novellhall Chapter 152: Overturning the Online Literature Industry in 3 Months
Chapter 152: Overturning the Online Literature Industry in 3 Months
Chapter 152 Three Months to Overturn the Online Literature Industry
Zhang Wei's story exploded like a bomb in the online literature community.
Three months later, Shuqi Novels announced its first batch of "Free Reading Masters":
The author of "The Strongest Son-in-Law in the City," "Zhang Wei Who Moves Bricks," earns 314,000 yuan per month. The author of "The God of War Returns and Finds His Daughter Living in a Doghouse," "The Stuttering Elbow," earns 872,000 yuan per month. The author of "My Nine Master Wives Are Alluring," "The Perverted Little Dragon," earns 521,000 yuan per month. The author of "Starting with Signing in to the Ancient Holy Body," "Heavenly Silkworm Potato No. 2" (yes, that top-tier author who once left has returned), earns 1,038,000 yuan per month. This list has gone viral on Weibo, Zhihu, and Tieba.
A popular post on Zhihu asks: "Can you really earn 100,000 yuan a month writing free novels on Shuqi?" The most upvoted answer is a screenshot of the back-end data shared by an anonymous author: August royalties: 1,274,891.22 yuan.
The answer was just one sentence: "I used to write paid content on Qidian, averaging 8,000 subscriptions per month and earning 40,000 yuan. Now I write free content on Shuqi, earning 1.27 million yuan a month. What do you think?"
The entire industry's author community was in an uproar.
"Really? Earning a million a month?"
"I checked the backend data, and the daily readership of Elbow's book exceeded 30 million. The revenue sharing with GG is indeed staggering."
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"The key is that you don't have to wait for subscriptions! With a paid model, you have to wait months before it's available, but with a free model, you earn money on day one."
"I'm going to Shuqi!"
Alibaba's traffic engines are fully operational:
UC Browser: 1.2 million daily active users, with a "Free Novels" entry prominently displayed on its homepage, driving 800 million users daily. Kuma Video: Embedding Shuqi GG in the ad slots of all variety shows and dramas. Alipay: Pushing "Read Novels to Earn Points" activities in its "Life Account." Gaode Maps: Even inserting "Tired of driving? Listen to a free novel to relax" into the rest prompts of map navigation.
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Under the strong influence of Tanglou, Shuqi Novels' DAU (Daily Active Users) exceeded 1500 million, a 400% increase compared to the previous period.
And all of this was accomplished in just three months.
Shanghai, the headquarters of LinkSure Networks (WiFi Master Key).
Chen Danian stared at the data reports on the screen, his brows furrowed.
"Shuqi's DAU has reached 1500 million." The product director's voice was hoarse. "Our LianShang Reading app is still in closed beta, with a DAU of less than 50."
Silence fell over the meeting room.
"We weren't the first to think of free reading," Chen Danian finally spoke, "but Tanglou was the first to dare to..."
Moreover, it has access to the resources of the entire Alibaba ecosystem.
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He pulled up a chart: the traffic matrix of Alibaba's products.
UC (1.2 million daily active users) + Youku (8000 million daily active users) + Alipay (3 million monthly active users) + Gaode Map (1 million daily active users)
"This is a case of 'dimensional reduction attack'," Chen Danian said with a wry smile. "Even with WiFi Master Key as a user acquisition tool, we only have 1.5 million daily active users. We still have to consider the user demographics—how much overlap is there between people who use WiFi Master Key and people who read novels?"
"Should we still do it?" someone asked.
"We'll do it," Chen Danian said decisively, "but we can't go head-to-head with Shuqi. They make male-oriented fantasy novels, we make female-oriented romance novels; they focus on urban fantasy, we focus on historical romance and time travel. We'll compete through differentiation."
He paused, then added, "Also, try to contact Tang Lou. I'd like to pay my respects to this true god who has crossed over from another realm."
That afternoon, Chen Danian contacted the tenement building.
"Mr. Tang, this is Chen Danian from LinkSure Networks." Chen Danian's voice was very polite on the other end of the phone. "I admire your free reading service."
