Chapter Fifteen: Setting Sail on a Dream

  After signing the contract with Fatong, Su Jin stepped out of the publishing house. Originally, Fatong wanted to invite Su Jin to have dinner together, but was refused by Su Jin, who said he wanted to take a walk outside and walked out on his own.

  It's probably around seven o'clock now, at the busiest time in the ancient city, and the streets are crowded with people! Su Jin is walking on the street, still thinking about the website in her mind.

  In fact, he was very clear that the prospects of doing online work were not good. Even if he had systematic support and could continue to produce masterpieces, reaching or even surpassing the status of those great gods in later generations, what's the point?

  At most, it can only allow Su Jian to gain rich financial returns, but in terms of social status and influence, it is far from comparable to those traditional writers.

  It's not unreasonable to call online literature "fast food culture", as this kind of culture can only let people enter a virtual world to get spiritual pleasure, but readers will eventually have to return to the real world.

  And online culture, due to the poor writing quality and lack of depth, cannot evoke memories, so most readers will just read it once and forget about it. Very few people will re-read an online work multiple times. This is also a major reason why physical book sales have been declining.

  It can be said that even in later generations, online literature is still looked down upon by many publishing houses, and many online authors are also looked down upon by traditional authors.

  But Su Jin chose this industry as his original industry mainly because of the system! That's right, it's all because of the system! You see, Su Jin's greatest reliance is not on rebirth. Although rebirth gave him decades of experience, Su Jin, who was just a small clerk in his previous life, had a superficial understanding of society, and most of it was limited to the surface level.

  Decades of experience can indeed make him rich and noble in this life, but to truly reach the pinnacle and become an influential existence among the masses, it is far from enough. In modern society, with clear division of labor, without a deep understanding of the entire industry, it is difficult to truly grasp the industry!

  But the system is different! This product of an unknown era is the greatest invention of all humanity at that time, and it is the crystallization of human civilization. In the field of culture, it is a divine instrument beyond reproach!

  Su Jian has only relied on it to walk out of a development culture, spread culture, control culture, and finally rely on culture to reach the peak of the road!

  The cultural significance is not just about some literary works as people usually think. Its meaning is very broad, culture is the knowledge or experience related to life accumulated by organisms in their development process, culture is: all material and spiritual representations that can represent the existence of cultural relics, the essence of culture is the comprehensive manifestation of materiality and consciousness.

  Simply put, culture is knowledge! From this perspective, all disciplines and technologies in society are included in culture.

  And all these things can be found in the system! It can be said that if all the technologies carried by the system are developed, Su Jin alone can create a modern society!

  However, getting system materials is not without cost, points and fans are the only two things that the system requires, which complement each other!

  Su Jin didn't know what principle the system was operating on, nor did he know why it had to have these two things. This was far beyond Su Jin's understanding, but he knew that only by obtaining these two things could he truly gain the capital to reach the pinnacle!

  And the Internet is the best way for him to get these two things!

  The influence of traditional books is higher than that of the Internet, and the status of traditional authors is indeed higher than that of online authors. However, just like classical Chinese literature in ancient times, only those who are truly talented will be able to appreciate it. Moreover, under the circumstance where literary people look down on each other, it's hard to say how many people can actually identify with the author.

  Although online literature is called "fast food culture" and "little white book", it is precisely these "fast food culture" and "little white book" that have truly entered thousands of households. Especially for young people and students! In ten years, the Internet can proudly say that I believe every student and young person has read online literature!

  And students and young people are the groups that most easily produce worship and fans, so the fans and points brought by the internet are far beyond what traditional literature can compare to!

  Of course, as time goes on, Su Jin will one day take the road of publishing traditional literature. Online literature can cultivate temporary fans, but traditional literature can cultivate lifelong fans!

  But that's a problem to be considered later, currently Su is still mainly developing the network!

  ……

  "Hey, is that Su Jin? I've already built the website you wanted. Come take a look!" Qian Lingyue's voice came from the other end of the phone.

  "Really! Alright, wait for me a moment, I'll be right there!" Su Zhen exclaimed with delight.

  Haha, Miss Qian's actions are indeed swift! In just three days, the website is already up and running. She truly lives up to her reputation as a top-notch Red Guest who has attacked the Pentagon!

  Twenty minutes later, Su Jin appeared in front of Qian Ling's house. Qian Ling's parents were not at home today, and she was the only one at home. After letting Su Jin in, she didn't say much nonsense and directly led Su Jin to the computer to watch the website she designed for Su Jin!

