During this Spring Festival, a piece of news caused shock in the online literature circle: Wu Sanxing, the author of Qidianwanding, was repeatedly persuaded by his parents to give up writing online articles when he returned to his hometown for the New Year. He finally gave in and went to work in a factory on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. The Ultraman fanfic author who once wrote "Tiga: Infinite Evolution from Golzan" (Wanding Badge Works), reluctantly announced in the latest chapter of the novel: "I will update occasionally in the future, alas."
Wu Sanxing is a Qidian LV4 author, which means that his royalties in the last 12 months are between 50,000 and 150,000 yuan (the LV5 standard is more than 150,000 yuan). His most subscribed work "Diga: Infinite Evolution Starting from Golzan" only had more than 900,000 words, and the average subscription number had dropped to 8,000 when it was completed. Based on a full order of 35 yuan, the income from a single book is about 140,000 yuan. In addition, he also has tens of thousands of works ordered from other websites. He said that "the fee is almost the same if it is not six figures", and his income from channels in two years is acceptable.
However, this did not win the approval of his family. The mother bluntly said: "If I keep doing this, my son will look down on me in the future." She insisted that he work in a factory. In the traditional concept, factories are "serious jobs", while online writing is "not doing serious work" - even if the monthly income exceeds 10,000, they are still classified as "not serious".
The conflict broke out the day before New Year's Eve and lasted throughout the Spring Festival. The author wrote in a state of mental and physical exhaustion: "When my wife first came to my house a few years ago, she asked me to persuade me to work in the factory. Now it is as they wished. I will start work tomorrow on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year."
This means that the author who once wrote thousands of works has entered the factory today. He admitted frankly that he wrote about niche fan fiction, and although his income was not as high as that of leading authors, it was "definitely better than working in a factory." What really overwhelmed him was the "too much messy gossip" in the countryside, which made the family restless.
The incident triggered heated discussions on Longkong and other forums, with seriously conflicting views:
Sympathizers: believe that parents’ ideas are outdated, factories are tiring and they can’t make money. "People who get married as adults not only have no independent opinions, but also have no clear plans for themselves. They deserve to work in a factory."
Realist: Pointing out that it has been two years since he completed the book he ordered, and the two subsequent new books have not made any profit. "My family is right. If you want to write a book, you can do it while working. Save some money and continue."
Skeptics: Question this as an “excuse for cutting books”. "Wan Ding's book collapsed and I can't make any bad money. I can't write a new one. I'm just looking for an excuse. There aren't that many and there's nothing left."
Wu Sanxing's experience reflects the cruel nature of the online literature industry: even authors with thousands of subscriptions may be quickly abandoned by the market due to lack of follow-up works. What is even more profound is the cognitive gap between the two generations regarding "legitimate profession" - when "stability" becomes the only criterion, any freelance profession naturally carries original sin.
What do you think of this? If it were you, would you compromise?