Cloudary, one of China's leading online literature platforms, has more than 2 million registered writers. Photo: CFP

One unmistakable trend in China's creative writing scene is the rise of online literature, specifically fiction - in most cases novels - composed and distributed online. After the country's first groundbreaking works of online literature appeared in late 1990s, readership climbed to 195 million at the end of 2010 and reached 233 million by the end of 2012, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Catering to this expanding audience are the millions of registered online writers across the country. Shanghai has more online writers than any place in China. There are about 140,000 Shanghai-based online authors on China's dominant literature website Cloudary, who account for 6.86 percent of the site's approximately 2 million registered writers, and about 5,000 more on the second- largest literature website Chuangshi, making up about 5 percent of its 100,000 registered writers.

Dozens of these writers, mostly in their 20s and 30s, made up the majority of the 75 founding members of the Shanghai Online Writers' Association, which was established on July 3. Other charter members include more established writers such as Chen Cun and Sun Ganlu, who made their names through traditional publishing before turning to new media, and experienced online literature website editors and administrators.

The Shanghai group is not China's first official association of online writers. The first provincial-level online writers' association was set up in Zhejiang Province in January, followed by the first city-level association in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in March.

Earlier groups came in the form of online literature commissions under local writers' associations. In 2009, the Guangdong Writers' Association and the Hainan Writers' Association established online literature commissions. In October 2013, the Beijing Writers' Association launched an online literature commission to gather the capital's creative literary minds.

Writer Chen Cun, who became the head of the Shanghai Online Writers' Association, explained that the Shanghai/Zhejiang model differs from the online literature commission model because it enjoys more independence. "If we look at these organizations as a company, we would say an online literature commission is a department under a local writers' association and an online writers' association is a subsidiary of a writers' association," Chen told the Jiefang Daily.

Gaining rights

"The major goal of the association is to help our members gain rights in terms of hukou (permanent household registration) settlement and social welfare," said Liu Wei, a 35-year-old online writer and one of the deputy heads of the association.

Though writing is just a part-time job for the majority of registered online writers, almost all of those who have become members write fulltime. Yet, online writer is not an acknowledged profession according to Chinese Labor Law, and online writers are therefore classified as "unemployed."

As unemployed people, nonlocal online writers are not admitted by the points-based residency permit system launched last year.

The system allows those who accumulate 120 points calculated on factors such as age, education, professional skills and employment to apply for a residency permit, which allows them to claim many of the same welfare benefits received by locals.

A specific group of members, namely the association's secretary department and the staff from Cloudary and other literature websites, deal with this issue by negotiating with the local authorities.

"There has been some headway, as the authorities have agreed that residency permits can be granted to a couple of our members. However, it is difficult to say whether most of our members will ever be able to receive this benefit," Liu said.

Meanwhile, full-time online writers have signed contracts with online literature websites. However, they are copyright contracts rather than labor contracts.

These contracts make it clear that along with an annual salary they are paid 0.02 yuan (0.30 cents) to 0.05 yuan for every 1,000 characters accessed by a subscriber, as well as specific bonuses to reward their popularity. One such bonus is given for attracting the largest number of clicks in a single month.

With hundreds of thousands of subscribers and novels in the millions of characters, those who have proved themselves can make a lot of money from the copyright contracts.

Liu, for example, earned 14.5 million yuan in 2013. He ranked as the third wealthiest online writer in China, according to an established annual ranking by the West China Metropolis Daily. Wang Xiaolei, another deputy head of the Shanghai Online Writers' Association, made 8.9 million yuan last year.

Yet, in spite of the possibly large income, the contracts do not provide online writers with official "work units," which are required to apply for a mortgage.

"Some online writers went to the banks with very convincing tax records, but the banks did not want to take the risk and rejected their applications because they didn't have an official work unit," Liu said.

The source of the problem is the fact that online writer is not a legally acknowledged profession, Liu said. This is why the ultimate solution is to push for a regulation that allows the online writer to be sanctioned as a profession. He said there is still a long way to go.

Joining up

The first online writing members were recommended by 17 literature websites. Hukou, a long-time prerequisite to join a local writers' association, is not a requirement to join the Shanghai Online Writers' Association. As long as a writer lives in Shanghai, he or she can join the association.

According to the association's guideline, an online writer has to "have published a certain amount of influential literary works, theoretical research, or translations" to become a member.

Hu Xin, who works in Cloudary's public relations and marketing department, said that the online literature website has established quantitative standards to determine if a piece of literature is "influential."

"It boils down to the number of clicks on their works, the number of subscribed fans and the sales of their copyrights," Hu told the Global Times. "Editors clearly know which writers are popular in a particular region."

He noted that the website tries to achieve a gender balance among the nominees. "The big picture shows that most of today's prominent online writers are men, so it is impossible to make it a 1:1 ratio. However, we intentionally looked for beloved writers on our female channel," Hu said.

Liu told the Global Times that after the recommendations were made, it was down to the seniors from the Shanghai Writers' Association to examine their qualifications and make the final decisions. "An important yardstick is that one has to have published at least one traditional book. We think the lack of such a book suggests there is something missing in the writer," Liu said.

The invitation to publish is considered as a trophy that automatically says the online writer has "made it." In China, when an online writer's work becomes a hit online, it is common for a traditional publisher to approach him or her with publishing offers. Liu, for example, has had four novels published.

The Shanghai Writers' Association will have less involvement in the future and upcoming members will be handpicked by the online writers' association itself. There will be two rounds of recruitment each year.

Newcomers have to be recommended by two members to apply. Applicants have to receive approval from the association's head and its development and membership assessment commission.

Fighting piracy

The association also works to defend intellectual property rights. China's online literature sector has never been free from piracy. According to the magazine China Comment, there are more than 500,000 websites that steal stories from online literature websites through special copying software or by hiring people to type out online writers' daily updates.

The users of these websites are people who are unwilling to pay for what they read. It has been estimated that piracy costs online literature websites, and by extension, online writers, 4 billion yuan to 6 billion yuan a year.

Liu said that because the association is made up of ordinary people, it does not have administrative power to fight piracy on its own. However, he and a number of partnering online literature websites said the association has helped collect evidence so the websites can sue the offenders.

The association also tries to raise awareness about piracy. On August 26, it invited the local administrative execution team of the culture industry to give members a lecture on the issue.

"Many online writers actually know very little about how their work is being pirated. The officers explained the issue and what they could do. They also gave examples of previous cases in which the pirate websites were punished through legal processes," Liu said.

Facilitating communication

Both Chen Cun and Wang Xiaolei claim that another important function of the association lies in facilitating communications between online writers. Wang added that he was more than willing to share his experiences in fantasy writing with younger writers through the association.

During the Shanghai Book Fair in mid-August, the association held a seminar in which the leading members offered advice about how writers could improve their writing.

However, Liu said that there has not been any activity within the association for the members to meet each other in person and chat so far. "Most online writers stick to their residences and live in a very relaxed manner, and are not that sociable. It is difficult to get them together," he said.

The association is trying to make a difference. On its blueprint is the construction of a base for the association, in which regular membership events can be held at least once a month. The idea is that the members take this monthly getaway to get together and exercise, have fun, make literary discussions and write on the site.