Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 871: Zhongdian Chinese Network’s Fixed-rate Contracts

Pei Qian and He An went to Boss Li’s Ming House for lunch at noon.

The reason why he did not go to the nameless restaurant was mainly because he could not eat without an appointment.

However, Pei Qian would reserve the biggest private room in the nameless restaurant for a banquet every weekend. He could treat He An to another meal then.

He An knew that Boss Pei was busy with work while he wanted to head back to rest after lunch. The two of them agreed to have a meal at the nameless restaurant during the weekend before saying goodbye to each other.

He An was obviously very curious about how the game ‘Mission and Choice’ would succeed. However, he knew that he could not get any information seeing how confident and tight-lipped Boss Pei was. He could only suppress his curiosity and continue waiting for the day the game would be released.

Pei Qian looked at his watch after they were done with the meal. It was not even 3 PM.

It was Friday afternoon now. There was still time to make arrangements for another department.

Tomorrow was the weekend, most departments had to take a break other than departments like Upwind Logistics. Thus, the other departments had to wait until Monday.

“Which department should we arrange?”

“Hmm... Zhongdian Chinese Network is closer. I’ll make arrangements for it first.”

Pei Qian had originally wanted to make a trip to Thriller Hostel, but it was quite far from the city center and would be a little troublesome to make a trip there after all. Pei Qian did not want to make a fuss, so he decided to go on Monday.

He would make arrangements for Zhongdian Chinese Network today.

Zhongdian Chinese Network was located on the upper floor of Tengda Games. Pei Qian had not visited Zhongdian Chinese Network for a long time even though he only had to take two more levels up by elevator.

That was because there was nothing much to see.

Zhongdian Chinese Network might be profitable, but it was not as profitable as other industries. What’s more, it was very stable. There would not be a sudden increase in income.

Pei Qian had always felt that Zhongdian Chinese Network’s entire department was not close to each other. It was a ‘tasteless but wasteful food’ state. That was why he had not asked about it in the past few months.

However, Pei Qian became vigilant again when he saw Zhongdian Chinese Network’s revenue figures increasing steadily this morning. He felt that he could not let this continue.

He could make some arrangements since he was free now.

Pei Qian arrived at Zhongdian Chinese Network and scanned everyone’s working conditions.

Yes, it was alright. At least it was better than Tengda Games.

That same group of people had been staring intently at the screen when he had gone to Tengda Games previously. They were either typing rapidly on the keyboard with their hands or frowning and thinking hard. It was obvious that they were all focused on their work.

However, everyone was much more relaxed at Zhongdian Chinese Network now. Some people were reading novels on their cell phones, while others were aimlessly looking at various data on the website. In short, it was a relatively relaxed state.

While he could not see any obvious signs of slacking, it was obviously much better than Tengda Games’ working state. This made Pei Qian feel very gratified.

Zhu Xingan, the current chief editor of Zhongdian Chinese Network, saw Boss Pei and quickly stood up to welcome him. “Boss Pei, why are you here?”

Zhu Xingan was a little surprised because Boss Pei had not visited Zhongdian Chinese Network for an entire year. He had not given any guidance to Zhongdian Chinese Network either.

Many colleagues thought that Boss Pei had forgotten about Zhongdian Chinese Network.

However, Boss Pei was here now. That meant that Boss Pei had not forgotten about Zhongdian Chinese Network!

This made Zhu Xingan quite happy.

Pei Qian smiled. “It’s nothing. I just happened to be passing by. Where’s Ma Yiqun?”

Zhu Xingan said, “In the office.”

Pei Qian nodded, walked to Ma Yiqun’s office, and knocked lightly on the door.

Ma Yiqun was very surprised to see Boss Pei. “Boss Pei, why are you here? Please take a seat.”

Pei Qian sat down on the sofa in his office.

Ma Yiqun poured a cup of tea for Pei Qian. “Boss Pei, do you have some work to arrange for us to do since you are here today?”

As Pei Qian sipped his tea and replied leisurely, “I just remembered that I haven’t been here for some time. That’s why I came over to take a look. How’s the situation on the website? Is the class still in progress?”

Ma Yiqun answered truthfully, “The website is doing very well. Its revenue is increasing steadily, especially the number of authors.”

“A batch of explosive books have appeared on the website. The subscription results of these high-volume work have been steadily increasing. In addition, we have been giving a higher percentage to authors than other websites. Thus, we are becoming more and more popular with authors.”

“What’s more, our website would never have issues with delays or deducting royalties for no reason. All the data are public and transparent. That’s one of our advantages.”

“Many authors came to our website to try their luck. Our website’s reputation is getting better in the circle!”

“The online authors’ training class is still being held and the effect is obvious. Now, the name list for the training class is no longer voluntary because everyone wants to participate. There are not enough slots. We can only choose among the new authors who have achieved a certain amount of results. In principle, those who have already attended in the previous batch cannot attend the next batch.”

“However, even so, the authors still flock to it. The readers are also clamoring every day to send their own authors to the study class to close the little black room to update seriously.”

