Literary Master 1978

Hearing what Liu Xinwu said, Su Yu's eyes showed curiosity.

"He is a person who pays every penny for manuscript fees." Liu Xinwu said.

Su Yu's face became clear. She had heard people say this before, "You mean, as long as you increase his manuscript fee, you will definitely get his manuscript?"

"You can't say that, it also depends on the influence of the magazine. Chaoyang has been famous for several years, and he has been invited to publish by 80 or not 100 publications. When have you ever seen his novels submitted to those regional magazines? ?”

Su Yu thought for a while, and it seemed that this was really the case.

Liu Xinwu continued: "I think we can ask Lao Wang to join us. Doesn't he also want the publishing rights of "The Master of Chess"? It will definitely be easier for us to talk to Chaoyang together. And inviting Lao Wang will help the society in this regard. Those with royalties will not be so stubborn.”

Su Yu nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "Okay, then join Lao Wang and leave this matter to you."

The picture flashed through his mind, and Liu Xinwu then said to Lin Chaoyang: "Our publishing house is very sincere this time. Not only does "October" want to publish your new work, we also want the publishing rights of "The Master of Chess" want."

"Oh?" Lin Chaoyang became even more interested after hearing this.

Wang Shimin said at this time: "Chaoyang, although our Yanjing Publishing House is not as famous as the Humanities Society, it is also a first-class comprehensive publishing house nationwide. Thanks to your favor, our publishing house introduced "Longing for Life" ——The Biography of Van Gogh" sold well after its publication..."

Lin Chaoyang waved his hands after hearing what he said, "The work is still excellent."

"In any case, you have a close relationship with our Yanjing Publishing House. Our publishing house sincerely hopes that you can hand over "The Master of Chess" to us. We will definitely be the most generous in terms of manuscript fees."

Well, I like the adjective "most generous", and I hope you don't violate advertising laws.

Lin Chaoyang was happy in his heart, but his face was indifferent, "As for the specific fee..."

"I heard that the basic royalties for "The Death of Van Gogh" published by the Humanities Society are 12 yuan per thousand words. If the sales exceed 800,000 copies, the royalties will be increased to 5% for 10,000 copies." Wang Shimin asked.

Old Mrs. Wei, your humanities club has been infiltrated into a sieve by me!

"Yes, you understand it quite clearly." Lin Chaoyang said.

Wang Shimin looked proud, "Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles."

You think I'm complimenting you, right?

After all, he is also a new financial backer. Lin Chaoyang must not be able to say this. Instead, he has to say: "It makes sense."

Wang Shimin solemnly said: "For the publication of "The Master of Chess", we are willing to provide you with a basic royalties of 14 yuan for 1,000 words. We will cancel the preconditions of the Humanities Society in terms of the royalties for print runs. As long as it is published, the royalties for print runs will be 5 yuan for 10,000 copies. % to execute.”

After Wang Shimin finished speaking, Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly. The price was indeed very sincere.

At this time, Liu Xinwu added: "Chaoyang, if your new novel is published by "October", the publishing fee will be fourteen yuan per thousand words. And if you can give us the publishing rights of this novel, the publishing fee will be We can give you a basic remuneration of fifteen yuan per thousand words.”

Is this a case of packing?

Lin Chaoyang remained calm and asked with a chuckle: "You haven't read the novel yet. Have you even thought about the royalties for publication?"

"We believe in your ability and have confidence in the quality of your novels!"

Wang Shimin silently gave Liu Xinwu a thumbs up. What he said was beautiful. What writer could stand such slanderous words? Xinwu is indeed an old editor!

However, the two of them did not have blind confidence in Lin Chaoyang. Wang Shimin had already known that Lin Chaoyang's new work was the product of last year's "Yanjing Literature" Huangdao PEN Club. Zhang Dening also told him a rough story, and then Liu Xinwu I learned about some creative situations from Li Tuo.

Although they have not read the manuscript, they have a good idea of ​​the general quality of the novel.

They are a group of old editors who are cunning and cunning. They are just like the flirting scumbags in the bar. They always say the same thing to any beautiful woman.

