Unlike the good word of mouth of "Evil Doctor", the romance novel written by a young European noblewoman "Infatuated in Paris" was unanimously panned online.
A post appeared on a large anonymous forum:
"My titanium alloy dog eyes are blinded. Can 'Infatuated in Paris' be more preposterous with the fiction?"
Original Poster: Dog eyes blinded
My god, have you guys checked out Morning Star's flagship book this year? That thing called absurd. It said her husband was from an old domestic noble family, he only drank a certain brand of tea, and when it was mixed with a little bit of other tea leaves he spat it out.
The most inexplicable part was that when she and her husband went to see the royalty, she got jealous. Her husband then abandoned the princess and came to explain to her that the princess had a one-sided crush, and that she was the only one in his heart!
Even fiction needs to have a limit.
--
This resonated with many netizens. They criticized the absurd plot in the book. Even the descriptions of local customs were refuted by locals saying "never heard of that".
#Noble Husband# became a meme.
"My noble husband said only mixing Coca Cola and Pepsi in a 1:1 ratio is acceptable. The first time I made a mistake, he spoke to me in accented Mandarin and said 'Darling, you need to learn the lifestyle of the nobles.'"
And so on.
Once the topic blew up, insiders came out to spill the tea.
Someone with the nickname "Twin Scenery" claiming to be a studying abroad student said: "Do you really think her husband is a noble? No real noble family would tolerate going public with a 'fake couple' image with the wife. All the noble titles in this country are publicly searchable. That surname doesn't exist among old noble families. You can buy a title that looks similar with donation money."
This view was agreed by many. But the fans staunchly defended them and fought fiercely.
Soon after, anonymous users posted old photos of the "noble husband". He looked very ordinary, dressed ordinarily, and drove a very normal car. This was completely incompatible with the image of someone "raised with noble education since childhood".
Everyone was shocked.
An image like this cannot be built overnight. But it can be destroyed overnight.
Originally there were still fans who argued and defended for them. But what they adored was only the "noble" shell.
Once the noble husband was no longer a noble and became just an ordinary man, who would still want to shout and cheer for him? So they disbanded and some even turned against them.
"The real noble husband is super ugly, completely useless except for being white."
With an attached high definition photo of him on site.
The reputation kept plunging until it crashed through the ground.
The sales of "Infatuated in Paris" stagnated. The ratings on Bookworm kept dropping every day, all 1-star ratings, bad reviews poured in like a tide that even internet water armies couldn't turn it around.
What happened in the past with Evil One was being reenacted here.
Tao Zong was so angry he stomped his feet. After Xia Xing was jailed, Morning Star lost a general. He had put in so much effort to create this new author, but it ended up like this.
"President Kang, you're quite ruthless!" Tao Zong muttered, "Just you wait here for me!"
He paced around in his office, knowing he couldn't just sit around and wait for death. The best defense was to attack. Golden Crow was set on avenging Evil One, the assault was intense. He had to target the weak spot.
"Qing Qing, I have to wrong you again." He felt a little reluctant, after all, it pained a man to make a move on a beauty.
But a beauty couldn't compare to money.
So after the hype around "Infatuated in Paris" died down a little, a new provocative post appeared.
"Don't Get Too Arrogant Golden Crow Fans, Sales Volume ≠ Good Reputation"
Original Poster: Huang Huang
U1S1, the preorders for "Evil Doctor" relied on the upcoming drama adaptation and the fansigning events were all because of JBY. The quality itself isn't necessarily good. Book fans boasting too much should be careful about breaking their legs.
1L: XXX
Finally someone is speaking the truth. All I see is flattery everywhere, so awkward. People who don't know would think it won the Nobel Prize.
...
8L: Insider
The "Evil Doctor" data is obviously inflated. Golden Crow really spent a lot to promote Jian Jing. Tsk tsk, does anyone know what kind of background she has? Promoting her so aggressively, aren't they afraid of not deserving it and getting mocked by the public? I hope it won't lead to another suicide scandal.
9L: Su Su
Jian Jing is called Little Princess in Golden Crow. Could she have become popular without Kang Mu Cheng?
