In the story, the male protagonist smiled “with evil charm,” while the female lead was described as “delicate and attractive” three times in a row. Xia, in her early 20s, opened the document titled What a Cool and Pretty Wife: Introduction and, with knitted brows, read the first three lines. That day, just after bashing out the last 4,000 words of her April quota, Xia got a message from Luna, a writer who had joined her team three days earlier: “This is a manuscript I wrote. In May 2021, four hours into a train journey to her hometown for the Labor Day holidays, her eyes rarely left the screen for more than three seconds.
In the new job at a “writing collective,” whose name cannot be disclosed under confidentiality obligations, her monthly word count has surged from 50,000 to 200,000, as has the intensity of her back pain from long work hours.
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In April, ByteDance made most of the novels on its popular Toutiao app free to access and announced plans to integrate all fiction writing on its platforms into one dedicated channel named Tomato Novel.Īs of June 2020, the number of readers of online literature in China reached 467 million, up 8.1% from the end of 2018, according to the 46th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).Since she quit her publishing house job to become an editor at a web fiction firm, Xia Xiaolin has three necessities other than her laptop: eyedrops, a lumbar support cushion, and cigarettes. The share purchase is part of ByteDance’s broader deployment in the online reading industry. Under the agreement, the two companies plan to jointly develop the e-reading business and strengthen cooperation in commercialization, advertising operation and content creation, according to the filing.Įstablished in 2008, Shanghai-listed IReader had 170 million monthly active users in the first half of 2020 on its digital reading distribution platforms, which include its flagship namesake app allowing users to read novels, magazines and anime as well as listen to audiobooks. The TikTok owner has signed an agreement to buy an 11.23% stake in IReader Technology for 1.1 billion yuan ($166 million) through a wholly owned subsidiary, IReader said in a stock filing.Īfter the completion of the deal, which is subject to review and approval at IReader’s general meeting of stockholders, ByteDance will become the third-largest shareholder of IReader. Expands Ban on Sales of Chipmaking Gear to China China Semiconductor Fund Graft Scandal Widens as Another Executive Probed, Sources Say Chinese Online Grocer Missfresh Shutters Core Business After Failing to Secure a Lifeline Nasdaq-Traded Kingsoft Cloud Files for Dual Primary Listing in Hong Kong Hog Cannibalism Clip Spotlights Grim Plight of China’s Pork ProducersīyteDance is further expanding into the e-book market with a sizable investment in one of China’s largest digital literature companies.
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