"Luozhi, are you sure your classmate really wrote that poem?"
For a young girl, that poem might've been moving. But for adults, especially those who'd lived through love, those with literary sensibilities and emotional depth, it was explosive in its impact. Almost instantly, Sun Zaian messaged Li Luozhi back.
"Yes, Uncle Sun. Why? Was it not that good?"
"Not good? Come on, it's amazing. Just this one poem could make your classmate famous in the poetry world!"
"No way, really?"
Li Luozhi was stunned. She knew how hard it was to make a name in the literary world. Take her, for example, well known at school, a skilled essayist, even with a bit of recognition in 'Youth Daily'. But it was all surface-level fame. Give it a few days, and people will forget who you are.
"Of course. You need to understand how important poetry is in our literary scene here in Huaguo. And with the current awkward state of modern poetry, few notable works in decades, many are questioning whether it even deserves to exist. …Eh, anyway, the point is, Luozhi, this poem is incredible. What's your classmate's name? Do you have his TT number? I'd love to get to know him."
"Get to know him?"
Li Luozhi was momentarily dazed by how excited Sun Zaian was.
Sure, the poem was good, but that good?
"His name is Huang Yifan. His TT number is 2543. But Uncle Sun, you absolutely cannot say I introduced you. And you definitely can't mention the poem."
"Why not?"
"No reason. Just promise me. If you mention it, I won't speak to you ever again."
"Alright, alright, I won't. Uncle Sun knows how to keep his mouth shut."
…
"Fanchen, no, I should call you Master Fanchen now. After a unanimous decision by the editorial team, we're officially raising your manuscript rate to 3.000 yuan per 1.000 words. We hope you'll continue producing outstanding work."
Over the three-day break, Huang Yifan didn't go anywhere. He stayed home reading.
His reading tastes were wide-ranging: both traditional literature and web novels. He was also brainstorming ideas for a new book.
So, although it seemed like he was just lazing around, between reading and planning, the time flew by.
That's when Liangcha, his editor at Midnight Talk, sent him the message.
"Thanks, Liangcha."
Three thousand per thousand words was among the highest rates in the industry, and Huang Yifan was satisfied.
Of course, he'd heard that in Suspense World, Zhang Yun earned 5.000 per thousand. But he didn't care and didn't try to use it to bargain. He knew that with the success of 'Strange Tales', if he demanded 5.000, Midnight Talk would probably agree. But he wouldn't do that; every industry had its rules. Writing wasn't about pulling rank; rule number one was to respect the system.
This mindset was shaped in part by what happened during the Supernatural Community and Feilong Forum events.
Those incidents made Huang Yifan see both himself and the world more clearly.
To gain recognition and establish a foothold in the literary world wasn't as simple as just being talented and writing well. One misstep, and the infighting alone could drag you down. Just look at Sanyue, that was his fate. Huang Yifan hadn't been in this world long, and he'd only written two series so far, yet the amount of controversy he'd faced was no small matter. If he hadn't kept a clear head, the Feilong incident alone could've ruined his pen name.
During this break, he also looked into how author rankings worked in the Huaguo Writers' Network.
As long as you are registered there, your author rating will be automatically scored.
Ratings were based on fame, sales, and influence.
One star.
Just like on Lingdian, his pen name, Fanchen, was ranked as a one-star author.
This ranking wasn't from Lingdian; it came from the official Huaguo Writers' Network.
Huang Yifan found the rating system both interesting and frustrating.
Interesting because it gave a clear way to gauge an author's strength.
Simple, right? A 2-star is clearly better than a 1-star, and a 3-star could never be worse.
But frustrating because leveling up was so slow.
He asked Liangcha if there was any quick way to raise his rating. Liangcha's answer: There wasn't.
Not because it was impossible, but because writing for magazines didn't help much. Magazines belonged to publishers, not the authors. Even if you had one or two stories in an issue, the sales weren't attributed to you. At best, they'd count your influence or reputation, but those things were abstract, hard to measure, and thus difficult to evaluate.
In the end, Liangcha pointed him to one viable path: publishing.
If Strange Tales were turned into a book after being serialized in the magazine, then the sales could be used as a concrete metric for ratings.
But, he added, while sales counted for a lot in the rating system, what mattered even more was getting approval from the Huaguo Writers' Association. Liangcha told Huang Yifan they were preparing to submit his name to the local county branch of the Writers' Association.
But Huang Yifan declined, for now, he didn't want to join.
Liangcha admitted that without joining, it was very hard to level up as an author.
Still, despite what Liangcha said, Huang Yifan discovered one way to raise his rating without the Association.
That way was publishing.
As long as his book sales were high enough, nationally recognized, even, then the Huaguo Writers' Network would upgrade his rating automatically, Association or not.
Thinking of this, Huang Yifan brought up the idea of publishing with Liangcha.
'Strange Tales' had already run for over ten installments and built a solid name. Midnight Talk had broken 150.000 copies sold per week thanks to it, and was now inching toward 200.000. Though still behind Suspense World, at this rate, it wouldn't be hard to surpass it soon.
Huang Yifan had high hopes for the 'Strange Tales' series and believed it would do well as a published book. If the sales were strong enough, even without Association support, he could still level up his author status based on sales alone.
Liangcha took the proposal seriously. He replied that they would discuss it internally and aim to offer Huang Yifan a more favorable publishing contract.
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