Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 37: Website

Five days later.

With the end of the first wave of Random House’s promotional campaign.

Notable book critics also timely stepped out, uttering equivocal comments.

Especially pointing out the various incongruities in Wang Jian’s previous work "I’m a Great Mage," and discussing them repeatedly.

With artful language, they alluded to "Arcane Throne."

This directly resulted in a cliff-like drop in sales for the novel.

Of course, Random House’s marketing department also began a series of measures.

They contacted Wang Jian through Tom,

and informed him about the upcoming marketing plans, such as book signing events and television program interviews, which were about to be launched.

After hanging up the phone, Wang Jian glanced at Jack Dorsey, who had been working hard for two days,

hesitated for a moment, but still signed a check and handed it over.

After all, due to the internet hardware giant Cisco’s attempts to swap low prices for market share,

this small website currently owned by Wang Jian wasn’t very costly.

Dorsey accepted the check and, with a proud gesture, pointed at the computer screen, saying, "Look at this layout, this page, it’s no worse than the Ivy College Alliance forums."

"This is the user registration system. After registering, you can directly jump to the last page you were on, no need to search hard again."

"And what I’m going to do next is create a mini-program."

"Posting some advertisements periodically on forums where fantasy literature enthusiasts gather, to attract them to our website."

Wang Jian walked up to the computer, looking at the content of "Arcane Throne" posted on the website.

It was precisely where the protagonist impresses everyone with scientific knowledge,

and at the moment when everyone is about to be amazed and the antagonist thinks the protagonist is an incredibly powerful magician,

he nodded in approval.

Then, Wang Jian turned to look at Dorsey and asked, "What if users leave comments spoiling the rest of the story?"

Dorsey shook his head and replied, "There’s no particularly good solution for now, we can only manually enter the backend to delete them."

Wang Jian thought about it and felt that if computer specialist Dorsey couldn’t solve it, he was even less likely to.

He then asked, "So what kind of advertisement messages are you planning to release?"

Dorsey smiled at Wang Jian and said, "That’s up to you, best-selling author."

Wang Jian pondered for a moment and, embracing the notion of "if you’re going to steal, you might as well get caught," typed a line on the keyboard.

"Exclusive offer: Someone has posted the currently trending ’Arcane Throne’s’ first half online, the website is: xxx. Note: Do NOT share this with anyone!!!"

Then, pointing his finger at the computer screen, he said, "Make this ’Do NOT share this with anyone’ in a larger font and turn it red."

Dorsey looked at Wang Jian somewhat dumbfounded.

Then,

burst into laughter.

Wang Jian also touched his nose and laughed.

Just like that, he watched as Dorsey began posting ads on forums discussing comics and D&D.

But when Dorsey refreshed the page to see the effectiveness of the ads,

a notice caught Wang Jian’s attention.

He gestured for Dorsey to pause.

Then, he read the notice carefully.

The notice read: Influenced by the surge in fantasy literature popularity in the first half of this year, the newly established Short-legged Chicken Publishers has acquired George R.R. Martin’s new work "A Song of Ice and Fire," Volume One "Game of Thrones," with a record-breaking $800,000 advance in royalties and a 20% royalty rate on sales.

Furthermore, "Game of Thrones" will be officially released nationwide in less than three days, moved up from next year’s second half.

Next up is a list of literary and screenwriting works by George Martin.

Wang Jian couldn’t help but frown and turn to ask Dorsey, "Is this George Martin any good?"

"Very good," Dorsey nodded and said, "His ’The Armageddon Rag’ was well received back then, and as a screenwriter his ’Yin-Yang Demon Realm’ has left people highly anticipating his new work."

"Anyway, I’m definitely buying a copy of ’Game of Thrones.’"

Wang Jian shook his head and internally sighed.

Another strong competitor had emerged.

It remained to be seen how "Game of Thrones" would compare in quality to "Arcane Throne."

"Let it go," Wang Jian cast aside his thoughts and said to Dorsey, "Carry on."

Then, he picked up the phone and called Tom.

Inviting him over to discuss the upcoming book signing event, TV interviews, and other matters.

About half an hour later.

"You need to think not about your attire or gestures," Tom, holding out a schedule provided by Random House, said angrily, "but about the New York University book signing happening in six days, where you’ll be participating alongside George Martin."

"This must be Old Jack’s doing, only he has the motive and power to arrange this."

Tom’s otherwise handsome face twisted in frustration.

Wang Jian also furrowed his brows and asked, "Is there no way to avoid it?"

"Nope," Tom replied, disheartened. "In this regard, we can only drink to the publishing house’s arrangement."

Wang Jian sighed.

It is what it is.

Worst case, it’s a flop...

He had been mentally prepared since he first saw the contents of "Arcane Throne."

He just hoped that the next book in his mind would be a novel with a broader audience like "I’m a Great Mage."

"Come take a look at this." Suddenly, Dorsey’s excited voice drew them in, "Some people have already entered our website."

Wang Jian and Tom exchanged a glance and walked over to the computer screen.

Dorsey muttered as he checked the website backend, "New York State, California, Washington State."

"Ha, there’s even an IP address from Britain."

Wang Jian asked, "How many people are there now?"

Dorsey looked at the screen and replied, "Currently 190 people, with 163 browsing right now."

"The response is quite good."

Wang Jian shook his head inwardly.

people, too few in number.

What could be done to attract more viewers?

Meanwhile, in the New York Times Best Seller list office, freewebnøvel_com

a formidable middle-aged man was berating a group of employees, saying, "That new website called Cadabra, they’ve got a book buying chart? Even if it’s just tech books for now, what about in the future?"

"And you gave them advertising?"

"Are you all pigs? If they have that chart, what do we need our best seller list for?"

"What we need to do now is strike at it. At the very least make them withdraw the book buying chart!"

And a young Caucasian subordinate, seeing his boss in a rage, tentatively suggested, "We could... question the copyright of their online books."

"I’ve heard that the website contains many works whose authors have died, but whose copyrights haven’t expired."

"To give the public a bad impression of them first?"

Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