Chapter 277 Teacher Lin is the one who holds grudges the most
Since its founding in 1949, Sing Tao Evening News has been developing very steadily and has remained one of Hong Kong's top newspapers.
By 1954, Hu Xian, the daughter of the founder Hu Wenhu, took over the family legacy and vigorously developed the newspaper business. In 1972, she integrated media such as Sing Tao Daily, Sing Tao Evening News, Sing Wah Daily and the Tiger Daily to form the Hong Kong Sing Tao Newspaper Group, which quickly became Hong Kong's leading media group in the form of a group army.
Hu Xian herself became the "Newspaper Queen" of Hong Kong, with fame no less than her father's and even greater wealth.
By the 1980s, competition in Hong Kong's newspaper industry had entered a white-hot stage, with various newspapers and magazines competing with each other, each showing off their talents and always using a variety of tricks.
The Sing Tao Evening News has been reaping the benefits of novels with large-scale content since the 1960s. As the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Cheng Yi Qiu is naturally extremely sensitive to this kind of content.
Readers in Hong Kong have a preference for romance novels, especially those with erotic scenes. This is one of the reasons why the works of many female writers such as Guo Lianghui, Li Bihua, Zhang Ailing, and Yi Shu are so popular in Hong Kong.
The temperament of "The Lover" is similar to that of many works by Hong Kong female writers of this era. At the same time, the writing style is more delicate and sophisticated. The description of the love between the male and female protagonists and the sexual relationship between the two are all gorgeous, graceful and alluring. It is much better than those popular love novels on the market today.
After consulting several readers who had read "The Lover", Cheng Yi Qiu decisively found his old friend Gu Cangwu and expressed his wish to reprint the novel "The Lover".
It was through Gu Cangwu that he learned that the graceful and beautiful work "The Lover" was actually written by a mainland writer. What's even more surprising is that this person is actually a man!
It turns out that the "Lin Weimin" in "Banfang" is not only a pen name, but also a real person.
However, this actually makes things easier. The difference in royalties between the mainland and Hong Kong is ten or even a hundred times. It is estimated that you can get the reprint rights of this novel without even paying the price of a newcomer.
But Cheng Yi Qiu never expected that before his wishful thinking could be realized, he was slapped to the ground by the other party.
"What now?"
Cheng Yiqiu looked at his old friend and hesitated for a moment, "How about you make another call and discuss it?"
Gu Cangwu couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, "If you want to call me, go ahead. I'm not that shameless. Mr. Lin has a bad temper!"
Cheng Yiqiu said helplessly, "Then, give him an extra ten Hong Kong dollars!"
Gu Cangwu was completely speechless. He felt that his old friend had completely changed since he became the deputy editor-in-chief, and was full of the smell of money and stinginess of a businessman.
"You can tell him yourself."
Gu Cangwu made up his mind not to get involved in his old friend's affairs anymore and walked aside with his hands folded.
Cheng Yi Qiu was suddenly caught in a dilemma.
After hesitating for a moment, he decided to make another call.
Before, he was just trying to get a bargain, but now that he can't get a bargain anymore, he might as well give a relatively higher price.
It's not shameful to do business!
Yan Wenjing listened to Lin Weimin's extremely impatient tone and said a few words, then put down the phone and asked with concern: "What's going on?"
“The editor of ‘Banfang’ said that a newspaper in Hong Kong wanted to reprint ‘The Lover’ and offered me a price of ten Hong Kong dollars per thousand words.” Lin Weimin gave a brief explanation.
Hong Kong is still under the jurisdiction of the British. The Hong Kong dollar has been a subsidiary currency of the British pound since its birth. In 1972, due to the continuous depreciation of the British pound, the United Kingdom announced the implementation of a floating exchange rate. The Hong Kong economy suffered a severe blow because the Hong Kong dollar was pegged to the British pound, so it was decoupled from the British pound.
At the same time, since Hong Kong's own economy is too small, the Hong Kong dollar has a narrow circulation range as a currency and must be tied to a strong currency to maintain currency stability. Therefore, it was announced that it would be pegged to the rice and the knife.
When the economic crisis broke out in the United States in 1973, the Hong Kong dollar was forced to untie itself from the rice and the dollar and began to implement a floating exchange rate system.
As a result, by 1982, the Hong Kong dollar experienced three crises within a year, and the Hong Kong economy suffered a severe blow. Hong Kong decided to implement a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar, with one US dollar exchanging for 7.8 Hong Kong dollars, forming a linked exchange rate system that has continued to this day.
Since the beginning of this year, the exchange rate of RMB to USD has been approaching 2:1. If we convert it, the price of 10 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words given by the person on the other end of the phone is about 2.5 yuan per thousand words.
In the industry, the difference in royalties between first-publishing and reprinting an article can often be as much as three or four times. If you convert it, it's actually not bad.
But the problem is that when Lin Weimin published his works in his own unit, the price was always 15 yuan per thousand words. This time, when "Contemporary" published "Lover", Lao Meng and Lao Tan persuaded him to reduce the price to 12 yuan per thousand words.
You are only submissive when asked for royalties from outside, but you take strong measures when asked for royalties from inside?
This is not Teacher Lin’s style.
