Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 72: Discovery

"Exclusive online distribution rights for works sold only online?"

Wang Jian looked at the advertisement, thinking about the niche books he had had trouble finding while adapting "Extreme Heavenly Demon" due to the need to gather various materials.

This involuntarily made him sigh lightly, "That’s somewhat interesting."

While clicking the link, he entered the book sales page.

However, just a few minutes later.

He saw the author’s name of a work being sold.

"Koya?"

This name,

why does it sound so familiar?

Wang Jian furrowed his brows, pondering hard for quite a long time.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and immediately opened his own website, entering "Koya" in the author bar.

Then, the book about "Greek Mythology" he had read a few days ago appeared before him.

Wang Jian compared the titles and summaries of the works on the two websites.

Were they, incredibly, identical?

Were authors defecting?

Wang Jian rapidly switched between Amazon and wangwen.com, swiftly entering the author’s name.

Following that, works that hadn’t been updated for a long time kept appearing, confirming his suspicions.

This made the increasingly profit-sensitive Wang Jian feel constant alarm bells in his heart.

The massive departure of authors meant a significant reduction in works.

Though the clickrate and payment rate for these authors’ works weren’t particularly high,

even a mosquito’s worth of flesh is still flesh. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com

What’s even more uncertain is, what if one day these writers suddenly had a breakthrough?

Wang Jian felt as if he were watching one money tree after another turn away.

This was something the now capitalist in him could not accept.

"Tom, Dorsey, come to my office," Wang Jian said sternly.

Moments later, the two walked in together.

"What’s going on here? Can anyone tell me?" Wang Jian asked, pointing at the computer screen.

But Tom, who had recently been busy signing contracts with authors, and Dorsey, who only cared about technical issues, both looked bewildered after a glance at the computer screen.

Wang Jian saw their expressions and knew they were clueless.

"Tom, use your connections at the Six Major Publishers to investigate. How come all these exclusively online editions are coming from the Six Major Publishers?"

"Dorsey, compile the data for the site’s most recently updated works, comparing them with the data from the peak update period."

Tom and Dorsey, upon hearing this, finally grasped the situation.

They looked at the computer screen again and nodded seriously.

Then, they quickly left.

Fifteen minutes later.

Tom returned to the office first, reporting his findings to Wang Jian.

Wang Jian listened and frowned.

It was understandable that the Six Major Publishers lowered their standards to attract authors.

But to have one’s own share taken away was utterly unacceptable.

Then, Dorsey also hurried over.

He handed Wang Jian a very detailed data report.

Wang Jian looked down at the data.

He discovered that the number of serial works on the site had dropped by at least a quarter from its peak.

And it was still declining.

But correspondingly, there were increases in the number of readers and a general rise in the clickrate across the site.

What did this imply?

More US Dollars were slipping away from him than he had anticipated!

Wang Jian looked up at the two men and said, "Tell me, what should we do?"

"I think authors still have a soft spot for print books," Tom said. "You’re a bestselling author yourself, you should understand."

Thinking of the moment he first received the print version of "I’m a Great Mage," Wang Jian nodded involuntarily.

Dorsey immediately added, "I think the site should be more inclusive. We should categorize by type of books, not just arrange them by clickrate and payment rate."

"Provide a comprehensive display opportunity for all types of works."

Wang Jian considered it for a moment, finding merit in the idea.

As the number of readers increased, their demands would inevitably diversify.

And due to the website’s developmental progress, the current recommendation mechanism was indeed very unfriendly to non-fantasy literature enthusiasts.

Then, to boost the reading interest of these readers, categorization was indeed necessary.

His purpose in establishing the website was money, to facilitate paid reading, not to create a fantasy literature stronghold.

Wang Jian tapped his fingers on the desk twice, then said, "Dorsey, break down the categories of works on the site. Then, conduct another revision of the website."

"Let its recommendation mechanism rank each category of works by their reading rates, from highest to lowest."

"However, the most important point, which neither of you mentioned,"

"is the power of money."

Wang Jian picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"Get in touch with several top-earning authors on the site. Under the condition of equal circumstances, ask if they would be willing to disclose their earnings."

"If they agree, we can create an earnings leaderboard."

"As for the matter of print books, I need to consider it further."

Tom and Dorsey exchanged glances and nodded, leaving separately.

Meanwhile, Wang Jian sat behind his desk, pondering how to tackle the print book issue.

The cost of physical books was high, with established sales channels.

Given the current situation of the site, if he forcibly entered this field, he might very well go bankrupt.

What to do?

After drinking several cups of coffee, Wang Jian was still undecided about whether to take the risk.

He picked up the sales data for the comic version of "Arcane Throne," deciding to compare it with the number of paid readings to see if he could discern anything useful.

But when Wang Jian clicked into the directory of "Arcane Throne," he suddenly found a post with an astonishing number of replies.

He clicked on it out of reflex, and saw that the content was calling for a print edition of "Arcane Throne."

Wang Jian looked at the post and then at the data in his hands, feeling like he was onto something.

The site’s works weren’t lacking in promotional resources or payment channels.

Most who would buy physical books had already read the works.

Then, could a pre-order campaign be launched on the site?

By charging a certain pre-order fee, he could estimate the number of print books to be published, thereby minimizing the possibility of losses.

Then, by mailing the books, they could deliver them directly to the customers.

And because there wouldn’t be a large surplus of books, such a move would cost far less than traditional publishing channels.

As for the ISBN...

Purchasing a small publishing house should not cost much.

While Wang Jian was considering whether to publish physical books,

Bezos was busy coaxing Wall Street investors.

He was vastly exaggerating the superiority and foresight of these books’ "exclusive online rights."

However, his goal was singular.

That was to ensure a promising future for Amazon.

So, time to pay up!

PS: Sorry, only one update.

Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m