First, I have some bad news to report. I spent a great deal of time organizing and developing a project recently, then submitted both the main text and outline to Qidian's editors internally—only for all of it to be rejected.
The reason was that the core of my new book was mecha + superpowers + cute pets + seafaring + adventure. I felt my ideas had improved by several levels compared to my previous book, yet after reading it, the editor directly told me to change genres. Their reason was that mecha stories had long since been eliminated by the market. Established top authors might be fine because they had fame and a reader base, but if a newcomer wrote one, it was bound to flop.
So the author's mentality has now collapsed. I spent so much time envisioning this world, only for it to be rejected outright before it was even published.
In light of all that, I currently have two plans.
First, ignore the editors' evaluations and publish the chapters I have already written, then see whether I can get a contract later on. If not, I'll end the book outright after finishing the first volume.
Second, directly abandon the current setting, follow the editor's advice, look at Qidian's major rankings, and come up with a different genre from scratch.
The author is very lost right now.
I don't know what everyone thinks about this.
Oh, and I just created a reader group as well. Even though it has been so long since the book ended, probably very few people will see this now that it's posted, but I'll mention it anyway. Readers who appreciate my work are welcome to come chat and shoot the breeze. To join, you only need to answer a small question to prove