“With every keyboard click, a fortune unfolds”, this phrase loaded with boundless ambition is not from the deceptive recruitment slogan of some pyramid scheme, but penned by the internet literature author Ah Yue, who used it to name his self-created WeChat group. This group gathers more than 300 like-minded internet fiction writers, each one harboring the dream of achieving financial independence through their online literary works.
Internet literature is not a new phenomenon; well-known post-80s authors like Nan Pai San Shu, Tang Jia San Shao, and Tian Can Tu Dou have become internet sensations with their works “The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles”, “Douluo Dalu”, and “Battle Through the Heavens”, attracting countless followers. Moreover, many internet literature works have been adapted into popular films, TV shows, and web series, such as “The Legend of Zhen Huan”, “Joy of Life”, and “I Was a Stepmom in the 1980s”. These IP adaptations have fueled the ongoing boom in the internet literature market.
Despite certain cold critiques from literary circles for its unique “formulas” and “exciting reads,” internet literature has established itself as a vast industry with its distinctive narrative style. According to the latest report by the Literature Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, “The 2023 China Internet Literature Development Research Report” reveals that by the end of 2023, the market size of Chinese internet literature had neared 300 billion yuan, with 540 million reading users, over 36 million works, and more than 24 million creators. A 300 billion yuan market size is equivalent to the combined market sizes of multiple industries such as domestic bottled water, medical aesthetics, and new-style milk tea and coffee. In the year 2023 alone, the consumption of internet literature in China reached 40.43 billion yuan.
Among these more than 24 million internet literature creators, countless wealth-making legends have emerged. The “2022 China Internet Writers Rich List” published by China Literature Group reveals that the top five writers, Tang Jia San Shao, Tian Can Tu Dou, Chen Dong, Mao Ni, and Er Gen, all had an annual income of over 100 million. At the same time, the post-2000 generation of authors is rapidly rising and starting a new round of wealth-creation stories. Among them, some earn over a million a year, while others make small earnings in the hundreds, but steady streams build to form a river.
According to the data, 60% of the new authors joining China Literature Group in 2023 were born after 2000. Ji Yue Ren, representing these post-2000 authors, has gained both fame and fortune as a college student with his debut work “Xuan Jian Xian Zu”, earning him the honor of being one of the 2023 Top Twelve Writers on Qidian Chinese Network and a yearly income of over a million yuan. His work “Xuan Jian Xian Zu”, with its unique story background and depth, has been described by netizens as the “One Hundred Years of Solitude” of the cultivation world, even earning praise from the famous writer Ma Boyong, who commented that it has “a profound sense of family history, which is very rare”. Among the many internet literature authors, Ji Yue Ren may be one of the few with exceptional talent, although he himself does not fully agree with this. Ji Yue Ren shared with the media that he started writing mainly because he had more free time after his junior year, using it as an opportunity to practice his writing. He initially did not have high expectations for his work and did not anticipate such remarkable success.
In the early stages of creation, the writing style was not yet established and lacked foresighted preparation; there was neither a joint effort to study and write hit articles, nor an advance preparation of novel synopses to plan out chapter arrangements. Despite this, the author maintained a daily update speed of about 4,000 words, and has now accumulated over 2.23 million words in their works. Breaking away from the conventional writing mode has paradoxically allowed the writer’s literary talent to emerge.
The launch of the work marks a significant turning point in the author’s creative career. The author mentioned that after the free phase of the work ended and after accumulating a writing volume of 200,000 words, they formally signed a contract with the platform, which led to the monetization of their work. Over time, the success of their work gradually increased like a snowball. In the field of online literature, the average subscription per chapter – or average booking – is an important standard for judging an author’s achievements. The income composition of online literature authors generally includes: subscription shares, additional subsidies provided by the platform (such as attendance awards), and readers’ rewards, with subscription shares being the main source of income. The amount is linked to the number of reader subscriptions, meaning an increase in subscriptions directly boosts the author’s income level. Generally speaking, if the average booking reaches 30,000 and the daily update is maintained at 4,000 words, the annual income can reach around one million yuan.
However, not all online literature authors can achieve this level of success immediately – those who do may only account for 2% of all authors. Some authors complete a writing volume of 2 million words within a year, but only reap a return of 40-60 thousand yuan. Other authors fail to become contracted writers with major platforms like Qidian Chinese Network, Tomato Novel, or Qimao Novel, and their works may be bought out by third parties for a meager price of a few yuan to tens of yuan per thousand words, leaving them with very little in hand.
Today, there is no shortage of post-90s and post-00s generation writers pursuing their writing dreams through online literature sites. For example, a first-year college student in a science and engineering program, who has been immersed in the world of online literature since childhood and tried their hand at writing long novels in middle school, decided to try writing online literature in their spare time during university. In less than a month, they completed the creation of several ten-thousand-word short stories and successfully sold them.
Although there is only one word difference between an online literature author and a traditional author, their treatment and challenges are worlds apart. For online literature authors, being rejected and lack of attention is the norm. Frequent rejections faced by novice authors, the so-called “being killed,” often lead to discouragement. However, in such an environment, there are still authors who persist, conveying their emotions through words day after day in the cloud, sharing their world and their passion and insights for writing.
The road to creation is full of obstacles, and many authors face the reality of continuous rejection during the submission process. After encountering hundreds of rejections, many authors begin to doubt whether they are suitable for the industry, their enthusiasm gradually waning, falling into the predicament of stopping updates. Nevertheless, after a period of rest, some authors still persist in writing, their confidence reignited, continuing to wander on the path of creation.
Novel authors face even more severe rejections, with some works unfortunately being rejected by over a hundred editors. These third-party agencies’ editors witness many authors’ dreams fluctuate and fail. An editor named Xiao Hai revealed that the editors receive a large number of manuscripts each day, especially on Mondays when the number might reach two to three hundred. Editors have to process these works quickly, sometimes deciding the fate of a piece in just a few seconds.
