little miss austin

There are two forms of payment for manuscript fees in existing publishing contracts. One is buyout, that is, no matter how many words your manuscript is, the publisher pays a certain amount of manuscript fees. From then on, your manuscript has nothing to do with you, and Because almost all female authors in this era choose to publish their novels anonymously or under a pseudonym, and the author cannot gain fame from the best-selling novels; the other is commissioned publishing. According to the actual sales figures, after removing the cost, a 10% commission is drawn before paying the author's manuscript fee. The risk of this form of publishing is that if the actual sales volume is less than the printing volume, the author will bear the cost risk.

However, the number of novels published in this era was very small, and some of the best-selling novels were printed in only 500 to 1000 copies, and many novels did not even have 500 printed copies; and the cost of publishing was very high, because the printing press required proficiency. Manual operation by workers, and expensive publishing paper—this part of the reason is that the novel is different from any cheap political propaganda leaflets, and strives for perfection in terms of paper, printing ink, and manual binding.

Reading novels in this era is still a pastime for the wealthy and leisurely people. They hope that the books they get can show their social status. Publishers also cater to market demand, and the paper and binding are high-end. The price of a novel is usually As high as 15 shillings or 18 shillings, and 1 pound is 20 shillings, which means that it is very difficult for novel reading to be popularized below the gentry class.Even though the literacy rate of the people has been greatly improved after the popularization of printing in European countries, the income has not increased significantly. People below the gentry class are busy supporting their families and have no time to read novels.

"But what if the author already has some fame?" Alice asked.

"That would be much better, and the publisher could pre-order it so that you would have a rough idea of ​​how many copies the novel would sell."

Alice thought for a while, then nodded: This is like the fact that famous authors of later generations can always get more royalties than newcomers, and readers will be more inclined to familiar authors.From this point of view, the first book is suitable for buyout, so that the publisher can get as much profit as possible, and when negotiating the publishing contract for the next book, she will be willing to give a more generous contract; if she is lucky, she only needs Publishing 3 or 4 books can reach the small goal of 1000 pounds-hi!It's not as difficult as it seems!

She dreamed enthusiastically for a while, but then the question came up: she is only 6 years old now, what kind of novel is she writing at this age, and it has been published and made money, isn't she too advanced?This is not in line with her original intention of being a low-key person!

Henry looked amusedly at the little sister opposite, who looked elated for a while, and frowning for a while, the expression on her little face was rich.

"What do you think?"

"Ah—I'm wondering if Jane would like to publish her novel. Maybe she thinks that the young lady writes novels just for fun, and if she uses it to make money, it's not very stylish."

Henry disagreed, "She is willing to write novels as a pastime, there is nothing to say, but if it is because of an income, wouldn't it be better? The money will be spent when it is used!" He sighed.

"I thought it was not suitable for ladies from a family like ours to do work other than housework, nor to have any reputation outside. What is that word called? literacylioness, isn't it?"

"I think this kind of concept is very old." Henry frowned, "Why did the religious movement of 'witch hunting' in the Middle Ages actually persecute educated women, which caused the ignorant age in the Middle Ages. Think about it , our mother was also very well educated, if she couldn't read, had no knowledge, father would never have known her, wouldn't have married her, then there would be no us."

Alice nodded obediently.

"Don't look at my mother who is busy doing housework all day long. When my father is very busy, she can also teach us. Didn't you expect it? Can you imagine what we are talking about, but she can't understand it?"

Alice shook her head.

"So I think the person who coined this phrase is really bad! Obviously they all want to marry a well-educated lady, and they have very high requirements for their wives, but they actually restrict this one at a time, and restrict that at another time, probably because they think that if a woman understands the knowledge If there are too many, they will be far away."

Alice couldn't help laughing, "What about you? You are also a man."

Henry was proud, "I'm different. I'm a forward-looking man with a big heart. I also respect women, including you, my little sister."

Alice laughed and nodded repeatedly.

Henry first took Alice to the Oxford militia to report for leave.

The militia is an active military organization. It participated in the French Revolutionary War a few years ago. Henry graduated with a master's degree in that year and joined the militia, but he didn't catch up with the group that went to the French battlefield.He never went to a military academy, but because of his good background and high academic qualifications, he entered the militia and became a lieutenant officer.

Henry went to report to his chief, put Alice outside the office door, and told her not to run around.

