All-rounder Artist

Chapter 116: Chapter 113: Redefining Fantasy_i

Translator: 549690339 |

Although the previous “King of the Net” was only serialized for a few months and even finished in less than half a year, Chu Kuang had accumulated some fans during the serialization of this novel. These fans have been closely following Silver Blue Books, waiting for news on Chu Kuang’s new book, so when they saw that Chu Kuang was about to release a new book, they were quite excited and anticipatory.

“Faster than I expected.”

“King of the Net” ended not too long ago. Most other authors would rest for a few months after finishing a book, but Chu Kuang seems to have no plans for rest and hurriedly churned out a new book.

“I just love Chu Kuang’s unpredictability!”

“Because of ‘King of the Net,’ I became a fan of athletic novels. After Chu Kuang’s work ended, I looked for many similar novels. Quite a few people in the market were imitating him, but compared to Chu Kuang, other sports novels I read always seem to fall short.”

“After all, Chu Kuangis the originator!”

“Chu Kuang’s new book is also an athletic genre, right?”

“Should we ask if Chu Kuang’s new book is still about yaoi?”

“Hahahaha, I feel like the decent Youth Academy Tennis Club has been ruined by you guys, always saying they’re yaoi, when it’s clearly a proper tennis sports novel (serious face).”

King of the Net” is a male-oriented novel that perfectly portrays the characters of the Youth Academy Tennis Club. With some interesting daily life sceens and a group of men sweating together every day, many readers jokingly called this novel a yaoi novel disguised as a sports novel.

Because of this characteristic.

The ostensibly male-oriented “King of the Net” surprisingly attracted quite a few female fans. These fans didn’t care about the competitions in the novel: they were only interested in the characters’ daily interactions, and their various yaoi fantasies could also bring them great joy.

In this world that values copyright.

If not for copyright disputes, “King of the Net” fan fictions would probably be everywhere by now. Never underestimate the creative power of yaoi fans. If they were allowed to run wild, they could probably sustain several fiction websites no regular guy would ever tap into.

But worth mentioning is.

Almost all fans think that Chu Kuang would continue to write sports competitive genres as he has pioneered the market for this genre. He wouldn’t abandon the big market he has opened after the hard work he put into “King of the Net,” right?

That’s naturally the logic.

Moreover, authors do care about maintaining a stable fan base. Chu Kuang’s pen name is firmly tied to fantasy novels and sports novels. If he were to change his genre, fans might not buy it.

It’s not only the fans who think this.

Publishing houses also think the same way, because now the sports genre is no longer unpopular. Although it’s still a niche compared to mainstream genres, it could still support several best-sellers.

If he continues to write in this genre.

Even if Chu Kuang had the worst of luck, he could still manage a decent amount of sales. Given Chu Kuang’s skill at writing sports novels, would he only aim for decent sales? The publishing houses in the industry wouldn’t belittle Chu Kuang like that, choosing to view him in as positive a light as possible.

Perhaps it could be another “King of the Net”!

Everyone was even a bit panicked, especially some publishers who competed fiercely with Silver Blue Books, because Chu Kuang’s speed in starting his new book was a bit too fast. Who would finish their old book and immediately start a new one without rest?

Is he some kind of alien?

If there were to be another very successful work, then the end of “King of the Net” would not be a loss for Silver Blue Books but a boon, because it would mean that Silver Blue Books had one more quality work!

Chu Kuang indeed is an alien, something everyone in the industry guessed correctly, but everyone made one wrong guess: Chu Kuang’s new book did not continue with the sports genre, but switched to two topics that seemed unfamiliar to everyone at first glance:

Xianxia genre!

Silver Blue Books did not beat around the bush. They announced that Chu Kuang was going to release a new book that night, and the next day’s website banner revealed the genre of Chu Kuang’s new book. They also launched a grand promotion through various channels, which made Chu Kuang’s fans stunned for a few seconds.

“What the heck?”

“A Xianxia novel?”

“It’s not a sports novel?”

“Why not keep writing sports? Chu Kuang is clearly gifted in that genre. Even if it’s not tennis and switches to basketball or football, I’d still completely accept it!”

“Isn’t the switch too drastic?”

“This is a leap from a hot-blooded sports field to ‘Immortal and Demon War’. But the problem is I don’t like reading fantasy novels. This ancient theme has long been outdated. What on earth is Chu Kuang thinking?”

II II

Indeed, no one writes fantasy novels, but the influence of ‘Immortal and Demon War’ is still significant. The novel even became a TV drama and is part of many people’s childhood memories. Most people’s concept of fantasy comes from this work from many years ago.

The fans are perplexed.

The industry is equally baffled. They have looked carefully at the banner advertisement from Silver Blue Books. It does say that Chu Kuang’s new book is a fantasy-themed one, and even the slogan is quite arrogant, stating just two sentences:

‘”Zhu Xian’ on sale July 1st!”

“Watch Chu Kuang redefine fantasy!”

Several people in the industry are a bit apprehensive. It would be unfair to say they’re not optimistic, Silver Blue Books is not stupid. If Chu Kuang’s work was really garbage, the company wouldn’t bother promoting Chu Kuang’s new book; they would have rejected the manuscript.

But how good can Chu Kuang write?

How great can a fantasy novel be?

As for those called redefining fantasy, those in the know, understand that such statements are just for show. Every advertisement has to make bold claims. Even terrible movies claim to be epoch-making before their release.

“I understand.”

Some industry insiders speculate: “Perhaps this novel called ‘Zhu Xian’ is decent. As you know, there are some novels that fall in the middle range, too good to reject outright but unlikely to be a huge hit. Plus, Chu Kuang being the author, Silver Blue Books definitely wouldn’t want to offend him, give his proven abilities, so they simply gave him an opportunity?”

Bestselling authors have some say.

For non-bestselling authors, if editors reject their works, it’s done. But for bestselling authors, even if the work is not especially good, editors will not easily reject it, especially if the bestselling author insists on publishing it. In order not to offend the author, the publisher will usually give it a chance.

What if it becomes a hit?

An editor’s judgment is not always 100% accurate. There are indeed cases where manuscripts rejected by the first publisher are published by the second and become bestsellers. Isn’t it the case that ‘King of the Net’ was not initially favored by the industry?

It seems like Chu Kuang enjoys such challenges.

He always writes challenging themes.

Most people in the industry accept this reasoning. But the chief editor of Prosperity Publishing House feels that things are not that simple, given that Silver Blue Books have made such a grand promotion. To appease Chu Kuang, they really did not need to go that far.

“Could there be a bombshell inside?”

It s not surprising that the chief editor of Prosperity Publishing House is suspicious. It is mainly because ‘King of the Net’ made him lose face once. People of his status learn lessons from their failures. Unlike some, who, despite previous failures, still use the old perspective to view things. He believes many others are also concerned.

“No!”

“There’s a problem!”

“Lu Bei is not stupid!”

“He’s hiding a bombshell!”

The more Prosperity’s chief editor thinks about it, the more he feels his opinion is valid. He paces back and forth in the room, but no matter how much he thinks, he can’t figure out how a novel with a fantasy theme could become a bombshell in the book market. So his eyelid keeps twitching.

This feeling makes him uneasy.

What on earth has Chu Kuang written this time?