  The website design is quite simple, following Su Jin's suggestion, the top left corner of the homepage is a sign for registration/login, and above it are nine main push positions, each placing books recommended by the website, while below is a row of various books arranged according to update time.

  As for both sides, they are two lists respectively. One is the recommendation list and the other is the collection list, just like some points in later generations. Users who register on the website have the right to recommend and collect. There are also some signs of registered authors.

  It's just a rough warehouse now, and such facilities are sufficient! Since there is no plan to make a profit from the website, there is no subscription or anything like that. However, a special reward function has been set up to allow economically affluent readers to support books they recognize, and the amount of this reward belongs entirely to the author!

  "Haha, okay, very good, that's it, Qian Ling, thank you! If it were me, I don't know how much longer it would take to get it done!" Su Zhen said excitedly with satisfaction.

  Qian Ling's face turned red as she smiled and said: "What are we thanking each other for? It's only natural!"

  "Now it's fine, I can upload it officially now. Is this the one to register as an author?" Su Jin asked, pointing at the logo on the webpage.

  "It's okay, just open it and follow the procedure!" Qian Ling said.

  Like the author's application and management of works, he basically copied the settings of a certain point in later generations, and only made slight modifications based on the current actual situation.

  Following the website's procedure, Su Jin successfully registered as an author and finally got his pen name. As usual, Su Jin chose his real name "Su Jin"! However, what Su Jin didn't expect was that as he became more famous and gained more fans, this way of writing under one's real name became increasingly recognized, to the point where almost 80% of authors in the future chose to write under their real names. As a result, those bizarre and fantastical online names from his past life never appeared again!

  He uploaded what he had written earlier onto the internet. As it was the website's first work and also his own, it naturally rose to the top of the recommended list.

  "Battle Through The Heavens", is this written by you? Is it also a martial arts novel?" Qian Ling asked, looking at the four large characters.

  "No, this is fundamentally different from martial arts, I call it fantasy!" Su said with a smile.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Qian Ling asked in confusion.

  Su Jin smiled and said: "I won't tell you the specifics, you can see for yourself. At that time, you'll understand why it's called Xuanhuan."

  Afterwards, Su Jin logged into the Sitong Lifa forum and opened his original four posts of "The First Time". Although it had been almost a month since he created the posts, they were still extremely popular, with new visitors coming to view them every day. Visitors from cities where "The First Time" had not yet gone on sale were discussing the plot and speculating about what would happen next in the story. Those who had already seen it were smugly revealing spoilers.

  Su Jin directly wrote in the comments: "In Dream Starting Point, a new book 'Doupo Cangqiong' has been opened, please go and watch." Then he pinned his own comment to the top.

  Su Jin's online name on Four Directions and Eight Methods was Su Jin. As soon as he spoke, the readers who were present on the forum immediately knew that the author had arrived. Instantly, the already lively comment section became even more explosive, with many netizens speaking out in all directions and sending various dialogues.

  "Is this Su Jian's big shot? I'm a reader from ##, asking when will we start selling 'The First Time'? Always hearing spoilers from seniors, but can't see the book anywhere, it's so frustrating!" - Flying Little Bird

  Obviously, this is a netizen from a city where "The First Time" has not been released yet.

  Su Jin replied patiently: "The second promotion of 'First Time' is underway, and by then, 80% of the cities nationwide will be able to buy it, ## is also among them!" As soon as he finished replying, he saw a face flashing with several comments.

  "Su Jin Da Da, what new book are you releasing? Is it a sequel to 'The First Time'? Burning Apple."

  "What is this website 'Meng Xiang Qi Dian Wang' anyway? Never heard of it. How do I get in?" Boom, Little Chick Explodes.

  "Sounds like a martial arts novel, has Su Jin entered the martial arts genre?" Flying Ears.

  "It's not the sequel to 'The First Time', I posted the URL of Meng Xiang Qidian on the forum, you can go take a look, it's guaranteed to be wonderful, completely different from Wuxia!" Su Zhen replied.

  ……

  After chatting with netizens for two hours, Su Jin reluctantly logged off the internet, still enjoying the feeling of being chased after.

  Su Jian glanced at the time and found that it was already 9 o'clock in the evening. If he stayed any longer, he might be caught by Qian Ling's parents when they returned home. Although his relationship with Qian Ling had always been close, it would still be awkward to explain if they were discovered together at this hour.

  Hurry to bid farewell to Qian Ling, Qian Ling obviously also knows that it's not suitable to stay with Su Wen for a long time now. It's all because earlier they were chatting with netizens together and accidentally forgot about the time. So she didn't keep him either, directly sending him out.