On December 15th, Zhihu Yanyan Story held the "2024 Zhihu Yanyan Story Short Story Influence Night" in Boao, Hainan, and officially released the "2024 Short Story Influence List". A total of 76 outstanding authors and works were selected for the list, covering 11 content categories and 3 major author types. Popular works such as "Pen Holding", "Zhao Dian Hong", and "Xiang Shu Shi" were all on the list.
The "2024 Zhihu Salt Story Short Story Influence Night" is guided by the China Writers Association and Hainan Writers Association. The event also invites outstanding authors, industry partners, experts from Peking University Network Literature Research Forum and Yangtze River Network Literature Review Center to gather together and explore the ecology of short story creation.
Selecting high-quality short story authors and upgrading their industry influence
The "Short Story Influence List" is an annual short story tour initiated by Yan Yan Story, and also the first short story track works and author list in the online literature industry. After the release of the 2023 and first ranking, it has received high attention from industries such as online literature and film, becoming an important channel for observing the development trend of short stories and discovering high-quality author works.
The 2024 ranking has completed multiple upgrades, covering more content categories and creative types based on dimensions such as work quality, data performance, and industry chain potential, further strengthening the industry chain influence of short stories.
In terms of the selection mechanism, this list invites two authoritative institutions and experts, Peking University Online Literature Research Forum and Yangtze River Online Literature Research Center, to score and evaluate the entire process, and initiates a nationwide vote to ensure the fairness and professionalism of the list.
In terms of award settings, it covers 11 categories of annual work awards, including "Most Popular", "Best Creative Story", "Most Valuable Film and Television", "Best Sound Drama", "Salt Selection Refreshing Literature", "Salt Selection Abusive Literature", "Salt Selection Sweet Literature", "Salt Selection Suspense", "Salt Selection Innovation", "Salt Selection Brain Hole", and "Salt Selection World Situation", as well as 3 categories of author awards, including "Annual Salt Selection Author", "Annual Chasing Salt Author", and "Annual Newcomer Author". Finally, 76 outstanding authors and works were selected. Among them, "Best Sound Drama" and "New Author of the Year" were added as new awards in this year, effectively expanding the scope of the selection.
According to Fan Junmei, Vice President and Head of Paid Reading Business at Zhihu, our works are more diverse and mature in this year's ranking selection. Many new authors continue to emerge, and the linkage of the IP industry has also been fully demonstrated. These upgrades not only demonstrate the consumption trend of a wide range of readers, but also mark a new level of influence in the short story industry over the past year.
Online literature, film and television, and audio dramas are all flourishing, with good content blooming and greater imagination space
There are many outstanding works on the "2024 Short Story Influence List". The novel 'Zhao Dian Hong', created by the author 'Xi Xi Yan' from Salt Selection, has created an alternative narrative theme of time travel, receiving 177000 likes and nearly one million reads, and was selected as the most beloved work of the year with a reader voting rate of 13.7%. This work also won the "Golden Keyboard Award for Online Literature" at the 4th Yangtze River Online Literature Week held in October this year. The ancient power strategy work "The Philosopher" created by Yan Xuan's author "Enyang" also stood out this year, telling the story of the treacherous court power strategy, full of epic and destiny, and was also selected as the most beloved work of the year. The novel "Dress Up as an 18th Line Girl and I'll Go viral on the Internet while Sitting on a Crocodile" created by "Meow Who Doesn't Eat Fish" interprets a peculiar non mainstream story from the perspective of "Kapibala" animals. The writing is full of humor and has become a popular stress relieving masterpiece among young people, selected as a "Salt Selection Brain Hole" work.
It is worth noting that the works on the "Short Story Influence List" all show great potential for industry development and appreciation. For example, the previously selected work "River Clear Sea Yan" not only successfully made it to the "New Knowledge Three Wonders" this year, but also adapted an audio drama with over a million views, ultimately being selected as the best audio drama work of the year. In 2024, the hit short drama "Pen" set multiple playback and revenue records, becoming a benchmark for adaptations of Zhihu Yanyan stories in film and television dramas, and was unquestionably selected as the most valuable film and television work. Many works on this year's list, such as "Zhao Dian Hong," "Long Life," "Yin Du Yi Yao Lu," and "He Qing Hai Yan," have already sold their film and television adaptation rights and are gradually entering the IP development stage.
The excellent salt selection authors emerging in 2024 have also received great attention. Mi Hua, who has continuously created excellent works such as "Yindu Yiyao Lu" and "Fish Lantern Soul Guide", has once again been selected as the annual salt selection author. With the stunning new author "Enyang" who made a name for himself in "The Philosopher", he has also been widely recognized by judges and readers. New and old authors have grown together to create excellent works, greatly enriching the salt story creation ecology.
Zhihu founder and CEO Zhou Yuan stated that since the development of Zhihu Yanyan Story, a new ecosystem has been formed. With an ecosystem, content has vitality. Just like Yuval Harari stated in "A Brief History of Humankind" that one of the most powerful abilities of humans is storytelling, and those who can tell stories have the power to change the world. Zhihu also hopes to work with many authors in the future to create more good stories.