The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 167 The First Person to Pay for Writing Novels

When Yang Muye first added the ID "True Water Has No Fragrance" as a friend, he felt that it sounded familiar.

I finally remembered.

Aren't these the "ex-husbands" from Bei Weiwei's previous life in "Dream Wanderer"?

A rich second-generation heir who is bad at games but loves playing them.

In the game, he married Bei Weiwei while completing a quest, but later fell for the game's most beautiful woman, "Xiao Yu Yao Yao," and divorced Bei Weiwei.

After meeting Bei Weiwei in real life, he regretted it.

Unable to win over Bei Weiwei, he was also brutally defeated by Bei Weiwei's new husband, "Yi Xiao Nai He," in the game.

What a pitiful situation for a player who spends real money!

Although "Yi Xiao Nai He" must have spent money too.

But at least it proves that in the game "Dream Journey to the Jianghu", it's not just about who spends the most money; some skill is still required.

Now that Yang Muye has heard that Cao Guang wants to start a business, the first thing that comes to his mind is Wang Moucong from his previous life.

I spent five small goals to learn a valuable lesson: I'm really not cut out for entrepreneurship.

Cao Guang clearly did not have the same wealth as Xiao Wang.

Considering they had played a game together before, Yang Muye decided to give him some advice.

Let's just enjoy playing "Dream of Jianghu" instead.

Instead of wasting money on starting a business, you might as well spend it on in-game purchases.

While I was typing, Zhenshui Wuxiang sent another message.

"I originally planned to apply for the Literature Department, but then I thought that the Communication Studies major would be more promising. I have three hobbies, and basketball is only the third. Can you guess what the first two are?"

Yang Muye stared at the text for a few seconds, then typed a reply:
"Playing video games? Reading novels?"

"I go!"

Zhenshuiwuxiang sent over an "extremely shocked" animated emoticon.

When Zhenshui Wuxiang mentioned that he initially planned to major in literature, Yang Muye guessed that he probably liked reading novels.

And I was right.

Zhenshui Wuxiang thought he had met a kindred spirit and began to talk at length about the novels he had read over the years.

Such as "The Legend of the Little Soldier", "The Tale of the Heavenly Demon", "The Legend of the Seven Realms", "The Journey of the Immortals", and "The Blood of the Beast".

After saying a lot, I finally remembered to ask Yang Muye if he liked reading novels.

"It's alright. I like to read 'The Search for the Gods,' 'The Barbarian Chronicles,' 'The Immortal Executioner,' and magazines like 'Legends of the Past and Present: Martial Arts' and 'Martial Arts Stories.' I bought them all the time during high school."

"It seems you prefer reading physical novels, but I think online novels are the future trend, just like newspapers are gradually being replaced by news websites."

Yang Muye only agreed with the second half of Zhenshuiwuxiang's reply.

It's not that he prefers reading physical novels, but rather that he lived in a dormitory when he was in high school in his previous life.

Forget about using a computer to access the internet.

As for cell phones, only a few students from well-off families had them.

Moreover, reading novels on a mobile phone wasn't as convenient as it is now, and data charges were expensive.

Reading physical novels and martial arts magazines is more cost-effective than reading novels online.

After discussing those old-fashioned online novels, Zhenshui Wuxiang then moved on to talking about current online novels.

Zhenshui Wuxiang showed Yang Muye screenshots of his high-level VIP account and bookshelf on Qidian.

He claims that he spends more than 500 yuan a month just on reading.

Even so, Zhenshui Wuxiang still complained that the money in his account was being spent too slowly, as if he was reluctant to spend money.

"It's a pity that Qidian doesn't allow duplicate subscriptions, otherwise I would have subscribed to several books multiple times so that the authors could earn more!"

Yang Muye was just about to type a reply when he suddenly remembered that Qidian would not open the tipping function until next year.

"You can suggest to Qidian's customer service that they enable a tipping function, so that when you come across a book you like, you can shower the author with money!"

Zhenshuiwuxiang immediately sent over a "stunned" emoji.

He actually had that idea.

"I'm thinking of starting my own novel website and adding that tipping feature you just mentioned. What do you think of it?"

Yang Muye immediately replied:
"I suggest you broaden your horizons and just buy Qidian directly from Shanda."

Zhenshui Wuxiang immediately replied with a "laughing and crying" emoji.

If he really had that ability, would he need to ask Yang Muyi for advice here?

"You don't have to buy the starting point, you just need to get the Five Whites of Central Plains—"

When Yang Muyi got to this point in his typing, he suddenly stopped and then deleted everything he had typed.

"I don't mean to discourage you, I just want to remind you that running a novel website is a game for the rich these days."

