“Brother Yu, be fair. Is there something wrong with the review system? What’s so sensitive about the pen names I came up with?”
On the other end of the call, Yu Mingchuan fell silent for a few seconds. “You can’t put it that way. The reviewers have it tough too. You should try to understand them.”
“I understand them. Do they understand me? Being an author is hard too.”
“…Sorry.”
Jiang Fan was puzzled. “Brother Yu, I’m criticizing the review system, not you. Why are you apologizing?”
Yu Mingchuan took a deep breath. “Pen name reviews are part of an editor’s job. The pen names you came up with… were actually rejected by me.”
“Cough. Cough cough…”
Jiang Fan coughed twice, then smoothly changed his tone. “Actually, looking back, those pen names I came up with were indeed a bit sensitive. It makes sense that you rejected them.”
In the adult world, changing one’s attitude instantly was basic skill.
Yu Mingchuan laughed. “Alright, enough about pen names. Let’s talk business.”
“What is it?”
“Our website is holding an online novel competition. Are you interested in participating?”
“An online novel competition?”
Hearing this, Jiang Fan immediately lost interest. “Brother Yu, someone like me shouldn’t join in the fun. These events are for big-name authors.”
In truth, the platform held several events every year, and the rewards for top placements were especially generous.
At first, Jiang Fan had been full of hope and signed up enthusiastically. After participating a few times, he had come to accept reality. A small, unknown author like him could not compete with the established masters.
When a top author made a call, countless readers responded.
As for someone like him, no matter how much he canvassed for votes or shared his work, it still could not compare to even a fraction of a top author’s influence. After all that effort, he gained nothing.
Rewards?
Not even a scrap.
Yu Mingchuan’s tone turned slightly strange. “Jinse, you probably haven’t checked the data for ‘Sword Immortal’ yet, right? Why don’t you log in and take a look?”
Jiang Fan was startled, then quickly thought of a possibility.
He hurriedly set up his laptop, turned it on, logged into the website backend, and opened the data management page. The next second, his eyes nearly popped out.
“Sword Immortal” currently had a total of 120,000 words.
Half a month ago, the completion rate at 30,000 words was 52 percent. That was already considered top-tier. But now, the number in front of him was no longer 52 percent. It was 70 percent. Get faster updates on novelping(.)com.
In just half a month, the completion rate at 30,000 words had increased by 18 percent.
But that was not even the most shocking part. The most shocking was the data at 100,000 words.
Jiang Fan had seen many top-tier completion rates in the author group. It was not unheard of for some novels to reach 60 to 70 percent at 30,000 words. However, without exception, those novels always experienced massive drop-offs later.
Typically, the completion rate at 100,000 words was only about one-third of that at 30,000 words, sometimes even less.
But for “Sword Immortal,” with a 70 percent completion rate at 30,000 words, the completion rate at 100,000 words had reached an astonishing 66 percent.
Jiang Fan had never seen such data before. He had not even heard of it.
While he was still in shock, Yu Mingchuan reminded him over the phone with a laugh, “Jinse, after checking the completion rate, take a look at the popularity too. There’s a surprise.”
A few seconds later, Jiang Fan sucked in a sharp breath.
Popularity: 212,883.
Among his previous four novels, the highest popularity he had ever reached was just over 100,000, and that was with the help of a cover recommendation.
Now, “Sword Immortal,” with only 120,000 words, a brand-new novel in every sense, had not only broken his personal record but doubled it.
“Brother Yu, has ‘Sword Immortal’ already received a cover recommendation?”
“Yes.”
“Which day is it on?”
“Today is the second day. I’ve been monitoring the data closely these past few days. The day before yesterday, its popularity was just over 10,000. After one day on the cover recommendation, it increased by 200,000. This growth curve has already broken the site’s record for cover recommendations. Combined with such insane completion rates, I’m not exaggerating. Jinse, as long as you keep it steady, ‘Sword Immortal’ will definitely become a hit.”
“So it’s only been on the cover recommendation for one day?”
“That’s right.”
Jiang Fan fell silent.
A cover recommendation usually lasted seven days. Based on the current popularity of “Sword Immortal,” he had assumed it had already been featured for three or four days. But it had only been one day?
One day, and the popularity was already this high?
Could it be…
Was he really about to make it big?
With the current growth trend of “Sword Immortal,” becoming a hit… did not seem impossible.
“Under normal circumstances, the first day of any recommendation slot has the best effect. The impact gradually decreases over the following days. However, your completion rate is extremely high. You can retain most of your readers. During the cover recommendation period, if the popularity of ‘Sword Immortal’ exceeds 600,000, I can apply to the chief editor. When the novel reaches 200,000 words, I’ll get you a splash screen recommendation.”
A splash screen recommendation?
Jiang Fan was ecstatic.
The cover recommendation was the second most important promotional slot on the site. The first was the splash screen recommendation. Although they ranked first and second, the gap between them was enormous.
Authors in the group often analyzed traffic for different recommendation slots. According to them, as long as a novel got a splash screen recommendation, it would take off. Even if the quality was average, it would still experience a significant boost.
Of course, there were even bigger promotional opportunities than the splash screen, but those were not part of the regular system. Only top-tier authors could access them, and not even all top-tier authors got the chance.
“Jinse, if you have the time, try to update more. The word count of ‘Sword Immortal’ is still too low. A low word count means more limitations. Even if I want to throw all my resources at you, I can’t fully do so. Of course, only update more if you can maintain quality. If it’s difficult, just keep your current pace.”
“Alright.”
“Then that’s it.”
Before hanging up, Yu Mingchuan added, “You can check the rules and rewards for the competition in the backend. If you want to participate, let me know on WeChat. The rewards this time are far more generous than previous events.”
“Okay.”
After ending the call, Jiang Fan opened the event announcement. After reading the detailed rules and rewards of the online novel competition, only one thing remained in his mind.
First place reward.
A ten-day full-site pop-up recommendation.
Damn.
Such a reward would drive even top-tier authors crazy, let alone someone like him.
A full-site pop-up recommendation meant exposure to every reader on the platform. As soon as they opened the app, it would appear. It would not disappear unless manually closed. The traffic it brought was beyond imagination.
The hesitation lasted only a moment before Jiang Fan made his decision.
Why hesitate?
Just go for it.
Are kings and generals born that way?