Chapter 95: Newcomer Grand Prize Begins
Chen Xi got off work very late today. Long-term work took a toll on her body. She had just passed thirty, but already suffered from gastroenteritis. This was also a result of her long-term work. Although she thought about resting well, wanting to do more while young, this problem had been dragging on.
Compared to these ailments, she cared more about how well the authors under her charge could do. She was now the top editor in the editorial department. Many outstanding authors had emerged under her guidance; no one could achieve what she had. Authors edited by her basically secured a spot on the bestseller list. Although there was some gap compared to the largest publishing house in the country, she had also helped the publishing house enter the top few domestically.
“Hello, Teacher Kongqi. You have a slot for publishing a short story in a month. Please prepare the manuscript in advance.”
“Okay, okay, I will work hard.”
“Okay.”
Teacher Kongqi was a newcomer she had recently discovered. This newcomer was a girl, only 19 years old, very young. Chen Xi wanted to cultivate her well. Given time, this author named Kongqi really had the chance to become a first-tier author in the country. Think about it, for a newcomer to sell her book like this was already quite remarkable.
She was just afraid that Teacher Kongqi’s peak would stop here. Many authors peaked at their debut, and subsequent works never reached the initial brilliance. Hopefully, Teacher Kongqi wouldn’t be like that.
“Sister Chen, are you ready for tomorrow night’s meeting? I heard the editor-in-chief intends to give you his position.”
“Yes, I know what to do.”
“Sister Chen, while the market is booming, why not quickly sell the works of the authors under our banner to major companies? Only animation adaptation can make big money.”
In the novel industry, for an author to become popular, besides their own books selling well, the most important thing was for their works to be adapted into film, television, and games. Only then would the work’s fame increase and influence more people. After all, throughout the country, there would always be people who didn’t like reading novels.
Like the previous movie called “Finding Your Past Life,” the copyright was bought from an author in Chen Xi’s editorial department and adapted into a movie.
Sometimes Chen Xi would think, if she could create more brilliance in her hands, how exciting that would be. Her life was still long, but she really wanted to bring out an author capable of shaking the entire country, even the world.
If one day, their library could produce an author who could completely elevate the novel industry to another level, how wonderful that would be. But she didn’t dare to hope extravagantly for such a thing.
She adjusted her glasses, took her bag, and squeezed onto the subway home.
Yu Linna seemed to be living quite comfortably these days. Ye Zhiyun hadn’t been home these past few days, so she lived alone at home. Eating and sleeping every day, there seemed nothing much to do. Since losing her job, she no longer had constraints, nor worries.
But most importantly, she seemed to have lost herself.
With nothing to do, Yu Linna would pull out a few novels to read. Most of these novels were bestsellers on the market, some already slated for film and television adaptation. But Yu Linna couldn’t stomach many of them. Compared to novels, she preferred manga. Manga had richer visuals, far beyond what novels could compare to.
But even so, there wasn’t much good to watch. Maybe her taste was too picky.
“Sigh…”
She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, not knowing what to do.
Living in someone else’s house, doing nothing, was this kind of life really good? After a long time, it always felt a bit strange. In the past, she was always worrying about survival, about her daily meals, but now she didn’t have this worry.
Speaking of which, what was her relationship with Ye Zhiyun now?
Ye Zhiyun was her benefactor, someone she had to repay for a lifetime. But she felt their relationship was more than just that. Inexplicably, some change seemed to have occurred between them.
Yu Linna sat up, turned on Ye Zhiyun’s computer, entered the password Ye Zhiyun gave her, logged onto a website to find something to do. She, who had struggled for survival since childhood, rarely played games. Even with a computer, she didn’t know what to play, at most playing 4399 (a website with simple flash games). She unintentionally opened the **tuan (likely referring to a specific web novel site, name obscured) website. This website was one of the largest novel websites in the country today, second only to Qidian. Both had rich experience in publishing novels.
But relatively speaking, the latter was more famous because the latter had produced god-level novelists. The annual royalties of that deified author exceeded one hundred million.
Yu Linna had also dabbled in novels, but there weren’t many she could read through. Qidian had many genres, which were somewhat readable. But the quality of **tuan was uneven; there weren’t many readable ones. If she had to find something readable, perhaps the recent author named Kongqi was decent.
“**tuan’s annual Long Novel Newcomer Grand Prize has begun! Welcome all newcomers to participate actively! First place will receive a prize of up to three million yuan, plus publication qualification, and priority for short story reprint qualification.”
