Chapter 659: Million-dollar Remuneration Call for Essays
Cheng Zaochun had been listening to Lin Weimin for a long time, and his mind had long been wandering. Lin Weimin finally stopped and asked expectantly, "How is it? What do you think of my idea?"
Like an elementary school student caught by the teacher for being distracted in class, Cheng Zaochun was a little flustered.
How would he know what was going on? He was distracted halfway through listening.
"Okay! This is a good idea. I think we can give it a try."
It’s just a series of books anyway, and it doesn’t require much investment, Cheng Zaochun thought.
When Lin Weimin heard this, a smile immediately appeared on his face.
When did Old Cheng become so smart?
It seemed that he must have been amazed by my idea.
"Well, since you agree, let's release the news before the New Year, and let these writers in China have fun with us."
Lehelehe? What does it mean?
Cheng Zaochun didn't understand what this meant and was too embarrassed to ask any more questions, so he ended the conversation hastily.
Three days later, the latest issue of "Literary Story Newspaper" was published.
As a weekly literary and historical digest under the Guowen Publishing House, "Literary Story Newspaper" has its own group of fixed audiences, and the sales volume of each issue is maintained between 400,000 and 500,000 copies. This sales volume is already considered impressive in today's domestic newspaper and magazine market.
Early in the morning, many readers who have subscribed to a year's worth of newspapers take out their newspapers from the mailboxes at their doorsteps so that they can read them while having breakfast.
"'Rag Tiger Series' Million-Dollar Writing Competition"?
Many people are immediately attracted by the headlines on the front page when they first read a newspaper.
A line of title, eleven words, four of which seemed to have magic power to attract the attention of all readers who were reading the newspaper - a million in royalties.
In this era, the average working class earns only more than 200 yuan a month, and those who can earn a little more than 400 or 500 yuan are considered lucky. The four words "million-yuan in royalties" are so eye-catching that it is impossible for everyone to ignore them.
After carefully reading the call for papers on the front page, everyone finally understood what was going on.
It turned out that the "Rag Tiger Series" planned by Guowen Publishing House had launched a call for articles. The so-called "million-dollar royalties" referred to the royalty budget provided by Guowen Publishing House for this call for articles.
In the call for papers, Guowen Publishing House clearly stated that it would pay a sky-high fee of 150 yuan per thousand words to all works selected for the "Rag Tiger Series".
After the work is published, if the first print run is no less than 100,000 copies and the sales volume exceeds 150,000 copies, it will be automatically converted into royalties to pay the author's remuneration, with the royalty sharing ratio being as high as 10%.
Hong Feng used to be a substitute teacher in a middle school and later worked in a brick factory. After the college entrance examination system was restored in 1977, he was admitted to the Chinese Department of Northeast Normal University. After graduating in 1982, he taught at the Chinese Department of Baicheng Teachers College. In 1984, he was transferred to the "Writers" magazine of the Jilin Provincial Literary Association as an editor.
In his spare time, Hong Feng's greatest pleasure is writing. In 1983, inspired by Lin Weimin, he joined the creative army of "avant-garde literature" and his fame caught up with Yu Hua, Ma Yuan and others.
But in recent years, with the continuous decline of pure literature, Hong Feng's creative career has also reached a low point.
His latest novel, "Eastern Time Zone 8," which he completed last year, received positive reviews from many critics in the literary circle, but he searched for publishing houses and found no one was willing to publish it.
Hong Feng has been in the literary world for more than ten years. He has created dozens of short and medium-length novels and won many awards. Although he lacks the recognition of heavyweight literary awards such as the Yanbing Literature Award, it is not an exaggeration to call him a "powerful writer."
After the book "Eastern Time Zone 8" was published, it received good reviews, but it unexpectedly reached the point where it could not be published. This not only made Hong Feng frustrated and embarrassed, but also put a big question mark in his writing career over the years, and almost destroyed his confidence as a writer.
Some time ago, he constantly reflected on his creative direction and content, trying to find out where the problem lies. In the end, he sadly discovered that he could only attribute everything to the market.
According to Hong Feng's observation, pure literature has been gradually declining in recent years. Except for some writers who have already become famous and have their own fixed readership, the sales of most writers' books after publication are not satisfactory. This is one of the reasons why many publishing houses are unwilling to publish pure literature works.
The gradual marginalization of pure literature is matched by the rapid rise of popular literature. In the mid-to-late 1980s, popular literature was still firmly suppressed by pure literature, but in just a few years, the offensive and defensive forces have changed, and pure literature has almost been beaten to the ground by popular literature.
The works of popular literature writers such as Jin Yong, Sanmao, and Qiong Yao from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places are very popular, which has led to a publishing boom of popular literature works. This type of works has also continued to emerge in the mainland. The easy-to-read and easy-to-understand nature of this type of works has led to an increase in circulation, and now it has reached a level that pure literature can hardly match.
With popular literature being so popular, which publishing house would be willing to publish pure literary works that don’t sell well?
Therefore, in recent years, many domestic writers with average ability and no representative works have found it difficult to publish their works.
Hong Feng figured out his situation and suffered for a while. Then, while hesitating, he tried to create a transformative work.
Since pure literature is declining and popular literature is selling well, we should mix some popular elements into our works.
But as he wrote, Hong Feng lost confidence again. He began to doubt whether there would be any publishing house willing to publish such a weird and weird thing as his, and whether there would be any readers who would appreciate it.
In this mood of anxiety and fear, another work of Hong Feng is about to be completed.
