Chapter 607: Robbing money?
Book publishing has a copyright protection period. The copyright protection period in China is 50 years. The copyright protection period in different countries around the world varies, but the maximum is 70 years.
If Guowen Publishing House wants to publish a series of books, if it includes works published after World War II, it will encounter copyright issues. It is impossible for Guowen Publishing House to solve copyright issues one by one for such a world library. The copyright fees alone may cause Guowen Publishing House to bleed heavily.
Therefore, this problem can be avoided by setting the creation time of the works included in the series to before World War II.
Cheng Zaochun looked at Lin Weimin with a look of relief in his eyes.
The child has grown up and knows how to take charge of the household.
Lin Weimin added, "In the future, we can publish a series of books that collect modern and contemporary classic literary works from all over the world. Just leave this work to me, and don't think of taking all the credit for yourself."
The smile on Cheng Zaochun's face disappeared immediately. What do you mean I took all the credit? Didn't I contribute anything? Can't I have some credit?
He glared at Lin Weimin to express his dissatisfaction, and Lin Weimin perfunctorily said: "I'm sorry, you have made great contributions, you have made great contributions, okay?"
Cheng Zaochun snorted coldly.
Lin Weimin continued, "This series of books should be the most ambitious publishing project in the history of our Guowen Press. I plan to bring it up at the first meeting after the New Year. There will definitely be a lot of people who oppose it by then, so you have to withstand the pressure!"
"What are you talking about? Why can't I stand the pressure?"
"Look, I'm just reminding you, why are you in such a hurry?"
Cheng Zaochun looked at Lin Weimin unhappily, "You, you should think about how to do this well."
"Okay, you transfer some money first."
"what?"
“I have done some statistics and found that countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union have all published series of books such as the World Library. These are our predecessors who we can learn from.
Why not buy all these books and take a look at them, and summarize the pros and cons of various countries in publishing these series of books, so that we can avoid many detours! "
Cheng Zaochun frowned and asked, "That must be a lot of money, right?"
"A few tens of thousands of dollars."
"Robber the money!" Cheng Zaochun shouted loudly, as if Lin Weimin was digging out his lifeblood, or like a rich landlord holding his purse tightly when facing bandits, he valued money more than his life.
Since becoming the president, Cheng Zaochun has been moving more and more towards the direction of Pi Xiu.
"I said, can you please not be so stingy? This is also for work!"
The scale of book series such as the World Library in various countries starts from several hundred volumes, and most of them are in developed countries. The prices of books are high, and spending tens of thousands of dollars to purchase these books is a conservative figure.
"Then wait until you really want to work."
Lin Weimin shook his head helplessly. "Look at how you look now. How can you look like the head of a big publishing house?"
"Tell me this when you become the president!" Cheng Zaochun replied.
"Okay, okay, you're awesome. You're the president, you're in charge, and you're the only one who knows how expensive food and daily necessities are." Lin Weimin took a step back and said, "Don't hold back when we need to prove the plan later."
"We'll talk about it when the time comes." Cheng Zaochun said perfunctorily.
Lin Weimin shook his head again. He used to be a good person, so why did he become like this after becoming a leader?
The two things Lin Weimin mentioned required a lot of time and energy to prepare, so he had to say hello to Cheng Zaochun in advance.
After coming out of Cheng Zaochun's office, Lin Weimin passed by the office of the Contemporary Literature Editorial Department and suddenly remembered the inaugural issue of "Chinese Prose" which was only released in late October.
He poked his head into the office, "Li Xin, come here."
Li Xin, who was working, stood up and walked to the corridor. "Editor-in-chief, what's going on?"
"I've been too busy with work lately and haven't had time to pay attention to it. How is the sales of the first issue of Chinese Essays?"
"It's selling well. We've sold about 30,000 or 40,000 copies."
Li Xin is the director of the first editorial office of contemporary literature and concurrently serves as deputy editor-in-chief of Chinese Prose, but is not responsible for administrative affairs. His main job is to share the review pressure for executive deputy editor-in-chief Rong Peixiang. After all, Li Shuguang is more of a figurehead as editor-in-chief.
If compared with the sales of "Heroes of Kyushu", the sales of "Chinese Prose" are completely insignificant.
But "Chinese Prose" is a pure literary magazine after all. The works published are mainly one category of literary genre - prose, and it is a new magazine without any accumulation.
Therefore, it is already quite good to be able to achieve such results more than half a month after being on the market. The life-and-death line of 50,000 copies should be broken, and survival will not be a problem.
What Guowen Publishing House values in publishing "Chinese Prose" is not the economic benefits. As long as the publication does not lose money, the publication will continue to exist.
Lin Weimin chatted with Li Xin for a few more words about work and then let him go back to the office.
After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin stopped his car and was about to enter the yard when he saw a young man standing at the door.
When the young man saw Lin Weimin, he was stunned for a moment, then a look of surprise appeared on his face.
Lin Weimin was just about to ask the young man what he was doing there when he saw Sister Sun come out. The young man called out "Mom".
Sister Sun nodded to the young man first, and then explained to Lin Weimin: "Teacher Lin, this is my son. He came to see me for something."
Lin Weimin nodded. Seeing that Sister Sun was about to take her son to the street to talk, he said, "Sister Sun, it's very cold outside. Let's go inside and talk."
"It's okay, it will only take a few words." Sister Sun said.
"Come in, it's okay."
Lin Weimin called out again and wanted to pull the mother and son away. Seeing this, Sister Sun pulled her son into the yard.
