To Mi Meng, free poison, paid aphrodisiac

Some people say that content monetization is nothing new. Of course, buying books, magazines, and newspapers is nothing new.

However, the content on the Internet has always been "free", so "paying" is new.

Go to Sina or NetEase to read the news, no matter how good the content is, you don’t have to pay a penny. Download torrents, no matter how long the movie is, without spending a penny. You don't have to pay a penny to read e-books, no matter how many words they have.

It’s not that paying for knowledge is new. Rather, the idea of ​​“online paid content ” is new.

It’s not that content monetization is new. Rather, what is new is that "advertisers place advertisements on their own media ."

In fact, paid online content has existed for a long time.

Over the past 10 years, online novels have overcome the difficulties in their early stages and have now become a mature "online paid content" model.

Don’t forget Qidian Chinese Network, the king that once dominated the online literature world.

In 2004, when Shanda acquired Qidian Chinese, the price was equivalent to RMB 15 million; in 2015, when Shanda sold Shanda Literature (also known as Qidian Chinese), the valuation reached RMB 5 billion. In 10 years, assets grew 333 times. Even someone as picky as Buffett would consider it a good investment .

Wu Wenhui, the founder of Qidian Chinese Network, established the industry standard for online literature in the early 2002:

1. "Paid reading": RMB 0.02 per thousand words, charged to readers and shared by authors;
2. "Monthly Tickets": Paying readers can get "Monthly Tickets" and choose their favorite novels;

1. 「Rankings」: Novels that are popular with readers will be placed on the rankings, and the authors of the novels will have the opportunity to become popular writers and gain greater exposure .

It is easier to make money by writing articles according to readers' preferences and adapting to their writing.

Qidian.com's famous writer "Walking" summarized the content mechanism of online novels: everyone writes, everyone reads.

Anyone can write novels on online literature websites. But only contracted writers will have income.

Only when the novel itself has been updated a certain amount and has a certain popularity, can it pass the editor's review and the author become a contracted writer.

After becoming a contracted writer, he needs to obtain more support from paying users ' "monthly tickets" so that his works can be included in the rankings, and the works and the author themselves will gain higher popularity, thus forming a positive cycle.

You see, under the creation mechanism of online literature, no matter what the subject matter is and no matter what the author's background is, they must find ways to find out the readers' "cool points" and spread them in order to gain fame - and then have higher income.

Now, when criticizing " Mimeng " for being toxic chicken soup, why not think about it the other way around: how did she achieve millions of reads for each article?

It's just that what she writes is what readers want to read.

The following sentence comes from the online author exchange forum "Dragon's Sky":

It is easier to make money if you write articles according to readers' preferences and adapt them to readers' needs.

Online "Shuangwen" is a standard online text content product

If we say that paper reading materials and their readers used to exist in offline bookstores and newsstands across the country. So, what Qidian Chinese Network faces is a surge of clicks on the Internet - and then there are apps and WeChat public accounts .

Just like the traditional media and new media we are discussing now, online novels are the "new media" relative to traditional novels.

The fundamental difference lies in whether it is distributed offline or online.

If online novels are considered "products", then the authors themselves are " product managers ". There is nothing wrong with this analogy, as Qidian Chinese Network itself is an Internet product.

The number of clicks , popularity, and purchase rate determine the data indicators of an online novel. Under the guidance of such data, a methodology, or "routine," will be formed through years of online creation practice.

There are many routines in online novels, such as "cool writing" that arouses people's desires. On Zhihu, an anonymous user summarized the three orientations of highlighting pleasure, sense of accomplishment and sense of superiority. There are 14 different ways to do the story.

Routines exist every day, but whether readers are willing to be trapped is another question.

Now, the content production of WeChat public accounts has also risen to the level of a competition of methodology. For example, how to write a title , the structure of an article, how many words should be in the first paragraph, and whether it should be X-type copy or Y-type copy. Oh, I forgot, there is also the "Shock Department" in UC that helps to come up with titles for every online article.

The introduction of these standards indicates that this industry has entered maturity.

After all, standardization is the prerequisite for any mature industry.

Popular novels should look like popular novels

Tang Jia San Shao, a representative of online writers, said, "What we call online literature is actually popular literature or genre literature, while traditional literature generally refers to serious literature. Serious literature is more informative and educational, and is something that everyone needs.

I define popular literature as providing people with some of the cheapest spiritual enjoyment after their busy lives and studies, whereas serious literature will influence and help you in various aspects. The two have different creative directions and different relationships with readers.

Even if the sales of popular literature are 100 times that of serious literature, it will never be able to replace the role of serious literature. "

Each content product has its own positioning and different functions. This is an ecosystem, not an acre of land.

Isn’t what Mimi Meng creates a kind of content aimed at the general public? So it is inappropriate to compare her content with other serious content.

Content fast food is fast food, and fast food that is done well can become giants like McDonald's and KFC. but

If your goal is to get into Michelin, don't compete with fast food.

Both are victories, but different ones.

What is paid for now is "non-literary" content

The "payment model" of online literature tells you and me that users are willing to pay for content and have the ability to pay. The key is whether anyone has created such a model.

Now, Qidian Chinese Network and its successors have created "Internet paid literary content products."

Today's " Get ", "Zhihu Live", " Fenda ", etc. are creating these "Internet paid non-literary products". ——Since it is not literature, its carrier can be separated from words and take on more forms.

This standard is being created.

But its characteristics are the same as those of online literature: reading by everyone and participation by everyone. For example, listeners of Zhihu Live can comment on the content, and if they feel dissatisfied, they will express it directly on Zhihu.

Everything is cool

The number of new Internet generations is gradually increasing. They use the latest popular channels to receive content, and the characteristics of these channels, in turn, affect the shaping of content. after all:

What kind of readers you have, what kind of content you have.
What kind of user you have, what kind of product you have.
What kind of fans there are, what kind of star there is.

Now "fresh meat" is being criticized. Aren’t they also new content under new channels?

Reminds me of Da Zhangwei's "Very Cool":

This feeling is so refreshing! So cool! So cool, so cool!

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