Those large characters on the website were particularly conspicuous. She had some understanding of this website, knowing this library had produced god-level figures, though that was a long time ago.
Now, domestically, it was Qidian’s world.
Closing the website, Yu Linna stopped browsing. She wasn’t very interested in this. Thinking about how naive she was before, even running off to be an actress, resulting in almost being subjected to the unspoken rules. Having such a lesson once was enough. She knew it was impossible for her to become a big shot in this lifetime.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Yu Linna jumped off the bed, went to the genkan in slippers to open the door for them. The moment the door opened, the woman wearing glasses was stunned, just standing there.
“Miss Yu, why are you at Miss Ye’s home? What’s your relationship?”
Chen Xi was a very direct person, disliked beating around the bush. When she saw Yu Linna appear at Ye Zhiyun’s home, she felt extremely puzzled. She was a bit curious about their relationship.
“This… I’m temporarily staying here. What about you, Sister Chen? What brings you here?”
“I originally wanted to find Miss Ye to discuss matters concerning the copyright of an author under my banner. Why did you open the door?”
“Zhiyun went out. I haven’t seen her these past two days. Sister Chen, since you’re already here, why not sit down for a bit?”
“…Forget it.”
Seeing Yu Linna’s beautiful eyes, she felt unable to refuse.
Anyway, finding Miss Ye at this time was already unrealistic. Going straight back to the editorial department with nothing to do wasn’t great either. Sitting down wasn’t bad.
“Speaking of which, what does Miss Ye usually do?”
While she was making tea, Chen Xi took the initiative to start a topic.
“Zhiyun is quite busy every day, often discussing business outside. I’m not clear on the specifics. Sister Chen, what did you want to discuss with her?”
“Regarding copyright matters, it’s not convenient to tell you the specifics. **tuan is holding a Newcomer Grand Prize recently. Our library plans to invite Miss Ye as a VIP guest to attend the award ceremony. The invitation has already been brought over. Please help me pass this on to her.”
Taking this red invitation, Yu Linna felt its weight. As expected of the upper class, even the invitation looked so good.
Yu Linna was born at the bottom. She didn’t know what upper-class life was like, but it was probably a height she could never reach in her lifetime.
“This Grand Prize, is it held once every year?”
“Yes, this is our competition to select outstanding newcomers. Last year, Teacher Kongqi won first place, and she also officially debuted through this Grand Prize.”
Actually, Chen Xi didn’t explicitly mention one thing: although this Grand Prize claimed only newcomers could participate, every year there would be many veterans changing their vests (using pseudonyms) to pretend to be newcomers. Usually, those who got into the top three were very likely new vests of veterans. Like Teacher Kongqi, truly winning first place based on strength was rare. Most authors needed to endure the toughest period before getting a publishing opportunity, unlike Teacher Kongqi, who peaked at debut.
“When’s the deadline?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Just asking casually.”
“If you mean the deadline, there’s still half a month. We will have ten editors review, select the best works. Those shortlisted will be directly notified, and the results will be announced during the Grand Prize ceremony.”
Those who could get into the top three in this Grand Prize all had publishing opportunities.
First place: publication slot, priority for short story reprint or publication opportunity, and three million yuan prize money.
Second place: novel publication slot, 800,000 yuan prize money.
Third place: short story publication slot, 100,000 yuan prize money.
One could imagine how heavy the first place was. Those who could win first were kings among kings.
Just looking at these rankings, Yu Linna knew these things couldn’t possibly belong to her. It was just that sometimes she envied these people. These people all had the chance to realize their dreams, gain everyone’s attention, become truly superior.
“This year, I wonder who can get first place. I don’t think last year’s situation is likely to happen again.”
What Chen Xi referred to as last year’s situation was Kongqi winning first place as a newcomer.
“An excellent novel needs the best script, the best characters, and also the desire to make readers continue reading. But a novel can never be perfect.”
As a professional editor, Chen Xi had unique insights into novels, but she felt she might have said too much. After all, the girl in front of her was a complete novice. How could she possibly understand what she meant?
“Sorry, I said too much. Did you understand?”
Although she knew she was talking nonsense (to a novice), she still habitually asked her.
“I understand what I heard. I’m also a reader; I know how important a good story is. In fact, I’ve read many novels, but there aren’t many I can get through. Many stories are too homogenized. So I feel having an excellent script is not easy. As a reader, I hope there are many excellent stories.”
Unexpectedly, Yu Linna didn’t show confusion, but was very composed. She expressed her views as a reader.
Her words caught Chen Xi’s attention.
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