Tang Lou was looking at the schedule of movies for the upcoming New Year's Day holiday. Before he knew it, it was time for "Sheep Without a Shepherd 2" to be released.
Tang Lou smiled upon hearing this: "Mr. Chen, you're too kind. You guys are truly amazing at making master keys."
"It's different." Chen Danian said earnestly, "The universal key is a tool, and the ceiling of a tool is visible to the naked eye. But content, especially free content, has a ceiling that is as vast as the stars and the sea. You achieved a scale that we wouldn't even dare to dream of in three months. To be honest, you are a leader in this industry."
Tang Lou paused for a moment, then asked, "Mr. Chen, are you interested in collaborating?"
"Cooperation?" Chen Danian was taken aback.
"That's right," Tang Lou said. "Shuqi's free model can be open source. We can open up the technical framework, GG revenue sharing system, and content review standards to our partners. LianShang Reading can use our underlying system to focus on the female-oriented content you're good at. We'll divide the work: traffic, technology, and content."
Chen Danian's heart raced.
This means that LianShang Reading can skip at least a year of research and development trial and error period and directly stand on the shoulders of Shuqi.
"What are the conditions?" he asked.
"Two," Tang Lou said directly. "First, Shuqi has the right of first refusal to purchase the content copyrights of LianShang Reading; second, my entertainment company has the right of first refusal to invest in any future short dramas or film and television adaptations."
Chen Danian said almost without hesitation, "Deal."
After hanging up the phone, Tang Lou said to Su Qing beside him, "Look, another ally."
Su Qing asked, puzzled, "President Tang, why should we help our competitor?"
"They're not competitors," Tang Lou shook his head. "They're ecosystem partners. The free reading market is too big for Shuqi to handle alone. What we want to do isn't monopoly, but setting the rules. If everyone plays by our rules, we'll always be the house."
Hearing about Tang Lou's plan, Su Qing was shocked. She had previously thought that Tang Lou might be acting on a whim, as his expertise lay in the production of variety shows, web dramas, and KuMiao Video content.
Unexpectedly, Tang Lou is truly an all-around genius who has thoroughly understood the free novel model. He has only been in the industry for three months, yet he has already begun to lead this emerging industry.
Such top-notch industry ecosystem planning capabilities truly impressed Su Qing, and joining Shuqi Novels was the most successful decision of her life.
Su Qing was prepared to follow Tang Lou closely and continue working there.
Hangzhou, Alibaba Literature Headquarters.
A huge map of China hangs in the office of the tenement building, covered with countless red dots.
"These 500 red dots represent the copyright cooperation studios we've already signed agreements with," Tang Lou told Su Qing. "Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang—I want to have our content production bases in every second-tier city across the country."
Looking at the map, Su Qing was somewhat shocked: "President Tang, we've already stockpiled the full rights to 80,000 novels. Should we continue signing contracts?"
"Continue," Tang Lou said without hesitation. "The target is 150,000 copies by the end of the year."
"But—" Su Qing hesitated for a moment, "At least 90% of these novels are fast-food stories with low commercial value."
Is it really worth spending so much money hoarding?
Tang Lou walked to the window and looked at the endless stream of cars below.
"Su Qing, have you ever played 'Legend of Mir'?" he suddenly asked.
"Huh? I've played a little bit of that—"
"Back when 'Legend of Mir' was popular, a single Dragon Slayer Sword could sell for tens of thousands of yuan. But what about now? The source code for 'Legend of Mir' can be downloaded anywhere online, and anyone can set up a private server." Tang Lou turned around. "Why didn't Shanda's market value collapse? Because Chen Tianqiao was smart; he extended the IP value of 'Legend of Mir' to film, animation, and merchandise."
He walked to the whiteboard and began to analyze: "The 150,000 novels we have stockpiled are like 150,000 pieces of source code for 'Legend of Mir.' The era of short dramas is coming soon. Douyin and Kuaishou have already proven that vertical screen, one-minute, high-plot content has a huge market. When that time comes, how much will it cost to turn these 150,000 pieces of source code into 150,000 short dramas?"
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