Chapter 112

After sending off Teacher Qiao, Pei Qian returned to Shenhua View and first stopped by Zhongdian Chinese Website on the upper floor of Tenda.

Currently, the business of Zhongdian Chinese Website had become stable, with most people in a state of self-entertainment.

Although the website's traffic was slowly increasing, it was still terrible overall, and there were no signs of improvement in the short term.

On many online novel forums, Zhongdian Chinese Website had a bad reputation, with most authors regarding it as a rather坑爹 (kēng diē, disappointing) small website, strongly advising newcomers not to come here for the full attendance bonus.

Only those authors with no ambition at all would consider Zhongdian Chinese Website their first choice because of this small full attendance bonus.

Therefore, the editors usually had only two things to do.

Review manuscripts or write books for fun.

Of course, some people, including Zhu Xing'an, were writing the official plot of "Turning Back is the Shore," which was also another form of self-entertainment.

However, because the official novel of "Turning Back is the Shore" had always been placed on the homepage, it was also sprayed in various ways by readers. If Zhu Xing'an didn't have a good psychological quality and strong resistance to pressure, he might have been castrated (stopped writing) long ago.

The reason why readers sprayed was also very simple: the plot was fragmented, chaotic, and had no爽点 (shuǎng diǎn, satisfying points), making people confused.

After all, this thing was more like a collection of game plot designs than a novel, completely failing to meet most readers' expectations for online novels.

Everyone was used to this. Let them spray, anyway, this plot was originally for the game.

In addition to Zhongdian Chinese Website, Ma Yiqun was also working on the TPDB website, which had already shown initial results.

Seeing President Pei arrive, Ma Yiqun quickly asked someone to pour water and personally reported the recent work situation to President Pei.

Five minutes later.

Although Ma Yiqun had been trying his best to beautify the achievements Zhongdian Chinese Website had made so far, Pei Qian still accurately grasped the fact that the website was still a flop.

"Very good."

"The work of Zhongdian Chinese Website has been very effective, and the TPDB website is also doing very well."

"Don't be too eager for quick success, just keep it up."

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this employee, Ma Yiqun.

Although Ma Yiqun had strong professional qualities, under President Pei's rational use, his professional qualities had completely failed to be brought into play. It had to be said that this was a great victory for President Pei.

Since taking over Zhongdian Chinese Website, the website had been continuously losing money, with few readers and few reliable authors, all of which reflected Ma Yiqun's outstanding working ability.

Pei Qian silently sighed, this was one of the few talents among his employees who could be trusted!

Seeing that President Pei was in a good mood today, Ma Yiqun hesitated, wondering whether to say what he had been considering.

After thinking it over and over, he decided to speak.

"President Pei, I have an idea about Zhongdian Chinese Website. Or rather, a suggestion."

"Oh? Tell me about it." Pei Qian was a little surprised, but not too surprised.

Although Ma Yiqun had serious deviations in his understanding of online novels, his intelligence was not a problem.

Having been the CEO of Zhongdian Chinese Website for so long, he must have some of his own views on the development of the website, which was normal.

Ma Yiqun said, "President Pei, I've been considering it. The biggest problem with Zhongdian Chinese Website right now is that the income of mid-level authors has never been able to increase."

"The income of bottom-level authors is relatively guaranteed because of the full attendance bonus."

"However, once these bottom-level authors want to move up and become mid-level authors, thinking of supporting their families or working full-time relying on royalties is basically impossible."

"Because our website currently has too few readers, it cannot generate enough subscriptions. Even if these authors write a good book, they will be limited by the ceiling of the website, making it difficult to truly become popular."

Pei Qian nodded.

That's right, this was a problem I had thought of a long time ago.

The reason why I had been pretending not to know was to watch the website burn more money...

But now that Ma Yiqun had brought it up, Pei Qian could no longer pretend not to know. He could only pretend to nod in agreement.

After all, it would be too fake if the clever and wise President Pei didn't even understand this.

Ma Yiqun continued, "So, I thought of a way to improve this."

"We should artificially increase the income of mid-level authors, and even potentially top-tier authors. If the current number of subscribing readers is not enough, then we should pay to make up for this part of the income."

"Suppose, a pretty good book appears on our website, and its actual level is equivalent to the quality level of Wuxian Chinese Website, then we will pay to make up for the author's royalties."

"In this way, some bottom-level authors will not worry about being buried on our website, and will also be more motivated."

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, "That makes sense. But how do we judge whether this book has reached the quality level?"

Ma Yiqun said, "On the one hand, it's through the website's data, such as the proportion of subscribers in the total number of paying readers, including various data such as votes and clicks; on the other hand, it's through human judgment."