He was at a loss for a solution when he suddenly saw the call for articles for the "Rag Tiger Series" from the Guowen Publishing House in the "Literary Story Newspaper" while having breakfast. He was shocked.
The total remuneration is one million, the remuneration for each work is 150 yuan per thousand words, the first print run is 100,000 copies, and the royalty share is 10% for copies exceeding 150,000.
This treatment cannot be described as generous, it is simply insane.
Two years ago, Huayi Publishing House wanted to publish Wang Shuo's "Die After Having Fun" and offered a fee of 100 yuan per thousand words, which was already a sky-high price. Later, the royalties Wang Shuo received were a figure that most writers would not even dare to think about.
Now Guowen Publishing House has increased its remuneration per thousand words to 150 yuan. The soaring prices in the past two years are nothing compared to the increase in remuneration at Guowen Publishing House.
Hong Feng stared at the text on the newspaper. The requirements for the "Rag Tiger Series" were listed by the Guowen Publishing House in a very rough manner. There were almost no hard and fast rules. They were all common sense. He thought of "The World of Suffering" that he was about to finish writing, and his heart was pounding.
Anyway, the result won't be any worse, so there's no harm in giving it a try.
Hong Feng made up his mind and said this to himself.
In the Chinese Language Society, Lin Weimin received a call from his old classmate Jin Ying.
Jin Ying and Lin Weimin were both students of the fifth term of the Institute of Literature and Art. After graduation, she worked as an editor for a while and then was transferred to the Jibei Literary Association. Now she is the deputy leader of the association and also serves as the deputy secretary, as well as the vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
While her official career was going smoothly, Jin Ying's creative career was also going well. Although she did not write many novels in recent years, she published short and medium-length stories very frequently, which made her worthy of the title of deputy head of the Writers Association.
Last year, the fifth issue of "Contemporary Literary World" published an article entitled "The Gemini Constellation in the New Era Literary World - A Brief Discussion on the Compatibility Phenomenon in the Creative Evolution of Huang Anyi and Jin Ying", which referred to Jin Ying and Huang Anyi as "the Gemini Constellation in the New Era Chinese Literary World", showing the recognition of their literary achievements.
In June, she was named one of the "Top Ten Writers in China" by Girlfriend magazine.
The reason why Jin Ying called Lin Weimin this time was naturally because she saw the call for papers in the Literary Story Newspaper.
"As a big leader, you still want to join in the fun?"
Facing Lin Weimin's ridicule, Jin Ying said calmly: "What's the point of being a leader or not? I have to eat grains too! Your Guowen Society is rich and powerful, and you offer a sky-high fee of 150 yuan per thousand words. Let alone me, who wouldn't be tempted? I think you won't be able to sleep well these days."
Jin Ying was right. As soon as the call for papers was published in the Literary Story Newspaper, within the morning, the phones of all editorial offices of the Guowen Publishing House were almost blown away by calls from writers seeking advice.
150 yuan per thousand words. Assuming you write a novel of 300,000 words, that would be 45,000 yuan in royalties.
Once it is published in the future, maybe I will get more.
This is 45,000 yuan, which is enough for an ordinary person to earn in ten years.
Last year, Writers Publishing House published Jin Ying's collection of short and medium-length stories, "Straw Stacks", and she only received 13,000 yuan in royalties. The standard of 45 yuan per thousand words is not low.
You should know that "Straw Stacks" includes 16 novellas by Jin Ying, with a total of nearly 290,000 words.
With this comparison, you can see how astonishing the remuneration standard of Guowen Publishing House is.
Even though Jin Ying is now the deputy leader of the Literary Association, it is hard not to be moved.
No matter how high your position is, you still have to eat!
"Haha, I'm looking forward to it! The more people come to me, the happier I am." Lin Weimin laughed heartily, in a good mood, and asked again: "What's the matter? If you are really interested in this essay contest, you can give it a try. Our conditions are very relaxed."
Jin Ying was excited after hearing this, and she asked Lin Weimin about some hidden conditions for the essay contest for the "Rag Tiger Series".
As old classmates, this benefit must be given.
The "Rag Tiger Series" has set a sky-high standard for royalties. To make a profit, the books must be best-sellers, so the works cannot be too highbrow and must have some popular elements.
Of course, being too popular is not good either. It is best to be appealing to both the elite and the masses.
After listening to Lin Weimin's words, Jin Ying smiled and asked, "Hearing what you said, I think I'll just follow your novel."
In the domestic literary circle, many people recognize that Lin Weimin is the best writer who combines popularity, literature and artistry.
“Hehe, if you say so, your work can be given priority when it is reviewed later.” Lin Weimin joked.
"Just give priority to evaluation?"
"You just flatter me, what else do you want? Comrade Xiao Jin, you are also a cadre of D, don't always think about these crooked things."
Lin Weimin's joke caused Jin Ying to spit.
After joking a few words, Jin Ying told Lin Weimin seriously that she really wanted to give it a try.
She is now a well-known writer in the country and wants to participate in the essay contest for the "Rag Tiger Series". This is naturally a good thing, and Lin Weimin was happy to agree.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin walked to the window, and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his heart, "All the heroes in the world are now in this valley."
Just as he moved his eyes downward, he saw Old Cheng, who was in a meeting outside, walking into the yard with hurried steps, as if he had something urgent to do.
Unexpectedly, less than a minute later, the office door was suddenly pushed open.
Old Cheng held a newspaper in his hand, feeling angry, trembling and helpless. "What's going on?"
(End of this chapter)
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