Chapter 321: Just two words, professional
The title of the book on the first page of the manuscript paper is four words: "Plainclothes Policeman".
Author's name: Haiyan.
Haiyan is the pen name of Lu Haiyan. Because of an accidental idea, he spent more than a year writing this book "Plainclothes Police".
A novel with sixty chapters and a total of 470,000 words is an extremely difficult creative process, not to mention for a newcomer, even for creators with years of experience.
So you have to admit that some people have talent.
Colleagues in the editorial department spent several days reading the novel from beginning to end, and they agreed more with Lin Weimin's opinion.
Haiyan is a newcomer after all. Even if he is talented, he cannot avoid the mistakes that newcomers make.
The beginning of the novel "Plainclothes Policeman" is very exciting, but after the first 100,000 words, the structure of the novel began to become loose and the plot became dragged out.
Revision is a necessary process.
After summarizing everyone's review opinions, Lin Weimin called Haiyan over again. After explaining to him the things to pay attention to when revising the manuscript, Lin Weimin asked him whether he wanted to revise the manuscript in the publishing house or at home.
Lin Weimin also specifically emphasized that there is a subsidy for revising manuscripts in the publishing house, two yuan a day.
Haiyan's heart beat fast after hearing this, but after thinking about it, he shook his head firmly.
He is a prison guard and the nature of his job is a bit special, so he cannot take a long vacation, so he could only regretfully decline Teacher Lin's invitation.
Lin Weimin looked at Haiyan's leaving back and sighed in his heart.
He worked alone for more than a year and finally wrote a long novel of more than 400,000 words. What a good seed for being locked up in a small dark room!
What a pity!
"Okay, stop looking. He is a prison guard. You don't have to lock him up. He works in the prison." Liu Yin joked.
Lin Weimin thought about it and it was true.
So, Mr. Lin’s undefeated streak is not broken.
Well, this time the idea makes sense!
In the blink of an eye, it was October, the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the city of Yanjing was extremely bustling.
More than a month ago, the Olympic delegation returned home with great honor. It’s time to celebrate this occasion.
In such an atmosphere, Lin Weimin received a piece of news.
Jiro Hasegawa, the deputy editor-in-chief of Nihongosha, came to Yanjing the day before National Day, which made Lin Weimin feel helpless. He didn't have much vacation time and couldn't have a good rest.
Since people have come, we can't just refuse to receive them.
The unit had already gone on holiday, so Lin Weimin set the meeting place at the Yanjing Hotel.
Jiro Hasegawa is a thin middle-aged man with sunken cheeks. At first glance, he seems to be extremely thin, like a bamboo pole.
He was very polite and bowed at every turn, which was a characteristic of most Nihong people.
"Mr. Lin, it's our first meeting. Thank you for your guidance!"
Lin Weimin was not used to bowing to others, so he shook hands with him as a sign of courtesy.
Jiro Hasegawa came this time to publish Lin Weimin's novel. He had already fully understood many of Lin Weimin's works beforehand. During the conversation, he revealed his appreciation for these works, which made Lin Weimin happy.
No matter whether they are pretending or not, at least their attitude makes people feel comfortable.
After chatting for a while, Jiro Hasegawa took out the list of novels he planned to publish on behalf of Shinchosha.
Lin Weimin took the list of novels handed over by the translator, took a look at it, and was slightly surprised that "If You Are the One" was on the list.
However, if you think about the novels, films and TV shows that became popular in later generations, many of them use small things to see the big picture, which is very close to the style of "If You Are the One".
In addition to "If You Are the One", Shinchosha also selected two novels, "The Lover" and "Chasing the Murderer", both of which are in line with Nihongren's usual taste.
Lin Weimin had to admit that talking to the Nihong people was indeed very comfortable as long as you had the upper hand.
The discussion went smoothly and there was no back-and-forth in the process.
