Chapter 589: Kyushu Heroes
Listening to what E Chunming said, Lin Weimin keenly sensed the opportunity therein and asked E Chunming in detail about the machine models that Xinhua Factory was going to eliminate and the disposal prices.
Hearing that the machine was going to be scrapped, Lin Weimin was extremely surprised.
Scrap means that they can be bought at the price of scrap iron. According to E Chunming, although these machines are a bit old, they are still able to produce normally. They have to be eliminated only because Xinhua Factory is now moving towards computer printing.
The next morning, Guowen Publishing House held a meeting. Lin Weimin brought the freshly published sample issue to the pre-editing meeting and happily distributed it to everyone.
The subscription work for the new martial arts magazine is still ongoing. The editorial department of Tongwen Publishing House completed the binding design and typesetting of the first issue as quickly as possible and sent the sample issues to Lin Weimin, who then brought them to the meeting.
"Come on, our Tongwen Press's first publication is published. Everyone, take a look and give us your opinions!"
Although he was asked to give his opinions, the expression on Lin Weimin's face was one of naked showing off.
"'Jiuzhou Heroes' Chronicles', for the people, the name of your publication is quite domineering." Li Shuguang, the deputy editor-in-chief of the publishing house, joked.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "For martial arts publications, the name must be a bit impressive. Readers like this kind of thing."
Cheng Zaochun took the sample issue and flipped through it. "The design and layout are both good. I just need to see how the subscription is going. How many responses have been received so far?"
"The number of copies that have been sent back is probably over 20,000, and I estimate it to be at least 50,000."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Zaochun nodded in satisfaction. "In such a short period of time, there are already 20,000 subscriptions. The momentum is quite good!"
If a publication that hasn't even published its first issue has a subscription volume of 50,000 copies, its survival is basically not a problem. The remaining suspense is how well it can survive.
Tongwen Society is a subsidiary of Guowen Society, but Cheng Zaochun handed over the power of the subsidiary society to Lin Weimin and seldom asked about the affairs of Tongwen Society. Hearing this good news today, he felt sincerely relieved.
After nearly half a year of hard work, I finally achieved some results.
After the meeting, Cheng Zaochun and Lin Weimin walked together. "The sales of Jin Yong's works have been good in the past two months. Didn't you say before that you would also introduce Liang Yusheng's works? How is it going?"
"Recently, the editorial department has been busy with the "Nine Provinces Heroes" and hasn't had time for it! By the way, the first issue of "Nine Provinces Heroes" will be published soon. Now there are only four people in the editorial department, which is too weak. I plan to transfer four more people from the publishing house. You can also give me four college students this year."
Cheng Zaochun said: "You are asking for eight people at once."
"You have the wrong idea! Do you know what the positioning of Tongwen Society is? It is the treasure pot and cash cow of our Guowen Society. How can you treat your cash cow like this?"
"Don't fool me. The first issue of Jiuzhou Heroes hasn't been published yet. We don't know what it will be like in the future. You guys are not busy with publishing tasks right now, so four people are enough."
Cheng Zaochun rejected Lin Weimin's idea as if Grandet were still alive.
"Old Cheng, what can I say about you? Why can't our Chinese Literature Society beat the other side? It's because of your conservative style! Waiting until the results come out before increasing investment, will it be too late?"
The opposite side that Lin Weimin mentioned is the People's Publishing House, which is located in the same building as the Guowen Publishing House.
Since its establishment, the People's Publishing House has consistently surpassed the Guowen Publishing House in terms of book circulation, with annual book circulation exceeding 50 million copies, and even reaching 60 million copies in some years.
The annual book circulation of Guowen Publishing House is generally around 35 million copies, of which 20 million copies are brought by Contemporary Magazine.
Cheng Zaochun was touched on a sore spot by Lin Weimin, and couldn't help but yelled angrily, "You're talking nonsense! How many units have subscribed to their books and periodicals? Can we compare with them?"
Lin Weimin said: "I don't care. We are seriously short of staff at Tongwen Society. You must find a way for me. At least eight people, otherwise this job can't be done!"
Seeing that he was beginning to make trouble, Cheng Zaochun scolded him, "Don't do that!"
"Old Cheng, don't you want to defeat the other side?"
Seeing that the hard approach didn't work, Lin Weimin tried the soft approach and asked in the same tone as the Big Bad Wolf trying to seduce Little Red Riding Hood.
When he asked this question, Cheng Zaochun indeed fell into hesitation.
Lin Weimin continued, "It's only 20 million copies a year. It's difficult for pure literature, but it's not a big deal for popular literature. One issue of Story Club sells 4 million copies, and even if it's a bimonthly, it only takes a year to come out."
"Can you really do that?"
"In theory, there is no problem. The key question is, as the logistics director, can you provide high-quality logistics support for our brothers who are fighting the enemy on the front line? You can't let us fight on an empty stomach, right?"
Cheng Zaochun was not stupid and of course he knew the purpose of Lin Weimin's words. However, it was indeed very exciting to think about the circulation of the People's Publishing House, but he also knew the difficulty of catching up with the circulation of tens of millions of copies.
"I think that's tough. Do you think publishing is just a game? It's not that easy to get a circulation of 20 million!"
Lin Weimin observed Cheng Zaochun's expression, then said, "If you don't believe me, forget it. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
After saying that, he left.