For editors, a good work requires not only fluent writing but also elements that attract readers, such as whether it is compelling, emotionally charged, and whether it has a selling point. However, despite processing tens of thousands of works each month, the number of contracts is usually no more than fifty. This means that most authors will still face rejection. The work of editors is also full of pressure; if the pricing is too high, there is the risk of a loss.
Online novel authors are diligent warriors, with a standard output of 4,000 words per day. Some authors can write more than 3,000 words in an hour, and some can even update 16,000 words in a day. Lu Xiaoce says that among the authors she knows, some can update 30-40,000 words a day, and sometimes even reach 60,000 words, their annual workload comparable to her total of three years. Many online novel authors were enthusiastic readers before turning to writing and have gained experience through extensive reading.
People enter the online literature circle for various reasons; some are driven by a love of writing, others are attracted by the income potential, and some are simply seeking entertainment. For example, the online novel author Zhi Shi writes quickly, completing short stories in a matter of hours, so writing for her has no time cost. She doesn’t focus too much on the commercial value of her work and writes mainly out of personal interest. She is also aware that the chances of success are slim, so she has no plans to become a full-time author. Zhi Shi says that if she can’t earn an income continuously, she won’t continue to waste her time.
For the online literature industry, the number of successful and wealthy authors is limited, while anxiety and pressure are common experiences for most authors.
The variability in income, the popularity of their work, and an uncertain future are the main causes of emotional fluctuation for online novel authors, and also crucial in determining how far they can go in the industry. Some authors earn over a million a year but still worry whether their work satisfies readers’ tastes and cannot predict the performance of their future work.
Ji Yue Ren feels that once the first work is successful, the following creations are exceptionally challenging, with immense pressure, worrying whether they can achieve again to meet readers’ expectations. Meanwhile, newcomers to online literature hold the hope that they can make a living through writing. In the “Golden Thousand Liang” group, many authors expressed that if they could support themselves through writing, they would be willing to devote themselves fully to online literature creation.
However, the road to success is not smooth. Countless authors swing between full-time and part-time work. Born after 1990, author Lu Xiaoce began writing long novels in her sophomore year of college. In nine years, she earned her first million through writing. These nine years of creating online novels involved repeatedly adjusting her mindset and frequently switching between full-time and part-time work.
Lu Xiaoce recalled the time when she first entered the world of internet literature. Popular online platforms back then included Hongxiu, Yuewen, Jinjiang, and others. At that time, even without any income, many people engaged in this industry out of love for writing. It was a classmate, who had become a contracted author, that encouraged her to become a writer herself. Under this classmate’s influence, she officially began her journey of online literature creation.
Her first novel only began attempts at signing a contract after reaching a hundred thousand words. Like many new authors, she initially faced rejection. Eventually, she settled on a contract method of three yuan per thousand characters, deciding to abandon her first draft and start over. Despite her efforts to write three thousand words daily, her initial monthly income was just ninety yuan. Her three-hundred-thousand-word novel ultimately earned her nine hundred yuan. The situation with her second work did not change significantly; the basic income still relied on a full attendance award, ensuring income only by maintaining three thousand words in daily updates.
However, everything changed in 2016. That year, the internet literature industry experienced explosive growth, and many small websites emerged as the market became highly competitive. Lu Xiaoce’s income also began to see substantial improvement, with writing prices increasing from three yuan to six yuan per thousand words. Ways of earning income were no longer limited to the full attendance award as other sources began to increase. Her daily writing quota rose to six thousand words, and her monthly income grew from nine hundred yuan to two thousand seven hundred yuan, then over six thousand yuan, ultimately nearing ten thousand yuan a month. Such income far exceeded her monthly salary of twelve hundred yuan during her internship.
Since 2016, Lu Xiaoce’s monthly earnings have consistently been in the five-figure range, peaking at forty thousand yuan after taxes. Compared to other industries, the speed of making money in the internet literature industry was enviable. After graduation, she decided to become a full-time online writer. She continued to write six thousand words daily, often working on two projects simultaneously. However, a year and a half into full-time writing, she encountered a creative bottleneck. Short stories started becoming popular in the internet fiction circle; they were shorter in length, updated faster, and yielded higher profits.
After several creations failed to meet expectations, she turned to short story writing, producing six or seven works. But as the craze for short stories gradually subsided, she neither made a considerable return nor created any signature work. Over time, the original motivation to write compelling stories slowly shifted to simply pursuing economic benefits.
After a period of exploration, she returned to the field of web literature, meaning she was starting anew as a newcomer. In 2021, she achieved notable success in her online writing, with her work “Ex-Wife” performing well, earning her an annual income of 130,000 yuan. In 2022, she earned over 100,000 yuan in just two months, with her total annual income reaching 680,000 yuan. However, by 2023, her new book did not achieve remarkable results, and she once again found herself relying on past accumulations to get by.
The life of an online literature author is inherently filled with uncertainties; a few months of writing might support several years of living, but they rarely have the chance to enjoy long-term stability. Lu Xiaoce has been writing for nine years, and despite achieving some success, she still humbly refers to herself as a “third-rate author”. In her observation, authors in the world of online literature are constantly leaving, but those who have persisted for five years or more generally have an annual income that can reach 200,000 yuan. Conversely, authors who still can’t make money within five years have essentially exited the field.
She believes that in the world of online literature, a person’s talent determines the heights they can reach, and diligence determines their baseline. Experiencing ups and downs is the daily norm for every online author. And regardless, maintaining a love for and continuous effort in one’s creation is always an important factor on the development path of an online literary creator.
