The Alchemists

Rose was very impressed with Rune. Suddenly, all her worries about the picture were gone. It felt so good, to have someone stand up for her and protect her. Leon used to do that... but now he actually became the source of her sufferings.

Rose felt grateful, having Rune by her side. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Rune said with a smile. Even without her asking, he would do it.

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FROM THE AUTHOR:

Thank you so much for reading this book, this far. We have come a long way, from February 2019, until now, May 2021. It has been a wonderful 27 months for the most part. This is the first book that I write on this platform and for the public after I stopped writing for over 18 years.

This book means so much to me, and your support in the form of reviews, coins to unlock the book, comments, and feedback, helped me to keep going and writing, even though this book was not popular. Well.. it's actually STILL NOT POPULAR to this day.

For every one of you on this platform that happened to find this book and liked it, there are 10k people who didn't. It shows how unpopular this book is, even though as most of you said it's a really good book. Sadly, just being good is not enough.

So, thank you for reading so far. I know I haven't been able to update regularly lately because, I have explained so many times, my time is limited and I have to prioritize the books or jobs that will bring me money and put food on the table for my kids.

I have apologized many times, and even changed the privilege into 1 coin and gave a 99% discount for the new chapters as a way to make up for it.

For those of you who came to and are not used to reading digital novels and serialized like these, I am sure you will always compare it to traditional novels you buy from the book store. You buy it, you read it, and be done with it.

s are different. The stories are written every day by the authors and readers enjoy it every day too, as part of their daily life, like reading newspapers with your morning coffee.

FYI, If we compare this book to a traditional book you buy from a bookstore, by the time you have read "The Alchemists" and "The Prince Who Cannot Fall In Love" until the last chapter, it would be the same as reading 40 traditional books, the size of The Great Gatsby.

That's what 27 months of writing "The Alchemists" give you.

I know some of you complain about the amount of coins and time you spend reading this book. Well, that's 40 books for ya.

You can get a traditional paperback for $5. Well, this book is 40 times that. I hope you can do the math.

Q: WHY DON'T YOU FINISH THE ALCHEMISTS BEFORE YOU START WRITING OTHER BOOKS?

Last year, on average, The Alchemists only made $20-$50 per month. I am an interpreter by profession and I charge my clients $100/hour for phone interpreting and $400 per day for all-day conference/seminar.

So... imagine earning so little for so much effort... It broke my heart and made me think I shouldn't be a writer in the first place since people didn't think my book was good enough to read.

Do you see how pitiful it was for me to continue writing a book that took 4 hours of my time every day to get so little money?

Btw, last year, I wasn't even confident enough with my English that I hired an editor to edit this book and I spent $500 per month just to get the chapters edited.

If I was a businessman, I would have already quit since the investment surely only brought me losses. The book made $50 per month but lost $500. That's the dumbest thing someone could ever do. Right?

However, I am an artist, an idealist, who kept thinking I just need my big break, for people to someday see my work and get recognition. So, I kept writing.

However, after Covid-19, the pandemic severely depleted my source of income because people don't do conferences anymore and interpreters couldn't get work. So, I can no longer afford an editor.

Because of that, I started editing the book on my own. It ended up being a good decision because I could improve my English and now I can write directly in English.

Q: WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY BOOKS? WHY NOT JUST FOCUS ON ONE?

I started writing another book because I want to be popular. I want to get my big break. I want to make money from my stories, not to keep losing money. I started writing Finding Stardust and still write The Alchemists together. Sadly, that book also didn't do well.

From February to December 2020, I was writing the two books together because I didn't get a lot of interpreting jobs due to the pandemic. By January 2021, I suddenly got a bestselling book: "The Cursed Prince". 

FINALLY, I got a book that sells. The Cursed Prince's popularity brings a new audience to my early books and slowly they started to make more. If last year, The Alchemists made around $20-$50 per month, in 2021, it is starting to make $400 per month and more.

Without "The Cursed Prince" perhaps some of you wouldn't be here and "The Alchemists" will still make $50 per month.

I think, in the 27 months of The Alchemists being published, it has earned around $3500 total. So, on average, it made $129 for every month of its existence. 

($3500 : 27 months = $129)

For comparison, The Cursed Prince made that $3500 in just one month.

So, should I continue writing The Alchemists or should I focus on writing the ONLY book that makes me money?

Who will pay for my kids' school and food if I chose to focus on The Alchemists?

Many authors just dropped their books and started new ones when their early books don't sell. I don't do that.

In the 27 months that I am writing on , I have published almost 5.8 million words (in two languages), so it's around 2.9 million words just for the English books. That's around 100k words per month or 2.1 copies of "The Great Gatsby" per month. It means I am constantly writing.

