Chapter 79: Thoughts on Going VIP
That’s right!
At midnight tonight, this book will be going premium.
First, let me lay out the update schedule: After the book goes premium, I’ll start by releasing four of my stockpiled Chapters, for a total of 20,000 characters. Tomorrow, I’ll release another two Chapters, for 8,000 characters.
After that, I’ll be updating with two Chapters daily, for a total of 8,000 characters.
My writing speed isn’t the fastest, so this is already my limit.
But please rest assured, I will definitely finish this book. I’ve written two other novels that were six million characters long, so I have at least that much credibility.
Plus, this book is well on its way to reaching the "Boutique" status, and I’m confident I can take it all the way to "High Boutique," so there’s no way I’d drop it.
With the official business out of the way, let’s chat about other things.
First.
The initial performance of this book wasn’t great. Compared to my previous two books, it was practically unwatchable.
During the first and second rounds of promotional recommendations, it didn’t even touch the edges of the new book rankings. It wasn’t until the third round that it barely managed to crawl its way on.
When it was competing for a spot on the Sanjiang recommendation list, my editor-in-chief, Wutong, just told me—there was still hope.
It had few collection adds, few active readers, and was just a little bit shy of the threshold for the Sanjiang list.
Fortunately, or I should say, what I’m incredibly grateful for, is that thanks to every single one of you esteemed readers and your active readership, this book finally stepped over the threshold for the Sanjiang list.
This is my first time trying to write a story about Witchcraft, so to get this result, I’m already very satisfied.
Second.
The most common criticism of this book is that the pacing is too slow.
I don’t deny it, because this is indeed a slow-paced Wizard novel.
After writing for so many years, I’ve come to feel more and more that fast-paced stories are becoming increasingly uninteresting to write.
The world-building is hazy, the characters are hazy, and by the time you’re finished, you don’t even know what you’ve written.
For this one, I want to take it a bit slower.
Why so slow?
Because of—immersion.
A book that gives readers a sense of immersion must build a world that makes them feel like they’re actually there.
Those inconspicuous descriptive details, the ones that people might call ’filler,’ are precisely what continuously enriches the world-building, gradually constructing an environment people can lose themselves in.
Here, I have to mention a book, which is also my personal favorite Western fantasy novel—Demon Thief.
Even after all these years, I still remember many details from the book: Rubeo’s first time attending a noble’s banquet, why the down-and-out nobles loved to read, Mr. Hyde’s travel trunk, and so on.
A world-building rich in fun and interesting details is something people can remember for a very, very long time.
Of course, writing details that are interesting enough not to feel like filler truly tests a writer’s skill.
I will do my best to write interesting details and create a Wizard World that is hard to forget.
But you esteemed readers need not worry; the book won’t be ridiculously slow.
Each volume of this book is about a hundred Chapters long. After a volume is finished, the timeline will jump forward, either by a few months or a few years.
Each volume will have a different focus, and I will try to use each one to fill in another piece of the world’s puzzle.
For example, the first volume focuses mainly on writing theses, but the space dedicated to that will be greatly reduced in the second volume.
I won’t keep repeating the same old things.
That isn’t writing details; that’s just padding the word count.
As for the plot progression speed, please rest assured about that as well.
According to my outline, by Chapter one thousand, the protagonist should be around a Fourth Level Grand Arcanist, and possibly even a Fifth Level Legendary Wizard.
Finally.
And most importantly, I’m getting on my knees and begging for subscriptions.
As I type these words on my keyboard, my son, who is not yet two, is riding his little toy car next to me.
I’m writing and watching him at the same time, while his mother is in the kitchen cooking.
My wife and I don’t have our parents helping to look after our son, so much of the time, this is the environment I write in.
Still, compared to the days when I felt like I was about to die from exhaustion—getting up at three or four in the morning to feed him and change his diapers, then having to write during the day—things are much, much better now.
Looking at my son’s tender little face, hearing him call me "Dada," even when I have a cold, I have to keep writing, to strive to create a better life for him.
So, I’m on my knees, begging for your subscriptions.
Every single subscription from you, my esteemed patrons, is what gives me the confidence to buy milk powder and toys for my son.