Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 45 Ready to Launch

Five days later, the day before the new bestseller list was announced.

In the office of the New York Times bestseller list, a young editor looked at the editor-in-chief and hesitated before saying, "It’s this guy named Wang Jian who has made us lose face badly. Aren’t we going to suppress him?"

The bald editor-in-chief looked up, his voice rising slightly as he said, "How do you suppress him? His ’I’m a Great Mage’ is currently ranked 35th, and ’Arcane Throne,’ just the first volume alone, has surged into the top ten, sitting at ninth."

"It’s not only outsold the highly anticipated ’A Song of Ice and Fire,’ but it’s also surpassed it in terms of reputation."

"Especially after many readers reached the end of the first volume of ’Ice and Fire,’ where the character they believed to be the protagonist got his head chopped off."

"Right now, ’Arcane Throne’ is being hailed as this year’s most popular fantasy novel. Tell me, how do we suppress that? Falsify data?"

"Do you want to embarrass us even further?"

The young editor replied, "We could include some critical reviews from book critics in the bestseller comments, and in the introduction to ’Arcane Throne,’ insert some backhanded compliments."

"For instance, say that while ’Arcane Throne’ has great creativity, its prose is only mediocre. And that the book aggressively promotes elitism, which is very unfriendly to the current anti-intellectual trend."

"Don’t you ever read the newspapers?" The editor-in-chief grew even angrier. "Other papers have made such comments before, haven’t they? And what good did that do?"

"Alright, get back and do more research before you come up with any more suggestions," the editor-in-chief said. "That Wang Jian is still young; I don’t believe he won’t publish anything else. When the time comes, we’ll teach him a lesson."

It was only after the young editor left the office with his tail between his legs that the editor-in-chief’s furrowed brows began to relax.

He opened a drawer and, after a moment’s hesitation, pulled out a copy of ’Arcane Throne.’

Muttering to himself, "I need to find the unreasonable parts of this book," his hands went straight to the part of the novel where the protagonist uses classical music to win the collective favor of nobles, the Church Court, and the common people in the Otherworld, earning the admiration of other composers.

Of course, a glance at the pages showed that this section had been frequently referred to.

In contrast, the pages from the end of ’Ice and Fire’ in the drawer had been ruthlessly torn out.

The absurdity of this contrast became even more pronounced as the editor-in-chief hummed "Ode to Joy."

As one of the currently most popular fantasy writers,

what Wang Jian was concerned about was not literature, but the subscription fee issue for a magic-version ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.’

"Five cents per thousand words, is this rate appropriate?" Rossi asked, staring with her significantly dark eye-circles from all-nighters.

"This is the final price decided after considering the pricing of bestseller list books, the current number of readers for this novel, and the author’s wishes," Tom replied.

"It’s also the minimum transaction amount required by the bank card issuing institution to get the most favorable fee."

Wang Jian looked at the most prominent ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ e-book cover on the website’s homepage.

He turned to Dorsey and asked, "Have you posted the ads on other forums?"

Dorsey nodded.

Wang Jian then looked at Tom and asked, "Is the advertorial written?"

Tom handed over a small card.

Wang Jian took it and had a glance.

It read, "The author of ’Arcane Throne,’ the current most popular fantasy novel in America, will continue to publish parts of ’Arcane Throne’ on the website."

"And the content of ’Arcane Throne Volume One’ made available online for free will be an astonishing one-half. What exactly is he trying to do?"

Wang Jian handed the note to Tom, saying, "Where possible, write ’free’ and the website’s name in bold and black."

"Understood," said Tom.

"Furthermore, I’ve requested that several gossip tabloids stagger the release dates of their advertorials,"

"This way, not only can we avoid putting too much pressure on the website momentarily, but we can also maintain a relatively high level of exposure over a certain period," Wang Jian explained.

Tom nodded in agreement with Wang Jian’s decision.

After another round of checking for any oversights, they made their final decision.

Tonight at eight, the new version would go live.

Tom and Dorsey remained in the apartment, continuing to prepare for the launch tonight.

Wang Jian changed into his newly-bought suit while waiting for Lynn to pick him up for his elementary school speech, all the while thinking about how to mention "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone" as much as possible during his presentation.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

Wang Jian adjusted his appearance in the mirror, then opened the door.

To his surprise, it was not the red-haired Lynn standing outside, but the blonde Lily.

Today, Lily wasn’t donning her usual mature look with a short skirt and stockings. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Instead, she was wearing a white shirt and ripped straight-leg jeans.

At first glance, her style bore a striking resemblance to the very popular country singer Shania Twain.

Wang Jian looked at Lily, initially startled, then he contemplated how to start the conversation.

Unexpectedly, Lily confidently took Wang Jian’s hand, walked out of the apartment, and got into the car with him.

The song playing in the car was Shania Twain’s "Any Man of Mine."

Any man of mine better be proud of me

Even when I’m ugly he still better love me

Any man of mine’ll say it fits just right

When last year’s dress is just

a little too tight

The upbeat country music echoed inside the car.

Wang Jian momentarily forgot about the website, forgot about "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone."

He simply stared blankly at Lily, at her exceptionally beautiful profile highlighted by the sunlight.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at Horace Mann Elementary School.

On the road, without uttering a single word, the two now looked at each other.

As the saying goes: no beauty is absolute through the ages, but a pleasing appearance is always delightful.

A figure so divine, when can one embrace and call it mine?

Just as the two were moving closer, preparing for further action, the car window was suddenly knocked on.

Opening the car door, they saw the red-haired Lynn sporting a face that looked eager to watch a drama unfold.

"If I hadn’t come, what exactly were you planning to do in the car?" Lynn asked teasingly.

Lily’s face turned red at first but quickly recovered with poise, saying, "What’s the matter, are you jealous?"

"Pfft," Lynn scoffed, "Hurry up, the speech is starting in half an hour."

"Wang, you need to have the headmaster review your speech to avoid inappropriate content," Lynn reminded.

Wang Jian nodded and followed Lynn towards the headmaster’s office.

As he passed by Lily, she boldly kissed Wang Jian on the cheek and said, "Tomorrow, I’ll come to find you."

Lynn, irritated, shouted at Lily’s retreating back, "Tomorrow Gene is throwing a graduation party, you’re not going anywhere!"

ps: I don’t smoke, writing this feels awkward.

Alas...

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