Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 58: Getting Something for Nothing

Several hours later.

In Wang Jian’s office.

Richardson’s lawyer checked the comic licensing contract for "Arcane Throne" again and then reviewed the confidentiality agreement.

He then handed both agreements over to Mike Richardson.

The tall, middle-aged Caucasian looked at the contracts on the table for a long while, finally sighed deeply, and signed his name helplessly.

Wang Jian watched all this with a smile.

Then, as he shook hands with the other party, he said, "I wish us a pleasant cooperation."

Richardson put away the documents and said to Wang Jian with a gloomy face, "We will complete the first edition of the ’Arcane Throne’ comic book within a week."

"At that time, we will first give you the sample books to review. Then, we will discuss how many volumes to publish."

Wang Jian nodded and said, "My requirement is to keep the cost of each comic book around 1.5 US Dollars."

"We will also do some promotion for the comics within our limited channels."

Richardson drained the now cold coffee on the table in one gulp.

Then, he left Wang Jian’s office with his lawyer.

The smile on Wang Jian’s face disappeared immediately.

He quickly turned to Tom and said, "Get the contract that grants EA the game rights and 50% of the comic rights drafted as soon as possible."

"First secure the 900,000 US Dollars in licensing fees, then discuss the subsidy for each comic book."

"The minimum standard is a subsidy of 1.5 US Dollars per comic."

Tom, looking dumbstruck, said to Wang Jian, "Aren’t you planning to spend any resources on the ’Arcane Throne’ comic?"

"How have I not spent resources?" Wang Jian retorted. "Isn’t it a resource to write on the website’s headline that the rights for the ’Arcane Throne’ comics and games have been sold, and to hope that our readers support ’Arcane Throne’?"

Tom looked steadily at Wang Jian, a smile forming on his lips, and said, "I think under your leadership, the website might really grow to an astonishing extent."

Wang Jian waved his hand casually and said, "Call Dorsey in; we need to release this news on the website."

"Let the authors know that they can sell various rights without going through a publisher and then encourage them to publish their works on our website."

"Understood." Tom nodded and then left the office.

A short while later, Dorsey walked in.

As soon as he entered, he complained loudly, "We just finished fixing a bug on the website; we’re not doing another redesign, are we?"

Wang Jian shrugged and said, "It’s not a major change."

"You just need to add a clickable entry for peripheral rights sold on the homepage of the website."

"It will allow people to click and immediately see which works have sold for high licensing fees through the website."

"Is that all?" Dorsey muttered. "Well, that’s not difficult."

"Right, call some of the website’s editors in; I have some instructions for them."

"Okay." Dorsey turned and left.

Then, four young editors walked in.

Among these editors, two had been unsuccessfully mingling in publishing houses.

The other two were "writers" with few published works.

Wang Jian looked at them and asked, "Lately, apart from ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ and ’Arcane Throne,’ have there been any particularly good works?"

"We cannot rely only on these two novels for paid readings."

An older editor said, "There are a few novels with good literary and intellectual quality that we are very optimistic about."

"It’s just that the readers’ enthusiasm is not high."

"Which ones? Show them to me."

The editor walked to Wang Jian’s computer, typed a few keystrokes, and then said to Wang Jian, "These are the ones."

Wang Jian looked down for a while and frowned.

The first was an imitation of the style and writing of "Hundred Years of Solitude."

Various characters intertwined, with constant use of flashbacks and narrative inserts.

The second was more outrageous, practically a poor-quality American version of "Notre-Dame de Paris."

In the entire story, the protagonist either gets betrayed by a brother or dumped by a girlfriend.

In the end, he dies drunk on the streets of New York on Christmas Eve.

Wang Jian took a deep breath and said, "You need to understand, we are not traditional literature."

"Our advantage lies in novelty and fantasy."

"The most important point is that the reader enjoys it and is then willing to pay."

"But," one editor interjected, "aren’t you against publishing anything over PG-13?"

Wang Jian rubbed his head and said, "Does it have to be PG-13 to make readers like it?"

"Think about the daydreams you usually have: suddenly having endless money, a beautiful woman crying and begging to marry you, or suddenly having a special function."

"All these can be written into novels, and then published on the website."

Wang Jian pointed at the novels on the computer and said, "These are just for show."

"Today, I will personally teach you which works need attention."

"Firstly, in the first three Chapters, the protagonist must stand out."

"Secondly, even tragedies must allow readers to empathize."

"Lastly, and most importantly, articles that readers like and spend money on are good articles."

"Literary and intellectual qualities, throw them all aside."

"Except for well-known authors, do not feature works that heavily discuss literary quality on the homepage of the website."

"Do you understand?"

The four editors looked at each other and after a moment, quietly said, "Understood."

Wang Jian pointed at the blocked "I’m Really a Great Mage" and said, "This person is good, we can try contacting him."

"See if he has any new works. If so, under conditions that do not infringe on other works’ rights, we can feature his works on the homepage."

"All right," one editor agreed somewhat gloomily.

Wang Jian looked at him and said, "In the future, besides your basic salary, your pay will also include a bonus based on the sales performance of the works you handle."

"Alright, you can go now."

Hearing this, the editors’ eyes instantly lit up.

Wang Jian watched them leave and gently shook his head.

Still got those bad habits from the publishing house.

However, he believed the US Dollar would soon make them realize their mistakes.

He sighed.

In the current situation, the website could only rely on its own "Arcane Throne" for support.

So...

He had to write as fast as possible.

Wang Jian frantically typed words on the keyboard while looking towards the third book in his mind that was about to reveal its true form.

He just hoped that it was a good novel for adaptation.

He stood up and looked at the sunset on the horizon.

Suddenly, he felt a longing for the scrambled eggs with tomatoes his mother used to make in his previous life.

PS: I’m new to web writing and am hitting a bottleneck.

I feel it’s a bit boring...

But I apologize, my ability is limited.

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