Chapter 788 Dreams never die!

After talking about movies, everyone turned the topic to novels.

Among Chinese film directors, the ones with the closest ties to the literary world must be the fifth generation directors.

This group of people caught up with the literary heyday of the 1980s. They all had a literary bent in their bones to a greater or lesser extent, and when they first started out, they mostly collaborated with other writers.

Cheng Kaige's debut work "Yellow Earth" was adapted from Ke Lan's "Echoes in the Deep Valley", Zhang Yimou's debut work "Red Sorghum" was adapted from Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum Family", and Tian Zhuangzhuang's debut work "Red Elephant" was adapted from Wang Duanyang's "Secrets of the Red Elephant"...

Almost every one of Zhang Yimou's films is adapted from a literary work, so when talking about literature, he can talk as endlessly as the writers themselves.

Lin Weimin's "God Bless America" ​​has been published for nearly two months. During this period of time, the criticism it has caused in the cultural circle has exceeded that of any of his previous works.

If an ordinary writer were to be subjected to such a flood of criticism and attacks, he would probably have been in a state of constant fear.

However, Lin Weimin remained calm and composed from beginning to end. He was not affected by public opinion at all. When people mentioned those negative comments, he also behaved rationally and calmly.

"I think the scolding has become less frequent recently."

Yu Hua attaches more importance to Lin Weimin's evaluation of his novels than his own novels, and always collects the review articles from newspapers and magazines as soon as possible.

"I'm tired of scolding them, it's time to take a break. They don't take any money, and it's boring to keep scolding them like this." Lin Weimin said in a relaxed tone.

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Tong Zhonggui said, "People in the publishing house sometimes discuss that the more criticism your novel gets, the higher its sales will be. Three million copies a month, no one has ever created this."

Everyone was astonished when they heard this number. Not to mention 3 million copies sold in a single month, even if the total sales volume was 3 million copies, it would be a work that would go down in history as a monument in Chinese literature.

The achievement created by "God Bless America" ​​in one month may be the goal that many writers strive for throughout their lives.

"The scolding is like free publicity! Once this period of time is over, sales will drop." Lin Weimin said.

Yu Hua said: "It's not just a matter of scolding, the evaluation of the senior leaders is also an important reason!"

As soon as he mentioned this matter, everyone became interested.

The publishing experience of "God Bless America" ​​is so legendary. The joint review of several departments and the evaluation of the novel by senior leaders have been widely circulated in the past two or three months, and everyone is naturally very excited to talk about it.

"Among the readers who buy books, there are quite a few civil servants."

"Indeed. I still remember that after "The Ming Dynasty 1566" was published, everyone was saying that this was someone's bedside reading. After the news spread, the sales of the novel soared." Tong Zhonggui said.

"It's just a swarm of people. The sales of the novel right now are just so-so."

What Lin Weimin meant by “it’s just so-so” was that the sales volume had not exceeded 10 million copies.

"The Ming Dynasty 1566" has had good sales since its publication, but there is a problem with this novel. The content of historical novels is somewhat out of touch with reality. To put it bluntly, the reading threshold is high, and the audience group is naturally not that large.

The sales volume was good in the early stage, but as time went by, the long tail effect was not so high.

"I think the sales of Ming Dynasty 1566 are mainly due to the low reading threshold. The same is true for Chasing the Murderer. It's such a pity for this novel!" Yu Hua said with a little regret, "Teacher Lin's works in those two years were too readable!"

Shi Tiesheng said: "I don't think it's because it's too readable, but because it's too showy. It's really stunning to the eye, but it's also destined that many people won't be able to appreciate it."

"Yes, yes, that's a good idea." Yu Hua clapped his hands.

Lin Weimin asked Shi Tiesheng, "Don't just talk about my novel. How is your "Work Notes" going?"

“Almost finished.”

"It wasn't easy. I've been writing for several years. I'm finally going to finish it. I'll ask someone to pick up the manuscript later."

When Shi Tiesheng heard this, he looked a little hesitant and muttered a few words into Lin Weimin's ear.

After listening to this, Lin Weimin smiled and said, "That doesn't matter. Why don't you publish it in Da Jia first? We will publish it for you later. How about that?"

Shi Tiesheng was actually also in the hesitant stage, and Lin Weimin's words were equivalent to making a decision for him in disguise.

He thought for a moment and finally made a decision, "Okay, let's do it."

"What are you two talking about in secret?" Qu Xiaowei asked.

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Nothing. Da Jia contacted Tie Sheng and said they wanted to publish his "Notes on Work Retreat" and the fee was higher than ours. Tie Sheng was a little embarrassed, but what was there to be embarrassed about? It didn't matter where it was published."

"Higher than the Chinese Literature Press's manuscript fee? Is Da Jia so rich?"

"You are ignorant, aren't you? He has now become a big shot. Have you forgotten that Da Jia and Honghe Cigarette Factory organized a literary award this year? The prize money was 100,000 yuan?"

Speaking of "Da Jia", its status in the domestic literary world is not high, because this publication was founded very late, it is a bimonthly magazine that was founded only last year.

But don’t be fooled by the fact that it was founded late, it has great ambition.

