Zhang Jiajia accepts the China Writer List award for Bestselling Novel on Saturday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Photo: Courtesy of China Writer List

Instead of typing away at their desks, famous authors could be seen walking the red carpet while excited fans screamed and applauded from the sidelines.

On Saturday an award ceremony for the China Writer List gathered together authors, scriptwriters and comic book authors together in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, at an event that looked more like the Academy Awards than an event celebrating literature.

Over the course of the week prior to the ceremony, each day the West China Metropolis Daily released one of its many literature related lists to the public: the China Scriptwriter List, China Comic Book Author List, China Star Writer List, Foreign Writer List, China Online Writer List, as well as its traditional China Writer List (formerly the China Rich Writer List). Most of the lists ranked their respective authors according to the annual revenue each earned from book sales during 2014.

First place on this year's China Writer List went to 34-year-old author Zhang Jiajia, who posted a series of bedtime stories on his Sina Weibo account which he later collected and published in the collection I Belonged to You. The collection earned him 19.5 million yuan ($3.1 million) in royalties. He was followed by children's book authors Zheng Yuanjie and Yang Hongying at No.2 and No.3 respectively.

Authors whose works mainly target children could also be seen on the list of comic book authors, such as Zhou Hongbin, who came in at No.1. "Many adults and students at universities and middle schools prefer to read comics on their mobile devices. However, many parents feel that paper versions are better for their children's eyes. This might be the reason why comic books aimed at children can be so high on the list," said Wu Huaiyao, the founder of the China Writer List.

Categories that can't be ignored



The highest earner out of all the lists belongs to online writer Tangjia Sanshao (Zhang Wei), who earned 50 million yuan this year. Dubbing himself China's most diligent author, Tangjia Sanshao has said that for the past 131 months straight he has worked daily to produce new online content, maintaining an average writing speed of around 8,000 Chinese characters a day. His books sold more than 7 million traditional print copies last year. 

Unlike other lists, the Online Writer List takes into account online subscriptions and any revenue earned through licensing fees related to movie, TV or game adaptations. "This is not something we commonly see on the main list, but this kind of licensing is widely used by online authors," Wu told the Global Times.

Marking the second year the scriptwriters list has been published, only three movie scriptwriters can be found among the top 30, the rest of the seats all belonging to TV writers.

Compared to last year, the number of high earning scriptwriters has increased significantly. Li Qiang, the scriptwriter for the film So Young, ranked at No.15 last year with 3 million yuan, while Lu Wei, who wrote the script for Chen Kaige's movie Farewell My Concubine, ranked at the bottom of the list with 3.5 million yuan this year.

A new list released this year is the China Star Writer List, topped by entrepreneur Li Kaifu royalties reaching 13 million yuan and followed by entrepreneur Feng Lun and movie star Barbie Hsu.

"By stars, we mean both elites from showbiz and other fields besides professional writers," Wu told the Global Times. "We want to present the idea that anyone can be considered a writer."

In addition to focusing on the winners on the lists, the ceremony also shed light on different categories by giving out awards for Poet of the Year and Writer of the Year. Once described by media as "the Academy Awards for Chinese authors," the lists are an attempt to raise international awareness in a way similar to the Oscars.

"We have some awards that are similar, like Author of the Year. We see that as a Lifetime Achievement Award," Wu told the Global Times.

This year's Author of the Year winner, Zheng Yuanjie, famous for his fairy tale-like Pipilu and Luxixi series, shared his view of the China Writers List with the Global Times: "When people read these lists, they might discover some authors that they never heard of before and then search for them online. I think this is a positive thing."

The next big thing



Intellectual property, or IP, has become China's newest buzzword. For investors, a good IP resource can establish an entire network of related products as a best-selling novel or comic book can be turned into a high-earning film, or a popular game adapted into an eye-catching stage play. One obvious trend seen on the China Writer List is an attempt by companies to mine the next big IP for all its worth.

Zhang Jiajia told the Global Times that he had just finished writing two movie scripts based on stories from I Belonged to You: One, a moving love story for Hong Kong director Wong Kai-Wai, and the other a cooperative venture with Enlight Media that will include characters from different stories.

Liu Tong, a VP with Enlight Media who also ranks at No.4 on the main China Writer List, told the Global Times how his company selects valuable IPs.

"The story must be popular so that it has a good foundation among fans and be able to strike a chord with the public. We also like for the author to take part in adapting the project in order to try and give it new life."

Online literature is a huge resource of potential IPs. Recently, Tangjia Sanshao founded a company dedicated to developing IP derivatives  such as movies and game adaptations of his work.

Meanwhile, during the award ceremony on Saturday, HS Media announced that it was investing 5 billion yuan into a major adaptation project.

The first stories set to be adapted are fantasy stories Dragon Raja by Jiang Nan and Tangjia Sanshao's Douluo Dalu. Visual effects will be produced by a Hollywood team.