It's been almost half a year since Yang Yajing encouraged Yu Yue to write full-time, and her first novel has finally been completed and published.

She receives royalties for each chapter, and her income is quite stable, although not much. This is especially true because her procrastination is so severe that she can only update two or three chapters a week, although there are quite a few comments urging her to update more.

Under the banyan tree, everything was paid for with manuscripts. There were no tips, revenue sharing, or featured placements like today; it all depended on merit.

For a newcomer like her, getting several thousand clicks and reads for her first full-length novel is already quite impressive.

After finishing the book, Yu Yue waited for a contract to be signed for the physical book. At that time, the conditions for signing a contract for the physical book were extremely strict. A month after the book was completed, Yu Yue's readership ranking still hadn't entered the top ten, which made him somewhat disheartened.

"Don't worry!" Yang Yajing comforted her with a smile, "Who can become famous overnight with just one book? You're still three spots short, that's already pretty good!"

At that time, online serializations of small-amount payments had just started, and Yang Yajing felt it was time for her to switch platforms.

“Yu Yue, let’s wait another month. If we still haven’t made it into the rankings to sign a physical book contract, then we’ll switch platforms. I’ve heard that two or three very innovative online author platforms have recently emerged; we can try them all,” Yang Yajing suggested.

"Really? I don't know! Can you help me figure it out?" Yu Yue was a little uncertain, but very interested.

Yang Yajing didn't actually need to do any research. In his previous life, Yu Yue had tried out almost every platform.

Yang Yajing's current knowledge of online platforms comes from Yu Yue's own experiences. However, she didn't appear to understand everything immediately, and simply nodded.

Back then, platforms weren't as ubiquitous as they are now; there were only three or four.

Yang Yajing knew which platform Yu Yue ultimately chose back then. She just wanted to wait and see if she could bloom under the banyan tree first.

Another month passed, and finally, thanks to Yu Yue's daily prayers and efforts to rally his millions of friends throughout Wukang to promote the book, he met the criteria for publishing a physical copy.

"Yang Yajing! I'm going to publish a book! I'm going to become a published author!" Yu Yue excitedly told Yang Yajing the day he received the contract.

"Let's go! Let's have a good meal and celebrate!" Yang Yajing was also very happy, genuinely pleased for her true best friend from her previous life.

Layout, cover, illustrations—all her friends pitched in to help her. The publisher gave her a month, but she finished it in a week, and did it exceptionally well.

She acted quickly, and the publishing house acted quickly as well. In less than a month, her book became a bestseller in bookstores and was highly recommended on a well-known online bookstore at the time.

Quan Wukang spared no effort in promoting her book on her e-commerce website.

With this foundation, Yang Yajing suggested that Yu Yue switch platforms.

"You can't change this book or your pen name. When you submit it to the editor, remember to highlight your past achievements. You won't have to worry about not getting a contract," Yang Yajing said, pointing to the platform she liked in her previous life.

Yu Yue's pen name is "Nicole Liu," which sounds like "you can slip away," which is quite funny.

"But... what should I write in my next book?" Yu Yue's excitement quickly turned to frustration.

Her writing impediment is such that she gets stuck before she even starts writing, and the struggle continues until she finishes, like squeezing toothpaste – it's like being constipated.

“Youth dramas are really popular right now, especially Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean dramas. How about you write a story about a campus celebrity?” Yang Yajing suggested to her.

"A campus celebrity? Like Yu Ning?"

“No… I’m not from a professional background, but I’m exceptionally talented. I wanted to become an artist for a certain purpose.” Yang Yajing shook her head.

"Huh? Should I say that the person I like is a celebrity? Or that my benefactor is a celebrity or something?"

"You can figure this out yourself. Anyway, you're bound to come up with some interesting ideas." Yang Yajing stopped there. She knew that Yu Yue had once written a pretty good novel on this theme.

However, although she had many readers at the time, she also frequently missed updates and never received full attendance bonuses, resulting in a mediocre income.

"Yu Yue, you can't stop updating your online novels. You have to work hard to keep it up, otherwise no matter how well you write, you'll starve." Yang Yajing reminded Yu Yue that there are many articles on this new platform, and you need to capture the readers' enthusiasm so that they won't switch to other books when they can't wait.

Newcomers don't have many followers, so consistent attendance is the basic guarantee. Once she becomes popular, she won't have to worry about not having her own reader base.

But listening and actually doing are two different things. Yu Yue spent a month writing the first 20,000 words; it was harder than constipation.

Yang Yajing didn't urge her, because since she hadn't posted anything, it wasn't time to urge her yet.

The editor who took a liking to her in her previous life hadn't joined that platform yet, and her first book was all down to luck.

Fortunately, she had experience publishing physical books, and that book sold quite well, so even if she didn't write articles to earn money, she wouldn't have to worry about not having enough to cover her daily expenses.

However, there are still some unpleasant things, such as a book review guru named Cao Wenji.

When her book first hit the bestseller list, that big shot Cao gave it a bad review, in other words—it was flashy but impractical, sensationalist, full of colloquial language, and failed to meet the standards of the essence of Chinese literature.

Yu Yue was depressed for a while because he couldn't write a new book and now his income was going to drop... His mother's nagging was about to start again!

But with the support of friends, they felt confident, and the three slogans in Quanwukang sparked a wave of curiosity:

In the era of classical Chinese, Lu Xun wrote in vernacular Chinese; in the era of online literature, being fashionable is the way to go!

Whether it's following the trend or just trying to attract attention, you'll only know after watching!

The readers have the most say in the contest between the old school and the emerging writers!

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!