Chapter 567: New Official Takes Office with a vengeance
The news that Lin Weimin was going to be promoted to editor-in-chief of Guowen Publishing House had been no secret within the publishing house these days. Someone had heard snippets of Lin Weimin's remarks when he was arguing with Cheng Zaochun in their office that day about the performance appraisal system of the editorial department.
A few days later, Lin Weimin led a team to Huacheng Publishing House for an inspection, which further confirmed everyone's speculation about the matter.
In recent days, colleagues who are familiar with him always approach him mysteriously and ask, "Weimin, I heard you're going to be promoted?"
Many colleagues in the company did not know about the promotion episode. Many people thought that Lin Weimin's promotion to editor-in-chief was a natural thing, but they were unaware of the efforts made by Cheng Zaochun and Wei Junyi behind the scenes.
December passed by in a flash. We had a day off for New Year's Day, and then we had to go back to work.
January 1991 has arrived, and so has the first issue of Contemporary Magazine. If nothing unexpected happens, this issue of Contemporary Magazine should be the last one hosted by Lin Weimin.
On the day the publication was released, Lin Weimin went to the newsstand in the morning and bought a copy.
The cover design of "Contemporary" is as simple as ever, with a solid color background and the magazine name, issue number, and the name of the headline work printed on it. Lin Weimin stroked the cover, feeling a little reluctant.
When we arrived at the Chinese Literature Society, it was early in the morning, the sun had just come out and the temperature outside hadn't risen much, but there was already a group of people standing in the yard, gathering in front of the bulletin board and talking.
Seeing Lin Weimin coming, his colleagues immediately surrounded him.
"Congratulations, Weimin!"
"Why call him Weimin? Now he should be called editor-in-chief."
"Yes, yes, congratulations to the editor-in-chief!"
A red-letter (not a typo) document with the seal of the higher authorities was posted on the bulletin board, which announced the appointment of Lin Weimin as the editor-in-chief of Guowen Publishing House.
The tones of the people were either envious or teasing, and were filled with joy.
Lin Weimin has always enjoyed a very good reputation in the society. His work and writing achievements over the years have been obvious to all. He is kind and fair in his work, which makes people admire him.
His only shortcoming is probably his age. He is only in his early thirties, but he has become the editor-in-chief of Guowen Publishing House, which is a unique existence in the Chinese publishing industry.
However, this is not a big problem. Over the years, Lin Weimin's reputation in society has gradually increased to the point where his colleagues look up to him. No one will underestimate him because of his age.
After accepting congratulations from my colleagues and making a few jokes, it was already past working hours.
Lin Weimin came to the second floor of the back building and knocked on the door of the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine.
"Lao He, come to my office for a moment."
Everyone's eyes instantly fell on He Qizhi. Everyone had seen the announcement on the bulletin board just now. Lin Weimin was promoted to editor-in-chief, and it was impossible for him to concurrently serve as the editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief of Contemporary. It was obvious what the purpose of asking He Qizhi to go over at this time was.
He Qizhi stood up with some excitement and went to the office.
Lin Weimin poured him a cup of tea and said with a smile, "I think you should know why I asked you to come here, right?"
He Qizhi showed a silly smile on his face but didn't say anything.
Lin Weimin said to himself: "The leader has given me the position of editor-in-chief. I can no longer manage the affairs of Contemporary Magazine myself. You are my predecessor. You have been working diligently over the years and your achievements are obvious to all. I was away from home for a long time several times before, and the editorial department was running in an orderly manner in your hands. I feel relieved to hand over the work to you."
Hearing Lin Weimin's almost explicit words, He Qizhi finally couldn't hide his excitement, "Weimin, thank you..."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "No need to thank me. I'll treat you to a meal in a couple of days."
He Qizhi calmed down a little now and said jokingly, "If anyone wants to treat, it should be you."
Lin Weimin pointed at him and said, "You are so cunning and sly."
"I'm giving you a chance to win people's hearts."
After joking for a while, Lin Weimin said seriously: "Old Cheng will talk to you in the next two days to think about how to advance the future work."
"clear!"
After the conversation, He Qizhi left the office, feeling like he was walking with the wind.
Lin Weimin looked at his back and couldn't help but recall the time a few days ago when he was called to the office by his leader for a talk.
If he were in He Qizhi's shoes, he could fully understand He Qizhi's joy.
He Qizhi returned to the editorial office with brisk steps and was immediately surrounded by everyone.
"How is it? How is it? Lao He!"
"What did Weimin talk to you about?"
"Nonsense! Is there any need to ask? Of course it's a promotion!"
Everyone was talking around He Qizhi. He was rather cautious and didn't answer anyone's questions. He just smiled when asked.
Seeing his attitude, everyone couldn't help but criticize him.
"This person is really boring. As soon as he became a leader, he immediately stopped being close to the people."
"That's right. He hasn't even taken office yet, but he's already shaking. If he takes office, who knows how he'll mess with everyone!"
Faced with the teasing and ridicule from his colleagues, He Qizhi could only smile bitterly. In this editorial department, the leader really had no authority at all!
As soon as the notice was posted on the bulletin board, people from the General Affairs Office came to help Lin Weimin move.
My colleagues in the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine were still somewhat reluctant to leave.
"Weimin, think about coming back to see us when you have time."
Lin Weimin said helplessly: "They just moved to the front building, but they are not outside the Third Ring Road."
Everyone then started laughing and saw Lin Weimin off to the front building.
Everyone worked very hard to help the editor-in-chief move, and each person had at least two or three books, which really exhausted everyone.
