Chapter 10

I am an author 010

Chapter 10

"Ah, I slept well."

Contrary to expectations, I stayed up all night and fell asleep at seven in the morning. After a good nap, I woke up and checked the time—it was already eleven in the morning.

I had slept for about four hours.

I woke up hungry, as it was almost lunchtime and I hadn't eaten breakfast, but the first thing I did after opening my eyes was just one thing.

Click!

I pressed the power button on the computer. Then, the still slow computer took a while to reach the desktop.

Beep! Toot-toot.

After the desktop appeared, the first thing I did was not something else.

Access the Bukjoa site.

Of course, I had to check how much my performance had improved while I was sleeping.

As soon as I logged in, the main page showed the Today's Best section.

As soon as I saw the performance, I gasped.

"Wow!"

Rank / Author Name / Work Title / Chapters / Recommendations / Views

1st / Lee Jun-kyung / Emperor Loki / 10,853 / 23,890 / 309,800

2nd / Huutbaram / Gale Mage / 4,420 / 4,720 / 90,100

3rd / Disney / Toy Chronicle / 3,380 / 4,120 / 78,700

...

Even in those four hours, the performance had skyrocketed.

The 2nd and 3rd place works were far beyond comparison.

Despite it being my work, I couldn't help but be amazed.

"This is almost at the level of when Paper Umbrella and Shanhaijing authors hit the top of Bukpia."

Later, when the paid serialization market opened and the works of Paper Umbrella and Shanhaijing authors were revealed, everyone was amazed.

How great must their performance have been for the authors to start complaining?

"That work needs its own separate Best section!"

These were the comments made because the massive performance of the 1st and 2nd place works made it impossible for anyone to catch up.

Of course, this was just the hope of the authors.

Since the two authors always competed for 1st and 2nd place, it was said that 3rd place in Bukpia was practically 1st place.

But now, my performance was exactly like that.

Currently, the 2nd place work, Gale Mage, and the 3rd place work, Toy Chronicle, on Bukjoa's Today's Best, have already surpassed thirty chapters.

In contrast, my work, which just had ten chapters uploaded yesterday, showed a performance that no one could overlook.

Moreover, it was still morning.

Considering that more readers would come in the afternoon, the performance would likely be even higher.

Not just higher, but it would likely double or even triple.

Unlike the paid serialization market, people were reading through the internet, not on smartphones.

So, most of the readers, about one-third, would read from midnight to morning when the Today's Best was reset, and the other two-thirds would read in the evening after school or work.

In other words, I thought it might reach one million views in just one day.

Anyway, while checking the Today's Best on the main page without logging in.

Rumble.

My stomach was growling from hunger.

"Let's eat first."

When I'm hungry, I can't concentrate on work. Of course, if I'm too full, I can't concentrate either.

I went to the kitchen.

My father had gone out early in the morning to work, so he wasn't home, and my mother had gone to the cultural center to punch in.

In the end, I was alone at home. When I went to the dining table, I saw a rice cover.

"Wow, it's been a while since I saw this."

A rice cover that looked like just the head of an umbrella.

Until now, it was something used to cover meals prepared in advance when the family couldn't eat together.

"I haven't seen this since I got married."

We lived such busy lives.

I couldn't get home on time while running around day and night to support the family, and after sending Seung-mi abroad for studies, I had been a long-distance father.

I felt a bit melancholic.

I snapped back to my senses.

Snap!

I slapped my cheeks with both hands.

"Ouch, I should have been gentler."

My cheeks stung, but it helped me focus.

I held the rice cover and said,

"Well, I shouldn't be doing this with my mother's precious meal in front of me. Besides, I'm going to walk a path of success now."

Saying that, I lifted the rice cover.

A simple meal appeared.

Still warm white rice, miso soup, kimchi, and stir-fried anchovies.

A typical home-cooked meal.

But seeing this home-cooked meal, I felt a renewed warmth.

I had eaten home-cooked meals several times since returning to the past, but the joy of being able to eat them again always calmed my heart.

After sitting down, I picked up my chopsticks and said,

"Let's eat."

***

"Burp, that was delicious."

Although I had eaten home-cooked meals several times already, they were so delicious that I always ate two servings at once.

Thus, I was extremely full, and a burp escaped me.

People around me might have found it strange.

I was in my early twenties, but my behavior was like an uncle's.

I had been scolded a lot by my mother over the past two days.

"Why are you acting like your father already?"

What could I do?

I had been a father and a full-fledged uncle.

Still, there was something my mother said that was better than my father.

