Chapter 75 - Chapter 75: On Shelves Words of Gratitude【Must-Read for Readers】

Chapter 75: On Shelves Words of Gratitude【Must-Read for Readers】

Question: A job with a monthly net salary of five thousand, complete with five social insurance and one housing fund, including meals, accommodations, water, electricity, internet bills, a five-day workweek, and eight-hour days with weekends off; or the job of an online novelist with no breaks throughout the year, not including meals, accommodations, water, electricity, internet bills, working at least eight hours a day, with no social insurance and fund, with a pre-tax income of five to six thousand, which one would you choose?

Answer: I would choose the latter.

Question: Why?

Answer: Because of passion!

This is not a fiction, but an actual event that happened to the author.

Just over a month ago, my old boss offered me this pretty good job with full sincerity after a phone call in which he learned about my recent situation, and I still politely declined it.

He didn’t understand. If I were making money writing novels, it would be one thing, but to persevere without earning, why be so stubborn?

This is just like how I can’t understand why he continues to smoke knowing full well that it’s harmful!

The answer is actually very simple: it’s all about passion!

I entered society quite early and have engaged in quite a variety of jobs, truly having worked in electronics factories, screwing together components, and even spent half a month moving bricks on construction sites.

I’ve been in real sweatshops twice; one had us working at least fourteen hours a day, usually sixteen!

The other had thirteen-hour workdays amidst noise pollution and heavy labor.

At that time, what allowed me to endure such conditions, besides my youthful energy, was the thought of being able to read novels once I got off work or during lulls when I was slacking off at work.

I used to love reading “Mortal” stream novels then. Why?

Because they allowed me to fantasize about a brighter future.

Those novels where the protagonist starts off invincible or possessing some unrivaled talent, they had absolutely nothing in common with me. I was so ordinary that I had no hope of that from the start.

On the other hand, in the “Mortal” stream, a person of average talent gains a golden opportunity, and then, through their own wits, gradually rises to the top—that was fantastic!

In that era, there were quite a few real-life examples of this, with many business tycoons who had billions to their name serving as living proof.

So, it was truly inspiring!

This sentiment has persisted to the present; I still can’t stand to read those invincible hero stories.

I don’t understand the thinking of mainstream web fiction readers—who say life is already so tough, why not unwind a little with an invincible novel?

When I read those kinds of books, all I feel is their unreality—not a shred of exhilaration, just profound fakeness!

Perhaps I take things too seriously, trying to find reality in a fictitious world.

Later on, I began writing novels and only then did I realize that this was the job I had been seeking all along.

My passion for novel writing far exceeds that for any job I’ve had before—by a hundredfold!

I’ve often asked myself why this is the case.

An uncertain answer I’ve come to is recognition.

Maybe it’s because I’ve always found it difficult to gain others’ approval. No matter how hard I worked at previous jobs, praise from others was rare, and I was even criticized by colleagues: “Why work so hard? Are you trying to show off?”

Writing novels, however, if I put my heart into it, is somewhat able to garner a considerable amount of reader approval, support, and even donations.

Thus, the internet is a beautiful thing—it allows a person who is not good at socializing to gain a lot of recognition online.

It is this recognition that has made me fall deeper in love with writing novels.

This time, when my old boss asked me why, I told him this reason.

Although he still couldn’t understand me, he could grasp what I meant, and thus he said that if I truly loved it that much, then I should dedicate myself to it, so that I won’t have any regrets when I grow old.

The stats for this book just hit ten thousand favorites; if the subscriptions go as usual, it should be around seven hundred, not far off from what I cut from “Ascent to the Heavens” and “Discarded Cultivator”!

So, I am very aware of what this achievement signifies regarding income, pretty much affirming that my pre-tax monthly income will be between five and seven thousand for the first six months after launch, assuming I maintain a high frequency of updates.

What I can look forward to is after reaching a word count of one hundred fifty thousand when the “Mortal” stream usually kicks into high gear, and my income should see a notable increase, exactly how much will depend on the circumstances at the time—I’m really looking forward to it!

Right now, my rent along with utilities, internet bills, living expenses, and social health insurance total over four thousand a month. Add anything to that, and barely any money is left in my hands.

Fortunately, being economical, I can still save a little, and I’ve always had ways to pinch pennies.

So, I do have some confidence to continue full-time writing.

The book goes live today at noon, and I hope readers who have followed the story thus far can support the first subscription as much as possible, allowing a past-his-prime youth, who still harbors literary creation dreams, to keep striving and fighting for his dreams!

There will be five chapters updated at launch, each with over four thousand words, which adds up to twenty thousand words—about the equivalent of ten chapters of those two thousand-word chapters; this counts as an explosive update, right?

Now, let’s talk about extra updates, which many are more concerned about. Currently, only bonus chapters for monthly tickets are offered. Three hundred monthly tickets is the baseline, with one extra chapter for every three hundred tickets beyond that, each chapter no less than four thousand words, with no cap.

Readers who followed my previous book, “Desert,” should know that I’ve always delivered on promised bonus chapters. You can rest assured it will be the same this time—the most that might happen is a delay due to writer’s block or some other unforeseen event, but I will never default!