After failing three rounds of promotional contests, I’m out of options. There are too many top authors in the queue, so I can’t get another recommendation slot. The only thing left to do is put the book on sale.

To be honest, reaching this point has left me with some incredibly mixed feelings.

If you judge by the number of bookmarks, this is my second-worst performing book out of the six I’ve published. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The absolute worst was a Naruto fanfiction from seven or eight years ago. It was my first contracted book to go on sale, and it’s since been taken down.

That was my debut work. The first-day subscriptions were in the single digits, and by the time I finished it at 700,000 characters, the average subscription count was just over a hundred.

My second, third, fourth, and even fifth books had their ups and downs, but before going on sale, they all had over 13,000 bookmarks. My best one, a cultivation novel, had between sixty and seventy thousand when it was published.

And now, with this sixth book, on the verge of going on sale, we’ve only just scraped past 5,000 bookmarks...

The difference is staggering.

Honestly, I’ve been writing this book with a lot of passion.

I outline the plot in advance every day, putting all my energy and enthusiasm into my writing. I’m constantly editing and rewriting—I’ve already thrown out over 20,000 words in scrapped drafts.

But no matter what, the numbers just aren’t improving.

It’s making me start to doubt the story itself.

’Is Shen Changchuan’s story even any good? Can I keep writing it?’

Sometimes I just want to give up.

But is it a completely lost cause?

It doesn’t seem to be completely dead in the water, either.

My backend data shows 1,182 active readers on the 5th, so the reader retention rate looks okay.

But that number is misleading.

Such a small number of bookmarks provides a weak foundation, and it’ll be very difficult to sustain subscriptions down the line.

Right now, I feel like I’m walking on thin ice. I can barely eat or sleep. My mind has been a mess these past two days, and I can’t even focus on writing.

So, if you are able to subscribe, I’m asking you to please do so.

I truly need your subscriptions to find the motivation to continue with this story.

Even if you want to read for free, you can still spend a few minutes clicking on ads to get a Chapter unlock voucher and show some support.

I offer my sincerest thanks to every reader who has supported me.