Chapter 53 postscript

Beforehand, no one expected to succeed in the market.Anyway, I certainly didn't expect it.This novel was very difficult to write.I was full of passion when I wrote it, and when I finished it three years later, all I can recall now is a feeling of exhaustion.In addition, there are shortcomings.From the point of view of literature and art, it is too rough; from the point of view of conveying ideas, it is too scattered; it is a thriller, it is too restrained; there is not much technological core, it is a bit reluctant to be regarded as science fiction; I can't afford the reputation of warning the world... In short, if I put it in this category, it has something more, and if I put it in another category, I feel that something is missing.It doesn't seem to qualify from any single point of view.

The publishers who turned the book down, they feel the same way. From the publisher's point of view, there are three terrible things: 1. It is a dystopian novel; 2. It is a science fiction novel; Too much and too little to be happy about.Three hits and you're out!Even Nightshade Publishing, which eventually bought it, didn't expect it to sell many copies.For the books, they liked it; but for the marketing, they just hoped the business wouldn't lose so badly, even the shirts. Me, publishers, book sellers—we all know and accept that science fiction doesn't sell well, let alone the kind of literary, unorthodox environmental science fiction I write.You may accept it and think it's okay, but you won't love it and get addicted to it.Some ardent fans will buy the book, but soon forget it's even there.

This is the consensus of all of us. But then, something strange happened.Selling "move".A few months after it went public, I had a talk with Jeremy Larson of Nightshade Publishing.Amazon was running out of stock, so I asked him if he was planning to print more.According to the information given by the website, it will be shipped after 24 hours, then a week, and then two weeks.In the end, book buyers had to wait a month.The gap can be filled after a month. This is my first novel.I was on fire, worrying about selling and restocking (and getting angry for Amazon).It's crazy.I know.But I just can't help it.Jeremy told my overexcited newbie very calmly: There will be returns soon, and there will be plenty of books by then, so don't worry.

Two weeks later, he called to tell me that he was going to print more.It didn't occur to me at all, and neither did Jeremy.Generally speaking, sales of a book peak at the time of its publication and then plummet.Instead of falling, it rose and continued to grow.Positive reviews keep coming, and readers are recommending it. Then Jeremy called again: The book was going to be printed again.A month later, Time magazine would name it one of the ten best novels of the year. The hardcover edition began its third printing run. In the spring, it won the Campton Crook Award for Best Novel by a New Author, as well as the same prize in the Locus magazine selection.In late spring, it won the Nebula Award, just in time for the publishing company to bring the paperback to the market.Now, the sales are really "hot".

Midsummer, the novel won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award as the best science fiction novel of the year. In August, it won another major award (I've been trying to tell myself: don't think too much. This kind of good thing, just thinking about it, feels too fairytale to be a dream come true) . On August 4, it competes for the Hugo Award with Chanel Mivière's "A City Within a City."We didn't fight to the death - we split the jackpot and each got a Rockets trophy. We thought it was going to be a slow seller.Not a bad result. I am so happy to see my sweat and hard work being recognized.But let’s be honest, along with the euphoria comes an uneasy self-knowledge: You’re not qualified to be compared to the likes of Le Guin and Gibson when others associate you with them.Also, you quickly learn that no matter how hard you try and try, you can't do it all over again.Wake up and you're the struggling author you once was, thinking hard about your next book, and you can't figure it out: Why isn't it as successful as the last one? (Needless to say, you've forgotten how much you hated writing when you wrote it.) You're still you, and you're still dealing with the paper.You've taken your own life, and you're still here, the same author who's been racking his brains to get in, the same as ever.

To this day, I still can't explain the emotions it brought me: pride, of course; immense satisfaction; disbelief; trepidation.After a period of precipitation, all kinds of tastes converge into one mood: gratitude.I am grateful because this novel has taken a place in the hearts of many readers; This novel was rejected; I am grateful because it allowed me to keep writing and realize that I could write more stories. More importantly, it seems to have made a little impact on this world.For this, I am forever grateful.I see people commenting on current events on Twitter and Facebook saying that Monsanto's new tricks on GMOs, patents, lawsuits remind them of the story in .News of wheat rust has them worrying: what kind of future does monoculture lead us to?

Of all the satisfactions it gave me, this is the one I cherish most: the book becoming part of people's conversations.When it comes to biotechnology and food being manipulated by large companies, it can act as a microscope through which people can examine these calorie companies and their research progress in bioengineering.This novel has become a tool for analyzing the status quo and understanding how real technology will affect the future, so that people will no longer be able to grope in the chaos as before.It gives people a chance to ask the classic science fiction question aloud: "What would the world be like if things went on like this?"

Going back to the roots, I think that's what makes it so successful: it provides a window into people in this day and age.There are far too few such windows in today's world.As our lives become increasingly complex and incomprehensible, all of us are looking for fiction to help us understand where reality is headed.What we are longing for are works that can directly face this important theme. After all, it's not sci-fi, it's not dystopia, and it's not a gloomy portrayal of the future.Of course, it doesn't seem wrong to say that it is the above three.But at heart, it is a work dealing with big themes.All our previous concerns—what genre to put it in, how many copies of science fiction generally sell—missed one important point: people's desire for "big subject" works.

The market will naturally attribute this novel to a certain genre, but I think the reason for its success is that it confronts the countless question marks of our time.I hope that the achievements in evaluation and marketing will inspire other writers to pick up pens and explore these issues in depth.