Sister Sun pulled her son into the house and greeted Tao Huimin and her mother.
Sister Sun’s son is Zhou Jun, and he is now a senior at Yenching Normal University. When Zhou Jun was greeting everyone, his eyes kept looking at Lin Weimin.
After saying hello, Sister Sun took him to her bedroom to talk.
"Sister Sun, you two can talk slowly. There's no need to rush. Let Zhou Jun stay at home for dinner tonight." Lin Weimin said.
It was evening now, and Sister Sun had to prepare dinner for the family. She must be anxious to talk to her son, and she would probably have to let her son go after just a few words, so Lin Weimin gave her a special instruction.
Sister Sun opened her mouth and finally said, "Thank you, Teacher Lin."
The house I live in is a three-courtyard house with a back house at the entrance, which was used to be a residence for servants.
But the back rooms of Lin Weimin's house have become storage rooms, and Sister Sun's room is in the west wing.
Sister Sun brought her son Zhou Jun into the room. Zhou Jun finally had a chance to speak. He suppressed his inner excitement and said, "Mom, is that really Teacher Lin?"
"You know him?"
"I haven't seen him, but I've seen his photos. He's so young, he looks about the same age as me," Zhou Jun said in amazement.
My mother had been working as a nanny in Lin Weimin's home for several months. During this period, she only went to Yanshi University to visit him once and told him that she was now working in Lin Weimin's home.
When Zhou Jun heard the news, he couldn't believe it. His mother actually went to work as a nanny in the home of the great writer Lin Weimin.
Zhou Jun sighed and his eyes unconsciously looked at the decoration and furnishings in the house. The house where his mother lived was much better than the teacher's house at school.
Thinking of what his mother said about her making 300 yuan a month, Zhou Jun asked, "Teacher Lin's family treats you well, right?"
Sister Sun laughed and said, "Great, you won't find such a good employer anywhere else. Teacher Lin's family are all good people and they are very kind to others. Look at the room where mom lives..."
Sister Sun couldn't help showing off to her son, "There's an air conditioner in this room, which is only available in shopping malls. Teacher Lin and the others asked me to turn it on two months ago, but I didn't want to. This thing consumes a lot of electricity. Two words per hour, it's like robbing money."
The summer in Yanjing is unbearable. Zhou Jun couldn't help but envy the air conditioner in his mother's room. "You really found a good job. It's much better than working outside."
"Yeah, Mom is lucky this time. I think it would be best if I could continue to work at Teacher Lin's house."
Zhou Jun said, "In a few years, you will be fifty, and we will all be working. It's time for you to enjoy your life."
"What's the point of enjoying a life at the age of fifty? If you meet a good family like this, you should work for a few more years."
"You've been working all your life, don't you want to take a break?"
Sister Sun said lightly: "Working here is a blessing. Isn't it better than farming at home? There is no wind or rain, and the salary is not bad."
After chatting with her son about her work for a while, Sister Sun asked about her son's studies in school.
The two chatted for more than ten minutes, and Sister Sun got up to prepare dinner.
Before Lin Weimin came in, Sister Sun was preparing dinner with Mother Tao, and the food was almost ready.
The food was served, and Lin Weimin said, "Come, Zhou Jun, sit down next to your mother."
Zhou Jun sat down somewhat stiffly.
During the meal, Lin Weimin was afraid that Sister Sun and Zhou Jun and her son would feel awkward, so he chatted with Zhou Jun from time to time.
He has been to Yanshi University several times and gave speeches there. The topics they talked about were very relaxed.
"Little Tong from our club is from your school. I remember he was in the 80th grade. He is your senior. His name is Tong Zhonggui."
Speaking of Tong Zhonggui, Zhou Jun looked confused, and Lin Weimin said, "His pen name is Su Tong."
Hearing the pen name Zhou Jun suddenly understood and said excitedly: "Of course I know. Senior Brother Tong has been a legendary figure in our Chinese Department in recent years. He joined Contemporary as an editor right after graduation and became a well-known writer in just a few years. I have read his Escape in 1934 and Wives and Concubines."
Lin Weimin nodded and said, "Xiao Tong's novels are good, but as far as I know, when he was in school, he also wrote good poems, right?"
When Lin Weimin brought up the topic of poetry, Zhou Jun became even more excited. Although poetry had passed its most popular era, there were still a large number of poetry enthusiasts on campus in the early 1990s, and Zhou Jun was obviously one of them.
When talking about poetry, he talked incessantly for a long time. Finally, he talked about Haizi who lay on the railway tracks in Shanhaiguan two years ago. Zhou Jun's tone was full of regret. He hesitated for a moment, and finally plucked up the courage.
"Teacher Lin, can your Chinese Literature Society publish a collection of Haizi's poems?"
Lin Weimin asked, "Is there no publishing house that wants to publish his poems?"
"As far as I know, no. He didn't complete many poems during his lifetime. Most of them were unfinished. My classmates in the poetry club said that Xichuan and Luo Yihe are sorting out his posthumous works."
Lin Weimin nodded and said, "Your suggestion is good. I'll have someone contact them to see if it can be published."
Zhou Jun didn't expect that his suggestion was actually adopted by Lin Weimin. He was ecstatic and said, "Thank you so much, Teacher Lin."
"Why should you thank me? I should be the one thanking you. If you hadn't recommended it to me, I wouldn't have thought of it. I also like Haizi's poem "Facing the Sea, Spring Flowers Bloom." Lin Weimin said with a smile.
(End of this chapter)
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