of them only tip one or two yuan, or five or ten yuan, and only occasionally one or two tip more than one hundred yuan.

Only then did he realize that the income from tips could be this high.

However, he still had some questions in his mind.

"Boss, even if the tips for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' are 40,000 more than mine, the royalties for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' shouldn't be that much more than mine, right?"

……

at the same time.

Shanghai. Qidian Headquarters.

Old Pig's editor, sitting at his desk, saw the question Old Pig sent via QQ and smiled helplessly.

If it were any other author asking him so many questions about royalties over and over again, he would have stopped responding long ago.

What's wrong? You suspect Qidian (the platform) is underpaying you? And you're comparing it to Zhongyuan Yidianhui's (another platform) royalties? Do you even deserve to?
But these questions were asked by Lao Zhu, the most successful author under his tutelage.

Lao Zhu is not only the most successful author under his command, but also the second most popular author on Qidian, second only to Zhongyuan Yidianhui in terms of subscriptions.

He would naturally be more patient with such a master.

He also didn't want Lao Zhu to have any questions about the royalties, which would affect Lao Zhu's mood while writing.

He also hoped that Lao Zhu could continue to write "Nine Sons" with care, so that "Nine Sons" would achieve even better results!
Why is the royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" so much higher than those for "Nine Sons"?
He actually knows it very well.

It's definitely not just a matter of the number of people who tipped and the amount of money tipped for the two books.

It's not just a matter of the difference in average subscriptions between the two books.

and also……

"Old Pig, go check how many words 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' was updated last month! And then check how many words you updated last month."

This is how he replied to Old Pig.

There was an even bigger reason, which he had never told Old Pig.

He was worried that if he spoke up, it would make the old pig feel even more unbalanced.

—The issue of revenue sharing ratio! As the top author in the industry and the largest shareholder of Qidian, Zhongyuan Yidianhui's contract with Qidian stipulates a revenue sharing ratio of 2:8, with Qidian taking 2% ​​and Zhongyuan Yidianhui taking 8% of the revenue.

If you add in the full attendance bonus, monthly ticket bonus, semi-annual bonus, etc., the proportion of income that Zhongyuan Yidianhui receives is even higher, far more than 8%. In total, Qidian basically doesn't earn any of Zhongyuan Yidianhui's royalties.

And what about Old Pig?
The deal with Qidian was a 5:5 revenue split.

They may seem similar, but in reality, they are vastly different.

However, the editor dared not tell Lao Zhu the biggest reason.

He bet that Lao Zhu couldn't calculate the exact amount of royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" and "Nine Sons".

Even if Lao Zhu already knows the average subscription number of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" and the update number of last month, so what? Can Lao Zhu really calculate the specific difference in royalties between the two books based on the average subscription number and the number of words updated?
At that moment, the editor seemed to be possessed by Yan Shuangying.

Yan Shuangying liked to gamble that his opponent's gun was unloaded.

He bet that Lao Zhu couldn't figure out the exact amount of royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

After all, Qidian only recently launched paid reading, and other websites haven't launched paid reading yet. How should royalties be calculated for works that are available for paid online reading? With an average subscription of over 13000, how many tens of thousands of words are updated each month, and how much royalties can one expect? Currently, apart from Qidian's accountants, probably no one can calculate it clearly.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui studied accounting.

Could it be that Old Pig also studied accounting?

……

the other side.

After receiving a reply from the editor, Lao Zhu, with mixed feelings, opened the table of contents of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," scrolled down the page, and found the section that had been updated last month.

As you move the mouse cursor over a chapter title, the publication date of that chapter will be displayed immediately.

He quickly saw how many chapters "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" had been updated last month.

Many chapters...

He didn't bother counting the exact number of chapters updated; he just roughly estimated that it was significantly more than the number of chapters he updated last month.

It seems that "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was updated with three chapters every day last month, sometimes four chapters, and later it became a long chapter of 10,000 words. Roughly estimated, the book was updated with at least 300,000 words last month.

And what about his own "Nine Sons"?

Old Pig gave a self-deprecating smile.

He knew his typing speed wasn't fast. Last month, he worked himself to the bone to update, but his daily update volume was only about half that of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Its average order volume is more than four times that of my "Nine Sons".

The number of updates is more than double that of my "Nine Sons".

Their tipping income is 30,000 to 40,000 yuan more than mine.

If you calculate it this way, it seems normal that his royalties last month were more than 10 yuan more than mine.

He was relieved.

The exact amount of royalties for the two books was not calculated.

Because if he were to do a detailed calculation, it would be very mentally taxing, and he was already in such a bad mood, how could he possibly be in the mood for a detailed calculation?
However, he did learn a way to earn more royalties from this incident: update more frequently.

The royalties on Qidian are calculated based on the number of subscribers and the number of words updated.

When it's difficult to quickly increase the number of subscribers, increasing the daily update frequency is naturally the best option to earn more royalties.

……

In fact, most websites in the industry held their regular meetings that morning.

For example: the banyan tree.

During the regular meeting, someone mentioned that the royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" on Qidian exceeded 11 yuan last month, and suggested that Rongshuxia also try out paid reading.

Similar proposals have been made at the regular meetings of almost every novel website.

Of course, it's just a website for original novels.

Pirate websites don't have such regular meetings, nor do they have the opportunity to offer paid reading.

End of the meeting.

Zhu Weilian returned to his office, sat down, and frowned, seemingly lost in thought.

Trial implementation of paid reading?

He didn't dare before.

Because he was afraid of offending the website's readers, he remembered the lesson of a certain other website, which had previously merged into a single website.

Because it was formed by the merger of several websites, it gained tremendous momentum as soon as it was launched, attracting not only a large number of readers but also a large number of authors.

Many people believe that a certain website will become one of the top websites in the industry.

Many new authors, hoping to secure a spot early, actively publish their works on certain online platforms to fill their book collections.

The results of it?
A certain platform has established strategic partnerships with several publishing houses, continuously selecting outstanding works from its platform to recommend to those publishing houses for publication.

The publisher made money, the platform earned commissions, and the author earned royalties—it seemed like a win-win-win situation.

But who lost?
reader!
The works that readers voted for were recommended for publication on a certain online platform, but then their serialization on that platform ceased. Readers who wanted to read the subsequent content had to buy physical copies.

Thus, in a win-win-win situation, only the readers ended up losing.

A large number of readers cursed and left the site.

This cautionary tale serves as a warning to all websites in the industry, including William Zhu.

Therefore, even though he saw that Qidian was testing paid reading and it seemed like it could make some money, Zhu Weilian didn't dare to follow suit. He only tried out the tipping function on Rongshu.

He felt that the tipping function was very gentle; readers with money could support the book financially, and those without money could support it with their presence. Regardless of whether they tipped or not, they could read the book for free.

Both the website and the author can earn some income.

It is the safest option.

But now, he's starting to waver.

Qidian has only been offering paid reading for a short time, and there are already works with monthly royalties exceeding 11 yuan. The financial prospects are... very tempting!
(End of this chapter)