"I'm the only one who can do this."

Ma Yiqun hadn't just discovered this problem today.

But it wasn't easy to come up with this solution and pluck up the courage to propose it.

Even now, Ma Yiqun was still a little nervous, afraid that President Pei would be angry.

Because he knew very well that this suggestion was a bit bold, because the discretionary power he was asking for was too great.

Suppose the monthly royalty of a high-quality author was ten thousand yuan, and the full attendance bonus of Zhongdian Chinese Website was only a few hundred yuan, which meant that the website would have to make up for all ten thousand yuan.

If ten or twenty authors reached the high-quality level, then the royalties that needed to be made up for each month would reach one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or even more.

Ma Yiqun would decide who to give this money to.

Although the website's data would also be consulted, the website only had so few readers right now. Wouldn't it be easy to manipulate the data?

So, in the final analysis, Ma Yiqun himself would decide who to give the money to.

If one thought about it in a bad way, he could completely arrange for his relatives and friends to create small accounts, translate mediocre books from Chinese to Chinese, and then use backroom operations to put these royalties into his own pocket.

Therefore, the problem that Ma Yiqun raised was objectively present, but this suggestion was not so appropriate.

This was an overly idealistic plan. Once the executor had even a little bit of selfishness, it could seriously deviate and even have the opposite effect.

If the management had a corruption scandal and it spread to the authors' ears, the website's reputation would be completely ruined, which was a great risk.

However, Ma Yiqun couldn't think of any other way.

There were too few readers, and even if bottom-level readers wrote good books, they couldn't get much in royalties, which had seriously dampened the writing enthusiasm of bottom-level authors. This was a problem that had to be solved.

Therefore, regardless of whether President Pei accepted it or not, he had to bite the bullet and make the suggestion.

Pei Qian didn't reply immediately, but considered it for a moment.

Let Ma Yiqun manage this money?

That could be considered.

Pei Qian trusted Ma Yiqun mainly because he trusted his perspective on online novels.

Ma Yiqun himself flopped every time he wrote an online novel, which was enough to show that there was a major problem with the way he viewed online novels. In that case, the books he thought could become high-quality wouldn't be any good either.

In other words, even if all these books were selected, recommended positions were fully arranged, and royalties were all paid according to the high-quality level, it wouldn't have too much of an impact on Zhongdian Chinese Website.

At the same time, Zhongdian Chinese Website could spend an extra large sum of money!

For Pei Qian, who was eager to spend money, this was simply a godsend!

After comprehensively considering the risks and benefits, Pei Qian immediately nodded, "Okay, no problem."

"In addition to the full attendance bonus for contracted authors, I'll allocate an additional two million to you. You can spend it first."

Ma Yiqun was stunned and quickly said, "President Pei, two million is a bit too much!"

"There are really not many authors on the website who have the strength to reach the high-quality level. I think twenty thousand or so each month should be enough."

Pei Qian waved his hand, "It doesn't matter!"

"It doesn't hurt to give high-quality authors more money. Our website might as well spend a fortune to attract talent. It's not a bad thing to give authors more money."

"Don't be too stingy. Since you've decided to make up for these authors' royalties, you might as well make up for a little more so that they have a stronger sense of belonging to Zhongdian Chinese Website."

Pei Qian wasn't worried about this.

Anyway, the books that Ma Yiqun selected were all a bunch of garbage. Even if he gave these authors more money, what could he do?

If the books were bad and couldn't attract readers, then this money would be completely wasted. Pei Qian couldn't be happier.

Moreover, there was only one month left before the settlement, and Pei Qian couldn't wait to spend more money.

Two million seemed like a bit too much to Ma Yiqun, but Pei Qian couldn't wait to throw in more.

Ma Yiqun was deeply moved.

As expected, President Pei was President Pei. He always did things so generously!

What a great idea to spend a fortune to attract talent!

If those authors who had the strength to write to a high-quality level could be given more royalties, then Zhongdian Chinese Website would be more competitive compared to other small websites. Over time, it might be able to form a virtuous circle!

What moved Ma Yiqun even more was that President Pei trusted him so much!

This two million was equivalent to directly throwing it to Ma Yiqun to be freely used.

What trust this was!

Could ordinary leaders have this kind of courage?

If he didn't work his fingers to the bone for President Pei, would he still be human?

Ma Yiqun patted his chest, "President Pei, don't worry, I will do my best to select a group of talented, high-quality authors and definitely not let this money be wasted!"

Pei Qian smiled on the surface, but laughed inwardly.

As long as you do your best, my money will definitely be wasted.

How else would I say that you are a good employee that I value very much?