Lin Chaoyang didn't have any trouble in his heart, but on the surface he still had to show his feelings. After all, they gave him a lot of money!

"Thank you both for your trust. Both "October" and Yanjing Publishing House are industry leaders. I feel relieved that the work can be placed in your hands."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Liu Xinwu and Wang Shimin were elated.

Liu Xinwu held Lin Chaoyang's hand and almost cried with joy. He felt that the bad luck that had been hanging on him for nearly three years had finally dissipated.

"Chaoyang, I finally got your draft!"

After greeting each other, Lin Chaoyang said: "By the way. What I promised just now is the publication of "The Master of Chess" and the publication of a new work. It's too early to talk about it now. Let's wait until later."

Hearing this, the smile on Wang Shimin's face weakened by two points, and he thought he could win it all.

"That's fine, that's fine."

Anyway, "Chess Master" was taken down first, which is considered a victory, Wang Shimin thought to himself.

After seeing off Liu and Wang, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang: "Now your novel has really become a popular piece of cake!"

"Isn't it always a good thing?" Lin Chaoyang said jokingly.

His arrogance was naturally just a joke between husband and wife. Tao Yushu rolled her eyes at him, "I mean in terms of manuscript fees. These magazines and publishing houses seem to be more and more willing to increase manuscript fees to compile manuscripts."

"It's normal. Literary magazines have become so popular in the past two years, with sales of hundreds of thousands of copies.

Take "October" as an example. The price of their magazine is one yuan, and the sales volume of 500,000 copies of a bimonthly issue is 500,000 yuan.

Even if you give it to Xinhua Bookstore at a 30-30% discount, it's still 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.

Their biggest costs are printing and binding, which account for 25%. The largest remaining expense is the manuscript fee. The content of one issue of the magazine is limited, with a maximum of 300,000 words. Calculated at 10 yuan per thousand words, it is only 3,000 yuan. "

After thinking about this, Lin Chaoyang sighed: "Publishing magazines nowadays is indeed a good business."

Tao Yushu joked: "I think you should stop being a writer and start a magazine instead."

"I can't do this. I'm too lazy. I need a hard-working person like you."

Tao Yushu laughed at him, "Your laziness is not physical laziness, but ideological laziness."

Lin Chaoyang did not argue with her, "That's what Madam said."

As he spoke, he took her hand and said, "My husband, I will work hard tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up Tao Yushu's body and strode towards the bedroom.

Three days later, in the old wooden building at No. 51 Dongxinglong Street, Dongcheng District, Yanjing.

Compared with when it was founded four years ago, the decoration and layout of the editorial office of "October" have not changed much. The real changes are in personnel.

When "October" was first published in 1978, there was no editor-in-chief. Wang Shimin, the head of the literary and art section of the society, was in charge. In 1979, the society appointed Su Yu, the editor-in-chief of "October".

During this period, two new people came. In the second half of last year, the entire editorial department of "October" was sent to D school to study because of "Bitter Love". Zhang Zhong'e, the founder of the magazine, was also transferred out of the editorial department.

Fortunately, his final result was good, and he went to "Contemporary", which is also a famous magazine.

For the past two days, Liu Xinwu has been sitting at his desk, concentrating on reviewing manuscripts. Most of the time, his brows are furrowed, and occasionally his brows are relaxed, but he will soon become entangled again.

That afternoon, when it was time to get off work, Liu Xinwu finally put down the manuscript in his hand and sighed softly.

"Xinwu, how is it? The manuscript is not ideal?"

Zhang Shouren has been observing Liu Xinwu in the past two days.

Three days ago, Liu Xinwu and Wang Shimin went to Lin Chaoyang together. It is said that they spent a lot of money to get the publishing rights of Lin Chaoyang's new work and "The Master of Chess".

Zhang Shouren did not agree with this way of organizing articles. It was not that he had any objection to Lin Chaoyang. He had been an editor for decades and firmly believed that magazines were a platform for works to shine.