Some officers and soldiers who came and went looked at her curiously, knowing that she must be the younger sister or daughter of some officer's family.

Henry came out after a while, "Come on, let's take you to my dormitory."

The officer’s dormitory can be said to be very comfortable. On the side of the barracks, there are several square buildings with a mixed structure of brick and wood. The lieutenants live in one of the buildings. Henry has his own suite. Living room, plus a reception room, and a dedicated orderly to handle chores, such as cleaning and ironing uniforms, polishing boots, preparing horses, delivering letters, and so on.

The orderly kept Henry's room very clean.

"Does anyone live here with their wives?" Alice asked curiously.

"Some junior officers live with their wives."

"Then you are going to get married in the future, what should you do?"

"I hope I can have money to rent her a house nearby. Think about it, what kind of woman can endure living in a dormitory?"

Indeed, compared to home, the officer's suite in the dormitory is still too small.

Alice nodded in agreement, "Are you rich?"

Henry laughed, "You really worry about me!"

"It's impossible for Edward to lend you money all the time."

Henry was a little embarrassed, and quickly changed the subject, "It's still early, I'll take you to Anna's house right now."

Henry took Alice to Anna's residence. It was a small villa, clean and tidy inside and out, exuding a cold atmosphere. Lady Anna is a young widow, about 30 years old, a distant relative of the Lee family.She lived alone, with as few servants as possible, and it is said that she did not like too many people around.

Pastor George wrote to her before, and she wrote back saying that Alice could stay with her temporarily. The reply was very cold, but she didn't refuse, just the kind of tone that wasn't very enthusiastic about anything.

Anna was not very pretty, and her appearance was compromised by that cold expression that was not very enthusiastic about anything.She was a very different kind of person from her cousin Eliza, who was also a widow. Eliza was a happy widow, rich, and being a widow didn't prevent her from going to balls and meeting beautiful young men.

"This is our cousin Anna, Anna, this is my little sister, Alice, you haven't seen her yet."

Anna looked at Alice, "She is so small! How old is she?"

"Six," Alice replied, "Hi, Cousin Anna."

"Su Li will take you to your room. If you need anything, just tell her." Anna shook a brass bell on the table, and a maid in her 40s came in and took Alice away.

Su Li took her up to the second floor, and whispered to her the rules in this villa: the hostess doesn't like to be noisy, so although she is a little girl, she can't run around; if you need anything, you can find her The hostess said that all requirements can be met; you can eat whatever you want, the hostess is not short of money; don’t go to the hostess if you have nothing to do, if you want to find someone to play with her, Su Li will bring some children to her tomorrow pick.

He also talked about how to eat three meals a day: the hostess eats breakfast in the room, and eats lunch with her at 4:9 p.m.; dinner is before 7 p.m. You can order the kitchen to serve meals between o'clock, but it is best to have a fixed time.

Alice said, dinner at eight o'clock sharp.

Su Li nodded and said yes, and wrote it down.

I took her to the guest room and passed by Anna's room on the way. Her guest room was almost at the opposite corner of the corridor on the second floor. She was indeed a very quiet person.It just so happened that Alice also thought it would be nice to live far away, so everyone was happy.

Su Li also said that after dinner, she will have a dedicated maid who will take care of all the chores in her room, including braiding her hair.

Not long after, her exclusive maid came up with her suitcase.

Su Li introduced her, "Lydia, this is Miss Alice."

Lydia quickly put down the suitcase and curtseyed, "Miss Alice."

Su Li left the room.

Alice then took a look at Lydia: she is not very young, about 15 or 6 years old, very thin, not beautiful, I can only say that she looks average, and looks quite honest.She hasn't used her own maid yet, so it's kind of - try and see what that feels like.

"Hang my clothes in the closet, and then, find me a stack of writing paper, the paper used by my wife to write letters is also fine. There are also pens and ink. Do you know who to ask for?"

Lydia nodded, "Yes."

"Okay. I'm going downstairs to eat later, you pick me a skirt, I want to change." She pondered, Lydia was probably trained as a personal maid, otherwise Su Li wouldn't let Lydia serve she.Su Li should be the housekeeper.No hostess, possibly butler?

The author has something to say:

*literacylioness, free translation "literate lion", celebrity.Women in that era were ashamed of being "famous".

*Henry has a good relationship with Jane, and later became Jane's agent, contacting her for the publication of novels.