Literary Master 1978

In the early days of reform and opening up, there was gold everywhere, and this was not an empty talk. In these days, as long as you are brave, making money is not a problem.

The difficulty lies in not being cheated, not being deceived, not being caught, and being able to continue to develop stably.

In the 1980s, many trendsetters had a good start. Many people always regarded the gifts of the times as a reflection of their personal abilities. After achieving a little success, they became arrogant and ended up in a miserable end.

At this time in 1981, Du Feng had the courage to retire from the army and do business. He was sure to make money, but whether he could make it bigger and stronger depended on his own luck.

However, looking at this kid's arrogant look, he is bound to fall down a little.

It is a good thing to encounter some setbacks at the beginning, which is better than falling down after becoming bigger.

"Brother-in-law, don't cook tonight. I'll treat you to dinner at Lao Mo."

"You're not showing off enough money!"

Tao Yushu scolded Du Feng and refused his treat. Lin Chaoyang also said, "We'll accept the gift, but don't eat. Your business has just started. You should focus more on it when you have time."

After being hit by the couple, Du Feng's smug attitude when he came was lowered a lot. He had a meal at home and left.

"It's true that a dog can't hold two taels of sesame oil!"

After Du Feng left, Tao Yushu summarized his cousin's status.

"Before, he was earning a salary, and now he has made so much money out of the blue. He must have gone through such a stage." Lin Chaoyang said.

Tao Yushu looked at him, "You earn so much royalties, but I haven't seen you get so proud of yourself like him, right?"

"That's because I know I will definitely earn more in the future than now. If you give me one million now, I might be more arrogant than him." Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

Tao Yushu also laughed, but she didn't take her husband's words seriously. Because she believed that even if her husband really made a million now, he would not be so complacent.

She thought of Du Feng's state, "His temper is really worrying."

"Young people, it's not a bad thing to fall down early."

Lin Chaoyang firmly believes in a saying: People teach people, hundreds of words are useless; things teach people, once they are taught, they are deeply touched.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang received the royalties for "The Shepherd" and "The Little Shoes" paid by Renwen Publishing House. They want to make a novel selection, and publish it to the friendly Yugoslavia.

The royalties are not much, six yuan per thousand words, which is 450 yuan according to the number of words in the two novels.

In the past year, even when Lin Chaoyang had no new works published, he would receive a royalties every one or two months, sometimes even several times a month.

Publishing royalties, reprinting royalties, reprinting royalties... Adding them together, these royalties alone amount to several thousand yuan a year.

This is the benefit of high output of works. For other writers who are equally famous, one or two thousand yuan a year is considered a lot because their output is not high.

After the payment was received, Zhu Changsheng found Lin Chaoyang again and said that the leaders of the publishing house wanted to meet him.

Last time, Renwen Publishing House said that it would publish "The Death of Van Gogh", and Lin Chaoyang asked for a raise in the payment. Renwen Publishing House agreed to meet and talk, which means that they intended to raise the price.

That morning, he happily came to No. 166 Chaonei Street.

First, he went to the editorial office of "Contemporary" in the back building and sat for a while. During the chat, he heard a news that the entire editorial department of "October" was pulled to D School to study.

The reason why the editorial department of "October" was treated like this was because the magazine published the play "Bitter Love" in the third issue of September 1979.

The content of the play tells the life experience of the painter Ling Chenguang. Because the content is sensitive, the play has been controversial since its publication.

Last year, this script was picked up by Peng Ning, a director of Changchun Film Studio, and made into a movie. It became one of the two films criticized by the film and cultural circles at the end of last year, along with "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" directed by Xie Jin.

Among them, "Bitter Love" was criticized by the "Liberation Army Daily" and "Report of the Times·Supplement".

Xie Jin has been famous for many years, and has the support of many famous people. "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" was successfully reviewed and released, and also won the first Golden Rooster Award and the fourth Hundred Flowers Award.

In contrast, the fate of "Bitter Love" was not so good. The film could not pass the review, even if it was renamed "The Sun and People". In the end, it had to be shelved by Changchun Film Studio.

Two years after the script was published, the movie could not be released, the script and the screenwriter were criticized, and even "October", which published the script, suffered.

The entire editorial department was pulled to D School to study, and Zhang Zhonge of the "October" editorial department had to "take sick leave" because he disagreed with the criticism from the outside world.

The reason why the editors of Contemporary Magazine discussed this matter today was because Zhang Zhonge would be transferred to Contemporary Magazine after his "rest".

After chatting with everyone for a while, Zhu Changsheng led Lin Chaoyang to the editor-in-chief's office in the front building.

"Talk to the editor-in-chief about the manuscript fee."

After Zhu Changsheng said this, he threw Lin Chaoyang to Wei Junyi.

Wei Junyi, nicknamed Old Lady Wei, is an old revolutionary from the Yan A period, so she has great prestige in Renwenshe.

There are three horses in Renwenshe, namely the president, editor-in-chief and secretary. The current president Yan Wenjing has a more detached personality and does not compete with the world. Secretary Zhou You goes to work every day, but people in the society usually don't know what he is doing.

Speaking of which, among the troika, only Wei Junyi, the editor-in-chief, has some sense of presence in the society. She shoulders all the difficult, troublesome and trivial matters, which further enhances her prestige in the society.

Wei Junyi was reviewing the manuscript when Lin Chaoyang entered the office. She looked up at Lin Chaoyang and said, "Sit down for a while." Then she lowered her head and continued reading the manuscript for a long time.

