Lingdian Editorial Department.
Wuyue was an editor in the Lingdian Chinese Web editorial department.
His job was to review, sign, and promote novels written by online authors.
Today, 30 new books were waiting for review.
Once a novel reached twenty thousand words, it would appear in the backend of Lingdian's editorial system.
As an editor, his task was to review these new books.
If, during the review, he discovered a new book with potential, he could submit it to the chief editor for contract consideration.
After spending the entire morning, Wuyue had reviewed 29 novels, leaving only the last one.
Sigh, there were far too few works with potential.
Out of nearly 30 novels, Wuyue had only found three that he considered promising, three that could be signed.
That meant only one out of ten authors could get a contract; the other nine would not.
Although not being signed didn't mean a book had no value at all, according to the rules of web fiction, if a novel couldn't be signed, it was essentially already doomed; there was little point in continuing to write it.
Let's take a look at the last one.
Wuyue clicked open the final work in the backend. After just one glance, he instantly felt stunned.
How a Bad Guy Is Made.
My god, authors these days really let their imaginations run wild; they dare to use any title they want.
Still, having reviewed new books for a long time, Wuyue knew that although such titles were bizarre, they weren't unheard of. After all, online writing had no entry barrier; you could write whatever you wanted and name it however you liked. Most of the time, though, novels with such odd titles couldn't be signed.
However, Wuyue didn't immediately discard this book.
The title might be unconventional, but he hadn't read the content yet.
Remembering an editor's professional ethics and standards, Wuyue wouldn't judge a work solely based on first impressions.
Better read the content.
Main text, Chapter One: A Resolution.
The first chapter told the story of a frail student named Xie Wendong who was bullied by a group of delinquent students. However, instead of awakening some special power and slaughtering everyone, Xie Wendong picked up a knife and cut his own hand. Through this act of self-harm, he vowed never to be weak again…
How a Bad Guy Is Made currently has only seven chapters, just reaching twenty thousand words.
Wuyue quickly finished reading all seven chapters.
How should he put it?
After finishing, he didn't know why, but he felt a faint sense of excitement stirring inside him.
He felt that this work was extremely well written and very stirring. Even though he had reviewed countless novels over the years, reading How a Bad Guy Is Made still filled him with anticipation. Especially while reviewing it, he had actually turned into a pure reader.
This was very rare.
Because of his job, he usually viewed every work through an editor's lens.
For example, how was the writing style, what was the main storyline, and so on.
But this How a Bad Guy Is Made had conquered him in just over ten minutes.
Sign it.
The first thought that came to his mind was signing it.
A novel that could even captivate an editor, how could it not be signed?
However, just as Wuyue was about to submit How a Bad Guy Is Made for contract consideration, he hesitated slightly.
Was the writing style of this novel a bit too "newbie"?
With such a plain, straightforward style, would the chief editor really agree to sign it?
Wuyue couldn't quite make up his mind.
After thinking about it, Wuyue asked his colleague, "Feiyuan," for his opinion.
"Feiyuan, there's a book I can't quite decide on, come take a look."
As he spoke, Wuyue sent How a Bad Guy Is Made to Feiyuan.
After a while, Feiyuan replied, "Wuyue, I don't really know how to evaluate it either. I can't say it's badly written, the story is quite hot-blooded, but the writing style is too newbie."
"Heh, Feiyuan, you can't make up your mind either."
"If you ask me, this book could be signed, or it could not be signed. But this novel has recently attracted quite a bit of attention on Feilong."
"Feilong noticed this book too? How were their evaluations, decent?"
"Quite the opposite. Feilong is full of criticism."
Feiyuan shrugged.
"You know Feilong, most of the people there are authors. Writers tend to look down on one another, and newbie-style writing has never been well-received by them. Whether you take their opinions seriously doesn't really matter, but you also know that Huanyue, Lianheng, and Lingdian are in fierce competition lately. Feilong is a neutral author discussion platform, and its comments can easily influence the direction of new authors. If Lingdian signs this work, they might start bashing our editors on the forum for having no taste."
"Of course, we can choose to ignore Feilong's opinions. But even if you agree to sign it, it might not pass the chief editor's review. We've only been at the company for half a year, and we're still junior editors under evaluation. It's better to be cautious."
After giving his assessment, Feiyuan concluded, "To sign or not to sign, it's up to you."
Feiyuan's evaluation was fairly objective.
If it were an ordinary novel, signing it or not wouldn't matter much.
But this work had two major issues: first, it was heavily criticized on Feilong; second, its writing style was highly controversial.
Signing this work was indeed risky and could be unfavorable to Wuyue's career.
Yet asking Wuyue to give up this work made him deeply unwilling.
He knew how important signing was.
Once he passed on this novel, or chose not to sign it, the book would probably disappear.
Because almost no newcomer could continue updating with the same motivation after being rejected for a contract.
Wuyue felt a headache coming on and decided to reread How a Bad Guy Is Made.
That feeling of excitement and hot-blooded passion surged again.
Bang.
Forget everything else, just for that sense of passion alone, this book deserved to be signed.
If he gave it up like this, it would go against his conscience and violate his professional ethics.
With that thought, Wuyue created a new document, the day's list of novels recommended for signing.
There were four works submitted for contract consideration that day, and Wuyue wrote an evaluation for each.
[The Way of Heaven: Excellent writing.]
[Martial Dao Supremacy: Twisting, unpredictable plot with strong appeal.]
[Great Tang Hegemony: The author has a solid historical foundation, skillfully blending fiction with history, leaving readers immersed in the atmosphere of the Tang dynasty.]
[How a Bad Guy Is Made: Although the writing style is newbie, it is smooth and easy to read. The plot is close to reality, full of passion, and highly immersive.]
After finishing the evaluations, Wuyue still worried that the chief editor might reject How a Bad Guy Is Made.
As a responsible editor, his authority was limited. He could only recommend whether a work should be signed.
The final decision rested with the chief editor.
After thinking for a moment, Wuyue added one more line to the evaluation of How a Bad Guy Is Made: Strongly recommended.
Adding this line signified the editor's high level of approval.
Under normal circumstances, if the chief editor saw a "strongly recommended" note, even if they initially felt the work shouldn't be signed, they would still consider the editor's opinion and often approve the contract in the end. After all, editors, though limited in authority, were on the front lines dealing directly with novels, and their evaluations carried weight.
After finishing the evaluations for all four works, Wuyue sent them to the chief editor of Group Seven, known as "Call Me Captain."
==========
Support the translation and help me keep the work.
patreon.com/Childish_Patriarch