Zhang Yida smiled and said, "Without copyright, it's really difficult to do anything."
Then he asked: "Then you plan to continue like this and build a professional Chinese novel translation website?"
As soon as he heard this, Lai Jingping knew that the real drama was coming, and his eyes narrowed into a smile.
He sighed, "We also know that original novel websites in English are more popular, have more works, richer content, and can attract fans more.
However, due to limited funds, it is simply unrealistic for us.
Not to mention the original section, our translation section has been greatly impacted during this period."
"What's going on?" Zhang Yida asked curiously.
Lai Jingping spoke openly about the current difficulties that the martial arts world is facing, and there is nothing to hide. If Zhang Yida really wants to invest in them, he will definitely make due diligence.
Rather than being exposed by others, it is better to be honest first and gain some goodwill.
“In the past, our translators worked almost for free and were purely driven by interest.
But Mr. Zhang, you know that Chinese online articles often contain millions of words and thousands of chapters, which is very difficult to translate.
Later, we established a donation system, which stipulates that every time readers donate a certain amount, the translator will add an additional chapter to the guaranteed number of updates every week.
This number is determined by the translation team and is usually between $20 and $80.
In addition, we will use part of the advertising revenue from the website to subsidize the translation team.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with this model.
But since the Internet giants went overseas, they have relied on their capital advantages to recruit translators in large numbers at a fixed price of about US$50 to US$80 per chapter.
They also offered an annual salary of hundreds of thousands of dollars to poach people from web translation websites like ours.
At the same time, they rely on their copyright monopoly to prohibit other websites from translating their novels.
Novels that have already been translated will also refuse to be granted copyright unless we go to them."
Zhang Yida understood clearly that the giant's tricks were very cruel and very effective at the same time. If he continued like this, he would basically destroy the foundation of the martial arts world.
"What plans or strategies do you have in response to these changes?"
Lai Jingping knew that this was a test of himself and began to explain his plan.
"My initial plan is this. To meet the impact from giants, in addition to reaching copyright cooperation with other Chinese Internet giants.
We also need to transform the translation team from a semi-professional status to a full-professional status, speed up translation, and retain users with more and richer works.
But this requires increasing the income of the translation team, and slow-growing advertising revenue and a small amount of donation income alone will certainly not achieve the universal professionalization of translators.
Therefore, we also need to establish a charging mechanism.”
"Charging mechanism?"
Zhang Yida was a little stunned, "You just said it was too early to promote the charging mechanism?"
Lai Jingping said with a smile: "That's right. But now the knife is on our necks. If we don't change, we will only die.
The charging mechanism I am talking about is somewhat different from the VIP subscription mechanism implemented by other companies.
What we plan to implement is a pre-reading payment mechanism. This "read in advance" model is fundamentally different from the pay-by-chapter model.
The secret of how this mechanism works is that every novel being updated in the martial arts world has a large number of updated hidden chapters, which can only be seen by paying for credits.
For readers who are unwilling to pay, several chapters will be unlocked every week. They only need to wait and they can continue to read for free, but paying readers will always see more new chapters earlier than they do.
This "wait and get free" model is the mainstream payment mechanism for online novels in South Korea and is worth learning from."
Zhang Yida has also read online novels, so he naturally understands the "waiting for updates" feeling of scratching his head and wanting to arrest the author and give him a beating.
In fact, this method also "forces" some readers to pay
It’s just that this method is not mandatory. If you have financial resources and want to see more chapters faster, just pay.
If you don’t have the financial conditions, just wait and see.
Lai Jingping added: “The reason for implementing this mechanism is related to my judgment that the mandatory payment mechanism is not particularly suitable for the ecology of the English-speaking world.
First of all, Chinese online novels, which have just appeared, do not have much advantages compared with other forms of entertainment such as games and movies that are already extremely developed in the English-speaking world.
Free is an important means to attract readers. Comprehensive charging will definitely lead to a large loss of readers and the rise of pirated websites.
Secondly, it is difficult to determine the standard for pricing, as there are many sources of readers in the martial arts world.
The prices that readers in North America and readers from Latin America and Southeast Asia can afford are very different. If the price is high, there will be too few paying readers, and if the price is low, the income will not be enough."
"Okay, I understand everything."
Zhang Yida looked at Lai Jingping and asked with a smile: "Do you think it is possible for Chinese online literature to become a mainstream cultural output like Japanese animation and Korean dramas?"
Lai Jingping said very firmly: "Yes, but this requires a large amount of capital investment and even policy support.
Japanese animation and Korean entertainment are pillar industries in their respective countries.
Of course, this refers to the macro level.
From a micro level, the professionalism of the translation team, the exposure of the novel, the number of words in the novel, the pertinence of the novel, etc. have all become constraints that restrict the spread of Chinese online articles overseas to a higher level.
Specifically, a large and professional translation team is needed to translate thousands of high-quality online novels to attract more overseas users.
In terms of exposure, it would be best if Mr. Zhang’s Musical.ly, a short video software that covers hundreds of millions of young users around the world, can help promote it.
The word count of novels refers to the fact that Chinese online texts are too long, difficult to translate, and take a long time to read.
If a book like Japanese light novels has hundreds of thousands of words, the speed of translation and dissemination can be accelerated.
In short, the novel cannot be too watery! The text must be compressed as much as possible.
