Chapter 588 Where did you get the manuscript?
"Wasn't the novel just published? Why are you writing it again?"
In the evening, Tao Huimin walked into the study with a cup of tea. Seeing Lin Weimin typing on the computer, she couldn't help but ask.
Lin Weimin was immersed in his creative work and said casually, "Write an article for the publication."
After Tao Huimin left, Lin Weimin was still concentrating on typing.
It was he who advocated the publication of martial arts magazines and he also set the standards. Now he cannot find suitable manuscripts and the publication cannot be delayed any longer, so he decided to do it himself.
With his current status, if the news of his martial arts novel were to get out, it would definitely cause a stir in the literary world. Lin Weimin had no intention of making it public, so he just took the emergency measure and put on a pseudonym!
The first issue of a martial arts magazine is crucial, because it is related not only to the success or failure of a magazine, but also to the basic foundation of Tongwenshe.
For a publishing house, a best-selling magazine is a stable cash flow that allows the publishing house to expand its business without any burden.
Therefore, this martial arts publication must be a hit!
A few days later, several young editors in the editorial department of Tongwen Press were feeling bored.
In the past few months, in addition to the collection of Jin Yong's works, all their work energy has been focused on commissioning works for the new martial arts magazine. Although they did not get any works that satisfied Lin Weimin on the headlines, there are still many works that are above the standard. The new martial arts magazine is planned to be a monthly publication, and with the current backlog of manuscripts, it will not be a problem to publish three issues.
These days, some authors have been asking about the inaugural issue. They have been receiving letters from Tongwen Publishing House accepting their manuscripts for quite some time, but the publication has not come out yet, and naturally there is no question of payment of royalties. It is understandable that these people are anxious.
Not only the authors are anxious, but several people in the editorial department are also anxious. The advertisements for the magazine have been run for half a month. They have been advertised in several popular literature magazines with the best circulation, such as "Story Club", "Wulin", "Chronicles of the Past and Present", etc. All this money has been spent.
This wave of advertising costs nearly 20,000 yuan, which makes me sad just thinking about it.
Recently, except for Li Xuegang who is busy applying for publication numbers and running around the printing factory, the work of the other people is relatively idle. The backlog of manuscripts is too high, and they no longer dare to accept manuscripts.
The first issue hasn’t been published yet. It would be embarrassing if the first issue fails.
While a few people were chatting, Lin Weimin walked into the office and asked, "Where is Xuegang?"
"The editor-in-chief went to the printing factory." Qi Xianghua replied.
Lin Weimin nodded and handed the manuscript in his hand to Yu Hua, "I have received the manuscript for the headline work, please take a look."
Yu Hua's face was a little surprised. It had only been a few days, and Teacher Lin had already found the manuscript? Wasn't this efficiency a little too high?
After Lin Weimin delivered the manuscript, he left the office. Qi Xianghua and Liu Maowen curiously approached Yu Hua, snatched the manuscript, and planned to block him first.
"This book title is a bit overbearing!"
"Xiao Zuanfeng, why did this author choose such a pen name? A fan of Journey to the West?"
"Don't worry about it for now, let's see what happens."
The two shifted their attention from the title and pen name to the main text, and after reading it for a few seconds, they became fascinated.
Yu Hua on the side was still in deep thought, something seemed to be wrong!
It has only been a week since Mr. Lin said that the headline work would be handed over to him. Unless the manuscript is ready, it would be impossible to do it so quickly.
But they harassed all the domestic martial arts writers, but they didn't see Teacher Lin contact anyone.
And since the manuscript was given by Teacher Lin, the quality must have met his standards.
Thinking of this, Yu Hua became even more puzzled. Where did Teacher Lin get the manuscript?
While Yu Hua was thinking, Li Xuegang came back from outside. Hearing that the manuscript of the headline work had arrived, he said happily, "Great! Now the publication number has been issued, and the communication with the printing factory has been completed. Everything is ready. I will go to Teacher Lin to discuss the first issue. It has to be done as soon as possible."
When Li Xuegang found Lin Weimin's office, He Qizhi was also discussing the new publication.
Some time ago, after Shi Tiesheng's "I and the Altar of Earth" was published, it caused a strong response among readers. He Qizhi took the opportunity to propose the idea of establishing a new prose magazine.
Lin Weimin asked He Qizhi to conduct a reader survey in the fifth issue of "Contemporary" to see how readers accepted the prose publication.
In the past two days, "Contemporary" has just compiled the results of its reader survey.
"…According to the current results, readers are very receptive to the prose publication launched by our publishing house. A total of about 24,000 questionnaires were sent back, and 40% of readers expressed their willingness to purchase it."
Lin Weimin said: "Although this data is incomplete, it is still very meaningful for reference. It seems that prose publications still have a large market. That's it. Separate the prose column of your publication and create a new publication based on it. This will be your responsibility. Draft a document first and discuss it at the meeting next week."
"Okay, I understand."
After He Qizhi left, Lin Weimin looked at Li Xuegang and asked, "How was the communication with the printing factory?"
Li Xuegang couldn't help but complain, "These printing factories are too difficult to deal with. They saw that our business volume was small and they didn't want to talk. I went to several of them, and only Guanzhong Factory was willing to take it. They can spare us 1.8 million printing sheets, which should be enough for our first issue."