“All of them have obvious improvements after entering the study class be it slow writing, lack of inspiration, or unskilled writers! Once such an atmosphere is formed, coupled with the old and new model, the study class will nurture batch after batch of outstanding authors for the website. The content of the entire website’s novels will naturally become richer and more exciting.”

Pei Qian sipped his tea, feeling increasingly melancholic.

The situation did not sound good!

Obviously, Zhongdian Chinese Network had entered a virtuous cycle. The authors’ income had continued to increase, their passion for writing had been fully stimulated, and their writing skills had improved with the help of other authors. At the same time, readers were becoming more and more attached to the website because there were more and more good works.

At this rate, the consequences would be dire!

At the moment, while Zhongdian Chinese Network’s market share was not as big as Infinite Chinese Network, a huge website, it was ranked in the top three in the authors’ hearts because of its high share percentage and good benefits.

Once the website expanded, it would definitely continue to develop steadily. As long as the person-in-charge was not mentally challenged and did not create some retarded operations, it would be very difficult for the website to decline.

Pei Qian scrutinized Ma Yiqun closely, thinking that he was definitely not mentally challenged.

Since that was the case, Zhongdian Chinese Network’s development in the future would definitely be a high probability event.

He could not let this continue. He had to do something!

Pei Qian was also a reader of web novels and knew a thing or two about online literature.

He pondered for a moment and quickly found a good entry point.

“At the moment, our website is mostly using royalty contracts, right?”

Ma Yiqun did not know why Boss Pei was asking about this. He nodded. “That’s right, Boss Pei. Ever since our website was established, you have been emphasizing that we should prioritize royalty contracts over fixed-rate contracts.”

Pei Qian realized that he had indeed decided on this previously after some thought.

That was because the entire website did not have much traffic when Zhongdian Chinese Network was first established.

Pei Qian was worried that Ma Yiqun would use the fixed-rate contracts to poach famous authors from other stations at high prices to bring popularity and traffic to Zhongdian Chinese Network. Thus, he repeatedly reiterated prioritizing royalty contracts over fixed-rate contracts.

Authors would not get much money in royalty contracts when there were not many readers. The authors would not join if they did not earn money from writing books here.

However, times had changed.

Once Zhongdian Chinese Network had a firm footing, royalty contracts had definitely become a form of incentive for the authors. That was because the better the novel was written, the more subscriptions they received, and the more royalty they would earn. Thus, the authors would work hard to polish the plot and contribute better works to the readers.

Pei Qian took a sip of his tea and said, “We have to change this principle. In the future, we will have both royalty contracts and fixed-rate contracts. However, we will only pay fixed-rates for our own authors’ works!”

Ma Yiqun was stunned. “Only pay fixed-rates for the works of our own authors?”

Logically speaking, since they were going for fixed-rate contracts, a very important use would be to poach people from other websites.

That was because the outstanding authors were not sure if they could maintain their current income by going to other websites. They were worried that they would not be able to adapt to the environment and would be cautious when they were poached.

Therefore, it was relatively easier to poach people using fixed-rate contracts.

As for their own author’s works, there was really no point in giving them fixed rates.

That was because there was no limit in the fixed-rates. The website had to ensure that it would not incur losses.

The website would estimate the royalties that authors could receive from writing subscriptions. Then, they would give a fixed-rate contract that was slightly higher than the royalties.

If the content written by the author was lower than the value of the subscriptions, the website would lose money. If the content written by the author was higher than the value of the subscriptions, the author would lose money.

However, for the authors at this website, if they were to write subscriptions that earned a lot and felt that they could improve further, they would definitely not sign the fixed-rate contract because it would destroy their fighting spirit. On the other hand, some authors who did not earn much from subscriptions and did not have good abilities. Signing the fixed-rate contract would not motivate them to work harder. Instead, it would objectively encourage them to wait for death.

Thus, it was easier to use fixed-rate contracts when poaching people. However, if they were to use it on their own people, the website and the author might lose out.

That was why Ma Yiqun was so confused by Boss Pei’s strategy.

Pei Qian looked at Ma Yiqun’s confused expression and smiled without saying anything.

Confused?

That’s right!

I am trying to wear down the morale of the authors!

Many authors knew that it would be very easy for people to become useless if they were on fixed-rate contracts.

That was because fixed-rate contracts were usually based on word count. The quality of the works would not affect the authors’ income. The website would pay according to word count no matter what rubbish the authors wrote, as long as it was not in violation of the contract.

To the authors, if they wrote well and exceeded the purchase price, the money they earned would not change. It would be equivalent to losing money. Thus, they would lack the motivation to write well.

Of course, in order to avoid these problems, many websites added many supplementary terms to the fixed-rate contracts. For example, when the situation was not good, the editor had the right to request the author to make amendments or finish the book in advance. When the book’s popularity reached a certain height, the author could make requests to the website to change from fixed-rate contract to royalty contract. Or he could just sign a “Minimum Guarantee”. That was to go with a fixed-rate contract when the earnings did not exceed a certain value. If it was exceeded they would convert to a royalty contract.

However, Pei Qian obviously did not intend to use this method.