Seeing that his provocation didn't work, Cheng Zaochun caught up with Lin Weimin and asked, "How confident are you that I can get you all the troops?"
"People alone are not enough!"
If we don't ask for a big price at this time, we will be betraying Comrade Lao Cheng's great ambition.
"What else do you want?"
"Talk to Xinhua Factory and ask them to take over the business of Tongwen Press."
Cheng Zaochun said flatly, "That's impossible. Do you think I opened the Xinhua Factory? You know the publications they print, so how could they possibly take over Tongwen Press's business?"
"If Tongwen Press doesn't find a printing factory with high printing volume and reliable quality, how can it develop in the future? You are the leader of our superior publishing house. If I don't look for you when there is something wrong, who else can I look for?"
"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that I'm powerless to do anything," Cheng Zaochun explained.
Lin Weimin looked at him, his eyes flashing with thought. After a moment, he said, "I understand you, too. How about this, we build a printing factory ourselves?"
When Cheng Zaochun heard this, he immediately became alert. After all this fuss, this kid is waiting for me here.
"Our Chinese Literature Society doesn't even have a printing factory. How can you, a subsidiary company, build one?"
"So what? You don't have a popular reading business yet, but don't we have one?"
"Don't argue. Tell me, what on earth are you up to?"
Cheng Zaochun finally couldn't bear it anymore and asked Lin Weimin to come clean.
Seeing that the time was almost right, Lin Weimin said, "I got some news that Xinhua Factory is going to launch computer printing equipment soon."
Cheng Zaochun thought for a moment and said, "I think I heard their factory director mention it during the meeting last month."
"Look at you, why didn't you tell me the news earlier!" Lin Weimin complained.
"They want to install new equipment. What does that have to do with us?"
"What does it matter? It matters a lot!" Lin Weimin glared at Cheng Zaochun, looking angry at him for not fighting back, and asked, "If he wants to install new equipment, does he have to get rid of the old equipment?"
Cheng Zaochun nodded, "Yes."
"Do you know what the price of the equipment they eliminated is?"
Cheng Zaochun shook his head, "I don't know."
Lin Weimin opened his mouth wide, "The price of scrap iron, treat it as scrap."
Cheng Zaochun understood what Lin Weimin meant, "Are you planning to buy their obsolete equipment at a low price and start a printing factory?"
Without waiting for Lin Weimin to reply, he continued, "Why did you buy the obsolete equipment? People are all using computers for printing, so why are we buying lead printing equipment and treating it like an ancestor?"
"Don't think you can get everything you want at once. Don't you know that computer printing is good? Don't you see the price? Can our company afford it? Even if we can afford it, you can't let me do it!"
Lin Weimin started to complain, but Cheng Zaochun didn't want to listen and waved his hand, "Go on!"
"I've inquired about it. The total value of their old machines is only tens of thousands of yuan. If we buy these equipment and then go to the suburbs to find a village-run enterprise to cooperate with, we can set up our own printing factory for less than 100,000 yuan."
At this point, Lin Weimin repeated loudly, "Old Cheng, our own printing factory!"
Cheng Zaochun moved his head a little further away from him, "I know, I know."
He pondered for a moment and said to Lin Weimin: "Your idea is indeed very good. Our Chinese Literature Press should have its own printing factory. I..."
"Stop!" Lin Weimin gestured, "It's not the Guowen Society, it's the Tongwen Society."
"Isn't the printing factory of Guowen Society equivalent to the printing factory of your Tongwen Society?" Cheng Zaochun said shamelessly.
Lin Weimin glared at Cheng Zaochun in anger, "Old Cheng, you... are shameless!"
Cheng Zaochun knew he was in the wrong but couldn't give in at this time. He said with a stern face: "Don't forget, you are not only the president and editor-in-chief of Tongwen Press, but also the editor-in-chief of our Guowen Press."
"No, no, we are at a great disadvantage." Lin Weimin waved his hands and said.
He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "The company has been cooperating with Xinhua Factory for so many years. Now they want to upgrade their equipment. The quality of printing and binding in the future will definitely be better than before. The company can't just leave their equipment unused and use our own old equipment, right?"
Cheng Zaochun thought about it and it made sense. He thought for a moment and said, "That's it. The publishing house reprints too many books every year, so we can allocate some of them to our printing factory. Our Guowen Publishing House will invest in the printing factory. Except for the printing of reprinted books, the remaining production capacity of the factory will be given to you. In this way, the publishing house can save a lot of printing costs, and you don't have to rely on others for your printing business."
Lin Weimin thought about Cheng Zaochun's statement and found it to be somewhat feasible.
"We reprint hundreds of books every year, with a print run of at least five million copies. Although Tongwen Press's business volume is relatively small now, we still have to look at the problem from a development perspective. The new factory's production capacity may not be enough!"
Lin Weimin talked about the conditions with Cheng Zaochun, and Cheng Zaochun fell into deep thought. After a long while, he gritted his teeth.
"Two years. If the number of books and periodicals you publish and distribute exceeds five million copies within two years, the company will expand the scale of the printing plant and give priority to your Tongwen Press's business."
Lin Weimin clapped his hands and said loudly: "You said it!"
Cheng Zaochun looked at Lin Weimin's expression. For some reason, he felt that Lin Weimin seemed to be waiting for him here!
(End of this chapter)
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