"Neil Gaiman has agreed, huh."
Wang Jian hung up the phone, his fingers gently tapping on the desk.
The website had reached a bottleneck stage in its developnt.
A large number of young people accustod to surfing the internet and fond of reading had been attracted and had beco paying readers of the site.
But there were still many traditional readers who thought that books should be made of paper, and that reading online simply defied tradition.
When they spoke of this website, it was with nothing but disdain and scorn.
Yet Neil Gaiman, as a writer with significant appeal,
His joining should be able to change the situation to so extent.
Right, that settles it.
Wang Jian picked up the phone again and called Tom.
"We need to hold a grand signing ceremony for Neil Gaiman."
"And by the way, invite as many journalists as possible to spread the news."
"But will Neil Gaiman agree?" Tom countered, "Besides, inviting so many journalists is a considerable expense."
"These costs can be accounted for in the website’s marketing expenses," Wang Jian reflected for a mont and then said, "As for whether he agrees, that’s up to your eloquence."
What Tom hadn’t expected was
The proud Neil Gaiman had always held a grudge against publishers for their lack of faith in his next work.
Once he learned there was an opportunity to declare to people that he could publish works without relying on publishers and that the conditions were far superior to those offered by traditional publishers,
Neil Gaiman agreed without hesitation.
And so, a few days later,
In a hotel conference room in New York,
Wang Jian, as Chairman, signed the e-book rights authorization agreent with the renowned writer Neil Gaiman for "Arican Gods."
After that, the two exchanged so flattery and niceties.
Enticed by money, most literary newspapers had reporters cover the event.
The news of Neil Gaiman’s new work, "Arican Gods," being released online also spread quickly.
A few days after Tom sent Neil Gaiman and his rights agent away from New York,
Wang Jian continued to rush drafts for "Extre Heavenly Demon," while paying attention to various data on the website.
Hmm, the effect is good.
Although "Arican Gods" did not have ideal numbers,
The readership for other works began to increase across the board.
Especially "Extre Heavenly Demon," which, like "Arican Gods," fell under the Fantasy genre, gained a lot of new readers.
No matter how you look at it, this ad was worth it.
Humming a tune with delight, he continued writing "Extre Heavenly Demon."
But in stark contrast to Wang Jian’s mood was the grey outlook of Neil Gaiman.
He had assud that as a well-known author, his work would be imdiately celebrated upon release on the website.
But as he looked at the comnt section for "Arican Gods," he beca extrely irritable.
"Not a bad idea, but the protagonist is the weakest of all the characters? I’m out, I’m out..."
"I thought the protagonist would stylishly thrash all sorts of gods. Instead, this is it?"
"Comparing renowned authors, look at ’Extre Heavenly Demon,’ then look at ’Arican Gods’?"
...
Neil felt a stark difference between publishing books and serializing online.
It was the deep malice from the readers.
A prideful Neil Gaiman, made the contrast with the rave reviews for "Extre Heavenly Demon."
He read over the published Chapters of "Arican Gods" again.
His chest heaved rapidly as if he was making a tough decision.
After about ten seconds, Neil suddenly muttered to himself, "After all, the electronic version and the published novel don’t have to be the sa thing."
"I can surpass that young man nad Wang Jian if I write like this."
"Letting the protagonist have a trump card? That actually makes the creative process easier!"
So, he deleted the Chapters that had been published.
Then, he cleared his mind, thinking about how to write.
A mont later, the online special edition of "Arican Gods" was fresh off the press.
The protagonist went from an ordinary person entangled in mysterious events to a deity with a split personality.
In it, the main personality of the protagonist was still an ordinary person.
But the other personality beca the Fire God.
The Fire God, existing since ancient tis and having evolved into the god of weapons in modern tis due to firearms, possessed dual identities as both an old and a new god, making him the strongest deity.
Whenever he faced danger, the ordinary personality would fall asleep and the divine personality would awaken imdiately.
Then, he would relentlessly dominate the field with flas, bullets, missiles, and even small nuclear bombs against magic, electromagnetism, and various other powers.
The protagonist thus beca a disruptor in the battle between new and old gods.
After modifying and uploading so Chapters and tweaking the outline, Neil took a deep breath.
I have to admit, writing like this is quite thrilling.
Even if it wasn’t for competing with that young man nad Wang Jian, I could keep writing this novel.
This way, not only can I earn so money,
But it also eases the occasional sense of despair I feel when working on the serious version of "Arican Gods."
And so, the online version of "Arican Gods" beca what you might call the Aricanized "Carrying Grandfather Along."
Neil drank his coffee, looked at what he had written, and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Stephen King was right; the ideas of authors on this website are truly interesting.
anwhile, in the editorial office of Random House,
The bald editor looked at the newly acquired distribution contract for "Arcane Throne" Volu One
While listening to his assistant report on the recent situation of "online special edition" novels.
"Amazon is not taking book promotion seriously. They use this reason to secure a great deal of investnt, then turn around and massively expand their operations."
"Amazon doesn’t want to be the biggest online bookstore, but rather the Wal-Mart or Carrefour of the internet."
"Our investnt in this has been almost entirely futile."
"Besides Neil Gaiman’s joining, has that website made any other big moves?" the editor asked.
"That Wang Jian has started writing his third novel, ’Extre Heavenly Demon.’ Besides that, they seem to want to acquire a small publishing house on the brink of bankruptcy."
"A small publishing house?" the editor repeated, questioning.
"Yes. But as far as I know, they do not intend to step into the publishing field but rather to sell the physical editions as rchandise like a comic book store."
"rchandise, huh..." the editor nodded, "then get the data from this website."
He gestured for his assistant to leave.
Then, the editor logged into the website and opened the comnt section of "Extre Heavenly Demon," reading ssages from a multitude of readers.
After about fifteen minutes, he rubbed his eyes and stood by the window looking at the distant scenery.
He murmured to himself, "What on earth is happening in this world?"
PS: One more Chapter...
Got a bit of diarrhea.
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