Guowen Press is the number one publishing house in the domestic literary world, with a huge annual printing volume, but it does not have its own printing plant.
The printing business of the company has always been handled by the Yanjing Xinhua Printing Factory. There are also several other fixed cooperative printing factories, but they do not take on much business. Guanzhong Factory is one of them.
"As for the printing factory, I'll discuss it with the company later and see if we can come up with a solution."
Then he continued, "Now we have all the hardware and software conditions in place. The advertisement has been put out for half a month. By the time the issue is published, the effect should be almost there. Next, I will ask the distribution department to contact bookstores and post offices for subscriptions. You should prepare the binding and typesetting of the issue and print out the sample issue as soon as possible."
Li Xuegang was excited when he heard this. They had been preparing for several months and were waiting for this moment.
"I'll get the sample issue out as soon as possible."
Li Xuegang was about to leave Lin Weimin's office excitedly when he saw Yu Hua walking in with a manuscript. "Teacher Lin, this manuscript is really well written, but why haven't you finished it yet?"
"I'm asking for help at the last minute. How can such a long novel be finished in a short time? The 100,000 words I brought back are enough for two issues. You don't have to worry about the subsequent manuscripts. I have already agreed with the author that he will submit 100,000 words every month. He has planned 500,000 words for this novel.
This time it was just a coincidence. I went to ask him and he had just written a new work, so I took it away. Don't worry, we have already decided on it, and there won't be any changes. "
After Lin Weimin finished speaking, he saw that Yu Hua was still staring at him, so he asked awkwardly, "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing. Just be sure to submit the manuscript. Don't let it get in the way by then."
"No, don't worry!"
Yu Hua left the office with some suspicion. On the way back, he asked Li Xuegang, "Xuegang, do you think Teacher Lin is a little deliberate?"
Li Xuegang asked in confusion: "What are you doing deliberately?"
"The expression, and the words he said, something like 'he just wrote a new work, and I took it away', isn't that deliberate?"
"No, I think it's quite normal. It's just collecting manuscripts. Teacher Lin's ability in collecting manuscripts is well-known in my... Chinese Literature Society!"
Yu Hua felt disdainful when he heard that. What he was doing was just locking people up in a small dark room. Who doesn't know how to do that?
A few days later, Lin Weimin drove to Union Hospital after work.
Zhou Meiying had been in the hospital for several days. When I saw him again, he was in better condition than the last time we met.
After he was admitted to the hospital, he needed 24-hour care. He had no relatives to help, only his wife Xu Xiao and friends to take care of him. They were all office workers and could only take turns, each taking care of him for 8 hours.
Lin Weimin came at an unfortunate time. The one taking care of Zhou Meiying was a friend named E Chunming. Xu Xiao was in charge of the most difficult period at night, so he should have been preparing meals at home.
"Weimin, thank you so much for your help this time." After talking about the situation after being admitted to the hospital for a while, Zhou Meiying weakly thanked Lin Weimin.
"Xu Xiao has thanked me so many times. It's such a big thing, and I can help if I can."
E Chunming had just gone to get a pot of hot water and poured a cup over. "Weimin, there's no tea. Drink some hot water."
Lin Weimin said thank you and started chatting with the two of them.
Zhou Meiying and others were not actually in the same circle as him, and their only intersection was because of Shi Tiesheng.
In the late 1970s, Zhou Meiying participated in the compilation of "Today" and became an editorial board member of Today.
At that time, Today held a unique position in the Chinese literary world. Even if one looks at the history of modern Chinese newspapers and periodicals, one cannot find a private publication with such a broad influence as Today.
During those two years, the editorial board members of Today and the authors who contributed to Today were extremely popular in the literary circles of Yenching University.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. In 1980, there were rumors that private publications would be banned. In October, Today was forced to cease publication, becoming its last.
Last year, Zhao Zhenkai, who went abroad, seemed to have started another magazine called "Today". Unfortunately, with the passage of time, "Today" no longer has the influence it once had.
Zhou Meiying was only responsible for the administrative affairs of Today. With the banning of Today, he also returned to his ordinary status.
His heyday was from the 1970s to the early 1980s. He came from a good family, loved making friends and was loyal, and when he was young he helped his friends evade investigation, fight lawsuits, and mediate disputes.
In that era when educated youth went to the countryside, he also had to visit his classmates and friends' parents, send fake telegrams to help them ask for leave, and be responsible for picking them up and dropping them off at the station, among other tasks.
Such character and dedication have earned Zhou Meiying a high reputation among his friends, making him a bit like the Little Mengchang of Yanjing.
With a good reputation accumulated over the years, Zhou Meiying has many friends around her who are willing to help, and it is thanks to these friends that she was able to recover from this illness.
Zhou Meiying talked about this topic with Lin Weimin, and her words were full of emotion.
"Meiying, why are you saying all this?" E Chunming said.
"I just feel sorry for you. You've worked so hard..."
When Lin Weimin asked about the details, he found out that E Chunming's work had something to do with him. E Chunming was the workshop director of the Xinhua Printing Factory. It was his turn to work the night shift recently, and he had to take care of Zhou Meiying during the day.
“It’s really hard work!”
Because their work units were related, Lin Weimin started chatting with E Chunming. During the conversation, E Chunming mentioned something.
Xinhua Printing Factory is going to launch computer printing and is preparing to phase out a large number of lead printing machines and equipment.
(End of this chapter)
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