Chapter 92: Chapter 89: Treating Money as Mere Muck_i
Translator: 549690339
When Yu Ro ng finished reading “Death of a Small Civil Servant”, he had already decided to recruit the author, impressed by his potent writing skills.
However, he was surprised to discover that this author turned out to be Chu Kuang, who had been poached by Tribe right under his nose!
At this outcome, Yu Rong’s eyes bulged in anger, feeling as if his property had been stolen.
Nevertheless, as the chief editor of “Fun Reads”, he quickly managed his emotions: “I must get him back.”
Yu Rong declared this fiercely in his heart.
Having been recognized in the field of short stories, Chu Kuang was no longer a novice. He was a rising star, a talented writer who was beginning to flaunt his talents!
Such a talented writer was not only desired by Yu Rong.
All major publishers in Qin Continent were also eager to get him.
This competition was a harsh reality of the industry. A talented writer like Chu Kuang could easily attract everyone’s interest.
However…
These publishers probably did not have Chu Kuang’s contact information yet.
Tribe was able to locate Chu Kuang simply because they had access to the platform. The Tribe account was linked to a phone number, they just had to follow the number left by Chu Kuang.
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on ƝονǤօ.ᴄ0
Yu Rong believed that Tribe, if not foolish, would not give out Chu Kuang’s information.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to keep it a secret.
The industries were highly permeable with various channels for information retrieval. Some bigger publishers would eventually find Chu Kuang.
In this situation, he could only hope to postpone the inevitable for as long as possible.
But judging by the present situation, only Tribe could compete with Silver Blue Books for Chu Kuang.
This gave Yu Rong a little comfort.
Meanwhile.
Back at Silver Blue Books.
The Youth Fantasy Department was also discussing Chu Kuang.
The Fantasy Novel Department didn’t deal with short stories; that was the duty of their counterpart magazine “Fun Reads”.
However, Chu Kuang was one of the best-selling authors of the department, which meant that the editors naturally followed his every move.
So when Chu Kuang won the first prize for short stories at Tribe, it immediately sparked a lot of discussion.
“I had no idea Chu Kuang was such a genius at writing short stories!”
“Being able to master both short stories and youth fantasy novels, his creative talent is extraordinary!”
“No wonder the short-story sector wants to snatch our writer away. Given Chu Kuang’s skills in writing short stories, it’s definitely worth the fight.”
“I heard that even our chief editor praised Chu Kuang’s short story.”
Discussing halfway through, an editor worriedly asked, “Is Chu Kuang planning to focus on developing in the short-story field and stop writing fantasy?”
This worry was valid.
Chu Kuang was one of the best-selling authors of the Fantasy Department, a precious asset for the whole department.
“Probably not.”
An editor speculated unsurely, “How much can one earn from a few short stories compared to writing youth fantasy novels?”
“Money?”
YangFeng, the editor in charge of Chu Kuang, looked up, unpleased, “You think Chu Kuang cares about money?”
As YangFeng completed his statement, the entire department was silent, everyone tacitly agreeing with him.
True.
Chu Kuang didn’t care for money.
He was uninterested in it.
This was a fact universally acknowledged by the department. If he did care, he wouldn’t have so readily ended “King of the Net”.
Even a fool knows that the longer a best-selling novel goes on, the more royalties it brings in!
Once such a novel ends, the royalties drop off significantly within months!
Yet two weeks ago.
Chu Kuang’s final installment of “King of the Net” for May arrived, putting a neat end to the novel.
Indeed.
Tomorrow would be the first of May, and the last installment of “King of the Net” would officially be released. The public relations department even came up with a slogan —
Chu Kuang didn’t write a word more than necessary!
The entire “King of the Net” was almost strictly written according to his initial outline – with just a little over a million words, he ended his very popular novel!
Such decisiveness even made the editors in the department sorry. They wished they could continue writing the novel for Chu Kuang!
Considering the current sales momentum of this novel, every word written would rake in big bucks!
Putting it bluntly.
If Chu Kuang was willing to keep writing “King of the Net”, even if he flooded the pages with nonsense or the quality of the subsequent work declined drastically, many readers would continue to buy it. This was because many of them were already accustomed to reading it.
Unless Chu Kuang started to “feed feces” in his book, readers wouldn’t easily give up. At most, they would complain about the author while hesitantly continuing to purchase it.
This was the accumulated experience of the editors throughout the years.
Chu Kuang must have understood this too.
Chu Kuang just being Chu Kuang, knowing full well that he could still earn money from his work, still ended the novel without a second’s hesitation.
How could such a person possibly be interested in money?
After a long while.
An editor in the department sighed, “This is the way of Chu Kuang, a true literary. Creations not for the purpose of making money, authors like him are really respectable.”
“Exactly.”
“In this age of commercialized literature, while the original intention of the authors is usually rooted in their dreams. But if their novels weren’t profitable, who would be willing to pursue their passions?”
“It’s been years since I met such a novelist.”
“Most authors would not choose to end a profitable novel. Even if they’ve exhausted their outline, they’d do whatever it takes to stretch their story. In contrast, authors like Chu Kuang who decisively end their popular books are so rare.”
YangFeng sighed.
He truly admired Chu Kuang.
When most writers followed the trend by choosing popular themes like adventurous journeys to different worlds, Chu Kuang boldly chose competitive sports – a subject that most would find uninteresting. His pioneering spirit alone was extremely admirable to YangFeng.
Though he admired Chu Kuang.
YangFeng also felt extremely worried.
Because Chu Kuang’s decision to end “King of the Net” led to a huge loss for Silver Blue Books.
Therefore, the previous chief editor had especially requested Chu Kuang to expand his outline and make the story longer…
However, Chu Kuang didn’t heed the advices.
YangFeng couldn’t help but recall the first interaction he had with Chu Kuang, thinking that the latter was just a rookie who didn’t fear anything.
Eventually!
Chu Kuang would experience the fear of being controlled by the “Black Room” and see how terrifying the editors’ reminders could be.
But now.
Chu Kuang didn’t have to experience YangFeng’s terror. He was an author who never missed a deadline. On the other hand, YangFeng found himself experiencing Chu Kuang’s terror first.
This was someone who truly treated money as dirt.
At this, YangFeng could only shake his head helplessly and lament, “This man is seriously capricious!”
The next day.
It was the first of May.
The grand finale of Chu Kuang’s “King of the Net” was released!