Chapter 108 – TV Series Adaptation
When the airship arrived in Skywater City, it was already evening. The students have already left the school grounds. There is no one in the school except for security guards.
After Xia Ping alighted the airship, he left the school and went back home. Anyway, the rest has nothing to do with him. The teachers will naturally take care of the wounded students.
“Huh?”
Along the way, his phone started vibrating and issuing prompts from time to time, as if a lot of notifications are being received.
When he went to Savage Beast Island for the trial by fire, he had to turn off his phone wand leave it in the airship. Naturally, he had no way to know if someone contacted him during this period.
“Editor Meng Fei?!”
Xia Ping picked up the phone and saw that he missed dozens of calls and fifteen or sixteen video call requests. The most recent notification was from half an hour ago.
“What’s the matter, why is he so anxious to contact me?” He subconsciously clicked the video call b.u.t.ton.
Di!
Immediately after, the video call was successfully connected, and Meng Fei’s image was projected. The other party uttered with an elated look on his face: “I’m finally able to get in touch with you. That’s great. Mr. Blackhearted Wolf, where have you been these days? Why couldn’t I get in touch with you?”
“I went to partic.i.p.ate in my school’s trial by fire.” Xia Ping briefly explained what he has been up to these days, “By the way, why were you so desperate to contact me? Did something major happen?”
“Indeed, something major did indeed happen.”
Meng Fei smiled immediately: “Have you perhaps forgotten? More than a month has pa.s.sed already. The royalties for your book have been sent to your bank account. I just wanted to inform you.”
“Congratulations, ‘Teacher Bai Rong’ is a hit this month. After so many years in this business, such a grand occasion is a first for me. The novel has been read by millions of people.”
He was really emotional. No one knows about the novel’s popularity better than him.
“A hit?” Xia Ping is aware that his novel is popular, but not to what degree.
Seeing Xia Ping’s dumbfounded expression, Meng Fei uttered, clearly disappointed with other party’s reaction, “Mr. Blackhearted Wolf, why don’t you take a look and see how much money you have in your bank account first.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Ping subconsciously opened his bank account. A series of digits appeared in front of him at once. He was amazed: “No way. More than 50 million federal credits. Is there some kind of mistake?”
When he saw the number in the bank account, he was struck dumb. It is more than 50 million federal credits. This is a huge sum and it’s completely legal.
It’s unlike the Gold Potions and Bloodfruits he obtained before. Although these items were really valuable, but they could not be cashed out and could not be used to improve the life of his family.
“There’s no mistake. It’s indeed more than 50 million.”
Meng Fei smiled when he saw Xia Ping’s surprise and revealed a look of excitement: “Did you know? ‘Teacher Bai Rong’ sold more than 4 million copies this month. Furthermore, the novel’s momentum shows no signs of decreasing.
“I was wrong. This novel can sell not only more than 10 million copies, but even if it’s more than 50 million copies, it won’t be surprising. It may even exceed 100 million copies.”
If someone told him a month ago that an erotic novel might sell more than 100 million copies, he wouldn’t believe it. He would think that it’s lunacy.
But now it’s different. This phenomenal erotic novel has broken all sale records and shocked the eyes of countless people with irresistible force.
“100 million copies?!” Xia Ping’s pupils shrank. A copy costs 25 federal credits. If it sells 100 million copies, then according with the 50-50 distribution, he can get more than 1 billion federal credits, and that’s after tax.
Can that even be called earning money? It’s clearly robbery. No, even robbery cannot earn money so fast. Reportedly, even drug dealers can’t have such profits. It’s amazing.
There are top novelists whose annual income exceeds 1 billion. In the past, he just treated it as news. He didn’t expect that he would soon step across this threshold and enter the realm of top novelists. It’s really incredible.
This is a huge sum of money. Han Shan is insufferably arrogant. His family, who started a factory, has a.s.sets worth 1 billion. Furthermore, it took it more than 20 years to reach this degree.
However, Xia Ping only needs one year to surpa.s.s more than 20 years of the other party’s efforts. Anyone who learns of this will drop their jaw and be shocked beyond measure.
“In fact, the reason I was so desperate to contact you is because there is something I have to discuss with you, Mr. Blackhearted Wolf.” Editor Meng Fei hesitated and said to Xia Ping.
Xia Ping blinked: “Go on. What is it?”
“Let me explain.”
Meng Fei thought about how to put it, and then carried on: “Due to its popularity, the novel was discovered by people in the television industry. A famous director contacted me and said he wants to adapt the novel into a TV show and shoot 100 episodes.”
Adapt it into a TV show?!
Upon hearing this, the corners of Xia Ping’s mouth twitched. This is an erotic novel. How can it be adapted into a TV show? And with 100 episodes, to boot? That’s way too outrageous.
Upon seeing the look of surprise in Xia Ping’s eyes, Meng Fei uttered: “No, it’s not outrageous. Don’t underestimate screenwriters. Even if it’s dregs, they can add a lot of seasoning to make it more palatable.”
“If it’s well received, let alone 100 episodes, even 1,000 episodes won’t be a problem.”
Xia Ping stroked his chin, “What do you think about it?” He wants to hear the opinion of a professional.
“We should take his offer.”
Meng Fei said immediately, “If a novel is adapted into a TV show or a movie, that in itself will be great publicity. It will greatly boost the sales of the novel. I think this is a great opportunity.”
Xia Ping nodded his head. In his previous world, the wuxia [1] master Jin Yong [2] gained an exponential rise in popularity because his novels were adapted into TV shows and movies.
In terms of publicity alone, television is not something other media can compare to.
It’s conceivable that the novel’s sales will skyrocket once it is made into a TV show. By then, selling 100 million copies a year will be apiece of cake.
In fact, in countries without piracy such as j.a.pan, they are willing to make a novel into an anime even if they lose money, all because it can greatly increase the sales of the novel and add other revenue streams.
Of course, where there is piracy, there are no such advantages.
“Okay, we can discuss it.” Xia Ping nodded.
Meng Fei smiled: “Great. In fact, the director also wants to talk to you about the adaptation. Let’s make an appointment for tomorrow morning and have a video chat with him.”
He set an appointment time.
“Okay.”
Xia Ping nodded and ended the call.
[1] – wuxia
[2] – Jin Yong