Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 47 Speech

At that time, Mike Richardson thought such a small website was insignificant.

A down-and-out writer lured by the website? Just find a replacement, that’s it.

Anyway, New York City was full of aspiring writers dreaming of literary success.

They worked odd jobs while writing, hoping to get lucky one day and be spotted by a publisher’s editor.

But most were given a harsh lesson by reality. Then they slunk out of New York City with their unpublished manuscripts.

Recruiting these people as creative workers for the Dark Horse Comics workshop model shift couldn’t have been more perfect.

They were cheap and didn’t have the temperaments of famous writers.

When their creativity dried up, they could simply be kicked to the curb without any union trouble.

However, after Richardson contacted a few more down-and-out writers, he discovered things were not so simple.

Those who should have been overjoyed to be scouted were surprisingly reserved.

Richardson learned through inquiries that a piece of news was circulating among these aspiring writers.

The website wangwen.com was about to be revamped.

Not only could they publish their works on the website, but they might also earn an income from it and receive up to 50% in royalty shares.

Now, they were all waiting for the website’s revamp, and the performance of its first paid novel, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone."

Richardson also logged onto the site, and after careful observation, he finally felt that this website might alter the future landscape of literary publishing.

The first idea that came to his mind was whether he could replicate it for Dark Horse Comics to create a website as a pool for comic adaptation rights.

But after studying the creation process of wangwen.com, he had to abandon this idea.

Because the website’s creator was in itself a highly topical bestselling author.

And what attracted clicks at the beginning was the phenomenal fantasy novel "Arcane Throne."

Then, a series of unexpected events significantly increased the website’s visibility.

By now, the website was well-known and accepted by many down-and-out writers and literary enthusiasts; they even formed certain reading habits.

If another website were to be created as an imitation, the customer acquisition costs would increase dramatically.

Because the internet economy, put simply, is an economy of habitual use.

Rather than spending a great deal of human and material resources on imitation,

it made more sense to secure the comic adaptation rights of the website’s works before it truly turned a profit, and all at the least possible cost.

Thus, after investigating Wang Jian, Richardson used this approach to meet him.

The purpose was merely to show that he also had a strong network of connections in New York.

And then, to gain a slight advantage in the negotiations.

This tactic had worked to some extent on lower-class "Technology Heroes" and bestselling authors.

Some "Technology Heroes" thus lost control of their companies, and some bestselling authors sold the film and TV adaptation rights to their works at a low price.

So, using this tactic against Wang Jian, who had both the identities of a "Technology Hero" and a bestselling author, should also be effective.

Unexpectedly, after being burned once with "I’m a Great Mage," Wang Jian became very cautious of his interests.

Of course, he was also influenced by New York, the "Financial Capital," where everything revolved around money.

So after his initial surprise, Wang Jian rapidly regained his composure.

He took a sip of water and began to weigh the pros and cons.

The benefit was obviously securing funds at a time when it was uncertain whether the website would succeed.

Wang Jian had recently been studying the growth history of Yahoo and Netscape.

He knew that internet companies experienced severe "capital thirst" in their early stages.

While this money wouldn’t completely solve the problem, it would greatly alleviate financial pressure.

But there were clear disadvantages; selling the comic adaptation rights of the website’s works in bulk before market validation could easily cause dissatisfaction among the authors and potentially undersell their value.

Wang Jian estimated his net worth.

After subtracting rent and daily expenses, as well as recent website upgrades, he still had over $400,000.

Whether the paid online reading would work in the United States would become relatively clear within a week after the website revamp.

Over $400,000, enough to burn for a week.

If it didn’t work out, he could just go to Bezos to sell the whole website.

Wang Jian smiled, shook his head, and said, "Thank you for your appreciation, but the website currently has many shortcomings, and we will not be undertaking business such as licensing for merchandise just yet."

"Perhaps in the future, once the website is well-established, we hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with Dark Horse Comics."

"$500,000 per year for licensing fees. Within a year, Dark Horse Comics could select the comic adaptation rights for 10 pieces of work on the website—this should be a suitable price," Richardson said.

"Sorry," Wang Jian replied with a smile as he stood up.

Then, he turned to the principal and asked, "Is it about time for me to give my speech?"

The principal glanced at Richardson and then nodded, "Of course."

He then stood up, gestured with his hand, and said, "Please."

Wang Jian smiled as he bid farewell to Richardson and then followed the principal out of the office.

Red-haired Lynn followed behind Wang Jian, glanced at Richardson, and asked Wang Jian in a low voice, "Your website? It’s making $500,000 a year in licensing fees? Aren’t you a bestselling author?"

Wang Jian gave Lynn a look and did not respond.

He was really starting to get annoyed with this red-haired woman.

After a moment, the group arrived at the school auditorium.

Wang Jian took a deep breath as he looked at the children filling the seats below the stage and wrote "Knowledge and Dreams" on the blackboard.

Then, turning around, he smiled and said, "As a child, when people asked what I wanted to do, I would answer without hesitation, ’a scientist.’"

"But as I grew up, for various reasons, I was unable to become a scientist."

"That became a great regret of mine. However, literature gave me the chance to fulfill my dreams in books, in fantasy."

"And so, ’Arcane Throne’ was born. And it is precisely because of my love for science that ’Arcane Throne’ avoids making fundamental errors in the depiction of scientific principles."

"That’s the importance of knowledge!"

"To encourage those who haven’t realized their dreams, I founded wangwen.com, hoping that everyone could use literature to fulfill the dreams they haven’t been able to achieve."

Wang Jian turned back to write the website address on the blackboard. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Seeing many children below taking notes, he smiled inwardly.

Perhaps because elementary school children in the United States often have to answer what they want to be in the future,

this opening to the speech was able to attract these kids.

Thus, Wang Jian continued to speak, "A lady from Europe, when she was young, often dreamed of ’magic, wizards, and monsters,’ and so as a child, she learned a lot of knowledge in this area."

"Of course, becoming a magician or something like that, she probably will never be able to achieve."

Sparse laughter erupted from the audience.

"But was all this knowledge wasted? Not at all!"

"She used this knowledge to write ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ on this website, using words to realize her childhood dreams."

"You can go check it out, the various magical fantasies in the book are quite thrilling."

"And this is because she learned what others saw as ’useless’ knowledge."

...

While Wang Jian tirelessly promoted the website and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,"

inside an apartment,

Tom looked at Rossi and asked, "Is the website redesign program ready?"

Wearing big dark circles under his eyes, Rossi nodded.

Then, rubbing his head which was starting to lose hair, he said, "I’m still a bit nervous."

Tom didn’t pay him any mind and instead sat on the sofa, murmuring to himself, "The ads on Yahoo and Netscape have already been changed to the website and ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.’"

"The tabloids carrying our soft articles have started to be distributed."

"A few hacker groups have already started to post ads on various forums."

"What else, is there anything more that needs to be done?"

Rossi looked at the anxious Tom and shrugged his shoulders.

Just as anxious as Tom was Rowling.

She held her daughter, repeatedly going through the draft that was about to be uploaded.

It was precisely the Chapter where the main character, Harry, was to duel the acknowledged prodigy of the Magic School, a wizard descended from generations of a wizarding family.

But she could never imagine that in New York, a group of literary enthusiasts in a similar situation were also repeatedly refreshing web pages,

full of immense anticipation that this novel called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone" would become a bestseller.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m