After eating, I did the dishes, and my father would comment.

"Please, learn from your son."

A smile crept onto my face as I thought about my parents, whom I hadn't seen in ten years.

With a happy smile, I finished the dishes and returned to my room.

"Alright, let's move on to the second task."

The second task.

It was to increase the performance of my work.

This involved leaving replies to comments.

By interacting with readers and forming a fan base, new readers would be curious about the high number of comments and would likely check them out.

I logged in to leave replies to comments.

"Wow!"

As soon as I logged in, I was surprised, and I had to postpone the second task.

What surprised me was the number '11' in red on the message box.

It meant that 11 people had sent me messages.

I had a rough idea.

They were probably contact messages.

When you perform well on a serialization site, publishers send messages.

Offering contracts.

These are commonly called contact messages.

My guess was correct.

When I opened the message box, all 11 messages were contact messages from various publishers.

- Hello, we are the publishing company 'Imagination Media'.

- Hello, author, we are the publishing company 'Yaru'.

- Your work is very interesting. Would you like to work with 'Book Warehouse'...

- Hello, author, I am Hong Sung-yong, the assistant manager.

- We are the publishing company 'Thunderbird'.

...

All the well-known genre publishers were there.

I even saw a familiar name.

Hong Sung-yong, the assistant manager of Puriun Forest Publishing.

I said with a disappointed tone,

"Fourth? I thought you would send the message first."

But the first message I checked was from Sung-yong.

The message started like this:

- I've called you several times this morning, but it seems you were sleeping, so I'm sending this message.

"Huh? You called several times?"

I picked up my phone, which was charging on the desk.

The screen showed '13 missed calls'.

I had missed the calls while sleeping.

"Ah, you called right after I checked my performance at nine."

Looking at the missed call history, two were from Yang, and the rest were from Sung-yong.

I felt bad for not answering Sung-yong's calls, but thinking about Yang made me feel very satisfied.

He must be in a terrible state.

My work, which he had mocked, had made a big splash on Bukjoa.

If I were to lose this to another publisher, he would be in big trouble with the CEO or the department head.

Even if Yang blamed Sung-yong for the failed contract due to my submission, the senior who was present would still be held responsible.

Thinking about Yang's downfall, I smiled and read the message.

The message proposed a contract with the following conditions:

'5,000 copies, 10%, full rights'.

Compared to the initial offer, this was much better. No, it wasn't just better; it was the best offer for a new author.

"But with the performance of my work, this is not enough."

I had clearly said when leaving Puriun Forest Publishing,

"Prepare to offer the best conditions. That's all."

The best conditions.

They were almost the highest for a new author, but if my memory served, the top-tier S-grade authors received even better offers.

'6,000 copies, 12%, full rights'.

And for the truly top-tier SSS-grade authors, it was '7,000-8,000 copies, 12-14%, full rights'.

Even when the market worsened and the fixed print runs for S-grade authors dropped, these conditions were maintained.

'5,000 copies, 14%, full rights'?

This alone would earn over 5 million won per volume.

More than my 15-year editor's salary. Of course, if I had been a department head, I would have earned more.

But I had never reached the department head position, so despite 15 years of hard work, I earned less than 5 million won.

Anyway, I was not satisfied with the conditions offered by Puriun Forest Publishing.

They were not the best.

But this was not just about Puriun Forest Publishing.

The conditions offered by other publishers were mostly similar.

Just a bit lower than Puriun Forest Publishing.

4,000 copies or 8%.

After seeing these conditions, I knew what I had to do.

I opened a notepad and wrote down the following:

- I'm sorry.

I just started this work and want to see how it performs.

After all, it would be better for the publishers to have a clear performance before printing and selling paper books, right?

I plan to serialize up to 30 chapters before considering a contract.

Have a good day.

By the way, thank you to Puriun Forest Publishing for the highest offer.

'5,000 copies, 10%, full rights' for a beginner like me.

Thank you again, and I'll continue to serialize.

"Great, let's send this reply to all the publishers."

I sent the content I had just written in the notepad to the eleven publishers.

It was a very direct message.

It said that other publishers had also sent contact messages, and even among them, Puriun Forest Publishing had offered the highest conditions: '5,000 copies, 10%, full rights'.

Since Puriun Forest Publishing was a well-known company, other publishers would have to offer better conditions to win me over.

They might criticize me.

"That author is obsessed with money and has no principles."

At the time, such rumors were common.

They were partly to discourage authors from being too greedy about contract conditions.

But I didn't care at all.

Why should I care?

I was the 'client' here.

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