Does having odorless water make someone rich?
Of course it counts.

Even if he could come up with a few million to start a novel website, that amount of money, poured into the vast pond of online literature, would probably not even make a bubble.

"Do you know the author 'Wandering Toad'? He saved Qidian with his pen back then. He brought traffic and popularity with 'Tianpeng Zongheng' and helped the website get through the most difficult start-up stage of paid reading. If I could meet an author like that, the new website could be established."

Then you'll have to go find potatoes.

Yang Muye thought to himself.

The fact that Hama's "Tianpeng" revived Qidian is something he can boast about for a lifetime, but things are different now.

If a book could support an entire website, perhaps only "Battle Through the Heavens" could do it.

But it's too late to go find potatoes now.

Zhenshui Wuxiang then sent another message.

"I discovered an author on Qidian. Based on my years of reading on Qidian, this person is very likely to become the next Toad."

You're so awesome, why don't you just apply to be the editor-in-chief of Qidian?

Working without a salary, I might not even consider the starting point.

However, if Cao Guang were willing to pay Qidian a sum of money to work for him, Qidian's higher-ups would probably consider it.

As Yang Muye was mentally complaining, Zhenshui Wuxiang sent another message.

It's a screenshot of an author's homepage on Qidian.com.

Yang Muye's pupils dilated instantly after he clicked on the picture!

Author's Name: Zhongyuan Wubai

Works: *A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality*, *Battle Through the Heavens*, *Douluo Continent*, *Stellar Transformation*, *Covering the Sky*, *Yang Shen*

Before Yang Muyi could recover from his shock and astonishment, Zhenshui Wuxiang sent a string of messages in one go.

"I stumbled upon this author when I was looking for books on Qidian in early 06. At that time, he had just published his first novel, 'A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality,' but he abandoned it after only three chapters!"

"At the time, I thought the author might have encountered something in real life, so I decided to wait a while before reading it. But after waiting for a while, I found out that he had started a new book, published three chapters, and then abandoned it again."

"Within three months, he started six books, but abandoned them after only writing the first three chapters. Even though those novels had excellent beginnings and creative ideas, the author just stopped writing them."

"I've read so many novels on Qidian in the past two years, but I still can't forget six of them. This has become the biggest regret I've had in all my years of reading."

After reading the message from Zhenshui Wuxiang, Yang Muyi remained silent for a few minutes.

"What can you do if everyone stops writing?"

"I want to find this person and have him sell me the outline and ideas. If he won't write it, I will!"

Even through the screen, you could feel the immense resentment in Zhenshui Wuxiang's voice.

"You can write novels?"

"If you can recite three hundred Tang poems by heart, you can at least compose poetry even if you can't write it. Besides, I've read more than three hundred online novels over the years. And don't forget what I studied. Even if I can't write well myself, can't I call on others?"

"Got it." Yang Muye quickly typed back, "What you call a novel website is actually just an online literature studio, doing that kind of collaborative creation, right?"

"That's right, I have everything ready now, except for a good novel idea."

After closing the chat window, Yang Muye silently opened the Qidian website.

I haven't logged into this account for over two years, and I've almost forgotten the password.

I went into the author's backend, took a screenshot, and sent it to Zhenshui Wuxiang.

A few seconds later, Zhenshui Wuxiang went crazy and started sending messages to Yang Muye.

"What the hell!"

"You are one of the Five Whites of the Central Plains?"

"If you don't mind, I'll be your foster father!"

"Great God, please accept my knees!"

……

Yang Muye only replied with one sentence:
"If I told you the picture was fake, would you believe me?"

Zhenshuiwuxiang replied instantly:
I absolutely refuse to believe it!

Yang Muye continued typing:

"I did have the idea of ​​writing a novel for a while when I was in my second year of high school, and then I wrote these six beginnings."

At the time, I did consider writing novels as an option, and since I was going to do it all, I decided to try all five types of novels.

As for "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality", it is well known that the Five Whites actually consist of six people.

Just like there's an old rascal outside of the Five Greats.

Anyway, I'll just publish the book first and claim the spot.

But writing a novel is, after all, a massive undertaking.

At that time, Yang Muye's plan was to first complete the outline and various worldviews of the book, and then pick it up again to start writing after he went to university.

Yang Muyi did this for the entire second year of high school.

The final result is certainly not just these six books, but also nearly 1GB of outlines, detailed outlines, and world-building settings.

Just to be on the safe side, Yang Muyi stored the data on three USB drives.

Yang Muyi then transferred the data from one of the USB drives to his laptop.

This trip to Shanghai was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and I didn't bring my computer with me.

At this moment, Zhenshui Wuxiang replied with a message:
Why not continue writing?

