Chapter 323: Historical Reform Literature
In the third week of October, the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine was called to a meeting in the conference room in the front building.
Today, key personnel from all editorial offices in the company were called in, and the meeting was chaired by Editor-in-Chief Wei Junyi.
Qin Chaoyang asked Lin Weimin: "This isn't a festival, what kind of meeting is this?"
The editor-in-chief's office notified Lin Weimin about the meeting, and Lin Weimin then notified his colleagues in the editorial department, so Qin Chaoyang asked him.
Lin Weimin said: "They said they wanted to discuss the publication route for next year."
Lao Meng was not there for today's meeting and did not need to attend. Qin Chaoyang and Lin Weimin were the main forces of the editorial department. The two chatted for a few sentences but could not figure out the specific situation.
When the meeting started, Wei Junyi spoke.
The general idea is that the focus of the literary world has been changing rapidly in the past year. The most obvious phenomenon is that more and more novels are published about reform. Not only has the number of books published increased, but the subject matter is also broader than it was two or three years ago.
Another phenomenon among these is the "novelization" of reform literature.
When the reform literature was just beginning a few years ago, it was basically based on short stories and novellas.
But now, more and more reform literature works are appearing before readers in the form of novels.
The deeper issue reflected by this change is that reform literature is slowly beginning to retain the spirit of reform in the narrative of the text, which continues to influence literature as a basic ideal.
To put it more bluntly, reform literature is becoming more and more like a shell, and all kinds of things are being stuffed into it.
Therefore, reform literature has become more and more mixed and comprehensive, with story lines, character relationships, time intersections and other aspects becoming more complex.
Wei Junyi also took the example of the novel "Heavy Wings" which was reprinted by the publishing house this year.
Heavy Wings is a novel written by Zhang Jie, and was first published by Guowen Publishing House in 1981. This year's reprint has undergone major adjustments compared to the 1981 edition, with more than a thousand words of description about livelihood added to the first chapter alone.
"This fully demonstrates that the subject matter of reform literature is gradually expanding, and its concern for people is becoming more subtle..."
"Reform hero Director Qiao has been in office for five years. His model is single, and with the passage of time, readers have become aesthetically fatigued.
Pure literature cannot be limited to a single writing style and bound to policy illustrations. Therefore, even reform literature must be more readable in order to attract more readers..."
When many colleagues heard Wei Junyi say this, they couldn't help but look at Lin Weimin with strange eyes.
Not long ago, Lin Weimin was planning to launch a series of books, saying that he wanted to emphasize popularity. Today, the editor-in-chief said in a meeting that novels must be readable?
It's not such a coincidence, right?
Everyone reasonably suspected that Lin Weimin must have received advance instructions from Old Lady Wei before he did this.
Comrade Weimin, that’s good. Has your relationship with the leadership become so bad now?
Everyone couldn't help but recall Lin Weimin's past interactions with Old Lady Wei. Even though this guy was always scolded, he actually never suffered any loss and always took advantage.
Several colleagues from the editorial department who attended the meeting thought about it and felt that it made more and more sense. They looked at Lin Weimin again with different eyes.
"During this year, popular literature has quietly risen, posing considerable pressure on pure literature. The circulation of Story Club magazine has reached over three million copies, and the circulation of Classic of Mountains and Seas is even more exaggerated, having exceeded the four million mark.
The best-selling magazine in our company is Contemporary, right? The most sold copies of an issue are less than 2 million, and I'm afraid the gap will widen in the future.
Comrades, I'm here to let you know. In December, a document will be issued..."
When Wei Junyi said this, all her colleagues focused their attention on her. Everyone knew that a document that made her take it so seriously must be very important.
“This document discusses the issue of self-financing for journal publishing and distribution.”
There was a loud "boom" in the conference room after Wei Junyi said this, as if cold water was poured into a pot of hot oil, causing it to explode.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, all domestic newspapers and magazines have been backed by government agencies and state-owned units at various levels, and they all rely on government funding. Profits and losses have never been a consideration.
Now, the country is actually going to implement a policy where journals are responsible for their own profits and losses. How many journals will go bankrupt?
It’s not that everyone is pessimistic, but everyone is too familiar with the current situation of domestic journals.
In the past few years, publications have sprung up like mushrooms in various parts of the country. The vast majority of them are produced by local governments themselves, and are basically maintained by funding from various levels of units behind them. Only a few of them can truly be self-sufficient.
It's a very simple truth. The sales of a local publication usually range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of copies. Some influential publications can achieve sales of more than 100,000 copies.
Assuming that each issue contains 300,000 words, no matter how low the standard of manuscript fee is, the expenditure on manuscript fee for each issue is at least around 2,000 yuan.
Adding in the various expenses of labour, administration, distribution, and printing costs, it would be impossible to make back the investment by selling only 10,000 or 20,000 copies. It would take at least 50,000 copies to break even.
But the problem is, although many domestic pure literature magazines have sold hundreds of thousands or millions of copies in recent years, that is largely due to survivor bias.
People's Literature, Harvest, Contemporary, October, Flower City, Zhongshan, Yenching Literature, Shanghai Literature, Youth Literature...
