Chapter 157: The Magical Butterfly Effect

Throughout December, Qianzhou was in high spirits.

It started because, besides I Am Really Not a Star and the Literary Era, several more of his titles surpassed one thousand average subscriptions.

Among them, two stood out as premium works.

Then there was Chongran's The Literary Era, whose average subscriptions had slowly risen to around 2,500; if it received a recommendation slot before year-end, it might just cross the threshold into premium status.

He now had another major author under his belt.

For a new editor, this was an immensely encouraging development.

It wasn't just affirmation of his personal taste and ability—it also meant real, tangible salary bonuses and commissions.

But what Qianzhou hadn't expected was that, starting in early December, Chongran's I Am Really Not a Star began surging in data at an unbelievable rate.

Especially this month, he hadn't even assigned I Am Really Not a Star a recommendation slot yet—yet it still maintained a daily increase of at least one thousand new favorites, purely through organic growth.

And it showed no signs of slowing.

For the first week, Qianzhou didn't even notice.

After all, backend data required manually opening the backend page to check.

Editors typically focused their energy on new titles.

For older titles after launch, checking them once a week was already considered frequent.

Especially for authors like Chongran, who had crossed the premium line but whose performance still fell far short of ten thousand subscriptions—they were simply left to languish in mediocrity.

It wasn't until mid-month that Qianzhou casually checked Chongran's data and realized something was off.

How had the average subscriptions jumped to six or seven thousand?

Wasn't it barely over four thousand at the start of the month?

When he pulled up the month's favorite data, Qianzhou froze, utterly baffled.

Without any recommendation boost, the favorites had increased by twenty to thirty thousand in just half a month.

Was this even human?

Had word-of-mouth exploded, causing readers to spontaneously recommend it and draw in countless new readers?

But this surge had lasted too long.

Only then did Qianzhou go to Chongran's comment section to take a look—and slowly piece together what had happened.

It turned out Chongran had written an original song in his novel—and even had someone actually record and release it online.

The song had caught the attention of a TV drama, which bought it as its theme song—and it had gone viral.

Qianzhou shared this in the editor group chat; both his team's senior editors and Chief Editor Hongdou were all stunned—they'd never encountered anything like this before.

The story quickly spread through Wenxue Group's offices like fresh gossip.

If the story had ended here, it wouldn't have mattered much.

It would've just been another author with real talent and good luck, riding external traffic to seize a windfall and cashing in big.

At the current trend, I Am Really Not a Star would surpass eight thousand average subscriptions by month's end.

Next month, it might hit ten thousand.

Keep in mind, this was a ten-thousand-subscription novel in 2014—over a decade of the entire platform had only accumulated two or three hundred such titles.

And that was cumulative.

If you counted only currently serialized ten-thousand-subscription novels, Qidian probably couldn't name fifty.

Just look at I Am Really Not a Star's rankings these past few days.

On the monthly vote chart, it ranked third in the urban category—the top two were well-known urban masters.

On the overall monthly vote chart, I Am Really Not a Star had climbed to 28th place.

On the sales-based bestseller chart, thanks to the steady influx of new readers, it had reached 19th place overall.

For a new author, this was nothing short of a miracle.

And under these circumstances, a new employee in the operations department was assigned an internship task.

Their supervisor required each of them to pick a single online novel, analyze and plan for it, and submit a suitable promotional proposal.

One employee, who greatly enjoyed I Am Really Not a Star, chose it as his case study.

And so…

【Chongran】: I do know him. What's up?

【Qianzhou】: You really know him… you're too awesome.

【Chongran】: If the editor wants a signature, I can get you one.

【Qianzhou】: No no no, that's not what I mean—I've got good news to tell you.

【Chongran】: Huh?

【Qianzhou】: The operations department put together a proposal. They heard you gave your song "Nianlun" to Yuan Wanqing to sing.

【Qianzhou】: And that the song went viral.

【Qianzhou】: So operations sent an invitation to Yuan Wanqing's work email, asking if she'd be willing to collaborate on an interview with us.

【Qianzhou】: Honestly, we were just testing the waters—Wenxue Group may be under Penguin, but Qidian is basically the adopted son, with little to no support.

【Qianzhou】: Yuan Wanqing's traffic is at its peak right now; she probably wouldn't even notice us.