Pertinence is also very important. For novels such as Oriental Fairy Tales, professional terms such as "Seventy-two Transformations" and "Body Becoming Saint" can be understood by Chinese people as long as they have read Journey to the West.
But when it comes to translation, you have to explain a lot, and the words may not convey the meaning.
Another example is "The heaven and earth are natural, the filthy Qi is dispersed, the cave is mysterious, the sun shines brightly, the eight directions make me natural, the spiritual treasure talisman tells the nine heavens..." Such Taoist terms directly make translators in the English-speaking world
collapsed.
In fact, the reason why Coiling Dragon was so popular in the first place is because it is a Western fantasy.
When it comes to knights, magic, and dragons, everyone knows it!
My advice is to create within the context of your target market.
For example, if the target market is France, we would write "The protagonist travels to the late 18th century and helps Napoleon conquer the world and unify Europe..."
For example, if the target market is Arab countries, we would write "The protagonist travels through time and becomes Saladin's subordinate. After Saladin's death, he continues to uphold his legacy and lead the Arab world to fight against the evil Crusaders and capture Constantinople..."
…”
Zhang Yida twitched when he heard this. His imagination was really opened up. This Lai Jingping is really a talent.
Zhang Yida has always supported cultural export.
With a five-thousand-year-old civilization, although its pockets have grown in recent years, it has lost its cultural confidence.
Once online articles are successfully exported, they will also drive a series of cultural and entertainment industries in China.
Zhang Yida smiled and said: "Actually, Ruixiang Digital Technology Group has been focusing on the research and development of text AI, and it has been put into use in the field of financial news.
I wonder if an AI translation platform will reduce the difficulty of online text translation."
Lai Jingping thought for a while and said: "The application of AI is not yet mature, but some Taoist or traditional Chinese cultural vocabulary can be unified using AI, so that the spread will be more concentrated and more popular."
Zhang Yida nodded in agreement and added: "Also, you are talking about creating online articles in a Western context. Does this require a certain amount of historical knowledge?"
Lai Jingping explained: "That's right. If you have a rough understanding of the history and culture of the target market, the things written in this way will have a more realistic feel.
Anyway, there is no need to write in English. I believe that domestic universities in China can find many such liberal arts students.
After providing them with certain basic training, someone will definitely be able to capture the local market in one fell swoop.”
Zhang Yida is a little unsure about this. There are tens of millions of authors of Chinese online articles, and it took a lot of waves to publish such a tomato.
Find some students for training, and there will definitely be no problem if some of them meet the qualified standards, but if you want to make a hit, you still have to look at talent!
Otherwise, write for a long time, constantly improve, and make up for your shortcomings through diligence.
"The average number of daily visitors to the martial arts world is currently stable at more than 500,000, right?"
Lai Jingping nodded, "Yes, although we cannot compare with China's domestic online text giants, we are well-deserved number one among overseas Chinese online text translation websites."
Regarding this first place, Zhang Yida just smiled. This is because the fat penguin has not yet shown his power.
"Zhonghe Group has its own Zhonghe Chinese website in China. Although it has only been established recently, it has grown rapidly with the help of the parent group's publicity resources."
Zhang Yida paused, looked at Lai Jingping, and said with a smile: "After Wuxia World joins the Zhonghe Group family, I believe that with the help of the parent group's funds and channels, Wuxia World will definitely be able to compete with Penguin.
I wonder if Mr. Lai is willing to develop together with us and bring Chinese online literature to a higher position?"
Zhang Yida's intention is very clear, he wants to acquire the martial arts world.
In the past, Lai Jingping would have fought to the death. But now facing the pressure from Penguin, he really needs the support of a Big Mac.
Although the entertainment sector of Zhonghe Group is not as big as Penguin, it has unlimited potential and is a very high-quality partner.
Lai Jingping thought about it and asked, "Mr. Zhang, isn't it possible to invest?"
Zhang Yida shook his head, "Investment is just a fueling tactic. It's not that I look down on you, it's that the current strength of the martial arts world cannot stop Penguin at all.
Only we can help the martial arts world resist Penguin, not even Ahri."
Lai Jingping hesitated. He still had deep feelings for the company, otherwise he would not have quit his job as a diplomat to translate online articles.
But reality had to make him bow his head. A giant like Penguin was indeed something he couldn't resist.
If we grit our teeth and hold on, maybe the little fortune we have made in the martial arts world will be completely destroyed.
"For 5 million US dollars, we will fully acquire Wuxia World. In addition, I will provide you with a job. You will continue to serve as the CEO of Wuxia World, and you can also enjoy Zhonghe Group options."
Lai Jingping wanted to bargain, but Zhang Yida stopped him: "You only have one chance. It couldn't be easier for Zhonghe Group to build an overseas novel translation website.
What I value most is you. If you can bring the world of martial arts to a higher level, there will naturally be other rich rewards."
This price is actually not too low, because Lai Jingping has also contacted several venture capital investors.
However, due to copyright issues, no one is very optimistic about the development of the martial arts world. The current traffic is built on castles in the air. As soon as Penguin withdraws the copyright, the foundation will collapse.
Lai Jingping's expression changed uncertainly, and finally he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Mr. Zhang, I can sell the martial arts world to you, but you have to agree to one condition."
"What conditions?"
"Don't harvest too early and cultivate the market for a while."
"That's no problem. I promise you that the annual loss will not exceed 10 million US dollars, and losses are allowed for five years!"