At the beginning of its publication, "Da Jia" invited many well-known writers such as Wang Meng, Wang Zengqi, and Xie Mian to serve as column hosts, and the first issue was once sold for 100 yuan per copy.

At the beginning of this spring, Da Jia magazine and Honghe Cigarette Factory jointly established the Da Jia Honghe Literature Award, with a prize of up to 100,000 yuan.

The amount of this award broke the 50,000 yuan figure of the Yanbing Literature Award, becoming the largest award (prize money) in Chinese literature and causing a huge stir in the literary world.

The award was established this year but will be presented next year.

What Lin Weimin said was not true. In fact, it was not that the standard of royalties paid to Shi Tiesheng by "Da Jia" was higher than that of Guowen Publishing House. Rather, "Da Jia" contacted Shi Tiesheng and wanted him to publish "Notes on the Empty Chamber" in "Da Jia". "Da Jia" privately assured Shi Tiesheng that next year's Da Jia·Honghe Literature Award would be awarded to Shi Tiesheng and "Notes on the Empty Chamber".

Shi Tiesheng has been writing the novel "Notes on the Empty Chamber" for several years. Many friends have read the manuscript and found it to be of good quality. "Da Jia" contacted him in advance to read the manuscript and also recognized the level of "Notes on the Empty Chamber".

Moreover, Shi Tiesheng has a special status in the domestic literary world. He is regarded as a spiritual idol by countless readers and is deeply appreciated and admired by many of his peers. If this award is given to him, it would be well deserved.

Shi Tiesheng was of course very excited about the 100,000 yuan bonus. He had been writing tirelessly over the years and his income was quite good, but most of it had to be used for medical expenses, so his financial situation was not very good.

If he could get a bonus of 100,000 yuan at once, it would reduce a lot of burden on his family life, and he wouldn't need to feel so urgent when creating.

But the operation of "Da Jia" is somewhat inappropriate. Even if the editorial department has read the manuscript in advance and recognized his level, it will not sound good if such news gets out, so Shi Tiesheng has been hesitating about this matter recently.

Everyone's attention was diverted by Lin Weimin, who whispered to Shi Tiesheng, "Don't feel any burden. Their influence is not that great, so of course they want to be cautious when organizing an award for the first time. So it's understandable that they communicated with you in advance. Moreover, their awards are only given to works published in their own magazines. Since your work was published by them, it's only natural for you to win the award, and you don't need to feel any burden at all."

Lin Weimin has always tried his best to help Shi Tiesheng solve some of his life problems, but he would not take on the responsibility of settling everything with money.

Because he had to consider the feelings of his friend Shi Tiesheng, especially when his wealth far exceeded that of ordinary people.

From a procedural point of view, the "Da Jia" incident has some flaws.

But sometimes people are like this, it is difficult to be absolutely fair and just. When dealing with Shi Tiesheng, Lin Weimin is willing to tilt his stance.

Lin Weimin's comfort made Shi Tiesheng feel a little relieved, and the two continued to participate in everyone's topic.

At noon, Qu Xiaowei had someone order a banquet and had it delivered directly to the second floor, looking very extravagant.

Everyone was eating, drinking and chatting.

Today, Qu Xiaowei pretended to be a rich man, so he naturally became the target of everyone's ridicule and mockery. However, he was not angry and just let everyone joke with him.

While eating, everyone started talking about Internet cafes again.

This is the second Internet cafe opened by Qu Xiaowei and Zheng Guo, but it is not the second one in Yanjing City. Over the past year or so, many Internet cafes have opened in Yanjing City, becoming a place where countless young people linger.

But there are indeed not many Internet cafes as large as Feiyue.

This Internet cafe has been open for more than two months. Just like the first one, it is making a lot of money every day. Qu Xiaowei and Zheng Guo are already thinking about opening a third Internet cafe.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh as they listened to their thoughts.

"You two really made this business happen."

There was a bit of envy in everyone's tone. Qu Xiaowei smiled and said, "It's profitable to open an Internet cafe now. You can make money if you want to do it."

After hearing what he said, a few people were indeed tempted, but for many people, going into the adult industry still requires a lot of courage. Everyone joked about it and no one took it seriously.

Only Yu Hua's small eyes flickered with a hint of eagerness.

He has always had a dream of starting a business.

When Qu Xiaowei wanted to go into business, he had discussed it with Qu Xiaowei, but unfortunately, both of them were just doing it on a whim at the time.

Qu Xiaowei's business of setting up a stall failed after two years, but he turned around and opened an Internet cafe and it was successful. This gave Yu Hua a ray of hope.

After dinner, he pulled Qu Xiaowei aside and muttered to himself.

Shi Tiesheng asked Lin Weimin curiously, "What do you think they were talking about?"

"Who knows? Anyway, I'm not holding back on anything good!"

In Lin Weimin's eyes, these two people are a perfect match when they meet.

While the two were talking, Wang Shuo heard the wall come back and announced, "Yu Hua wants to find Xiao Wei to open a barbecue restaurant!"

Lin Weimin inexplicably felt that this matter sounded a little familiar. He looked at Shi Tiesheng, and both of them suddenly understood.

Dreams never die!

(End of this chapter)