"What do you think? I lived at school during high school, and I could only go out to go online on weekends. How could I have time to write?"

Zhenshui Wuxiang then sent another message.

"what about now?"

I regretted sending the message as soon as it was sent.

Isn't this nonsense?
Yang Muyi earned over ten million yuan in just one month during his summer vacation developing cow/sheep mini-games.

Can you earn this much in a month writing a novel?

Even if you wrote six novels at the same time, and each one became a huge hit, you still wouldn't earn that much in a month.

It would be more reasonable if the copyright were sold.

Speaking of copyright, Zhenshuiwuxiang is reminded of another issue.

After Yang Muye published those six books, he didn't sign a contract with Qidian. Could it be that he was after the copyright?

Furthermore, considering that Shanye Technology is a game company, Zhenshui Wuxiang became even more convinced of this guess.

This time, Zhenshui Wuxiang actually guessed right.

Yang Muyi has been hesitant to start writing because of copyright issues.

If I were reborn and knew these books would be huge hits and their copyrights would be incredibly valuable, wouldn't signing a contract with the website be a waste of my rebirth?
Posting the book on Qidian is just a way to reserve a spot.

The problem is that even if you post it on other websites, you still can't get the copyright if you don't initiate the posting.

Upon hearing Yang Muyi admit that he had stopped writing due to copyright issues, Zhenshui Wuxiang immediately offered a terrible idea.

"You can sign a contract with the website first, and then buy the copyright from the website. At this time, your book is not popular yet, and buying the copyright will not cost much."

Yang Muye replied on the spot:
"How much money are you referring to when you say it won't cost much?"

Zhenshuiwuxiang tried replying:
"Tens of thousands?"

Seeing this, Yang Muyi knew there was no need to continue the conversation.

What the hell are you thinking?

Copyrights all have a floor price, which is why websites would rather not sell most of their book copyrights than sell them for tens of thousands of dollars like Zhenshui Wuxiang said.

Besides, website editors aren't blind. Even Zhenshui Wuxiang could see that these books had the potential to become huge hits, so how could the editors not see it?
The copyright to this book will definitely not be sold.

Even if they were willing to sell, it would definitely be at an exorbitant price.

The website doesn't employ a team of legal professionals just for show; they've already plugged all the loopholes when designing the contracts.

As long as you sign a contract with the website, you don't need to worry about copyright.

Only a very small number of authors, like San Shao and Tu Dou, can have complete control over their copyrights.

However, the copyrights to their most valuable works, "Battle Through the Heavens" and "Douluo Continent," still do not belong to them.

Yang Muyi had seriously considered this question during the summer after his second year of high school.

The conclusion is that if you want to maintain your own copyright, the only way is to create your own website.

I'll make a plate of dumplings just for a dish of vinegar.

Whether it's worth it or not, it definitely is.

I'm just too tired.

She writes her own novels and also runs her own website.

Why make things so difficult for yourself when there are easier ways to make money?
Now, Zhenshui Wuxiang has volunteered to be a "ghostwriter" and proposed to create a studio-style novel website for collective writing.

Yang Muyi was actually a little tempted.

After all, I've already come up with the detailed outline, so what difference does it make who I cooperate with?
Of course, before that, Yang Muye decided to test Zhenshui Wuxiang first.

Of these six novels, which do you think has the greatest potential?

Zhenshui Wuxiang replied instantly: "Then it must be 'Battle Through the Heavens,' which is the book I most want to write."

Yang Muye glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen; it was 3:15 PM.

His flight back to Yanjing was at 8:30 p.m.

Five hours is enough.

"Okay, I'll send you the detailed outlines for chapters four and five of 'Battle Through the Heavens.' If you can write a chapter four that satisfies me before eight o'clock, I'll hand over the writing of this novel to you."

"What about setting up a website?"

“Your suggestion is excellent. I’ve decided to copy it. I’ll get someone to start developing the website as soon as I get back.”

Upon seeing Yang Muye's reply, Cao Guang, who was sitting in front of his computer in the dormitory, was stunned.

So it turns out I was just a ghostwriter and that's all I did?
Even if you've served your purpose, you shouldn't treat it like this.
Then Yang Muye sent another message.

"If your writing of 'Battle Through the Heavens' satisfies me, I may consider letting you invest some money in the website. However, as a shareholder of the website, I will not pay you the royalties for writing 'Battle Through the Heavens'."

After reading it, Cao Guang adjusted his glasses.

If I follow Yang Muye's proposed plan, wouldn't I become a paid novel writer?
Even though I'm clearly at a disadvantage, why am I still slightly tempted?

Is this what they call generating electricity with love?
(End of this chapter)