Lin Chaoyang thought to himself, this is going to give himself a chance!

He sat calmly for a while, then took out a book from the bookshelf and read it.

After an unknown amount of time, he raised his head when he heard the noise and saw Wei Junyi lowering her head, looking at him with raised eyebrows over her reading glasses.

"You are quite calm."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "What you said, I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I be upset?"

"I feel a little guilty when I say this."

Lin Chaoyang said calmly: "You can say whatever you want."

After a few detours, Wei Junyi got down to the topic, "I heard the response from Contemporary magazine was that you want to increase the royalties?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded calmly, "Yes. Our Humanities Society has published several of my works, and you should know the sales. My works have created a lot of benefits for the society, and I think it is reasonable to increase the royalties."

"The standard of the royalties we give you is based on the royalties regulations."

"The regulations don't say you won't be allowed to increase your salary. Besides, there are the same standards for good and bad sales of novels. How can we inspire the creative enthusiasm of the majority of comrade writers?"

Wei Junyi's eyes were sharp, "You have a lot of reasons."

"All valid reasons."

"Nowadays, publishing houses and magazines implement the above-mentioned remuneration regulations. Why do you think you can increase the remuneration? What if I don't agree? If you go to other publishing houses, they will also give you the same remuneration standard."

Wei Junyi's expression was serious and unsmiling.

Lin Chaoyang said nonchalantly: "That's not necessarily the case. The humanities publishing house has a great cause, and a novel like mine is as good as mine. That's not necessarily the case with other publishing houses. I heard that Huacheng Publishing House in Guangzhou treats its writer friends the same way. Very friendly.”

Hearing this, Wei Junyi's eyes narrowed, "A publishing house that has just been established in Huacheng has limited resources. Giving your novel to them is probably a secret investment."

"It doesn't matter, I don't have to worry about selling my novel!"

As soon as these words came out, a strong self-confidence rushed over her face, leaving Wei Junyi silent on the spot.

After a while, she slowly said: "You have been cooperating with our Humanities Society for such a long time. If you have any requirements for manuscript fees, our society will definitely try to meet them as much as possible... The manuscript fee for a thousand words will be mentioned to you at 12 yuan."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "This standard is a bit low."

"Twelve yuan per thousand words is still low? Go and ask, how many people in the Chinese literary world can achieve this standard?"

“It has nothing to do with whether anyone can achieve this standard, but I have created value for the publishing house, and there should be corresponding returns.

Editor-in-Chief Wei, with all due respect, our current publishing remuneration regulations seriously underestimate the value created by our writers..."

Wei Junyi waved her hand, "Stop saying these words. We don't set the rules."

Lin Chaoyang stopped the topic, "Okay, let me tell you the truth. I don't ask you to increase my basic royalties, but in terms of the royalties for the number of print runs, I hope that the company can take into account the sales performance of the novel and increase it as appropriate."

Listening to his words, Wei Junyi's eyes flashed with softness.

Basic royalties and print-run royalties are both royalties paid by publishers to writers, but the difference is that basic royalties must be paid after publication, while print-run royalties are settled based on the sales performance of the work.

Some works do not sell well after they are published. In addition to the royalties from the first printing, the writers do not get a penny from the royalties from the first printing.

If the work sells well, the writer can get remuneration for the number of prints and the publishing house can make more money. Lin Chaoyang's request is equivalent to sharing the risk with the publishing house.

"Discretion?" Wei Junyi picked out the words in Lin Chaoyang's words.

"6% of 10,000 copies." Lin Chaoyang said a number.

"Impossible! 6% is too much." Wei Junyi said firmly.

According to the current royalties regulations, royalties for printing runs are based on the basic royalties, with a royalties of 2% for every 10,000 copies. The figure proposed by Lin Chaoyang is equivalent to a 200% increase from the existing standards.

"You said I want more, isn't it because my works sell well? Doesn't the company make money?"

Lin Chaoyang's words caused Wei Junyi to fall into silence.

"In terms of creation, it is true that the writer is the soul of the work. But in the book publishing industry, every process of a book from planning to publication, editing and proofreading, printing and binding, transportation and shelving... has a cost. "

"I understand what you said. But the remuneration paid to our writers by the publishing house is not based on cost, but based on the basic remuneration, right?

No matter how well my novel sells, the calculation standard is based on the basic royalties, so the publisher will not suffer any loss. "

Lin Chaoyang's argumentative attitude gave Wei Junyi a headache. She had long heard that this young writer valued manuscript fees, but she didn't expect it to be so difficult.

Not satisfied with the manuscript fee of 12 yuan per thousand words, the manuscript fee was actually increased for the number of prints, and not just a little bit, but a direct increase of 200% on the original basis.

"Your request is too high, 3% at most."

Lin Chaoyang smiled bitterly and said: "I've been talking for a long time, and you just give me a 1% increase. Then I might as well ask for 12 yuan for a thousand words."

"Let's take a step back and take 5%. If my novel sells one million copies, I will only pay a few thousand yuan more in royalties. Your publishing house earns hundreds of thousands."

"Nonsense. If it really sells one million copies, our publishing house will only earn tens of thousands of yuan."

"You can lie to me, but don't lie to yourself."

Lin Chaoyang made a witty remark, and then Wei Junyi glared at him.

After a long silence, Wei Junyi finally said: "Okay! I can agree to your 5% condition."

Lin Chaoyang smiled as a winner when he heard this.

At this time, Wei Junyi said: "But you have to agree to one condition of mine."