Xinchaoshe had long been aware of Lin Weimin's previous collaboration with Random House. Lin Weimin was a writer who was popular even in the United States.
In addition, now that Lin Weimin has won the Naoki Prize, one of the country's major literary awards, they have proactively raised the royalty share to 12%.
In Nihong, this is already the treatment of a famous person.
Lin Weimin also felt the sincerity of Xinchao Society and readily agreed to publish the book.
Finally, it was agreed that the first of the three novels would be published before March next year, and then one novel would be published every three months. The first print run would be 30,000 copies of Talk It Out, 50,000 copies of Lover, and 50,000 copies of Pursuit of the Murderer.
Judging from the number of copies printed in the first print run, it is not difficult to see Shinchosha’s expectations for these novels.
In fact, compared with the treatment of previous Naoki Prize winners after winning the award, the number of first prints of Lin Weimin's works is already quite conservative.
The first print run of "If You Are the One", which has the lowest number of copies, is actually comparable to the number of copies of "Farewell My Concubine" when it was first printed.
Shinchosha is not stupid. Lin Weimin is a foreign writer. Even if one of his novels is popular in China, what if his other works are not popular in China?
The royalties are high, but the print run is low, so even if there is a loss, it won’t be a big loss. If there is a profit, it is real profit.
After agreeing on the publication of the novel, Lin Weimin specially invited Jiro Hasegawa to have a meal at Tanjiacai on the seventh floor of Yanjing Hotel to celebrate the successful cooperation.
After the meal, Lin Weimin left Hasegawa Jiro aside. Anyway, he was surrounded by foreign affairs personnel and translators, and all the official business had been discussed, so it was not his responsibility to receive the rest.
On the second day of National Day, I slept in.
Well, the holidays are over.
In an age when there is no need to promote consumption, holidays are so simple and unpretentious.
Just after the National Day holiday, Lin Weimin received an international letter when he got to work. He thought it was from Arthur Miller, but it turned out to be from Mark Meng.
The purpose of the letter was not only to reminisce about the past, but also to send Lin Weimin an American edition of "The Horse Tamer".
This novel was only released in the United States last month. Mark Meng said in the letter that he discovered it when he was browsing in a bookstore some time ago, and he specially bought a copy and mailed it to Lin Weimin as a souvenir.
Lin Weimin touched the exquisite cover of the American edition of "The Horse Tamer" and felt deeply moved that Old Ma was very thoughtful.
When he was replying to Lao Ma, he heard some noise upstairs.
"What's going on?"
My colleagues also heard the noise.
Everyone couldn't help but come to the corridor to listen to the noise, but Lin Weimin was not the same. He ran upstairs quickly.
His quick reaction and swift action astonished his colleagues.
The soundproofing in the office building was very poor, and the quarrel echoed in the corridor.
Lin Weimin walked past the rooms in the guesthouse and arrived at the door of the editorial office of "New Literature Materials".
"New Literature Historical Materials" is a publication founded by the publishing house in 1978. The main purpose of publishing this publication is to provide the most important platform and channel for writers to publish their memoirs, allowing veteran writers to write down their personal experiences, and thus play a role in preserving historical materials.
At this time, a lot of people had gathered at the entrance of the editorial department, including colleagues from the two editorial departments and the binding design department on the third floor, as well as writers who were also on the third floor revising their manuscripts.
Lin Weimin squeezed over and took a look into the office, only to see Niu Han, who was furious, grabbing a middle-aged man and waving his fists, but was constantly stopped by Cheng Zaochun who was standing beside him.
Lin Weimin knew all three of them. Niu Han was a senior editor in the publishing house. He was also a poet and writer. He was not only the vice president of the National Poetry Association, but also an honorary member of the Writers Association.
He had retired two years ago, but due to staff shortage in the publishing house, he was rehired and served as the editor-in-chief of "New Literature Materials".
"New Literature Materials" is administratively under the management of the Modern Literature Editorial Department, but in fact it has considerable independence. Cheng Zaochun is the director of the Modern Literature Editorial Department.
