Turn: Teacher Yang Zao's good article:

The Prosperity and Desolation of Online Literature

http://wwwcn2016-01-05 07:20 Source: People's Daily Yang Zao

●What is the relationship between online literature and capital operation?

●Is the VIP subscription system a way of salvation or a net for online novel authors?

●How have readers' rights changed in the relationship between the creation and reading of online literature?

●Are web novels as colorful and ever-changing as they seem?

【The Capital Operation Process of Online Literature】

In December 2014, Tencent acquired Shanda Literature and announced the establishment of Reading Literature Group to manage and operate online literary brands such as Qiqi Chinese.com, Chuangshi Chinese.com, Xiaoxiang Academy, and Red Sleeve Tianxiang, which originally belonged to Shanda Literature and Tencent Literature. This is a very important capital transfer in the field of online literature. Just as Shanda Literature acquired many literary websites in 2004, online literature has since entered the stage of industrialization, and Tencent's acquisition of Shanda can be said to be another resource integration and rule establishment of capital for online literature.

At the same time, "IP" (IntellectualProperty, that is, the multi-platform and all-round adaptation of a work with intellectual property rights, such as film and television, games, animation, etc.) has become one of the hottest concepts in the Chinese film and television industry in the past two years. If the most popular film and television adaptations of novels before, such as "Tangshan Earthquake", "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", "Return", and "Taoist Priest Descending the Mountain", are still based on works in traditional literary mechanisms, but now they have basically become the world of online novels: "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Why Sheng Xiaomo", "The Year in a Hurry", "Left Ear", "Flower Thousand Bone", "Tomb Robbery Notes", etc. According to incomplete statistics, a total of 114 online novels were purchased for film and television rights in 2014, and online novels have replaced works under the traditional literary mechanism and become a bonanza for Chinese film and television drama adaptations.

Looking back on the development of online literature, this is almost a process of capital operation. At the end of the last century, the emergence of literary websites such as "Under the Banyan Tree" was only a change in the transmission carrier, and the core of online literature was not much different from traditional literature. Once online literature is combined with commercial mechanisms, it embarks on a road of full marketization, and gradually distances itself from traditional literary mechanisms.

[The Formation of a New Creative Relationship]

In 2002, others founded the starting point Chinese network and opened the "VIP subscription system" at the same time; In 2004, literary websites such as Qiqi Chinese.com were acquired by Shanda Literature; In 2014, he was appointed CEO of Tencent Literature. 's career journey can be regarded as a microcosm of the operation process of online literary capital. In an interview after winning the 2015 Tencent Academy Literary Award as "Writer of the Year", online writer Mao Ti said that the VIP subscription system created by the company is "the most important system for online literature". He said that while some writers have high incomes in other areas, no one dares to give up VIP subscriptions. No one can afford to write for years without making money. VIP e-subscription directly makes the creation of online novels develop into long-form novels, and the positioning is clearer - you are a commercial thing.

The reason why Mao Yu is full of confidence when talking about the VIP subscription system is because after all these years of development, he has been "canonized" (in the "King of Online Literature" selection in February 2015, Mao Yu and Tang Sanshao, Dream into the Divine Machine, Chendong, and I Eat Tomatoes were both selected as the "Five Supremes" of online literature), and there are enough "die-hard fans" to follow, and their paid reading and the purchase of peripheral products are enough to support and motivate the writer's writing. However, for the more than 2 million registered online novel authors, the cascade order of the VIP subscription system and the interaction between creative reading is a way of salvation and a huge net.

Before signing a contract with the website, ordinary online novel authors must upload tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of texts for free, and this stage is also the stage where the website tests the author and cultivates popularity. In fact, with the maturity of the current online literature mechanism, without the recommendation of the editor after signing the contract, it is basically impossible for the newcomer's work to gain a sensational effect. And once signed, VIP chapters can be opened, and the author enters a much harsher environment than freelance writing.

In this environment, what an author can pursue is the "perfect attendance award" of the website, that is, a certain amount of text is updated every day (Tang Jiasanshao created a Guinness World Record because of "ten years of continuous changes"), and the so-called "monthly pass". Only readers who have a genuine subscription are eligible to vote for a monthly pass, and the number of monthly passes will affect the ranking of the work on the list. Almost all authors will "ask for a monthly pass" to their subscribers after updating each chapter or several chapters.

Every genuine subscriber has the right to reward and urge the author, and even has the setting to buy a "plus change ticket", which can require the author to add 6,000 words or 12,000 words per day, instead of the guaranteed 3,000 words. Through a series of commercial settings such as genuine subscriptions, monthly passes, reminders, rewards, and additional tickets, readers have gained unprecedented rights, and authors have become piecework workers of the text, and their pressure comes not only from the editor (whether to "push" or not), but also from the readers who directly face them. The direct pressure from the reader has not been felt by the writer in the previous environment of literary creation, and the barriers erected by the editor as an intermediary between the author and the reader have been broken. Proponents will argue that such a mechanism can promote direct competition among online authors and weaken the control of editors; However, it also removes the protection of creators from editors or publishers, leaving authors to face up to the demands and criticisms of readers.