10L: AAA
Just a passerby. What is this suicide scandal?
...
30L: Sky Piercer
Looks like nobody knows yet. Princess Jian is very fragile. When Evil One got criticized, she committed suicide at home. Later the news was suppressed. You guys just didn't know about it.
--
Morning Star's counterattack could not be considered gentle or slow. But this time, before Golden Crow's internet army arrived, the fans charged first.
50L: Medicine Seller
What's wrong with male celebs? If you have money go invite them too! Red eye disease needs treatment yo! (Lecherous emoji)
61L: Abandoned
It was the celebs who came voluntarily okay! They were discovered when secretly lining up, taking away your popularity. Sorry about that! It's because Morning Star is useless! Haha!
72L: Night Raven Feather
Jian Jing is the best! Haters are just sour grapes! Our Jian Jing has both looks and talent. Go envy somewhere else!
83L: Waning Moon
Let's not talk about anything else. The author herself is so beautiful, much better than the other side. She wins hands down in looks!
...
Different from the alt accounts of internet armies, the accounts posting this time were active members, real or fake clearly distinguished.
--
Then, a question appeared on an anonymous Q&A forum.
Asker: Straight Line
Jian Jing's new book "Evil Doctor 2" sold out across all websites 10 days after launch. What level is this on the publishing scene?
Question description: Someone argued with me last week that 10,000 copies signed at a fansigning event was due to the celebrity effect. Now what else do you have to say?
The top upvoted answers were like this ↓
Eating First: Let me just say, I saw everyone reading Evil Doctor 2, so I wanted to buy it, but it was already sold out...
Fairy in the Castle: As someone who never reads novels, the first time I wanted to buy a novel to read, it was gone.
...
Then an anonymous person deliberately asked:
Anonymous: Jian Jing's "Evil Doctor 1" faced unanimous criticism when it came out, but "Evil Doctor 2" exploded. Can someone explain what happened? Are the two books so different?
Dark Dark: Let this former industry insider say a few words
Those with discerning eyes all know, behind the change from Evil Doctor 1's bad reviews to Evil Doctor 2's explosion, Morning Star's shadow can be seen.
Back when Evil 1 was out, it just happened to collide with Xia Xing's book. Morning Star wanted to prop up their little queen, so they hired internet attackers to blacklist Jian Jing, saying all kinds of vicious things, even spreading rumors that she committed suicide. It can be said to be extremely despicable behavior.
This time Golden Crow learned from past mistakes. It counterattacked precisely and harvested beautifully! This should have ended here, but Morning Star had taken a liking to using internet armies after the previous success. After "Infatuated in Paris" failed, they wanted to use the same old trick again. Come on, the previous success was only because the Kang mother and son were not in the country. How could it succeed again this time?
Now look, the journalist they invited just freely gave the other side positive coverage. It even helped wash away the previous stains. Let this former industry insider give Morning Star a word of advice: relying solely on hyping and internet armies cannot sustain you in the publishing industry.
--
Although it was unknown whether this industry insider was real or fake, this was undoubtedly an excellent public opinion maneuver.
Through this question and answer, not only were the critics of Evil Doctor 1 labeled as Morning Star's internet armies, they sold their sob story, and also explained Jian Jing's "suicide".
From now on, if anyone brought up the suicide again, people's first reaction would be "wasn't that just smearing by the rival?" This paved the way for Jian Jing's future.
Tao Zong pulled at his hair for a few days, he had used all his tricks, people in this circle still had to continue doing business together, they couldn't strip each other bare.
He took the initiative to call Kang Mu Cheng and conceded generously: "President Kang, I lost this round. You're quite ruthless, preparing for more than half a year right? I heard early on you were going to sign Paris, so it was meant to mislead me huh. Tsk, fell for your trap!"
In fact, he didn't have high hopes for "Infatuated in Paris" initially. But some people said Kang Mu Cheng was also in touch with the other party, so he decided to sign it and promote it as the flagship book of the new year.
In other words, Tao Zong believed in Kang Mu Cheng's judgment deep down.
Unfortunately he didn't expect it was a pit.