【Qianzhou】: But who knew? The email went out in the afternoon, and by evening they replied saying yes, and even gave us several available time slots to choose from.

【Qianzhou】: Holy shit! As soon as I got this news, I came straight to you—this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, bro, you've got to grab it!

Damn… he was so excited he called me "bro."

Li Luo's lips twitched; a sense of unease settled in his chest.

【Chongran】: So… what do you need me to do for this event?

【Qianzhou】: That's why I'm asking you—do you have time this weekend?

【Chongran】: Hmm... there probably is.

Li Luo's inner unease grew more pronounced.

【Qianzhou】: So, could you come to the city sometime? Yuan Wanqing's company is in Yuhang City; we'll send people over to conduct an interview with her.

【Qianzhou】: We'll arrange a simple conversation and exchange between you and Yuan Wanqing, talking about your respective journeys.

【Qianzhou】: What do you think?

Let me?

Li Luo felt goosebumps rise all over his skin.

Honestly, this doesn't look good at all!

Who the hell came up with this insane operation?!

He was already a bit embarrassed about meeting Aunt Yuan.

And you?!

Not only are you making me go meet her, but you also want me to share my journey writing novels?!

What's there for me to share?

Share why I write harem novels?!

And...

【Chongran】: Boss, I'm still young—I don't want to show my face. If someone recognizes me at school, I'll be in trouble.

【Qianzhou】: Oh, that?

【Qianzhou】: No big deal—we can cover your face. You don't need to appear on camera; just do the interview.

【Qianzhou】: After all, Yuan Wanqing's face is the main focus. You're mainly here to promote your work.

That hurt a bit.

But after the editor said that, Li Luo found it easier to accept.

【Chongran】: And after the interview? What's the full plan?

【Qianzhou】: Oh, right, I forgot to tell you.

【Qianzhou】: Your novel's already over nine hundred thousand characters, right?

【Qianzhou】: According to regulations, novels reaching one million characters are ranked by performance; the higher the rank, the sooner they enter channel distribution.

【Qianzhou】: If you take this interview, we'll schedule your book for channel distribution the very next day.

【Qianzhou】: We'll push the interview content across all platforms to drive traffic to the main site and distribution channels, and fully capture this wave of attention.

【Qianzhou】: Chongran, think carefully—if this blows up, your royalty won't just be a few ten thousand yuan anymore.

【Qianzhou】: Earning a hundred thousand a month isn't a dream!

【Qianzhou】: Other people start job hunting after college—you haven't even entered university yet, and you're already a life winner!

【Qianzhou】: If you can't decide, you can talk to your parents tomorrow. I'm available anytime.

Clearly, Qianzhou was going to great lengths, pulling out all stops for this potential blockbuster.

Li Luo thought it over and understood the many advantages—he remembered he'd already promised Yan Zhusheng he'd visit her house this Saturday to meet Aunt Yuan.

So he gritted his teeth.

【Chongran】: Got it, Editor. Just arrange it for me—I'll go this weekend.

【Qianzhou】: Good!

【Qianzhou】: If you're good to go, I'll reply to operations right away.

【Qianzhou】: This weekend, wait for us—we'll come along too.

【Qianzhou】: If your parents are worried, I can pick you up at your home. They can come along too—I'll arrange it.

【Chongran】: We'll talk about that later.

【Qianzhou】: OKOK, then that's settled for now. Talk later.

After ending the private chat with the editor, Li Luo couldn't help but laugh and groan.

He hadn't expected that just one song, "Nianlun," would trigger such a long chain of reactions.

He'd thought he'd simply sold a song and earned a few ten thousand yuan.

But thanks to "Nianlun" and his connection with Yan Zhusheng, he'd met Yuan Wanqing and Luo Fei, forged ties with Huayue Film and Television, and even sold two more songs.

And as the theme song, "Nianlun," riding the mixed popularity of the drama "Yaochi Xianyuan," had directly reignited Yuan Wanqing's fame.

In the end, it even affected the priority of his novel's promotion within Wenxue Group.

One really has to admit—sometimes life is strange.

In his past life, when he wrote novels, Qidian's channel distribution had already declined—he'd never benefited from it.

But he'd heard how, in the past, some channel giants, despite mediocre main-site performance, could become immensely wealthy once their million-character novels entered distribution.

If he could seize this opportunity now...

Li Luo stroked his chin, thinking: Could he finally afford that subway shop he wanted?