Taking the bus to the coffee shop where he had made an appointment with Li Wenyuan, before Lin Han had time to enter the room, heavy goose-feather snow fell, and the low black clouds seemed to touch the tall buildings.
After he clicked to enter the Amazon website, he searched for the name "I, Robot". Before he could press the Enter key, the Chinese and English versions of the novel automatically appeared under the search bar.
This book is tied with the author of "Twilight" Amanda Hawking to become the top 50 bestsellers on Amazon, defeating other novels from traditional publishing houses in one fell swoop, and was even named a "Future Star of Twelve Industries" by Forbes magazine .
Li Wenyuan was sitting in the elegant seat by the window. There was an open book in front of him, with a leaf-shaped bookmark sandwiched in the middle. After he saw Lin Han, he stood up and waved, "Come here and order a cup of coffee."
"Then there are still fake ones, hurry up and sign."
Self-publishing platforms like Amazon are a boon to all authors, allowing them to sell their works instantly on the world's largest book market.
Just when he was about to change his shoes and go out, a message popped up on QQ on his mobile phone, "Hey, man, we have a science fiction reading group in Haidian tomorrow to discuss the recent new book "I, Robot". If you If you want to come, please finish reading this book first."
Lin Han is looking forward to hearing the opinions of the most authentic readers. There are indeed many people participating in the rating on Douban Reading, but those are the comments of readers who prefer to go online. Many people who have bought the book do not like to discuss it online at all.
Sales will only gradually increase after it spreads abroad. It is very difficult to sell tens of thousands of e-books like the simplified version at once.
Li Wenyuan put the pen back. He looked at Lin Han's signature, then raised his head unexpectedly and said, "You are different from before. The more you write, the better it looks."
In other words, Lin Han's "I, Robot" can only get 70% of the sales amount on Amazon, which is really not low.
He quickly replied: "What about the time and specific location? I have finished reading it and can participate in the discussion at any time."
At present, there is a widespread prejudice against self-publishing in domestic society, and self-published writers are considered failed writers. The e-books that can be purchased on the Internet are basically published as paper books. The entire book market is still centered on paper books. Without the help of publishing houses, writers cannot sell their works separately to bookstores.
The simplified Chinese version of "I, Robot" is also sold on Amazon, but 70% of the sales are divided between Renmin University Publishing House and Lin Han. Lin Han can only get money according to the royalty rate, which is 70% of 5 %-12% or so, the level of exploitation is scary!
"Tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning, the venue will be at the bookstore next to Haidian Park. It will be very conspicuous. There will be a few foreign students joining us then."
Lin Han knows that electronic reading may be the trend of the future, but paper reading will not disappear either. Some people like to read on the lawn with a book instead of holding a Kindle.
Pedestrians on the road couldn't help but speed up their pace, and vehicles on the road also turned on their headlights and drove slowly and cautiously, as if night had fallen early.
Lin Han shook his head and said with a smile: "Actually, when I was writing the novel, I considered that the English version would be translated by myself. It would be basically the original version and there would be no errors in it. "
His English version of the novel was not released in physical form, but directly into e-books, so that he would not be deprived of most of his income.
Even though most writers did not take advantage of this opportunity to become famous and reach the top of their lives, they did win many fans. Whether they are authors who have made their fortune through traditional publishing or authors who have gained followers through professional or other reasons, their worth can be measured by uploads and clicks on the Internet.
Lin Han stopped being pretentious. He quickly signed his name with a pen and printed it on the blank page in front of the catalog like a flying phoenix.
After Lin Han turned off the computer, he stood up and started to clean up the room. If he didn't clean the room every three days, he would feel that he couldn't live anymore. Any small spot would affect his mood.
It's just that the books sold on Amazon are basically finished, and they don't need to be updated every day. One update at a time is enough.
The self-publishing market in Europe and the United States has developed particularly rapidly, and has already given birth to a number of outstanding best-selling authors. Among them is the world's first successful self-publishing writer, American John Locke. His self-published fantasy novel "The Super Tribe" sold more than one million e-books in a few months.
"I brought it here specifically to get your autograph. I'm going to take it back and read it and put it on the bookshelf." Li Wenyuan said jokingly. After he finished speaking, he actually took out a pen from his pocket, which made Lin Han see. He was stunned for a while.
Lin Han nodded. He turned to the waiter and asked for a cup of mocha. He walked towards Li Wenyuan, but the book on the table was very conspicuous. "Mosquito, you are helping me increase sales again!"
This was clearly the message sent by the young students Lin Han met in the library. He had originally given the Science Fiction World magazine to these people. He thought there would be no news from them, but in the end, he was actually called.
As long as self-published novels have a high number of clicks online and good feedback from readers, publishers will come to seek cooperation.
The so-called self-publishing means that writers bypass third-party publishers and do it themselves or outsource it to related companies, such as Amazon.
With the current development of the Internet industry, the self-publishing industry led by Amazon is rising rapidly, which poses a huge threat to traditional publishers.
"How can you translate novels into English so quickly? It's so scary. If you find that the translation quality is not good, you will be ruining your reputation. Did you type and proofread it carefully? Don't tell me that you used Made by translation software." Li Wenyuan was shocked by Lin Han's resolute speed. You must know that translating novels is not an easy task. To change the original novel from Chinese to English, it requires more than a solid language foundation. , but also have considerable literary quality, so as not to be a dry translation.
Whether they are established authors or newcomers, they no longer need to rely on large publishers to launch new books and make profits.
This is the simplified Chinese version of "I, Robot". Unexpectedly, Li Wenyuan is actually reading this novel.
After recording this on the schedule, Lin Han turned around and went out. The foul-mouthed neighbor must have gone out to film recently, otherwise he would meet him more or less. Most of these young actors are always in the crew and stay at home for too long. It would be very troublesome if there was no acting.
"Are you serious?"
However, Amazon wants to take 30% of the profits from self-publishing. Although this is much lighter than the exploitation of authors by traditional large publishers, it is still a large number.
In fact, this model is similar to domestic online novels. Online novels are also published on novel websites and then sold for a fee. If the writing is good, publishing houses will come to you. This is an alternative self-publishing.
Clicking to enter the English version of "I, Robot", Lin Han found that the sales volume of his book was still 0. After all, it had just been uploaded, and domestic people generally would not choose to buy the English version.
Different people write different words. Lin Han's heart suddenly tightened. He quickly explained: "Isn't this a special practice? I am afraid that some readers will ask me for my signature. By the way, I am not asking you to come here." I’ll sign it for you. I’ll get the English version of this book for sale on Amazon for self-publishing. What do you think?”