Thoughts on Going Premium

The free portion ends here. The book will officially go premium tomorrow at 12 noon.

It hasn't been an easy journey.

When I decided to write this book, I had no idea how many people would read it. It has a lot of distinctive qualities, and in many respects it doesn't fit the mainstream.

I'm very grateful to my editor, YY. He was the only one who replied to my email and told me to "give it a try."

It took until the twentieth day after launch to scrape together 100 readers following the updates and enter the first round of trial recommendations. Books launched around the same time were already in the second round, bringing in over ten times the traffic. Some outstanding ones had even banked enough chapters for a third round. Bone Dragon was being given its newborn checkup alongside books with only half its word count.

Every day, people criticized it in the reviews. Quite a few also left lengthy comments teaching me how to write.

This isn't a story about perseverance. As a newcomer to the platform, I had no ability whatsoever to handle the pressure. But I was so new that I'd stockpiled a six-figure word count before publishing the book, set it to post automatically, and then sat alone clutching a cup of water and being emo.

That's how Bone Dragon managed to make it through those bleak early days: stockpiled chapters solve everything.

Looking back now, I don't think I underestimated this book so much as I underestimated the readers. Different as they all are, there are always some who can tell this is a serious and sincere book, despite its many shortcomings.

That's why a group of people supported it and helped pull it out of the mire. The silent majority