Chapter 53: New chapter: Serializing

In front of the computer.

After Cao Sheng finished reading the email Wang Jing sent, he did not rush to reply.

Reason told him—do not serialize "I Wish to Become an Immortal" on Rongshuxia.

There are many reasons.

First, although the word count of "I Wish to Become an Immortal" is not very high now, he plans to write over two million words for this book, while Rongshuxia focuses mainly on short stories and is not a suitable place to publish this book.

Second, Rongshuxia is no longer the only literary website in the country; he has other choices.

For example: Wenxuecheng, established in March this year.

The BBS where Pizi Cai serialized "The First Intimate Contact."

Huangjin Shuwu, established in May this year.

And so on.

Third, in this email, Wang Jing only invited him to serialize "I Wish to Become an Immortal" on Rongshuxia, but did not mention royalties or copyright agency.

That is to say, if he publishes this book on Rongshuxia, he will not earn any money.

Not only will he not earn money, but it may also affect the simplified Chinese publication of this book.

Because once published online, given the speed of piracy in domestic books, it will not take long for rental bookstores near schools and roadside book stalls to appear with copies of his book.

They will quickly seize the market.

This will in turn cause legitimate publishers to dare not publish his book, because the market has been seized and there is no profit to be made from the genuine edition.

But, despite so many reasons, he still really wants to publish this book online.

There are also a few reasons.

First, as a web novel writer, he has long been accustomed to starting a book with an opening, then publishing it on a website, and continuously adjusting his writing direction in real time based on reader feedback during the writing process.

When lacking inspiration or feeling mentally exhausted, reading a few reader reviews or seeing a reader's appreciation might give him new inspiration and the motivation to keep writing.

This is a major difference between us web novel writers and traditional writers.

Traditional writers are used to creating behind closed doors; they finish a book, revise it repeatedly several times, and only choose to publish it once they are satisfied.

But he, Cao Sheng, is very unaccustomed to that.

Although this book of his has already been published as a physical book in Taiwan, and there are readers there.

But he cannot see the feedback from those readers, which feels very uncomfortable.

After pondering for a long time, he finally made up his mind to reply to Wang Jing.

"Sister Wang, to be honest, I currently have no intention of serializing this book online, but since you have asked, I must certainly give you face.

How about this! If you can help me secure the simplified Chinese publication of this book for free, then this book can be serialized on your site for free.

Otherwise, I will try submitting it to domestic publishers myself, and only consider publishing it online after it is published. I hope you can understand."

He knew he already had some fame in the domestic publishing market.

As the sales of "Living with the Flight Attendant" continue to rise, the possibility of his submitting directly to publishers and passing the publication review will also continue to increase.

But "I Wish to Become an Immortal" is after all a completely new genre.

It is the first web novel in the Xianxia cultivation category.

And mainland publishers are generally quite conservative, not as daring to try new things as publishers in Taiwan.

So, if Rongshuxia can help him find a mainland publisher willing to publish this book, it would save him a lot of trouble.

Once the simplified Chinese publication is secured, publishing this book on Rongshuxia is not impossible.

Anyway, according to the development trajectory of the original timeline, web novels will be free on the internet for the next several years; it makes no difference which website it is published on.

As for BBS, Wenxuecheng, and Huangjin Shuwu?

In his memory, these three will disappear within a few years, while Rongshuxia will survive until the day it is acquired by Shanda Literature.

He just doesn't know if Rongshuxia will agree to his conditions this time.

The next afternoon.

Cao Sheng came to the internet cafe again, preparing to convert part of his stored drafts into electronic manuscripts, and also wanted to see if Wang Jing had replied.

He logged into his email.

He saw an unread email.

It was sent by Wang Jing.

"Cao Sheng, we have discussed your conditions. Given our previous pleasant cooperation, we are certainly willing to help you find a publisher to publish this new book. Now, please send me the first seventy thousand words of this new book so we can help you submit it.

Additionally, I personally think you could serialize it on our website first, just like your previous book, updating one chapter every two days. This can attract the readers you accumulated from your previous book to maintain your popularity, and also let domestic publishers see the online response to this new book. If the response is good, we can better persuade them. What do you think?

Wang Jing."

The sentence in Wang Jing's email, "can attract the readers you accumulated from your previous book to maintain your popularity," moved Cao Sheng.

His book "Living with the Flight Attendant" has recently been paused in serialization on Rongshuxia.

This was the publisher's requirement.

—The last 20 chapters cannot be serialized online recently.

Otherwise, it will affect the sales of the physical book.

Because the serialization was paused, many readers in the review section have expressed dissatisfaction these past two days.

If he does not publish a new book in the near future, those readers will surely scatter bit by bit.

Cao Sheng felt a bit reluctant.

He was convinced.

He not only sent the opening 70,000 words of "I Wish to Become an Immortal" to Wang Jing, but also posted the first two chapters on Rongshuxia, officially beginning the serialization of this work on Rongshuxia.

When creating this book on Rongshuxia, many thoughts flashed through his mind.

Such as: "So what if most of Rongshuxia consists of short stories? Watch me turn you into my shape."

"When Immortal Romance appears, who can rival it?"

"In my last book, I killed Ran Jing. This time, I've given you several more female leads—as compensation."

"If I start Immortal Romance so early, will it accelerate the development of web literature in this timeline? It should, right?"

……

Beneath the banyan tree, the office area.

Wang Jing, seated at her desk in the corner, checked her email again and finally saw Cao Sheng's reply.

She had been waiting for his reply since early this morning.

Ever since they learned Cao Sheng had another work, already published in several volumes in Taiwan, they had fixated on this new book of his.

Because Cao Sheng is currently the most popular author on Banyan Tree—no one comes close!

Also, readers who mentioned that book, *I Wish to Become an Immortal*, in the comments of *Living with the Air Stewardess*, praised *I Wish to Become an Immortal* to the skies.

It wasn't just one or two readers.

Every Taiwanese reader who mentioned that book said its premise was incredibly fresh—*Living with the Air Stewardess* couldn't compare.

How could editors like us sit still?

Wang Jing opened Cao Sheng's email and saw he had agreed to serialize *I Wish to Become an Immortal* on Banyan Tree. She clenched her fists tightly, overjoyed.

When she saw he had already sent the opening chapters, her curiosity exploded, and she couldn't resist reading immediately.

The introduction and opening passage made her frown.

Because the writing style differed completely from *Living with the Air Stewardess*, she was slightly unsettled—but…

As time passed, her furrowed brow slowly relaxed, and the astonishment in her eyes grew deeper.

Soon, the astonishment vanished from her eyes; she stared at the text on her screen, blinking occasionally but never once breaking her gaze from the words.

She was utterly captivated by this novel story.