'Golden age' dawns for Chinese web-writers

In almost every bookstore in China you can find an area for Internet literature. [File Photo]

Over the past 10 years, Chinese Internet literature has grown. With ever more such novels adapted to film and television drama web-writers have finally reached their "golden age". Some even earn more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) annually.

According to a survey by Beijing-based newspaper Jinghua Times, Internet literature websites offer writers a lower access threshold, while writers themselves have more channels to publish their works and earn higher income.

Between this year and next more than 30 movies or TV dramas adapted from Internet literature will be released. Meanwhile, large Internet literature groups are set up one after another and traditional Chinese Internet giants such as tencent.com take the literature to new heights. In that case, a group of web-writers and high quality copyright resources will be intensified.

Web-writers initially published their work on online forums. Bu Feiyan, a web-writer as well as a Chinese literature lecturer at Renmin University of China, told Chinadily.com.cn that she wrote for fun when she started on tianya.cn, the largest internet forum in China.

"I was a common college student in 2002. Someday, I made up a wuxia (martial arts) story in my mind, but none of my classmates wanted to hear it, so I decided to write it down on the Internet. A very simple intention, but soon, I was surprised that so many people liked my work. About four months later, a publisher left a message on my blog and asked if I want to publish my work," she said.

Bu has published 25 books so far. Most were serialized on an Internet literature website where people can read them after payment. Since early this year she has worked as a screen writer for a internet drama.

"To some degree, Internet changed my life. Before, my works attracted attention from publishers, while now they earn dashang (reward) from my fans. Web-writers now have more chance to become rich, if they have enough talent, effort and fans," she said.