Becoming an 'IP'

The theme of Jiang's novel, the varied fortunes of a wealthy family, means it is unlikely to be adapted into a video game or online video, but those fast-developing formats are the main sources of revenue for his icon, Zhang Wei. Although he has extolled the value of hard work, Zhang has not spoken about the fact that literary merit is worth very little in the entertainment market.

With the line between online novelists and scriptwriters becoming increasingly blurred, many writers have adopted a new common name, IP, which stands for intellectual property and highlights the potential market value of their work, irrespective of whether it's a novel or a screenplay.

"Good IP works should have the flexibility and scope to be made into different forms of media and entertainment products. That's the principle our IPs always bear in mind in their creations," said Yang Xiaoxuan, vice-president of Iqiyi, a video website in Beijing that provides videogame producers with stories and plots written by its IPs.

Instead of emulating TV and movie companies and buying works from famous IPs, Iqiyi has organized its own IP group.

"It costs millions or even tens of millions of yuan to buy the copyright to works by famous IPs. As long as we have a good platform, why not set up our own IP team?" said Geng Xiaohua, Iqiyi's senior vice-president, during an IP forum held in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, in late December.

Hundreds of the company's IPs were joined by interested amateurs at the forum, held in the conference hall of a luxury hotel in downtown Chengdu. They were keen to hear Geng's introduction in which he described how Iqiyi can explore the full market potential of a novel or a script through cartoons, videos and games.

"I just wonder how they can organize the IPs, who have different ideas and usually work alone at home, as a team to write one story together," said a self-employed Chengdu writer, who only gave his surname as Zhang.

He has been reading William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich on his e-book reader and wants to rework some of the book's historical stories into the plot of a fantasy war novel he is writing. He believes the stories would be a perfect fit for a wide range of media and entertainment products.

When asked for advice on how to become a writer, the 30-something spoke concisely in a strong local accent: "Learn many stories by heart and then forget the names of their authors."