I don't become lazy and give up just because my books are not popular and didn't earn. I still write 100k words per month. Honestly, it was made possible because I was stuck at home by the pandemic and couldn't do my regular interpreting jobs.

Writing is very fulfilling and even though it didn't make me money, my soul was enriched and I became happier. That's why I kept going.

How I wish I can write all day.

However, since the beginning of 2021, after one year of Covid-19, businesses have started to have a new normal and I started getting jobs back to do remote simultaneous interpreting. That's why from January 2021, my update rate for The Alchemists and Finding Stardust is slowing down.

Should I say no to interpreting jobs that pay me $100 per hour or should I write a book that on average gives me $129 per month?

You might ask, "Well, remote interpreting only takes an hour, why don't you write the rest of the day?"

Have you seen how interpreters work? To do the one-hour job, we need several hours of preparation, and after the job is done, our brain will be so tired that we can't do any intelligent work for the next several hours. That's one of the reasons why the interpreter's fee is high.

After working all day at a conference for 5 days, I usually couldn't function for the whole next week. It's just so tiring.

So, now that I start to resume my day job, I don't have that much time anymore to write.

I have "The Alchemists", "Finding Stardust", "The Prince Who Cannot Fall In Love", and "The Cursed Prince". Out of four, only one book makes me decent money.

Maybe you wonder why I keep saying my books don't make money since you spend a lot of coins on them. The thing is, as the creator, I only keep less than 30% of what the books earned.

The rest are divided between Google or Apple as the app store provider and as the platform. That's how it works.

One chapter normally costs 6 coins or $0.12 (twelve cents) of which I get to keep 3.6 cents.

MOST PEOPLE who read books on use fast passes to read the books for free. Only less than 5% pay with coins. It's sad fact, but it is what it is.

So... a book can only earn if it's hugely popular and have soooo many readers to get that 5% into a significant number. My books aren't.

Only "The Cursed Prince" is popular enough to earn money to justify the time I spend writing it.

Since I have to prioritize, I decided to pause writing Finding Stardust because that book made the least money. On average, that book only made $90 per month. So it was paused for two months.

I also could have made a prem.a.t.u.r.e ending for The Alchemists so I can end the book and focus ONLY on The Cursed Prince.

However, I cannot bring myself to do it. My stories are my arts and once it's published, I never revise the story and plot and I never regret my choices.

I decided, I want to write it properly, even though it's slow. And I hope you can bear with it. If it's too much of a hassle for you and you don't want to wait, worry not. You can read the ending of the book under this note. I won't leave you hanging. You can read how the story ends and leave this book for good.

However, if you are willing to wait for the artwork to be crafted carefully and slowly, please be patient and wait. And while you wait, you can read my other books or my friends' books.

From what I can see, I am just writing The Alchemists and Finding Stardust for charity since many readers keep saying how much they loved the books and want them to continue. I keep writing them because I love the readers.

Since The Cursed Prince is making good money, I even decided to continue Finding Stardust by hiring a co-author to write the book with me and use the money I earn from TCP to subsidize Finding Stardust.

I pay the author $450 per month to get 30 chapters that you are now reading daily while the book is only making $100. She makes rough chapters based on my outline and I rewrite them and make them nice and according to my style.

You can call it stupidity for spending more on a book than earning from it, or you can see that it's how I show my appreciation and love to my readers.

Some of you said you feel hurt because I keep writing new ones without ending the old ones, and you said you refuse to read any new book I will be writing and will even stop reading the current books since it has taken you such a long time and still you don't read the ending.

You make it sound like I never end my books or I drop them. That statement actually confuses me.

The Alchemists HAS FIVE DIFFERENT STORIES and FOUR OF THEM ARE COMPLETED. Only the last one (Rune and Rose' story) is still not ending. 

FINDING STARDUST IS COMPLETED, only the sequel is not ending, and from May 2021, I have resumed the sequel, by subsidizing it with my own money.

THE PRINCE WHO CANNOT FALL IN LOVE IS COMPLETED, I am just writing the bonus chapters to show Mischa and Vega's life after they got together.

THE CURSED PRINCE IS ONGOING and I am writing chapters EVERY DAY WITHOUT FAIL.

So.. please tell me, when do I leave people hanging? If you have read all my books to the latest chapters, you have read books equal to 62 copies of The Great Gatsby.

All that in only 27 months of writing or less than 2.5 years.

Those are 7 completed stories (Caspar & Finland, Alaric & Aleksis, London & L, Nicolae & Marie, Vega - Ren - Mischa, Finding Stardust, Till Death Do Us Part/Ludwina & Andrea) and 3 ongoings (The Cursed Prince, Queen Of Akkadia, Rune & Rose).