In the process of writing millions of words at every turn, at least spanning one or two years, almost no author can maintain a good writing state from beginning to end, therefore, complaining and pleading for mercy have become a regular means for online novel authors to explain and ask for votes, and they do not hesitate to share with readers all kinds of difficulties and changes in their lives, such as friend gatherings, leadership accountability, physical pain, and the death of relatives and friends, all of which will be written into the bottom of an updated text and become a reason to ask for a monthly pass or ask for forgiveness. This kind of scene actually constitutes the reader's onlooker and intervention in the author's creative process. The author no longer controls when and how many creations he chooses, but must be subject to the reading needs and expectations of readers, otherwise he will be complained, complained or even verbally attacked by subscribers. A female online novel author once explained to me why the readership of Qiqi Chinese Network or 17K Novel Network is larger, but she prefers to write on female online literature platforms such as ** Literature Network and Red Sleeve Tianxiang, the main reason is that female readers are more tolerant of the author's interruption caused by physical or family changes, and the cold words of some male readers make her unbearable.

[The Lack of "Literaryness" of Online Literature]

Not only the speed and quantity, but also the content of the web novel is also limited by the reader. The number of subscriptions or clicks, monthly passes or rankings are decisive for the life and death of a novel. The author of a time-traveling novel once said when calling on readers to subscribe to the genuine version that if the number of subscriptions and follow-up rate of a book is not high, the website editor has "10,000 ways" to make the novel die. Therefore, authors need to figure out how to write in order to improve the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of the work, so as to ensure the survival of the work.

If we understand the mechanism of online literature, we can understand why the world of online literature is so prosperous and so desolate. On the one hand, cutthroat competition has left many authors racking their brains to attract readers and retain them. The author does not dare to offend the readers, but he is afraid that they will develop aesthetic fatigue, because the new work must have new tricks and not be too unfamiliar. For example, works such as "Historical Military" are almost all based on "crossing" ("crossing" can give readers a sense of familiarity or relevance), but the way of "crossing" can be ever-changing, from "single wear" to "double wear" and "group wear", and even "crossing" by tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of people. The goal of "crossing over" has also been expanded, and Chinese history has been "pierced" with holes, and the novel's author's eyes have turned to Japan, the United States, and Europe. Another group of authors set the "crossing" destination as an alternate dynasty or alien galaxy, in short, it is both renovated and satisfying the needs of the reader. This is the so-called "typing + cool text".

"Genre + cool text" means that a set of standardized contracts have been formed between the author and the reader, and how the work begins, develops, turns and ends is actually the same. The military must be hot-blooded, "crossing" must be a tyrant, the arrogance of the bad guys must be slapped in the face, and "farming" must be interspersed with "house fighting". The reading expectations of mainstream readers must be satisfied, followed by the author's personal characteristics. Due to the characteristics of serialization, in the daily update, readers should be given a few "cool points" and a "hook" should be set at the end, which are all within the scope of technical considerations of writing.

Looking at online novels from the perspective of traditional novels, one will feel that these genres seem colorful and ever-changing, but the diversity of narrative methods is seriously lacking. Almost no online novel dares to use large-scale flashbacks, interludes, and montages, and the authors dare not carry out the limited perspective to the end, let alone language drills, stylistic experiments, and poetic narratives. On the whole, online literature under the control of commercial capital is a large-scale return to China's "narrative tradition"—everything is subordinated to the "story", the plot is not afraid of repetition, and all elements are mobilized, just to capture the reader.

But in fact, under the control of capital, behind the "IP fever", the position of online literature is quite awkward. From the perspective of investment and return, online literature is obviously not a mainstream art form, and entertainment forms such as film and television, video games, etc., have much greater attraction and attraction than words. The so-called "big IP" is not so much the online literature itself as the source, but the deep extraction of fans of the novel by changing the form. Another consequence of the commercial mechanism pursued by "big IP" for the creation and dissemination of online literature is that it will make online literature more singular.

The rise of online literature in China was once seen as an "escape" from the traditional literary mechanism: literary youth, who had no way to rise in the traditional literary mechanism, used the power of the Internet to show their talents and win attention, support and resources. However, the power of capital is enough to turn escape into another kind of fall, and the independence of literature does not become stronger because it leaves the traditional literary mechanism, on the contrary, professional writing under the oppression of capital power may be subject to more comprehensive and subtle control. However, if critics and researchers only stare at those popular "IPs" and use commercial logic to select the objects of criticism, then the critics of online literature will only become a chorus of capital forces, and the researchers of online literature will only become analysts of business cases.

【About the Author】

Yang Zao is an associate researcher at the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, with research interests in contemporary literature and cultural thought