Chapter 73: Premium-Launch Afterword

Writing novels for four years now, and this premium-launch afterword happens to be my fourth one—time really does fly.

This book is also the best-performing one I've written so far. Truly something to celebrate.

Freshman year, on a small website: a million characters, fifteen hundred average subscribers.

Sophomore year, I came to Qidian: a million characters, two thousand average subscribers.

Junior year, I wrote some pure literature on the side, and took the graduate entrance exam along the way—got in, but not quite. Some of the poems and short stories I wrote did basically find homes though, published in a few provincial journals.

But looking back now, although there are a few pieces I personally cherish, if I'm talking about showing them to a lot of people, well, that would still be a bit too shameless of me.

Fortunately, there's one short story I'm fairly satisfied with—I'd say it's one that, after letting everyone take a look, wouldn't be a waste of their time.

But that story is currently in the queue at a certain provincial-level publication, probably still a few months out. When it gets published, I'll post it for free in the work-related section. I hope everyone will criticize me plenty then—I'm willing to accept every opinion you all have about that story.

After all, I've placed something beyond mere entertainment into it. Since I harbor such thoughts, whatever anyone says is only fair.

Of course, rest assured—the whole thing is pure story, not a single unnecessary description (dog head emoji).

(Side note: the review cycle and scheduling for pure literature really is absurdly long—I've waited so long I've almost forgotten about it myself.)

Senior year, I started another book, and it flopped spectacularly. I thought my web-novel career was about to end right there, and I seriously started doubting my own skill. But I just couldn't accept it, so I opened this book.

Fortunately, the results are decent—looks like I can still keep grinding away on the web-novel path.

Honestly, I've always assumed my web-novel writing couldn't possibly improve anymore. Whatever I was before, I'm probably still that now.

But while writing this book, I really did feel I'd reached a new height in things like pacing and the swagger factor. Hope I can keep improving—hope I can write even better stories.

Of course, first and foremost, I have to thank my beloved readers. Even though the subject matter is niche, you still pushed me to this height—truly didn't expect it, and I'm genuinely, deeply grateful to all of you (bow).

Next, thanks to old Dostoevsky, old Tolstoy, old Turgenev, old Chekhov, old Bely, old Nemyrovych—probably more to thank later, and their works. I really have basked in their light. Before, I used to thank them for the spiritual inspiration I drew from them; now I'm literally making a living under their radiance (dog head emoji).

Then thanks to old Papa and his wife's memoir, thanks to the letter collections of old Dostoevsky, old Turgenev, old Tolstoy, old Chekhov, thanks to the knowledge-creators on Station B, and all the various papers and materials I scraped together. All of this gave me an increasingly clear understanding of certain things.

And finally, thanks to my editor Canaan and all the big names who gave me chapter recommendations, and also my operations manager Flame Star—although he sometimes acts on his own initiative (dog head emoji), without his help this book probably wouldn't have taken off so quickly in the early stages. Very grateful.

And last of all, let me thank myself just a little. I like the stories under my pen too—sometimes looking back I even feel a touch of admiration for myself, even though plenty of times when I'm stuck I think what I've written is a mess (sad).

So, also—the premium launch means mass updates. Going premium on May 1st, minimum five chapters, and after that I'll aim for no less than four thousand words a day. Gotta put in the effort to repay everyone's generosity.

As for the bonus-chapter rules: one thousand monthly votes adds one chapter, one Alliance Master or tips totaling 100,000 Qidian coins adds one chapter. Currently at 36,984.

It's not that I'm shameless enough to make outrageous demands—it's just that every day I have to spend huge amounts of time looking up materials and reading letter collections, reading all kinds of classics is practically routine, and on top of that there's the internship and graduation thesis and whatnot. I really can't squeeze out much more.

Based on the current monthly votes and tips, probably three to four bonus chapters a month? For me, pushing a bit harder, I can still manage that.

So here, once again, thank you all. Written up to now, Mikhail's story has only just begun—he still has plenty ahead of him. This will be an exceptionally long journey, and no one knows what lies at the road's end.

I look forward to traveling this road together with all of you.

Thank you, sincerely.

(End of chapter)