Big-screen dreams for online novelists novelists

In recent years, publishers, directors and TV producers have taken a keen interest in popular online novels, thanks to their originality and solid fan base.

Genre is an important factor. According to a survey by Chinese online literature platform Cloudary, of 100 online novels whose copyrights were sold by Cloudary for adaption in 2012, modern city novels, historical romances and war stories were the most popular.

Online author Liu Chenfeng's best-known novel A Clear Midsummer Night is a love story. It attracted more than 30 million Web hits and won the top prize in the annual competition for Chinese romance novels in 2012.