Excluding these first- and second-tier literary magazines across the country, how many local publications can truly achieve sales of more than 50,000 copies per issue?
The answer is: very few.
Once this document is issued, there is only one fate waiting for these publications: suspension of publication.
The only question mark is the time of cessation of publication, and we can see which publication can last longer.
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but sigh.
Working at the Guowen Publishing House, I have the support of a national brand. The publishing house has first-line magazines such as "Contemporary" and "People's Literature" with sales of millions of copies per issue. Even the publication "New Literature Materials" which tends to be documentary and historical in nature can sell for six figures per issue.
So although everyone is shocked, they don't feel any real pain about the document that is about to be issued.
Besides shock, I felt more regret.
In the second half of her speech, Wei Junyi mentioned "Plainclothes Police", which the editorial department of "Contemporary" had previously brought to the pre-editing meeting at the publishing house.
“Now the content of reform literature is gradually developing horizontally and developing different branches. The publication of Nova provides a new branch for reform literature, that is, officialdom novels.
In the past year, I have also read some novels involving anti-corruption and criminal investigation. It should be said that these are variants of reform literature, and they are likely to become important branches that support the long-term development of literature in the future.
For example, when "Contemporary" published the novel "Plainclothes Policemen", Weimin gave the following review opinion: it was very popular, but not literary enough, so it was put into the selected series of novels.
This novel is in line with the current development direction of reform literature..."
The leaders praised him as a model student, and "Contemporary" became famous among the editorial offices in the publishing house.
After the meeting, everyone returned to the editorial office and surrounded Lin Weimin.
What they were most concerned about, of course, was why Lin Weimin had the foresight to start arranging the series of books so many days before the meeting.
Lin Weimin was completely confused. How the hell would I know?
He based his remarks on his understanding of history, and today's meeting could only be attributed to his grasp of the general trend in the literary world.
I am just standing on the shoulders of giants, but people like Mrs. Wei are considered to have a long-term vision, right?
Lin Weimin couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration in his heart.
The editorial department had a lively discussion after the meeting. The theme of today's meeting was not only about the issue of reforming literature, but more about the discussion of future publication directions and routes.
The reason why reform literature is valued is largely related to the background of the times.
In addition to reforming literature, what deserves more attention is how to integrate the artistry and readability of novels.
After Meng Weizai returned to the editorial office, Lin Weimin conveyed to him the spirit of today's meeting, and he pondered for a long time.
"It is an indisputable fact that reform literature, as a literary genre, has grown in variety over the past few years. It seems necessary to focus on this direction in the future."
Lin Weimin frowned and said, "If the work is good enough, who wouldn't want to publish it? But the fact is that many of the submitted works have old themes, clichéd plots, and flat characters. They really can't live up to the title of 'reform literature'."
"Well, this is a problem. Reform, reform, but I didn't expect to reform myself. If we continue to develop on this path, it seems that anything can be put here." Meng Weizai sighed.
Lin Weimin said: "That's true. Look at Er Yuehe's "Emperor Kangxi", which is actually a novel about officialdom, and can also be regarded as a variant of reform literature!"
Meng Weizai smiled and said, "If you put it that way, our publication can be said to have grasped the pulse of the times in advance."
"Ha ha!"
After joking, Meng Weizai said, "Jokes aside, this direction is correct. The 'reform literature' in historical themes can be explored. However, Er Yuehe's 'Emperor Kangxi' focuses on political intrigue, which is still a little lacking."
Lin Weimin nodded, "Indeed."
At this point, an idea suddenly occurred to him.
"How about...I write one?"
Meng Weizai looked at him in surprise, "You're writing a book? A historical 'reform literature'?"
"Yeah. This is a genre I haven't tried before. I think I can give it a try."
Meng Weizai's expression revealed a hint of distrust, which hurt Lin Weimin very much.
"Leader, you are going too far. I am dedicated to the public good, what are you looking at me with?"
"What do you mean by that? My eyes are normal. How many history books have you read? How dare you write a novel?"
Lin Weimin argued: "I am writing a novel, not Records of the Grand Historian. The novel is the main subject!"
"Okay, okay, if you want to write, just write. If it's really good, it might provide those writers with a new idea."
Lin Weimin said jokingly, "From now on, my novel will be their ancestor!"
"You start talking nonsense again. Can't you be more careful with your mouth?"
"I see. It's alright then, I'll leave first."
After coming out of Meng Weizai's office, Lin Weimin was still thinking about the previous topic.
He was not joking. He hadn't written anything for more than half a year and was indeed itching to try. It just so happened that they talked about this topic today, and it was a subject he had never tried before. Thinking about it now, he actually felt an urge to try it out.
Thinking back to the wonderful drama that I watched in later generations, compared with other TV dramas adapted from historical novels, this TV drama is simply a standout.
Lin Weimin is confident that if it is adapted into a novel, the effect will be equally extraordinary.
After thinking about the content of his next work, Lin Weimin felt that the strength that had been accumulated in his body for half a year was bursting out. He hadn't felt this way for a long time.
Teacher Lin’s sword is already thirsty!
(End of this chapter)
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