Chapter 87: On-Shelf Note: A New Year’s Letter to Readers

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2012-2018, the Confused phase.

The first time I uploaded a novel, the sentences weren’t even divided into paragraphs, there were sentences that didn’t flow everywhere, but the act of writing novels filled me, then a high-schooler, with joy.

I wrote tens of thousands of words in two consecutive books, and because no one read them and they only had single-digit collections, I cut them off. The third book I wrote, titled “The Greatest Demon Lord’s Royal Chef,” finally got me a contract.

My editor at that time, Sharp, told me a lot, like asking me to stabilize my updates.

“I’m a student, I can’t stabilize”

“Alright.”

High school was busy, and soon my book was discontinued. In my first year of college, I pursued a fulfilling life but found it meaningless and completely out of place.

I then started rewriting my old work. The editor had changed, and it was not easy to get the collection back to a thousand, but there was never a chance to be featured on the shelf.

And then, my book got banned during the first big purge.

A few months later, I went next door, my skills had greatly improved, and I could even write coherent sentences!

I wrote several books with promising beginnings, and finally, one got contracted. I was ecstatic, and in the end, I even managed to amass over three thousand collections in anticipation of being featured!

Wow, invincible!

I swore that as long as I got two hundred initial orders, I would write a million words!

Unfortunately, there were only about sixty initial orders, so I tearfully wrote an apology chapter and cut off the book.

I finally realized the most terrifying thing.

Compared to those geniuses who rose rapidly with just two or three books,

I did not have even the slightest bit of writing talent!

Later, I wrote another book and decided to aim for an explosive opening. The protagonist would start by punching Gaia to pieces and begin evolving a mythical civilization, garnering five hundred and five initial orders.

Because writing invincible characters is truly difficult, I started to subconsciously try group characterization.

The outline for the grand world view of all subsequent novels was thus determined. Back then, I sincerely felt satisfied with just over a thousand average orders.

Until one day, while studying novels in the author’s group, I was suddenly humiliated by a big shot who kept asking me how many average orders I had and dared to research how to write novels, calling me an idiot!

At that moment, I was truly angry, but I dared not talk back because he had many fans and author friends.

I was a student and feared cyberbullying to the core.

After struggling for two years, this book was eventually completed, an occasion worth celebrating. Then I saw a book called “Low-Dimensional Game” with a concept and framework similar to my own.

Huh, at that moment, I suddenly felt that maybe I had a chance if I went back to the starting point.

2018-2020, the Learning phase.

I wanted to write a new book. At that time, a well-meaning author with tens of thousands of orders appeared in the authors’ group. I shamelessly showed him the beginning of my new book several times. After his revisions, I published it.

Unexpectedly, the new book quickly gained over ten thousand collections!

Wow, invincible!

But the collections stopped growing there, and the initial orders were only one thousand two. After featuring, the subscriptions began to drop crazily, and I, not understanding why, could only write to the end with endurance, averaging one thousand five orders.

Why?

What exactly was the reason? The start of the novel performed very well, but then it steadily declined.

I began to diligently consider the fundamental reasons behind the good and bad performance.

The new start was going to be about the Fourth Disaster because I noticed these kinds of books performed well and not many people wrote them.

Let’s write something relaxed and humorous!

This time, after much pain, I decided I must polish the opening and the early ideas thoroughly before publishing, so I shamelessly pestered the ten thousand order author for revisions.

“It’s written too hastily,” “It doesn’t evoke the emotions,” “It’s not good enough”…

Rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise…

Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite…

Ten times!

For a long, drawn-out month, I repeatedly conceived and reconstructed, continuously transforming my understanding of web novels, and after rewriting ten times, I finally got the answer I wanted.

“Good, this will do.”

I went for it!

Published.

Waiting for a contract.

Contract successful.

Waiting for a recommendation.

Barely made it through the trial.

Waiting to rush the charts…

Rushing the charts.

…

First place in seven charts! Eight thousand seven initial orders! Nine thousand readings!

Wow, invincible!

However, the readings began to drop continuously, and I couldn’t hold on, so I simply gave up and kept writing for a month until I looked at the readings again.

It had fallen to three thousand.

The average orders kept sliding, from a ten thousand order book down to just over eight thousand. Thankfully, the recommendations slowly helped it recover. Because I received negative feedback daily, the comedy novel became less relaxed, and writing every day became dull.

Long-term sitting, lack of sunlight, absence of friends, no attention, frugal living, and daily acceptance of new declines…

My mental state also began to slide downhill.

Finally, after one hundred and fifty thousand words, I finished the book and breathed a sigh of relief.

I started trying to open a new book with joy and anticipation.

2020-2023, the Metamorphosis Phase

With a backlog of thirty thousand words, I published.

A flop.

Backlogged fifty thousand words, I tried publishing again.

Another flop.

Almost no social life, a monthly mortgage of over eight thousand, a sick family member, half a year of unemployment, the future uncertain, various thoughts in my mind, and nights and nights of insomnia.

I began to get irritable and angry, especially when the people around me urged me to find a job and said I was just playing games.

Anxiety, a mental illness common among full-time authors, crept up silently.

Finally, I found my groove again.

This time, I planned to write another invincible story. I saw a book about a little girl being sacrificed to the Evil God, so I decided to write a book where the protagonist, as the Evil God, is summoned by a little girl.