Chapter 22

【PS: It's been a week since the book was released, and thanks to everyone's support, the results have been quite good. However, since I haven't signed a contract yet, there won't be any recommendations next week. Even if I send the contract tomorrow, it might be too late for recommendations the week after next, which means the new book will be without any promotion for three weeks during its first month. Therefore, I need everyone's support to help me stand out. I'll update a bit today, and then start the first update of the new week at midnight.】

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and Tong Yan has mostly not completed his summer homework, especially in English and Math. He has almost finished his Chinese homework, though, because it's hard to copy, and he is the class representative for Chinese. His teacher, Old Song, can easily tell if he is slacking off.

Before the start of the school year, what Tong Yan is most worried about is not his homework, but his creation, "The Little Soldier's History." Going back to school means he won't be able to continue writing, but fortunately, he has found a solution.

At the Wumei Bookstore, Tong Yan and his brother Liu Ming sit in front of the computer. Tong Yan first opens Qidian. On the homepage, there are four places where "The Little Soldier's History" can be seen.

One is the "New Book Potential Weekly Chart," where it has now reached the fourth position, up two places from last week. Although it received a recommendation, other books also received recommendations and performed even better, so the improvement is not particularly significant.

The second is the "Serial Works Recommendation" section, located below the announcement area and above the update list. This is a very good recommendation spot. Despite 15 works being recommended simultaneously, it is in a prime location on the homepage, and the effect is excellent. Impressed by the success of the first recommendation, Watermelon managed to secure a second official recommendation for Tong Yan, and it's a very good one, hinting at a trend of strong support.

The third is the "Three Rivers Pavilion Recommendation," which was just updated today. The Three Rivers Pavilion editor, ZENK, is very fond of "The Little Soldier's History." According to Watermelon, the editor said that among the works in this issue of the Three Rivers Pavilion, "The Little Soldier's History" is the most flavorful. Whether Watermelon is exaggerating or not, it's hard to say.

The fourth spot is the "Weekly Reader Clicks Chart," where it ranks 12th, at the bottom, and only made it to the list on the last day of the week. However, for a new work by a new author without strong promotion or a Three Rivers Pavilion recommendation, this is a very impressive achievement.

This is also thanks to his deputy moderator, Wo Ben Xiaozhang, who has been aggressively promoting "The Little Soldier's History" everywhere. Although this has attracted many detractors, it has also brought in a significant number of clicks and readers. Overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Even if he is called a hype dog, it doesn't matter because Zhang Xiao quickly deletes the negative posts, and Tong Yan doesn't often read the book review section, so his enthusiasm for writing remains unaffected.

For a new work by a new author to have four spots on the highly competitive Qidian homepage is a remarkable achievement. Even his cousin Liu Ming, who doesn't understand the Qidian rules very well, can see that "The Little Soldier's History" has come a long way. "It's a pity. What will you do after school starts?"

"I've already thought of a way, but I need your help, big brother." Tong Yan paused.

"Then don't beat around the bush, just say it!" Liu Ming urged.

"It's actually quite simple," Tong Yan opened a Word document. "I'm currently at Chapter 46, and I should release Chapter 47 tomorrow. But I've actually written up to Chapter 56, so I have ten chapters in reserve."

Liu Ming counted on his fingers twice, uh, ten chapters, that's right.

Tong Yan entered his author's section. "What you need to do is release one chapter every day. It's very simple. Copy the content of one chapter and paste it into this large box, put the chapter title in the small box above, and then click 'publish.' Remember not to re-post and not to mess up the order."

Liu Ming nodded, he could do that. "But you only have ten chapters in reserve, which will last for ten days. What about after ten days? You only come home once every four weeks."

"Don't forget, we don't have classes on Sundays every week. Although we're not allowed to go out freely, it's not impossible. I can use that day to find an internet cafe and write enough for a week, then send it to you via QQ. You can upload one chapter per day according to the chapter numbers."

This is the best solution Tong Yan could come up with under the current conditions. It only costs him one Sunday and won't significantly affect his studies. On Qidian, the updates will change from two per day to one per day, which is a necessary compromise.

"Hey, that's a good plan!" Liu Ming agreed wholeheartedly, but he still had doubts. "Can you write seven chapters in one day?"

Although Tong Yan now has a typing speed of over 2000 characters per hour, he can only write a bit over 10,000 characters a day. Seven chapters, at 3,000 characters each, would be over 20,000 characters.

"Let's give it a try. I don't think it will be a problem." Tong Yan felt his typing speed still had room for improvement, and the environment in an internet cafe might bring out his potential.

Next, Tong Yan typed out a "Reader Announcement" to explain his upcoming serialization plan. Putting himself in the readers' shoes, he felt he should explain the situation and apologize.

"Hello everyone, first of all, Xiao Er thanks you all for your support. As a new writer, and with this being my first book, 'The Little Soldier's History' has made it into the homepage click chart without any major recommendations. I am very, very... very happy. This is all thanks to you, and I don't take any credit for it, so I bow to you."

"But don't get too excited yet. After the good news, there's some bad news. I hope you won't be too angry. It's almost September, and for many people, September doesn't mean much, but for me, it means school is starting."

"At school, I won't have as much free time or space as I do during the holidays. I will do my best to fight against the system and write as much as possible, but I definitely won't be able to keep up the current pace. So starting tomorrow, 'The Little Soldier's History' will update once a day. If conditions allow, I will try to add more updates."

"Uh, that's what I wanted to say. I hope you can understand and support me. Also, in the new week, I want to stay on the homepage click chart. Can you help me with that?"

After posting this single chapter, Tong Yan went on QQ. To his surprise, his editor Watermelon, who is usually online no matter how late it is, was not online. So he left a message: "Watermelon, I'm starting school tomorrow and can only update once a day, but I will keep writing. Thank you for your support all along."

His editor knows he is a high school student and will understand. Slowing down the updates not only needs to be communicated to the editor but also to his deputy moderator, Wo Ben Xiaozhang.

In fact, Tong Yan had already discussed this with Zhang Xiao. Zhang Xiao knew he would take such action after school started. The deputy moderator is very engrossed in "The Little Soldier's History," and although he is not happy about the reduced updates, he doesn't push when he learns that Tong Yan can rank in the top ten of his grade at City No. 1 High School and can easily get into a key university.

"I will take care of the book review section while you're away. I will suppress any negative comments. Also, if you have time, you can pop into the QQ group I created. I think they would be very happy to chat with you."

Tong Yan is an author who doesn't communicate much with his readers because his time is very tight. He uses every available moment to think and write, and at most, he checks the book review section when he releases a chapter and replies to a few comments if necessary. Everything related to the readers is almost entirely handled by his deputy moderator, Zhang Xiao. Therefore, in the eyes of most readers, Xiao Er is a somewhat aloof writer.

So, when Tong Yan posted a single chapter addressed to his readers, the book review section indeed exploded.