Chapter 591: Shame of the Literary World
While having dinner together today, Yu Hua did not hide anything. He contacted Cheng Hong after arriving in Yanjing, and they quickly established a romantic relationship. Now their relationship is stable, and from the tone of both of them, they are basically aiming to get married.
"If you're thinking of getting married, you'd better save your money. The houses allocated by the company are of relatively poor quality, so it's better to buy a house. Once you buy a house, you'll be settled down in Yanjing forever." Lin Weimin said.
Speaking of houses, Yu Hua became interested and said in an amazed tone: "The housing prices in Yanjing have risen too much in the past two years. I read in the reports that some new houses are sold for 2,000 yuan per square meter! The royalties I earned this time are only enough to buy a toilet."
"Yanjing is the capital, so it is inevitable that housing prices will rise."
Yu Hua couldn't help but admire and said, "Teacher Lin, you are really far-sighted. The value of the houses you own must have increased two or three times in the past few years, right?"
"It's just to fight inflation. Money in the bank loses value too quickly." Lin Weimin said casually.
Anti-inflation? Do you have any misunderstanding about these three words? Yu Hua thought.
"Mo Yan is really lucky. The house he bought should have increased in value by quite a bit."
A few years ago, when Mo Yan was studying at the College of Literature, he used his royalties to ask Lin Weimin to help him buy a house. Logically speaking, he was not eligible to buy a house in Yanjing, but everything can be manipulated, and the value of his house has indeed increased a lot now.
Yu Hua sighed again, "Ah! I haven't seen him for such a long time. I miss him so much."
When Mo Yan was in the Faculty of Arts, he had planned to stay in Beijing after graduation. He revealed this to Lin Weimin at the time, and Lin Weimin was ready to help him find a job.
Unfortunately, he backed out when graduation came.
Mo Yan was a soldier. During the years he studied at the Military Art Academy and the Academy of Arts, he had been receiving subsidies from the army. He had to leave the army after graduation, which was somewhat unkind. Before graduation, he thought about it over and over again, but in the end he decided not to do so and returned to the army honestly.
Of course, his treatment was not bad when he returned to the army. In fact, because he had gained some experience there, his treatment was even better than before.
"With his personality, it's only a matter of time before he's discharged from the army," said Lin Weimin.
Yu Hua nodded in agreement.
Mo Yan has a somewhat eccentric personality, which may be due to his early living environment, so there is a cynical spirit in his writing, and novels such as "Garlic Song in Heaven" are proof of this.
In the past two years, he wrote two novels, "Thirteen Steps" and "The Herbivorous Family", which received mediocre responses.
In comparison, the reputation and response of "Crying in the Rain" and "To Live" are very good. Yu Hua has become a latecomer in the past two years.
While eating, Yu Hua suddenly asked, "Teacher Lin, the novel you got from the editorial department is really well written. I feel it is no worse than the novels of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng. Are there any other martial arts novel writers as good as this in our country?"
Lin Weimin paused while picking up food, and said with a smile, "If the quality is not good, I won't use it as the headline of the first issue."
Seeing that Lin Weimin did not answer his question in this way, Yu Hua asked, "Who is this 'Xiao Zuanfeng'?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? The author doesn't want to reveal his or her information, so don't ask nonsense questions. You're an editor, don't you know this taboo?"
Lin Weimin's silence made Yu Hua even more suspicious. Writing a martial arts novel was not something shameful, unless...
"Could this novel be written by Tie Sheng?" he suddenly asked.
Lin Weimin glared at him and said, "Don't guess blindly!"
Lin Weimin refused to say anything, which made Yu Hua even more curious. He had already judged from Lin Weimin's attitude that the writer of this novel must not be a traditional martial arts novelist, but perhaps one of their group of pure literature writers.
As far as he knows, there are many writers who like to read martial arts novels. He himself also likes to read them very much. Not only does he like to read them, he has also tried to write them and published them.
Therefore, it is not impossible for a writer who is good at writing martial arts novels to emerge from the group of pure literature writers.
This makes sense for Mr. Lin’s caution.
Nowadays, if a pure literature writer writes martial arts novels, it will be regarded as a shame in the literary world.
This person must be very close to Teacher Lin. Who could it be?
Tie Sheng? Mo Yan? Wang Shuo? Lu Yao?
Yu Hua had a clue in his mind and he could not enjoy the meal peacefully. He kept wondering who the author could be.
A few days later, in the editorial office of Tongwen Press.
Yu Hua and his companions have been a little absent-minded since they arrived. Today is July 15th, the day when the inaugural issue of "Jiuzhou Heroes" is on sale.
The four people in the editorial department have been preparing for four or five months for this first pure martial arts publication in the country, and now the day of results has finally arrived.
The subscription work for the publication lasted for more than 20 days, and the final feedback was that more than 86,000 copies were received, far exceeding everyone's expectations. This result gave everyone great confidence.
The subscription volume of the publication is just a reference. The first issue of "Jiuzhou Heroes" was printed in 100,000 copies and went on sale today.
The publication of a publication is not like that of an ordinary book. Because the sales cycle is relatively short, the feedback time is naturally short as well. If nothing unexpected happens, there should be feedback within a few days.
The whole morning was spent in a state of absent-mindedness and slacking off.
In the afternoon, just as everyone was about to concentrate on their work, Lin Weimin walked into the office.
"Xuegang, I talked to Mr. Liang Yusheng through an intermediary. He plans to give the mainland publishing rights of his novel to our Tongwen Press. You should prepare in the next few days and go to Hong Kong to sign a contract with him on behalf of the press.
