Qingkong Literature's operations department and Zhou Sisi convened an emergency meeting.
As everyone was seated, the conference room was remarkably quiet.
Projected above was the main agenda of this meeting.
【Discussion Meeting on Jiangnan's New Wuxia Novel】
Seeing that no one spoke,
Chen Haisheng, the Director of Operations, took a sip of water, cleared his throat twice, and looked at Zhou Sisi: "Is there really no room for negotiation?"
Having been in the online literature industry for so many years, Chen Haisheng considered himself to understand the market better than anyone.
Currently, Wuxia had absolutely no popularity in the market. In fact, due to the influence of Wuxia romance dramas filmed by young, trending idols, the market held a strong aversion to Wuxia.
Wuxia had been distorted in the domestic entertainment industry. The main focus had abandoned chivalry and instead emphasized romance. Moreover, with the poor acting of trending idols, it was impossible to create the high-difficulty fight scenes. All that was shown were slow-motion shots and close-ups of the actors' faces, leading to increasingly poor reviews for Wuxia dramas.
Therefore, very few people had written Wuxia novels in recent years, and even top authors dared not venture into it.
Although Wuxia dramas were popular, their plots were clearly made for idol fans. Furthermore, idol fans had given these types of dramas a different classification.
"Ancient Idols."
Such plots invariably featured the male and female protagonists having a revenge plot against their father's killer, their identities being vastly different, and then falling madly in love with each other, indulging in various forms of "industrial sugar" before experiencing various emotional setbacks.
These plots had become standard for Wuxia dramas, and idol fans devoured them with relish.
However, the majority of netizens strongly disliked these romance dramas that masqueraded as Wuxia.
"Once Jiangnan decides on something, there's no room for discussion, right?" Zhou Sisi retorted.
Everyone knew how sluggish the Wuxia market was, but the person in question was Jiangnan.
In Zhou Sisi's mind, if he could write Xianxia so well, then Wuxia should be no problem.
Jiangnan had his own dedicated readership. His current reputation in the online literature circle meant that many people would still patronize his work even if he wrote Wuxia.
Moreover, he had another identity, an identity that had now stepped onto the world stage and shone brightly.
Writing novels was merely his side hustle. Zhou Sisi felt that in the online literature circle, only Jiangnan dared to write Wuxia. This was because if he didn't do well, he had another identity to fall back on, and if he did well, he would save Chinese Wuxia culture.
"Director Chen, I don't think we need to worry about it. The market has no effect on Jiangnan. Aren't people saying now that Jiangnan is the 'Little Ting Yu' of the literary and film circles? When have you ever seen Ting Yu cater to the market?"
At this point, a very senior supervisor adjusted his glasses and said loudly.
Initially, when Jiangnan's "Chinese Paladin 3" became popular in Asia, everyone had teased Jiangnan for being ahead of Ting Yu. But now, Ting Yu had garnered significant attention on foreign platforms because of "King of Music," surpassing Jiangnan by a great margin.
Therefore, the title "Little Ting Yu of the Literary and Film Circles" had returned to him.
"Old Zhao is right. Jiangnan is an incredibly unusual person. We just need to provide him with recommended placement and arrange promotional activities."
"Wasn't Xianxia also very unpopular before? Jiangnan's 'Chinese Paladin' series directly made Xianxia a hugely popular genre. I think he also wants to bring Wuxia back."
"Actually, Jiangnan writing Wuxia is very beneficial to our industry. With him as a leader, other authors can also become more active."
Since there was no other way, everyone could only find some benefits to mention.
Previously, the Xianxia market was in decline. With Jiangnan's emergence, Xianxia directly became the most popular genre, and the number of authors writing Xianxia also increased. Now that he was turning to Wuxia, as long as the works were good, it would also drive the popularity of the Wuxia section.
Zhou Sisi remained silent.
However, she was inwardly overjoyed.
Little Ting Yu?
She wondered who had come up with this nickname.
If you knew Jiangnan's other identity, would you be astonished?
"Alright, then we won't interfere. We can't interfere anyway," Chen Haisheng nodded with a wry smile.
Then, everyone discussed the specific promotional matters before the meeting was adjourned.
...
Jiangnan was about to release a new Wuxia novel, and it would still be published after completion!
This news, originating from the homepage of Qingkong Literature, exploded beyond the platform!
It had to be said that Jiangnan had a great deal of courage, as very few people in the industry dared to publish a book after it was completed. After all, no one could be certain if their book would be popular or profitable.
If one spent months writing a book that failed, it would undoubtedly be devastating.
Serialized publication was the safest method, and it also allowed for revisions to the plot based on reader feedback.
Only a select few literary giants dared to write and publish a complete work.
Of course, publishing after completion also had its advantages, allowing for the revision of early foreshadowing and making the plot logic more coherent.
The news of Jiangnan writing a new Wuxia novel had been circulating for a long time.
Everyone was not particularly surprised, only regarding the discussion about Wuxia.
Many people expressed that although they didn't like the current state of Wuxia, they would still support Jiangnan if he released a book, not for any other reason but for the Wuxia dream in their hearts.
Especially for boys, they all had fantasies of being great heroes in their childhood.
Wielding a sword in the Jianghu, roaming the world.
Unfortunately, as they grew up, they discovered that the Jianghu was too distant, and what lay before them was endless overtime work.
Even the childhood Wuxia world had disappeared, replaced by various romance stories that claimed to be Wuxia.
Wuxia is dead!
This was the most helpless sigh of countless people who loved Wuxia.
But when Jiangnan's new book confirmed the Wuxia theme, the feelings of both his book fans and drama fans were very complex.
"It's been so long since the beginning when the old rogue Jiangnan said he would write Wuxia. We've argued and debated, but I have to say, only Jiangnan can write Wuxia. Any other author attempting this is bound to fail!"
"That's right. Since he could create such a good Xianxia drama like 'Chinese Paladin,' it means he understands what 'Xia' (chivalry) is. Jiangnan's new Wuxia novel is very beneficial for Wuxia culture!"
"Wuxia is China's unique traditional culture. What Jiangnan is doing is revitalizing Wuxia, and we should all support it to some extent!"
"I believe most people don't dislike watching Wuxia novels; they just dislike those romance stories disguised as Wuxia."
"Jiangnan's romantic plots are definitely top-notch, and his character development and depth are also of the highest caliber. I'm truly looking forward to his new book."
Since Jiangnan had previously mentioned on Weibo that his new book was Wuxia, many book fans and drama fans had been debating during this period. Initially, they were very unoptimistic, but after analyses from the big names in the literary association, it was determined that Wuxia was actually what Jiangnan was most suited for.
Now that Wuxia had declined, it was the best opportunity for its revival.
Looking across the entire online literature world, no author other than Jiangnan could confidently claim to revive Wuxia.
Only Jiangnan could. His previously established reputation, along with the widespread recognition of his identity as a screenwriter, was enough for him to have this confidence!