The Modern Literature Editorial Department is one of the important editorial departments of Guowen Publishing House. Its predecessor was Xun Ge's Works Editorial Department and the May Fourth Literature Editorial Group. As you can tell from the name, this editorial department is basically responsible for the works of important writers since the May Fourth Movement.
The middle-aged man being grabbed by Niu Han was named Wu Shiming, and he was the editor of "New Literature Materials".
"Asshole! Son of a bitch!"
Niu Han is over sixty years old, but his temper is still as violent as fire. His hands and feet are held by Cheng Zaochun. He keeps yelling and cursing while struggling. It seems that he will not be satisfied unless he punches Wu Shiming a few times.
Wu Shiming was already scared silly at this time.
Lin Weimin looked around and saw that his colleagues who were crowded at the door were watching the fight with great joy and had no intention of trying to stop it.
He couldn't help but secretly shake his head. What a bad attitude this Guowen Club had!
"Mr. Niu! Mr. Niu! Calm down, please calm down, don't let your anger ruin your health!"
Lin Weimin squeezed through the crowd and helped Cheng Zaochun hold Niu Han, while persuading him at the same time.
His appearance made Cheng Zaochun breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Lin Weimin a grateful look.
The two men pulled Niu Han away. Lin Weimin glanced at Wu Shiming, who was standing there like a quail, and shouted to his colleagues crowded at the door: "Alright, alright, stop looking, and do what you need to do!"
He and Cheng Zaochun dragged the cursing Niu Han to the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine on the second floor. After finally getting Niu Han to sit down, Lin Weimin noticed that Cheng Zaochun's face looked strange.
"Director Cheng, what's wrong with you?"
"I have a fever. I was going to the hospital, but then I got a call from Zhao Qiong saying that Lao Niu was going to beat someone up, so I rushed over."
Cheng Zaochun panted and said, Zhao Qiong is the secretary of the modern literature editorial department.
Lin Weimin saw that his face was rosy and full, and touched his forehead. "Oh, your temperature is too high. Go to the hospital quickly, or you will get pneumonia."
Cheng Zaochun smiled bitterly. He also wanted to go to the hospital, but the current situation...
Lin Weimin saw his eyes and immediately understood. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'm here."
Cheng Zaochun glanced at Niu Han worriedly and saw that although the old comrade was still indignant and kept cursing, at least he did not stand up again.
He persuaded Niu Han for a while, and then said to Lin Weimin: "Then I'll leave this to you. I'm going to the hospital to get an IV drip first. You must hold Old Niu down for me. We can talk when we come back if anything happens."
"Don't worry, leave it to me!"
Cheng Zaochun gave Lin Weimin another grateful look and left the office.
After he left, Lin Weimin asked Yao Shuzhi to pour a cup of tea for Niu Han, and said to the panting and sweating Niu Han: "Old comrade, you are so angry, but your body is your own."
Niu Han took the teacup he handed over and snorted angrily.
"What's going on? Old Wu is your subordinate after all, how could he hit someone?"
When Niu Han heard Lin Weimin's question, his emotions, which had finally calmed down, became agitated again, and he slammed the teacup in his hand heavily on the desk.
"Beat him? Beating him is too light a punishment! People like him should be put in jail!"
"Hey, Comrade Lao Niu, you are going too far! After all, we are comrades."
Niu Han pouted, "Who is his comrade? Do you know what he has done?"
"What did you do?"
Isn’t this the main part of the play?
Lin Weimin has always looked down upon the simple and rough way his colleagues at the Guowen Press eat melons. You are eating the melon from such a distance, no matter how big the melon is, how much can you eat?
Look now, we are sitting in the melon field eating melons, and the melon farmer is personally explaining the melon planting techniques to us and personally cutting the melons for us.
There are only two words to describe how to eat this melon.
major!
(End of this chapter)
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