When you arrive in Hong Kong, Mr. Liu Yichang will send someone to pick you up. Under his guidance, you will visit several Hong Kong martial arts writers and try to sign the publishing rights of their works. Here is the list. "
After Lin Weimin finished speaking, Li Xuegang became a little excited, not only because he was going on a business trip to Hong Kong, but also because he would be able to meet several famous martial arts novelists in Hong Kong. If he didn't like martial arts novels, he wouldn't have been transferred to Tongwen Society.
Li Xuegang took the list from Lin Weimin, took a look at it, and saw four or five names written on it. Only one name, Wen Ruian, looked familiar to him. In the past two years, pirated martial arts novels of Wen Ruian had just appeared in the mainland and were welcomed by many martial arts novel readers. He had never heard of most of the writers' names.
"Wen Ruian and Huang Ying are writers of traditional martial arts novels, Huang Yi writes fantasy martial arts novels, and Nangong Bo specializes in historical novels. The styles of their works are different. When you go to Hong Kong, you can buy a few of their works and read them so that you can be prepared when you meet them." Lin Weimin reminded.
"Okay, I understand." Li Xuegang agreed.
The others looked at Li Xuegang with envy. Not only could he go on a business trip to Hong Kong to see the colorful world, but he could also meet various famous martial arts novelists. This was the business trip life that everyone dreamed of.
Lin Weimin looked at the others and said, "Xuegang will probably be gone for more than a week. The three of you stay home and look after the stall. The first issue has just been released. Pay attention to collecting market feedback. Yu Hua, Xuegang will be away for a few days. You will be in charge of the editorial department."
"Okay, Teacher Lin."
"Also, the content of the next issue of the publication must be proofread very carefully, and there must be no mistakes in the previous issues." Lin Weimin added with concern.
Yu Hua responded with a "yes", and then complained to Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin, Xue Gang has left, and we only have three people left in the editorial department. This is really a little short. When can we get a few more people? I'm really afraid that we won't be able to handle it by then."
"I have already applied to the company for a new batch of college students to join the company at the end of this month. The green hands interning in the proofreading department will be divided among the three of us."
As soon as Lin Weimin finished speaking, smiles suddenly appeared on the faces of several people.
Finally, there is new power!
The editorial department of Tongwen Press was established half a year ago, and the work has not been too busy.
But things are a little different starting from this month. With the launch of "Heroes of Kyushu", publishing a monthly issue has become the daily work of the editorial department. In the future, we will also be responsible for the publication of popular reading materials, and the staff is indeed beginning to become stretched.
"After the people arrive, your editorial department will be split into two editorial offices. One will be the popular reading editorial office, and the other will be the 'Nine Provinces Heroes' editorial office."
Lin Weimin's words before leaving sparked discussion among everyone.
As the editorial department had more staff and the publishing house's business began to expand, splitting up the editorial office was inevitable.
Li Xuegang is already the editor-in-chief of the editorial department and is definitely in charge of the popular reading editorial department.
There are only four people in the editorial department. Teacher Lin previously gave Yu Huaan the title of deputy editor-in-chief of the editorial department. This will become meaningful now. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be in charge of "Nine Provinces Heroes".
Liu Maowen and Qi Xianghua were a little disappointed, but then they cheered up again.
Tongwen Press was established only half a year ago and currently has two editorial offices, and there will be more departments in the future.
Teacher Lin is a very fair person. Both of them are founding members of the society. As long as they perform well, why should they be afraid of not getting promoted?
While a few people were discussing, someone from the Contemporary Literature Editorial Department 2 next door came running over. They were all former colleagues and had a very familiar relationship.
They just heard what Lin Weimin said, and congratulated Li Xuegang on his arrival, saying that going on a business trip to Hong Kong was a good job.
"Your Tongwen Agency is still the best. It's only been half a year and you have the opportunity to go on a business trip to Hong Kong."
"Xue Gang, go and exchange some foreign currency so you can buy more things in Hong Kong!"
…
Half a year ago, it would have been impossible to say that everyone envied the young editors of Tongwen Press.
If they went to a subordinate publishing house to be editors and work on popular literature, many people in the publishing house would be puzzled by the choice of these young people.
But now, Jin Yong's collection of works has been published and sold more than a thousand dollars in two months. Although it is under the name of Guowen Publishing House, everyone knows that this is the performance of Tongwen Publishing House.
The martial arts magazine "Jiuzhou Heroes" has been on sale after several months of preparation, with over 80,000 copies subscribed. This is a very good result. Judging from the number of subscriptions alone, this magazine is not only able to survive, but also to thrive. The key is that you still don't know how it will develop in the future. Maybe it will be even better?
You know, these days the sales of popular reading materials are generally quite good, often reaching hundreds of thousands or even millions, which is much easier than pure literary publications.
Now Li Xuegang is going on a business trip to Hong Kong again. This kind of opportunity usually comes once every two years in the Chinese Literature Society. However, in the past, only the senior leaders and experts in the society were qualified to go. There were very few people like Li Xuegang who could go at his age.
Just for this treatment, Li Xuegang’s job as editor-in-chief is not in vain.
While his colleagues were chatting and laughing, Li Xuegang slipped into Lin Weimin's office.
He and his wife have always wanted to buy a computer, but now a computer in Zhongguancun can cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is beyond their financial means. So they took the opportunity of a business trip to go to Hong Kong to buy a computer.
Li Xuegang finished his request, and Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I don't care. I'll bring you some foreign currency tomorrow."
"Thank you, Teacher Lin!" Li Xuegang said happily.
(End of this chapter)
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