Besides, he has experience in publishing novels abroad. Farewell My Concubine earned him more than 200,000 or 300,000 Hong Kong dollars in this year. Now he is coming back to pick up this small bargain of ten Hong Kong dollars per thousand words.
Isn't that lowering your own value?
He is not that short-sighted.
After chatting with Yan Wenjing for a while, Lin Weimin was about to leave when the phone on Yan Wenjing's desk rang again.
"Hello!"
Lin Weimin and Yan Wenjing nodded to each other and prepared to leave the office. Unexpectedly, Yan Wenjing heard a few words from the other end of the phone and waved to Lin Weimin, indicating that he should stay.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin asked, "Leader, what's going on?"
"It's still a call from Hong Kong. I guess they still want to talk to you again. Please wait a little longer."
Lin Weimin was a little impatient. He looked at his watch and said reluctantly, "Okay."
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the phone finally rang again, and this time it was Lin Weimin who answered the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Lin, hello, I am Cheng Yiqiu, the deputy editor-in-chief of Sing Tao Evening News."
He introduced himself right away, with one word missing from his address. Don't underestimate this one word, but it makes a difference in status in Hong Kong.
The reason why Cheng Yi Qiu called him that was mainly to show his respect for Lin Weimin.
After all, Lin Weimin watched countless Hong Kong movies in his later years, so he was naturally familiar with this language habit.
"Hello, Editor-in-Chief Cheng!" Lin Weimin said politely.
"Haha! I'm so sorry. I asked Mr. Gu to ask you to reprint the article. There might be some problem in our communication. I told him that it was 10 yuan per thousand words."
Ten yuan per thousand words means thirty-four Hong Kong dollars per thousand words.
It seems that the price has increased by more than three times, but in Hong Kong's newspaper industry today, thirty or forty yuan per thousand words is a symbolic fee. Among the authors who contribute to newspapers every day, the majority of contributors receive this level of payment, but they are unknown and the quality of their articles is mediocre.
Many people don't write for this little bit of money at all, they write purely out of interest, so it is called a symbolic fee.
Lin Weimin shook his head again, and his impression of Cheng Yiqiu declined again.
"Mr. Cheng, I think you should think it over before talking to me. Maybe your newspaper should not reprint my novel."
Lin Weimin still couldn't help but said something sarcastic. This person was arrogant at first but respectful later, he was full of promises but not of deeds, he was very stingy in doing things, and he kept repeating himself, which was really disgusting.
It would be best not to reprint it, as it will save your newspaper a lot of money.
The second half of the sentence, which was not spoken out loud, was the last respect that Teacher Lin gave to Cheng Yi Qiu.
Writers and men of letters are not saints who are aloof and detached from the world. Farmers make a living by farming, workers make a living by going to work, and writers make a living by writing. All of them attach great importance to the capital for making a living.
Later generations have counted that among the total 293 letters between Mr. Wang Zengqi and his friends, publishing houses, and editorial departments, 42 letters mentioned royalties, accounting for about one-sixth of all the letters.
The old man also said in the letter that he did not write for profit or fame, but he had to earn more money for his family.
On the other hand, the level of royalties also, to some extent, reflects the degree of recognition of the work by the publisher.
Offering a low price means that the quality of your novel is not good!
Compared with Cheng Yi Qiu's haggling over the reprint fee, Lin Weimin cares more about this reason.
Who wouldn't be angry when a work that you worked so hard to write is rejected by everyone?
"The talks broke down again?"
Seeing that Lin Weimin only said two sentences this time and hung up the phone, Yan Wenjing's face darkened and he asked.
Lin Weimin shook his head and said, "Maybe they want to get some bargains from me. Don't answer calls from this newspaper in the future. It's a waste of national resources. And this "Bafang"..."
Lin Weimin stopped talking here and said, "Forget it, it has nothing to do with them."
Although he said this, Teacher Lin had made up his mind that he would put "Banfang" on the blacklist in the future.
Do you really think I'm taking advantage of you by publishing my novel?
Lin Weimin, who was disgusted by Cheng Yi Qiu, also took his anger out on "Banfang" and Gu Cangwu.
Who says literati are not stingy?
Teacher Lin is the most vengeful person!
Especially when he meets someone who wants to blackmail his royalties!
The matter of Hong Kong's Sing Tao Evening News calling and requesting to reprint "The Lover" was just over.
October is over and November is here.
At the beginning of the month, two things related to Lin Weimin happened. One was that the drama "The Horse Catcher" was performed at the Capital Theatre, and the other was that "The Lover" was published in the sixth issue of "Contemporary" this year.
Since its publication at the beginning of this year, "The Horse Tamer" has been welcomed by hundreds of thousands of readers. The sales of the first supplement of "People's Literature" which published the novel exceeded 1.5 million copies, and the subscription volume of the novel was 500,000 copies. It is now heading towards sales of one million copies.
The news of the drama adaptation had already been widely circulated and received a lot of attention before it was performed.
Now that it has been performed to the public, it has immediately been warmly welcomed by the Yenching Drama market and fans, including many readers.
Compared with the enthusiastic reception received by "The Horse Catcher", the fate of "The Lover" which was just published in "Contemporary" was completely different.
(End of this chapter)
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