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Online novelist Guo Jingming, known by the pseudonym Si Wei, has so far published five books in print, the highest sale of which achieved one million copies. He represents a web publishing legend.
Internet writers indeed stand to earn much more than conventional authors. The authors of Ghost Blows Out the Light and Once upon a Time in the Ming Dynasty ranked 19th and 22nd in the 2007 Writer's Wealth Chart, having respectively earned RMB 2.8 million and RMB 2.25 million in royalties.
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The author of Once upon a Time in the Ming Dynasty discusses his writing ideas with readers. |
Original works on various websites also attract more of the masses, as evidenced by www.qidian.com, China's largest original literature website, which now owns 220,000 original works of 12 billion words in total, and which commands a daily 30-million-word upload, 220 million-hit rate. This is a tough act for the print medium to follow. President of the Chinese Writers Association Tie Ning stated, in acknowledgement of this huge readership, that more importance should be attached to online writers, and that certain of them should be eligible for membership of the association. "Having been on the panel of judges for several web literature competitions, the works I read left a deep impression," Tie Ning admits. "The uninhibited, spontaneous approach of these young writers infuses their works with vigor and vitality."
Li Shasha, Guo Jingming and a few other Internet writers joined the Chinese Writers Association in September 2007, implying that new-generation writers are entering the literary mainstream.
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Fans at Guo Jingming’s autographing session.
Photos by China Foto Press |
Not everyone, however, shares Tie Ning's enthusiasm. Chen Cun, writer and art director of www.rongshuxia.com, China's first literary website, is frankly disappointed with the state of contemporary literature. He formerly cherished great hopes for web books, believing that a group of writers abiding by their original intent of creating fresh and diverse works would appear. "But I found this to be practically impossible online," Chen says. "Writers should be left to work steadily and to the dictates of their muse, but writing online introduces other commercial factors that distract from the essential creative process. Commerce in particular impedes true literary ambition because it dominates assessments of the liberal arts. An Internet writer's success is gauged according to his or her hit rate and sales volume once their works are published. I have not once in the past nine years come across any web fiction to match that traditionally regarded as outstanding literature. But who knows what the future holds."
Chen has a point. Certain Internet writers have begun to sensationalize in an effort to notch up more hits and profits. As one Internet writer said, "Web literature offers the chance of overnight success, but fame by means of works devoted to sex and violence gives online literature a bad name."
There is one select group of Internet writers, however, that tries to maintain true literary standards. Chen Cun cites the novel Nostomania in the City by Shu Feilian, a solemn chronicle of China's disappearing agricultural civilization, as an example. Sales of the printed editions of the book were low, but it was well-received among netizens. Similar works, such as that on Western classical music by Internet writer "Organ" and historical novels by "Ten Years Chopping Firewood" have a small but dedicated following. Chen Cun particularly admires the online writer Annbaby, one of the country's best-selling authors. "I found her recent novel Lotus quite different from her earlier works. She is low-key but doesn't stick to any set formula, instead advancing and breaking new ground."
These days Li Nan seldom talks on her cell phone and has not seen any of her close friends for four months. She sent an MSN message to her friends a while back saying that she would definitely have time to meet up in the next month. But that was two months ago, and her friends have heard nothing from her since. They expect the next time they see Li to be after she has achieved fame and wealth as a writer.
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