How can any magazine take the initiative to increase manuscript fees for writers? If this is the case, won’t the literary journal industry be completely in chaos in the future? Just decide who has more money.

However, Liu Xinwu settled down with the editor-in-chief Su Yu and found Wang Shimin. Even if he wanted to object, he could not do anything.

Ever since Liu Xinwu got back Lin Chaoyang's manuscript that day, Zhang Shouren had been paying attention to it. Seeing that Liu Xinwu seemed to have finished reviewing the manuscript today, he immediately asked about it.

Listening to Zhang Shouren's questions, Liu Xinwu showed a look of embarrassment on his face.

"It's not ideal."

Seeing his expression and hesitation, Zhang Shouren was curious, "Then what do you mean?"

Liu Xinwu recalled the plot in the novel and said thoughtfully: "After reading the novel, I felt that it was a little different from what I imagined. Chaoyang seemed to be taking a very new path."

Zhang Shouren became more and more confused by what he said, "Why don't you show me the manuscript first, and then we can talk about it after you finish reading it."

"That's fine." Liu Xinwu handed over the manuscript.

Three more days passed. During these three days, Zhang Shouren had been reading the manuscript Liu Xinwu gave him, and his behavior was exactly the same as Liu Xinwu's.

"Xinwu, let's talk." Another afternoon, Zhang Shouren found Liu Xinwu after reading the manuscript.

"Okay, let me talk first."

After holding back for three days, Liu Xinwu seemed a little excited to finally be able to communicate with Zhang Shouren.

"Okay, let's talk first."

Liu Xinwu rubbed his hands, "It can be seen from the previous "The Death of Van Gogh" that Chaoyang has a special liking for suspense elements. In this novel, his creation is more bold, applying suspense elements to It’s the ultimate. Or let’s put it this way, it’s a suspense novel in itself.”

"If you look at the story alone, the story of this novel is not complicated. As a police officer, Yan Shouzhong and his colleague Lei Jianming came to an island to investigate the disappearance of a female mental prisoner, Zhang Peilan. Zhang Peilan was accused of murder. My three children are highly dangerous.

Upon arriving on the island, the weather is harsh, which adds to the isolation of the island and the mysterious atmosphere of the story. During the investigation, Yan Shouzhong and Lei Jianming discovered that the staff of the mental hospital seemed to be hiding something from them.

At the same time, he is also haunted by nightmares about his wife's death.

As the investigation deepened, Yan Shouzhong discovered that there might be illegal human experiments on the island. He thought he had found clues to the disappearance case, but it turned out that he was the one suffering from schizophrenia.

Zhang Peilan was his wife's name, and she did kill their children because of mental illness. Unable to accept this reality, Yan Shouzhong created the identity of a police officer to try to escape the pain in his heart.

And his colleague Lei Jianming is actually the doctor in charge of him, and the entire investigation process is actually a carefully designed drama to help him face and accept the truth. "

"This is my simple summary of the story. As I just said, this story is not complicated, but it is extremely sophisticated and deep in structure and narrative.

Chaoyang used the isolated island and bad weather to create a mysterious veil. At the narrative level, he adopted a non-linear narrative structure, cleverly interweaving reality and fantasy, past and present, forming a multi-layered narrative.

His narrative style first appeared in "Lai Zi's Summer", and went a step further in "The Death of Van Gogh". In this novel, it can be said to be perfect.

This narrative style is more like a narrative trap, but when you read it, you can't help but be immersed in it and have the urge to uncover the mystery step by step.

Compared with Chaoyang's previous works, it can be clearly found that in this novel, he put more energy on skills.

This creative trend of his appeared in "Lai Zi's Summer", but the skills were not as exquisite as they are now.

If I want to use one word to summarize this work, I will give two words: showmanship.

Of course, his showmanship does not ignore the story itself. On the contrary, it adds mystery to the story and has a unique style. "

After a long conversation, Liu Xinwu finally spoke out the thoughts that had been pent up in his heart for the past two days, and looked at Zhang Shouren eagerly, "Old Zhang, what do you think?"