How could the gossip photos of the noble husband be found so easily? Tao Zong wouldn't be stupid enough to think it was a coincidence. Golden Crow must've had people dig them out early on, laying in wait here for him.
"Let's leave each other a way out. I'm backing off, so you should show some mercy too," Tao Zong shamelessly begged for mercy, without any psychological barriers to admitting defeat and asking for forgiveness. His words flowed very smoothly.
Kang Mu Cheng said, "Did you show any mercy back then?"
"Hey, look how angry you are. Weren't the people who stepped on Jian Jing back then my people too?" Tao Zong chuckled, "It's all in the past now, isn't it?"
Kang Mu Cheng coldly said, "You say stop and it just stops? Did you just wake up?"
Tao Zong sighed, knowing there was no reconciling, and continued to try to get on his good side, "Empty words have no proof. I know you don't believe me, but let me say this from my heart, Boss Kang, I didn't have the heart to make a move against Jian Jing either. *sigh* Actually, I never agreed with it, but you know Golden Crow doesn't operate however I say."
Kang Mu Cheng: As if I'd believe you.
"How about this, I swear from now on I won't bring up Jian Jing again, okay?" Tao Zong readily said, "I have many flaws, but my credibility has always been good."
He wasn't lying. Tao Zong's credibility in the industry wasn't bad. Kang Mu Cheng also knew that the two publishing houses couldn't really tear their faces over this, because that would only let other companies take advantage.
Now that he had vented his anger this much, it was time to back off.
But he still had to warn the other party, "If you use Jian Jing to stir things up again, you won't get off so easily."
"I guarantee it," Tao Zong swore solemnly.
Only then did Kang Mu Cheng hang up the phone.
After putting down his phone, Tao Zong rubbed his face and couldn't help letting out a long sigh. He wasn't lying to them, but it had nothing to do with his conscience. He only had one reason for no longer going after Jian Jing.
It was unstoppable.
Those little tricks probably wouldn't work anymore.
*
After New Year's, Jian Jing never went online to look at comments again, only glancing at the sales figures.
So she was completely unaware of the stormy battles online, and didn't know about the backstage wrestling between Golden Crow and Black Raven. Her psychological journey was quite simple:
Days 1-3, worried it wouldn't sell well, wondering if she was like her other self, and really had writing talent.
Days 3-5, the sales were decent, she stabilized, and in a good mood, started eating, drinking and preparing to travel over break.
Days 6-10, what happened? Where am I? What's going on??
She didn't remember ever encountering sold out new books in her memory.
In the other world, the publishing industry had long become a sunset industry. It was already the top tier of authors who could sell several hundred thousand physical books.
But if she remembered correctly, Kang Mu Cheng had specifically warned her that the first print run was only 500,000, telling her not to feel too much pressure, and that it wouldn't be a loss even if they didn't sell out.
Now the 500,000 stock was already sold out?
Kang Mu Cheng: "It was 800,000."
According to his original plan, the first print run should have been 1 million, but considering he didn't want to put too much pressure on her, he cut it in half.
On the morning of the 3rd, seeing the online momentum was pretty good, he hurriedly called the printer to keep working, which filled the gap of the additional 300,000.
But with the fermenting word of mouth, the newly supplemented stock was gone too. He urgently opened pre-order channels, and in the blink of an eye there were 700,000-800,000 people who had paid deposits.
Jian Jing: "......" She was so shocked she lost the ability to speak.
Kang Mu Cheng just said, "I can finally breathe a sigh of relief now."
The sales figures for White Cat Detective were 780,000. For a new author that was dazzling enough, but its audience was just teenagers, which meant it was destined to have a hard time crossing 10 million. As for The Girl Who Played Hide and Seek, it was 500,000, and even with the recent movie tie-in reprint, the sales were just 200,000.
10 million was a threshold.
Only sales over 10 million meant you could call yourself a bestselling author.
After 5 years of writing, Jian Jing had finally crossed this difficult threshold, and from now on her worth would be different again.
Sure enough, 20 days after release, the sales of Demon Doctor II crossed 10 million.
