Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 77: Mutant Version

"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 development.

A large number of young people accustomed to surfing the internet and fond of reading had been attracted and had become 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 some extent.

Right, that settles it.

Wang Jian picked up the phone again and called Tom. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"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 moment 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 agreement with the renowned writer Neil Gaiman for "American Gods."

After that, the two exchanged some flattery and niceties.

Enticed by money, most literary newspapers had reporters cover the event.

The news of Neil Gaiman’s new work, "American 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 "Extreme Heavenly Demon," while paying attention to various data on the website.

Hmm, the effect is good.

Although "American Gods" did not have ideal numbers,

The readership for other works began to increase across the board.

Especially "Extreme Heavenly Demon," which, like "American 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 "Extreme Heavenly Demon."

But in stark contrast to Wang Jian’s mood was the grey outlook of Neil Gaiman.

He had assumed that as a well-known author, his work would be immediately celebrated upon release on the website.

But as he looked at the comment section for "American Gods," he became extremely 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 ’Extreme Heavenly Demon,’ then look at ’American 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 "Extreme Heavenly Demon."

He read over the published Chapters of "American 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 same thing."

"I can surpass that young man named 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 moment later, the online special edition of "American 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 became the Fire God.

The Fire God, existing since ancient times and having evolved into the god of weapons in modern times 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 immediately.

Then, he would relentlessly dominate the field with flames, bullets, missiles, and even small nuclear bombs against magic, electromagnetism, and various other powers.

The protagonist thus became a disruptor in the battle between new and old gods.

After modifying and uploading some 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 named Wang Jian, I could keep writing this novel.

This way, not only can I earn some money,

But it also eases the occasional sense of despair I feel when working on the serious version of "American Gods."

And so, the online version of "American Gods" became what you might call the Americanized "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.

Meanwhile, in the editorial office of Random House,

The bald editor looked at the newly acquired distribution contract for "Arcane Throne" Volume 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 investment, 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 investment 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, ’Extreme 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 merchandise like a comic book store."

"Merchandise, huh..." the editor nodded, "then get me the data from this website."

He gestured for his assistant to leave.

Then, the editor logged into the website and opened the comment section of "Extreme Heavenly Demon," reading messages 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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