Chapter 69: An Unexpected Advertisement

After wandering around Amazon for a while, Zhang Chu searched for his own works on Douban Books, Duokan Reading, Dangdang, and other legitimate reading platforms. The situation was even worse than Amazon—there wasn’t a single review! Given the release date, it was impossible for anyone to have finished the entire book so quickly, but the lack of feedback still left him feeling disappointed.

Glancing at his Weibo, Zhang Chu remembered that a fan had recently helped him upgrade to a premium membership, freeing him from the 140-character limit. An idea suddenly came to him. Weibo had been rather tranquil lately; it was time to spice things up.

...

Liang Chen habitually opened Weibo. He followed a slew of accounts, and every day brought a fresh batch of updates. As he lazily scrolled down his feed, he suddenly noticed a post from Zhang Chu.

Liang Chen wasn’t particularly a fan of detective fiction. The reason he followed Zhang Chu was simple: Zhang Chu was the top scorer in the college entrance exam from their province, Jiangdong, and both had applied to Peking University. He considered it an early introduction to a future schoolmate.

However, after following Zhang Chu’s Weibo, Liang Chen discovered his future classmate had a rather quirky style. Zhang Chu used to frolic online every day, but lately he’d only posted serious updates about his novel, making things far less amusing.

“I used to be poor, but every day I was happy. Now things are different.”

A string of ellipses followed, prompting readers to click for the full text.

Liang Chen grew curious—what was so different for Zhang Chu now? Had he become unhappy?

After clicking to view the full post, he found the next line: “Now I’m not only happy, but also rich!”

“Pffft! This guy really is a character.”

Liang Chen’s reaction was echoed by Zhang Chu’s followers, who burst out laughing. They thought he’d had a setback, but he was boasting instead!

It didn’t stop there. When Liang Chen refreshed Zhang Chu’s Weibo, he saw another post.

“When I was young, I thought everyone in the world liked me. After growing up, I realized…”

What did he realize? Liang Chen guessed mischievously—had Zhang Chu finally realized he was mistaken?

As his eyes moved down, he realized it was he who had been mistaken. Zhang Chu was shameless!

“After growing up, I realized—it’s the entire universe.”

The smile hadn’t even left his face before it returned again. Liang Chen felt the muscles in his cheeks aching from laughter. This classmate was truly eccentric, a childlike delight!

Netizens reacted in kind, all cracking up at Zhang Chu’s unconventional antics.

“I’ve never seen anyone more shameless than Zhang Chu!”

“Maybe he got rejected after confessing—so many posts today, he’s really productive!”

“He’s nuts. I clicked for the full post and laughed until my stomach hurt.”

“Hahaha, keep it up!”

“I feel like I’ve suffered ten thousand points of damage—rich, happy, and longing for the love of the entire universe.”

“I’m not okay anymore—can we get even more?”

...

Even after posting twice, Zhang Chu still felt unsatisfied; those were just appetizers, the main course was yet to come.

“Life is always full of unexpected things, like...

...

...

You think I’m about to give an example, but actually, I just want to advertise. My work, ‘Detective Sherlock,’ is now on sale across the web and in bookstores nationwide—go buy and read it!”

Advertising isn’t unusual, but the manner in which it’s written matters. Big Weibo accounts often use hard or soft ads that catch netizens off guard.

Now, Zhang Chu used the click-to-view-full-text trick to lure in his fans, aiming to boost book sales and prevent his debut work from flopping.

His fans were stunned by Zhang Chu’s “novel” advertising, and a few marketing accounts even fell for it.

“Such authentic, straightforward advertising is rare—must support!”

“Exactly, life is full of surprises; everyone, let’s boycott Zhang Chu’s new book. Is it unexpected? Is it delightful?”

“So it’s an ad—won’t read, won’t buy, won’t support!”

“The biggest surprise is if we don’t buy your book, just to annoy you!”

“‘Detective Sherlock’—what’s that, can I eat it? If not, what’s the point of buying it?”

“You’re so cheeky, be careful you don’t get beaten up.”

“My goodness, have writers become comedians these days? So adorable!”

“This ad deserves a perfect score—no fear of making you proud.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know ‘Sherlock’ was released—must buy, buy, buy!”

“Ahhhh, wasn’t it supposed to launch in August? Why is it half a month early? I’ll support it!”

“My Cumberbatch and Freeman must support—so good I could die!”

The response was fantastic. Though many joked about not supporting him, fresh reviews began appearing on Douban Books and Amazon’s online bookstore, and the number of buyers steadily grew.

Since these platforms require a purchase before leaving a review, the credibility was high. Zhang Chu’s advertisement had real impact.

By evening, his click-to-view-full-text Weibo posts had amassed millions of reads—even though he had fewer than 100,000 followers, the reposts exposed his posts to countless others.

With so many people seeing Zhang Chu’s ad, there were bound to be some who’d spend money to check it out, not to mention it also alerted the many readers of ‘Detective Sherlock.’

Everyone gets their information differently; some had no idea the book would be published, others never expected it to launch ahead of schedule.

With all these factors combined, the sales of ‘Detective Sherlock’ skyrocketed!

On Amazon’s paid ebook charts—specifically the new releases list—‘Detective Sherlock’ had reached fifteenth place. Download numbers were unknown, but there were already seventy-eight ratings.

In the detective, mystery, and suspense category, it finally made the rankings, though Zhang Chu had to scroll all the way to eighty-fourth place to find his book.

The top spot was, unsurprisingly, Conan Doyle’s ‘The Complete Sherlock Holmes.’ The entire eleven-volume set could be downloaded for just 0.98 yuan—a bargain.

By comparison, ‘Detective Sherlock’ was much pricier, and that deterred many buyers. The print edition was only 21 yuan, but the ebook cost 9.99 yuan.

Facing such enthusiastic support from netizens and fans, Zhang Chu was deeply moved and posted again to express his gratitude:

“Today, you’re indifferent to me; tomorrow...

...

...

Tomorrow, July 14th, Saturday, nationwide sunshine—perfect for going out and buying ‘Detective Sherlock’!”

Once again breaking the mold, netizens felt utterly exhausted.

Any random click on his posts revealed yet another advertisement!

Shouldn’t the punchline be that tomorrow you’ll be out of my league? When did the script change!

With antics like these, why be a novelist at all? He’d be better off as a comedian—he’d surely take the internet by storm!