novellhall Chapter 151 The Rise of the Novel
Chapter 151 The Rise of the Novel
Chapter 151 The Rise of the Novel
Apartments in a traditional Chinese-style building in Hangzhou.
Zheng Shuang had just finished a close discussion with Tang Lou. Zheng Shuang is very astute when it comes to making money. She held a glass of red wine, her brow furrowed.
"Tang Lou, what are you thinking?" Her voice was filled with confusion. "The third season of 'Go Fighting!' has already surpassed 800 million in sponsorships. You have so many hit variety shows; you could easily continue any of your IPs. If you just focus on variety shows, you could become Alibaba's youngest partner within three years. Why do you have to get involved in that mess of online novels?"
"Even if you don't do variety shows, or just make movies like the 'Sheep Without a Shepherd' series, or other web dramas, that's enough for you to showcase your talent. Why do you have to try this free novel?"
Zheng Shuang really didn't understand how free novels could make money; she couldn't comprehend Tang Lou's plans and subsequent moves at all.
Tang Lou stood on the balcony, looking at the night view of West Lake in the distance.
"Shuang'er, do you remember the first bet we made?" He didn't turn around. "Back then, you were also very confident that I wouldn't succeed. But what happened?"
Zheng Shuang was stunned for a moment. She had lost her virginity to Tang Lou, that lecherous man, because of that bet. Thinking back to that time, her ears burned: "That's different."
"Same." Tang Lou turned around, his eyes shining in the night. "Everyone said that free reading was a dead end, just like back then everyone said that Mist Theater wouldn't work, that stand-up comedy had no market in China, and that band variety shows were too niche."
He walked up to Zheng Shuang and took her hand: "But I did it, didn't I?"
"This time is different." Zheng Shuang shook his head. "The rules of the online literature industry have been set for over a decade—these giants control the market. How can you, alone, fight against the entire industry?"
"I won't fight back," Tang Lou laughed. "I'll go around them. They build castles on the mountaintop, and I'll build a new city at the foot of the mountain. When their residents find that life is more convenient and cheaper down below, they'll naturally move down."
Zheng Shuang wanted to say something more, but realized that her perspective and vision seemed to be too narrow.
Perhaps I really can't understand what's going on in Tang Lou's head; he's looking too far ahead.
"Fine, whatever, all I need is for you to sleep with me occasionally and give me a few projects when the opportunity arises."
Zheng Shuang has figured out her relationship with Tang Lou, and it's fine to keep things this way.
No one feels burdened or deeply tied down; everyone can indulge themselves when needed.
When there's a benefit, share it.
"Tang Lou, I haven't had enough yet."
Zheng Shuang's voice was somewhat languid and seductive.
After Zheng Shuang finished in the middle of the night, she left first. Tang Lou took a shower and had a good night's sleep.
Over the next few days, the tenement building officially moved in and began sweeping reforms.
The swift and decisive actions taken by Tanglou inevitably caused some turmoil.
Su Qing, Content Director, is a rare senior editor in the industry who has a positive view of free novels.
The changes that have taken place during this period have caused some problems, making Su Qing somewhat flustered.
"President Tang, something's happened." Su Qing's voice was urgent. "Today alone, seventeen top authors have submitted contract termination requests, including a legendary author who earns over 500,000 yuan a month." They said—that the free model is digging their own grave, and they don't want to be dragged down with them.
Tang Lou's expression remained unchanged: "Approved. Pay the penalty according to the contract, then tell them that if they want to come back in three months, they are still welcome, but the contract terms need to be renegotiated."
Su Qing was surprised by Tang Lou's nonchalant attitude. The fact that top-tier authors were switching to other paid websites had a significant impact on the platform: "Mr. Tang, aren't you worried?"
"What are you worried about?" Tang Lou took a sip of his drink. "Out with the old, in with the new. Those top authors are used to the high revenue sharing of the paid model; they can't accept switching from readers paying directly to the platform taking a cut. But there will be new people coming, lots and lots of new people."
Time will tell!
With Shen Yan's support, all channels, including UC Browser and Youku Video, began to cooperate.
A village within the city near Hangzhou East Railway Station.
Zhang Wei sat in his small rented room in an urban village, his fingers flying across the keyboard of his old laptop.
The screen displayed the latest chapter of "The Strongest Son-in-Law in the City": "Lin Bei stood atop the Cloud Top Tower, overlooking the entire city. Three years ago, he was a bullied live-in son-in-law. Three years later, he was the Dark King who ruled a trillion-dollar empire. His mother-in-law knelt before the door, weeping and pleading: Son-in-law, I was wrong, please forgive our family!"
After finishing this chapter, Zhang Wei clicked upload.
He glanced at the time; it was the 30th day since his novel was published on the free online novel platform.
"The payment should arrive tomorrow," Zhang Wei thought to himself. "According to the backend data, the readership has exceeded ten million this month. With the revenue share from Google and the guaranteed five yuan per thousand words, it should amount to—twenty thousand?"
He dared not think too much. A month ago, he was still carrying bricks on a construction site, earning 180 yuan a day, and even working non-stop for a month, he would only make a little over 0 yuan.
Zhang Wei nervously clicked on the interface for his royalties.
Zhang Wei's eyes swept over the string of numbers, and he froze. In addition to the royalties from the novel platform, his royalties from other channels actually exceeded 280,000!
There are many channels available, with the largest being the UC Browser.
He rubbed his eyes, held his phone up to his face, and saw that his own platform only had a little over 20,000 users, but the channels were surprisingly popular, and there were also other audiobook revenue sharing opportunities.
The total amount added up to a staggering 310,000.
Zhang Wei's hands began to tremble, and his phone fell to the ground with a "thud".
He picked it up and looked at it again. Yes, it was 314,582.37 yuan.
"Holy shit—" he muttered to himself, "Holy shit—holy shit!"
He suddenly jumped up from the chair and spun around in the cramped rented room. He wanted to shout but was afraid of waking up his coworkers next door, so he could only cover his mouth and his eyes instantly turned red.
At one o'clock in the morning, Zhang Wei called his mother.
"Mom—" he choked up, "I've made money, lots of money. You don't have to collect recyclables anymore."
On the other end of the phone, the mother was stunned for a long time: "Wei Zi, have you—broken the law?"
"No! I earned it by writing novels!" Zhang Wei wiped away his tears. "The kind that's free to read. I wrote for a month, and they gave me 310,000 yuan!"
My mother cried on the other end of the phone.
That night, Zhang Wei didn't sleep. He updated his author's page with a new chapter: "Brothers, I just received my royalties, 310,000 yuan. I'm just a construction worker, a high school graduate, and I never imagined I could earn so much money writing novels. Thanks to the free reading mode. I will keep writing until I can't write anymore."
This chapter has eight thousand comments.
"The author is awesome!"
"I'm a worker too, and after reading your book, I've started writing too!"
"Free reading is the future!"
"I need a tutorial! How do I write a book?"