The editor-in-chief is one of the three pillars of Guowen Publishing House. Not only does he have a separate office in the front building, but he also has an editor-in-chief's office to assist him in his daily work.
The Editorial Office, as the name suggests, is the institution responsible for implementing the editor-in-chief's work intentions, but its functions are not limited to this.
The editorial offices of most publishing houses are just general office agencies that are responsible for handling daily trivial editorial work and are often jokingly referred to as "gofers."
The editorial office of a few publishing houses is the power and decision-making department. It can almost always decide the publishing plan and publicity strategy of the publishing house. It can be said to be the "central nervous system" of the publishing house.
The functions of the editorial office of Guowen Publishing House are both. Although the power is not that great, it should not be underestimated.
Lin Weimin didn't have much stuff in his office, so the move took less than half an hour.
"Director Ma, thank you for your hard work!"
"Editor-in-Chief, you are too polite. If you have anything to say, just tell me directly."
Director Ma is the person in charge of the General Affairs Office. He always smiles at everyone and is always capable of getting things done.
He was previously called Editor-in-Chief Lin Weimin, but now he is just called Editor-in-Chief to save some words.
There may be several editors-in-chief in a publishing house, but there will only be one chief editor.
After taking office, Lin Weimin did not treat people to dinner as he did before, but instead familiarized himself with the business step by step. Although he was familiar with most of his colleagues in the company, he was in a different position after all, and it took some time to get used to the new job.
When he was in charge of Contemporary Journal, he was concerned about how to run a good publication, and his main energy was focused on reviewing and compiling manuscripts.
He is now in charge of the entire publishing business of the Guowen Publishing House. Most of the administrative affairs of the company are taken care of by the president Cheng Zaochun, while party affairs are taken care of by the secretary. His most core job has become making books.
However, Lin Weimin’s top priority now is not to write a book, but to implement his ideas.
A new official has three things to do when he takes office, and his first one has already been prepared.
The regular meeting of the new week was the first time that Lin Weimin appeared in public in the society since taking office. He was teased by everyone as soon as he entered the door.
He is young, and even if he becomes the editor-in-chief, it is difficult for him to inspire awe among the old hands in the company.
The regular meeting was chaired by Cheng Zaochun, who briefly spoke a few words and then handed the right to speak to Lin Weimin.
"You all should know that I led a team to visit Huacheng Publishing House some time ago, and you should have seen the documents on the table. In the past few years, the domestic publishing and book market was flourishing, and the publishing houses were doing very well, but the situation has been a little different in the past two years.
The price increase is huge, and many readers have shifted their pursuit from spiritual to material things. Coupled with the impact of piracy, the sales of all kinds of books are steadily declining.
If this trend cannot be stopped in time, the blow to our publishing house will be unprecedented, so we must be prepared for a tough battle. "
Everyone was listening to Lin Weimin's speech without paying attention at first, but when they saw his serious expression and a bit of majesty, they couldn't help but pay attention.
"As the old saying goes, a blacksmith must be strong himself. To fight a tough battle, we must be well prepared. Our Guowen Press is a national publishing house. I have never worried about its hard power, but there are some issues that cannot be ignored."
Lin Weimin looked at Li Xin when he said this. "Over the past year or so, several editorial offices in the agency have had colleagues resign one after another. They are all the backbone of the editorial offices and are in their prime. I think everyone should know the reasons why these colleagues resigned even if I don't say it."
“In terms of salary, job title, and welfare benefits, the older comrades joined the company earlier than the younger ones, so it is understandable that they have advantages in these aspects.
But there is only one thing: there should be no seniority-based promotion at work. In the past two years, some comrades in the company have not completed their own work well enough. There may be various reasons for this, and we will not go into it in depth.
What I want to say is that we are all editors, our titles may be high or low, and our professional abilities may vary, but the workload will not lie. We cannot allow some people to do a lot of work but not get paid as much as those who do less work.
If this continues, it will be very detrimental to the ecology of our entire company, let alone retaining talent.
I am not saying this to target the old comrades, such as Comrade Jiang Lu and Comrade Wang Yangchen, who are the old experts in the society and have always worked diligently and conscientiously.
Therefore, I plan to implement an editorial performance appraisal system in all editorial offices after March.
Now, I will explain this document to you in detail..."
The content of the editorial department's performance appraisal system document is not much. It only takes a dozen pages of A4 letter paper to cover all aspects of the editorial department's daily work. More importantly, it comprehensively quantifies these work contents.
These seemingly insignificant pieces of paper may have a profound impact on the National Literature Society.
The editor-in-chiefs attending the meeting flipped through the documents on the table with different expressions.
Many of them secretly observed the expressions of the president and secretary when Lin Weimin was announcing the document. The two of them were observing each other's faces, and it was obvious that they had a tacit understanding with Lin Weimin.
When everyone thought about the fact that the editor-in-chief position was passed down from Cheng Zaochun's shoulders to Lin Weimin, they understood everything.
It seems that this reform is imperative.
I have been having pain in my cervical spine, neck and teeth recently. After a few days I couldn't bear it anymore. I spent the whole day in the hospital today and the examination results were good.
I took X-rays of my lumbar and cervical vertebrae, and there were no major problems, just ligament calcification and fasciitis. I need to take medicine and rest.
A neck check-up revealed thyroiditis, which is related to the high-intensity work. I am taking medicine for the time being and will go for a follow-up check-up next week.
I will only update twice a day for the time being. My health is more important. I hope you understand.
(End of this chapter)
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