Saying that you refuse to read whatever new books I will write because I haven't ended a few books is quite hurtful to hear. I understand it, but it doesn't make it less hurtful.

The thing is, even if I don't write "The Cursed King" to join the biggest competition that has the potential to launch my career as a writer, it doesn't mean suddenly The Cursed Prince can end in May for you to read the ending.

It doesn't mean I can suddenly write two chapters per day for The Alchemists and Finding Stardust.

Writing takes inspiration and ample time. Today, I might find inspiration to write The Alchemists, and tomorrow I find the inspiration to write Finding Stardust, etc. Even if I am not writing The Cursed King, I might still not write The Alchemists.

Q: YOU SAID YOU CANNOT WRITE FOR THE ALCHEMIST BUT LAST WEEK YOU CAN WRITE FOR MA.S.S RELEASE EVENT

I can force myself to write for mass releases or special events like last week, but it will really drain me and I cannot keep doing it.

Q: YOU CAN WRITE THE CURSED PRINCE EVERY DAY. SO, YOU MUST BE ABLE TO WRITE OTHER BOOKS TOO. WHY NOT PAUSE TCP AND FOCUS ON THE ALCHEMISTS TO END IT AND THEN YOU CAN CONTINUE TCP?

Well, I consider TCP as a job since writing the book earns me money, so I can focus my time there. Since The Alchemists doesn't make money, I consider it an art or a hobby. I only write it when I have spare time.

CONCLUSION

I hope my long-ass explanation helps clarify a lot of things to you. I welcome you to stay and continue the journey with this book albeit slow. Or, you can end it here and find other books that are written according to your needs or expectation.

However, I won't leave you hanging. Below is the outline of Rune's story and how the story will end. I hope it can give you closure. Please read it, and move on from this book. I hope you will find other books that will give you happiness.

My heart is fragile and I cannot receive too many complaints. I'd rather have a few readers who are patient and supportive, than many readers but demand so much from me.

For those of you who wish to stay and read the book even though it's slow, I want to say thank you. You can still read the outline below to get an idea of how the story will unfold. As always, it's just an outline. The story might change as I am writing them and you will still end up with surprises and twists as you read it in the future.

PS: If you are annoyed that I posted a lengthy author's note and you had to pay 5 coins or ten cents for it, please DM me on Instagram, I will give you a voucher to redeem 100 coins back.

Thank you for reading this lengthy explanation. I hope this will be the last time I ever need to write something like this again.

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HOW RUNE AND ROSE END UP TOGETHER

(Spoiler - don't scroll if you don't want to read).

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Jan will come to the royal wedding reception to represent the Schneider family. The Schneider was invited by Anne, without telling Leon, because Anne and Sarah wanted to embarrass Rose in front of the 'person who had the connection to the real Scneiders'.

Anne and all the jealous girls thought Jan's presence would expose 'Rune's real identity as an impostor' and embarrass Rose.

When he found out, Leon felt very sorry for Rose and wanted to help Rose, but instead, he was shocked to find Rune and Jan not only knew each other, but Jan also told everyone present that Rune was really the youngest son of THE Schneider family.

The revelations made Anne, Sarah, and Lisa shocked. Rose got the last laugh. After the wedding, she decided to go to Germany with Rune to meet his family. However, a surprise awaited them at the airport. Leon came to stop her from leaving.

He couldn't accept the fact that Rose finally moved on from him and said he regretted marrying Anne. He wanted Rose to forgive him and took him back.

He would even do whatever Rose asked him to do in the past, to tell the public the truth, that they were not siblings and his biological father was the king himself. And... he would annul his marriage to Anne.

After what Anne did to embarrass Rose, Leon realized he couldn't stay with a woman who intentionally hurt Rose, the woman he loved.

Rose felt so conflicted after Leon came and begged her to forgive him. She was torn between Leon and Rune.

Her indecisiveness hurt Rune and he decided to leave. He didn't want to be an option. He was also giving Rose the space to search her heart and really thought about what she wanted.

Three months later, Rune bumped into Rose in New York. He was just reading breaking news on the internet that Prince Leon of Medion stepped down from his role and admitted to the public that he was actually not Duke Fournier's illegitimate son, but the king's.

This created an uproar in the country and the scandal even made Medion became a trending topic worldwide. Leon and Anne were said to be separated to think about their marriage.

Having read the news, Rune thought Rose had got back together with Leon. So, when he bumped into her, he congratulated her for getting her first love back. Rose said no, Rune was wrong. She was not getting back with Leon.

Rose asked Rune if he wanted to have dinner with her. From that moment on, Rune and Rose decided to start dating again and see if they could go to the next step.

THE END.