Chapter 56: My Bottom Line is 12%

Having his own house, Cao Sheng gritted his teeth and bought a computer.

The reason he says "gritted his teeth" is that computers nowadays are too expensive, yet the specifications are too low; in his view, the price-to-performance ratio is extremely poor.

A Pentium processor, 8MB of RAM, a 6.4GB Quantum Fireball 7th generation hard drive...

Every single specification in his eyes was trash.

The hard drive capacity didn't even compare to the memory of his phone before he was reborn.

For this thing, he actually spent over nine thousand yuan.

If it weren't for the sake of no longer having to handwrite manuscripts and then go to an internet cafe to upload them, he absolutely would not have bought such a computer.

It is worth mentioning that he specifically bought a desktop this time, rather than the laptop he had originally intended to buy.

Because a desktop is easier to upgrade in terms of various specifications later on.

Once computer hardware technology continues to advance and there are better processors, RAM, graphics cards, larger capacity hard drives, and so on, he can buy parts to upgrade at any time.

By comparison, it is much harder to upgrade the specifications of a laptop.

With a computer and dial-up internet access, he finally didn't have to go to an internet cafe every two days.

The night the computer was successfully connected to the internet.

He sat in front of the computer in the second-floor study, logged into Rongshuxia, and read the reviews for "I Wish to Become an Immortal."

This book has currently been serialized up to Chapter 12.

With about three thousand words per chapter, it already has over 40,000 words.

The plot at the beginning can be considered to have initially unfolded.

The Xianxia world in the book has already revealed a glimpse to the readers.

Under the promotion of the announcement on the homepage of Rongshuxia, the various statistics for this book are already astonishing, something other authors in the industry cannot hope to reach.

The number of readers has already exceeded 280,000.

The number of comment posts has exceeded 16,000.

The review section is very lively, with a large number of new posts appearing every day.

The review section Cao Sheng saw today was like this:

"It's so good! Update quickly, update quickly!"

"I originally thought 'The Days of Living with a Stewardess' was already the peak of Zhongyuan Yidianhui, and thought he was an author who peaked upon his debut. I didn't expect him to be able to write a work like 'I Wish to Become an Immortal.' It's too awesome! I really want to crack open his skull and see what's inside."

"The updates are too slow! I heard that it's already published up to the 8th volume over in Wanwan. Author, can't you update a bit more? Since we didn't spend money, are we not worthy of reading your book? If you have the ability, hurry up and publish it in the mainland! Let's see if we can afford to buy it."

"What are the domestic publishers hesitating about? Such a god-tier book, it's already published in Wanwan, why isn't it published in the mainland yet? Don't you know how to make money?"

"I'm here again, and you still haven't updated. I have to spend money to go online, okay! You are wasting my internet fees!"

"When will the protagonist be able to fly on a sword? Does anyone know where the author lives? I'll go help you steal his stored manuscripts! He definitely has stored manuscripts!"

"Zhongyuan Yidianhui is simply an outlier on Rongshuxia. Look at what others are writing, and look at what you are writing? How can you write something so good?"

Looking at these reviews, Cao Sheng's face was full of smiles.

He couldn't help but feel some emotion in his heart.

A work of his standard, on the Qidian Chinese Network before his rebirth, would only be considered average, at most having three or four thousand average subscriptions.

It would be a flop in many people's eyes.

But now, it is a god-tier work in the eyes of many.

After reading the reviews for a while, he logged into his email, preparing to add an extra chapter today, just to celebrate his computer getting connected to the internet today.

Before his rebirth, wasn't there a saying called "Happy to be connected to the internet!"?

This shows that getting connected to the internet should be something worth celebrating.

The email login was successful, and he saw there was one unread email.

It was sent by Wang Jing.

"Cao Sheng! I have two pieces of good news to tell you. The first piece of good news is that the second batch of 100,000 copies of 'The Days of Living with a Stewardess' has sold out again. The publisher sent word that the market is still hungry, and this time they are preparing to print an additional 200,000 copies. The advance royalties for these 200,000 copies should reach your account tomorrow; please check for them.

The second piece of good news is that Huachengchubanshe has decided to cooperate with you again to publish your 'I Wish to Become an Immortal.' The sales of the previous book, as well as the super high popularity and excellent reputation of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' on our website, have finally made them stop hesitating.

Our website will also, according to our previous agreement, not take a cut of the royalties for 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' this time; it will all belong to you. The royalty rate remains the same as the last book, at 8%. If you have no objections, I will have them send the contract to you, and you can sign it at any time.

Finally, congratulations!

--Wang Jing"

After reading this email, Cao Sheng narrowed his eyes. Still an 8% royalty rate?

He was not satisfied with this number.

The hot sales after the publication of "The Days of Living with a Stewardess" had already proven his strength.

According to industry practice, his new book should be able to get a higher royalty split.

Not the same as the last book.

Otherwise, what was the point of the hot sales of his previous book to him?

He could roughly guess why Huachengchubanshe did not increase his royalty rate this time.

It was nothing more than the fact that what he wrote this time was no longer a romance work; the style and genre were different from his previous book, and furthermore, there was no precedent for successfully publishing this genre in the current mainland publishing market.

For Huachengchubanshe, publishing "I Wish to Become an Immortal" was a gamble.

But...

Understanding is one thing, but when it involved his own interests, he could not accept such conditions.

Therefore, after pondering for a moment, he replied to Wang Jing: "Sister Wang, thank you for the news, but could the royalty split be negotiated higher? 8% is the treatment for a new author. I have already proven my strength; shouldn't my treatment be improved?

I definitely won't sign for 8%. My bottom line is 12%. If you can help me negotiate to over 14%, I will still choose to serialize my next book for free on your site. I hope you can help me fight for it again, thank you."

"What? He wants a royalty split of over 14%?"

The next morning, in the conference room at Rongshuxia, when Wang Jing stated Cao Sheng's conditions, all the attendees, except for the station master, were surprised.

And the station master had already been surprised before.

Wang Jing had reported this news to him first, and only then did he decide to convene this meeting.

Wang Jing: "14% is not his bottom line; his bottom line is 12%. But he promised that if we can help him negotiate the conditions to 14%, his next book can still be serialized for free on our Rongshuxia. This is his condition, and also our opportunity! After all, everyone here has witnessed his strength. His popularity for the last book was unmatched, and this book has only been published for a dozen chapters, yet it already has the momentum to sweep across all peers in the industry.

Actually, I personally also feel that Huachengchubanshe only giving an 8% royalty split this time is a bit low. Based on the current popularity and momentum of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' on our website, as well as the performance of his previous book, I think it is entirely possible for us to help him negotiate better conditions. If Huachengchubanshe doesn't have the courage, we will find other publishers. I don't believe there are no other publishers interested in this book. I have finished speaking."

In the conference room, everyone exchanged glances and whispered.

The station master, Zhu Weilian, took in everyone's reactions.

After a moment of silence, he coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention, and smiled: "Zhongyuan Yidianhui is our ace author at Rongshuxia, and also the hottest internet author in the country right now. His achievements are also the achievements of our Rongshuxia.

If we can help him get 14% or even better conditions, he gains profit, and we at Rongshuxia gain fame. Once the news spreads, it will definitely attract many famous authors to publish their works on our Rongshuxia, because they will hope that we can help them in the same way.

Therefore, I have decided to use all our connections and resources to meet his conditions!

This is an opportunity for him to reach a higher level, and also an opportunity for our Rongshuxia to reach a higher level!"