Chapter 50

The first print run of 100,000 copies of *I, Robot* smoothly landed in major bookstores across the country, successfully standing out among the vast sea of new books. Even without good publicity, it still burst with astonishing energy.

On New Year's Day, amidst the encirclement of many best-selling new books, *I, Robot* ranked 9th on the new book sales chart with 24,000 copies sold. This achievement already made the heads of major bookstores start to change their minds.

A book that can sell is a good book, regardless of its genre. Even if it's a science fiction novel, as long as it sells well, it will definitely be given a good position and good publicity.

So on January 2nd, many readers entering bookstores of all sizes across the country found that *I, Robot* actually had a poster on the wall, and its sales position was moved to the front.

Many casual browsers, who were not sure what books to buy, were attracted by this. After picking up the book and looking at the cover and contents, they were also drawn in by the descriptions.

"2017 Sci-Fi Annual Masterpiece," "Highly Anticipated Sci-Fi Gem," "Unprecedented Robot Laws Shock the Eyes," "Hope of Domestic Sci-Fi"—these numerous titles on the cover made even readers who rarely read science fiction novels take out their wallets.

Sales continued to rise, and on the second day of the new book's release, another 30,000 copies were sold. Including the pre-orders from the internet, the first print run of 100,000 copies was basically sold out!

Inside the People's University Press, Zhao Han was holding a teacup, satisfied as he looked at the sales data on the computer. Previously, there were voices within the publishing house saying that he, who had been shrewd all his life, was about to be deceived. But now, it was unclear who was being deceived.

"Lao Liu, we have succeeded this time. We finally launched a best-selling science fiction novel. Guess how many copies it will sell in total."

Liu Jun was lazily lounging in the CEO's office. He leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow helplessly, "I really don't know how to predict it. This is not a normal state at all."

Zhao Han also agreed, "This is a monster. Online pre-sales for a week sold 95,000 physical copies, and 21,000 electronic pre-sales. If these results were from another author, they would have definitely achieved higher sales on the day of the national release. But Lin Han is not well-known, and his novel is not well-known. I'm now thinking whether the tiered royalty system is a disadvantage to us."

"CEO Zhao, I think there's no need to worry about sales. The more it sells, the better. Sales are rising every day, right? Although the first week's sales can't compare to those of five-star authors, at least it can achieve good results on the weekly and monthly charts. Who knows, it might even participate in the 2017 New Sharp Author of the Year selection. This is his debut, so it depends on how his agent operates."

"You don't need to worry about that. His agent is not simple. I did a little digging, and he is a top agent in the entertainment industry, able to sign A-list actors and singers at a young age."

Liu Jun's curiosity was piqued, and he asked, "If this agent is so capable, why did Lin Han stumble so badly? I know he made a terrible movie even without following the internet much."

Zhao Han waved his hand, "Can't say, can't say. As long as he is writing novels now, the rest has nothing to do with our publishing house. I have already ordered the printing factory to print an additional 200,000 copies, hoping to sell them as soon as possible."

"Absolutely no problem. I believe in this book. I wonder when I will see a science fiction novel sell so many copies again. CEO Zhao, we should seize the opportunity to sign the English copyright for this book. Don't you think this novel can be directly translated into English? Foreigners will definitely go crazy for it."

"That agent is very shrewd. He clearly stated from the beginning that only the simplified Chinese copyright would be sold, and the traditional Chinese, English, and other extended channels would be calculated separately. Besides, our publishing house has no overseas business, so we won't meddle with the English version. We just need to do our best."

"That's true. The English version will depend on whether foreign publishers will take advantage of them."

...

At the same time, Lin Han was discussing the English version with Chen Jiaxuan. This was originally an English novel, written by the sci-fi giant Isaac Asimov, titled *I, Robot*.

If the focus is only on the domestic market, it would be too short-sighted. The foreign market is the most suitable cradle for science fiction novels. Compared to the underdeveloped domestic sci-fi market, the sci-fi novels in Europe and America have already entered the industrialization era, a large and significant market.

For Lin Han, writing the English original novel might be even easier than writing in Chinese. He just needed to modify the content that did not fit the era to match the simplified Chinese version, which he had already written.

"Don't rush now. If we rashly approach American or other foreign publishers, we will definitely be underpriced. They are not like domestic publishers who value relationships; they are all about profit. We need to wait for the sales of the simplified Chinese version to prove the quality of the novel."

Chen Jiaxuan said rationally. She knew Lin Han's goal, but haste makes waste. They needed to use the sales of the simplified Chinese version as leverage in negotiations.

Lin Han nodded and smiled, "Haste makes waste. I understand."

"Good that you understand. Your biggest goal now is to become a star author. Have you joined the Writers' Association yet?"

"Writers' Association? No, I haven't joined any association. I haven't even paid the membership fee for the Directors' Association for a year. I don't know if they have revoked my membership." Lin Han said with a self-deprecating smile.

Chen Jiaxuan rolled her eyes, "You writers only have an official identity after being recognized by the National Writers' Association. The social status of writers is quite high, at least in the eyes of traditional people, higher than actors, singers, and stars."

"Should I apply to join the National Writers' Association? And what's this star author system?"

"The National Writers' Association requires a recommendation, and then you must pass a review to join. However, the prerequisite is that you must be a member of the city or provincial Writers' Association and have published a physical book, which cannot be self-published. You, as a writer, don't care about the internal affairs of your industry at all!"

Lin Han took a sip of water and said innocently, "I thought writers just needed to write books. I didn't know there were so many twists and turns."

"The star author system is used by the Writers' Association to distinguish the levels of authors, ranging from zero-star to five-star, including but not limited to members of the Writers' Association. It is based on the sales of published works. Selling one book equals one point, and different awards have different levels of points."

Chen Jiaxuan seemed a bit confused herself, so she threw her phone to Lin Han, letting him look it up himself.

The so-called star author system is a simple and brutal classification jointly formulated by the National Writers' Association and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television. It updates the points system in real-time every day, distinguishing the levels of authors based on sales and awards, not considering the influence of the books but only how many they can sell, a completely commercial approach.

A zero-star author refers to a newcomer who has just published, with total sales below 100,000 copies, like Lin Han a day ago.

A one-star author is an author who has achieved certain results in publishing, with total sales between 100,000 and 500,000 copies. Lin Han, with the sales of the first two days of New Year's and the pre-sales from four major websites, successfully upgraded to this level. Selling over 100,000 copies in the publishing industry is still a minor player.

A two-star author is between 500,000 and 1,000,000 copies, a three-star author between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 copies, a four-star author between 2,000,000 and 5,000,000 copies, and a five-star author with total sales over 5,000,000 copies. In fact, authors with cumulative sales of 10,000,000 copies are called diamond-level, though not officially recognized, just a term used by the media and ordinary readers.

Li Wenyuan is a four-star author. To upgrade to five-star, he needs to sell another 2 to 3 million copies. Ancient gods like Tong Yonglie, with many books and good sales, naturally become diamond-level authors over decades.

This star author system is like a lighthouse. The top-ranked authors can have many publishers contact them every day, allowing them to make any demands and make the publishers behave like grandsons.

The further down the list, the less power one has. For a one-star author like Lin Han, it is quite difficult to upgrade. The competitors he faces are all very strong.

The author of *The Best of Us 2* is currently the hottest young adult author, selling several million copies of a single book, making it easy to become a five-star or even diamond-level author.

The author of the *Dragon* series is also very powerful, selling over 7 million copies of this series alone, along with other works like *The Nine States*, making him a top fantasy author.