Chapter 660: Popularity before it is released (10,000 words updated, please vote)
"What's going on?" Lin Weimin asked puzzledly.
Cheng Zaochun was so angry that he couldn't speak. He took a few steps and slammed the newspaper in his hand on the desk. "What's going on with this essay contest?"
Lin Weimin looked at the newspaper and said, "Hey! You're talking about this. Didn't we agree a few days ago to hold a million-dollar essay contest for the Rag Tiger Series? Didn't you agree?"
Cheng Zaochun shouted: "When did I ..."
He stopped talking halfway when he looked at Lin Weimin, like a duck with its throat pinched.
Three days ago, the image of Lin Weimin talking incessantly in the office flashed through his mind, and Cheng Zaochun thought of the twenty minutes when his memory "disappeared".
"You...are you saying that I agreed that day?" Cheng Zaochun asked in disbelief.
"Yes, you agreed!" Lin Weimin said confidently.
"Did I agree?"
"Agreed."
"You really agree?"
"real."
…
Silence, anger, embarrassment, powerlessness, like a primary school monk facing an examination paper, Cheng Zaochun fell into a long silence.
Comrade Lao Cheng taught us a truth through his bloody lesson: You must listen carefully in class!
After a long time, he opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he didn't know what to say.
Finally, he let out a long sigh, "How come this newspaper was published?"
"If we're going to do it, we have to do it as soon as possible! This can be considered a good start for 93 years. You don't know, it's only been one morning and our office's phone has been flooded with calls..."
Lin Weimin was in a good mood when he talked about the feedback on the call for articles in the "Literary Story Newspaper", but to Cheng Zaochun, it was like rubbing salt into his wounds.
"Don't let yesterday rub salt into your wounds
It hurts when I touch it, and I feel sad when I think about it..."
Lin Weimin hummed a little tune as he saw off Old Cheng, who had a sad face.
When leaving, Lao Cheng was still muttering.
"Why did I agree to that?"
"Why did I agree to that?"
Lin Weimin fully understood Lao Cheng's feelings.
After all, the remuneration is 150 yuan per thousand words. Although the statement of "million-yuan remuneration" is a bit exaggerated, once the publishing of the Buhuhu series begins, it will probably not be a big deal to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan within two years.
Given Old Cheng's miserly character, it's natural for him to feel distressed.
However, Lin Weimin has always believed that there is gain only when there is sacrifice. The sky-high royalties paid by Guowen Publishing House are not given for nothing. As long as the writers can contribute excellent works and the works sell well, then it is all worth it.
In later generations, the Bu Lao Hu series published dozens of novels and essays. Once a work is selected for the Bu Lao Hu series, its cumulative sales are rarely less than 100,000 copies, and there are many works with sales of more than 300,000 copies.
These works are not only snapped up by the Xinhua Bookstore system, but also listed as preferred books by secondary channel booksellers.
In the 1990s when pure literature was declining, Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House carved out a territory of its own in the Chinese literary world with its Ragdoll series, and also established a "golden signboard" in the book market.
With such a successful case in mind, Lin Weimin is full of confidence in the Cloth Tiger series published by Guowen Publishing House.
The "Call for Papers" in the "Literary Story Newspaper" was only posted for half a day, but with the gimmick of "million-dollar royalties", the fledgling and unknown "Rag Tiger Series" has shocked the entire Chinese literary world.
Lin Weimin is certain that in the next month, the Chinese literary world will continue to be shaken by this "Rag Tiger Series".
Writing a novel can earn you tens of thousands of yuan in royalties, and large publishing houses like Guowen Publishing House are willing to spend money on marketing, with the starting print run being 100,000 copies. No writer can resist such temptation.
Jin Yinggui is the deputy head of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Well-known domestic female writers couldn't wait to call her and ask her about it, let alone others.
In the outside world, the sensation caused by the call for papers in the Literary Story Newspaper is still fermenting.
In 1993, people's awareness of publicity was not that strong. The gimmick of "million-dollar essay collection" launched by Guowen Publishing House was enough to impress most people in the literary world, and even many ordinary people paid attention to this matter.
In the following days, many media outlets contacted the Literary Story Newspaper to reprint the call for papers and published articles commenting on the matter, which further boosted the popularity of this call for papers.
In a short time, the name "cloth tiger" became known to people all over the country.
The Rag Tiger series of books became popular before it was even released!
January 18th, the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month.
"Editor-in-Chief Lin, thank you for fulfilling your mission!"
Zhu Miaochun went to report to Lin Weimin with the documents he had obtained after more than ten days of hard work. He is one of the earliest lawyers in China to engage in intellectual property rights protection. This time he was invited by Lin Weimin mainly to handle the trademark registration of the "Rag Tiger Series".
The use of trademark registration to introduce commercial operations into the field of literary publishing is the first time in China's literary and publishing circles.
After receiving this job, Zhu Miaochun put all his efforts into it and successfully registered the trademark of "Blouse Tiger Series" in less than half a month.
He knew that he would have another brilliant achievement in his career resume.
Lin Weimin took the trademark registration document, read it carefully, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you for your hard work, Zhu Lu!"
"Editor-in-Chief Lin, you are too polite. This is my job as an employee."
Trademark registration is a precautionary measure that lays the foundation for better commercial operations in the future.
Nearly ten days have passed since the Literary Story Newspaper published the "Call for Essays for the Rag Tiger Series with a Million-Dollar Remuneration". The domestic literary community has already been swept by this news. In ten days, the Guowen Press received thousands of calls, not only from writers from all over the country, but also from many media.
The call for papers in the newspaper was only a few hundred words long. The simple and loose requirements could not let everyone understand the full picture of the "Rag Tiger Series". Not only the writers were curious, but the media were also curious.
After some detailed investigation, many media outlets participated in reporting on the behind-the-scenes planning of the Ragdoll series of books.
The Cloth Tiger Series was the first major move by Guowen Publishing House in 1993, and it was the first to open up a precedent for the commercial operation of domestic book publishing in the Chinese literary world.
The million-dollar essay solicitation is just the beginning. The essay solicitation does not require writers to have unpublished works to participate. Writers without unpublished works can also sign up, but it is limited to writers whose fame and strength are recognized by expert judges. All writers participating in the Buhuhu series must be famous and capable pure literature writers.
Secondly, the Buhuhu Book Series implements a writer contract system, which is an advance contract that locks in the publishing rights for the writer's works and also has priority publishing rights for the writer's subsequent works.
After signing the contract, the Buhuhu series of books will be fully packaged around the content of the works. Compared with the early publication methods of promoting works by only publishing previews and book reviews in newspapers and magazines, the packaging and promotion methods will undergo a comprehensive upgrade.
As the inside stories about the Ragdoll series of books are continuously revealed, more and more people are paying attention to it and various voices are beginning to emerge.
There has always been an irreconcilable contradiction between pure literature and commercialization. Many people believe that Guowen Publishing House's way of operating its brand series of books in a purely commercial manner is a blasphemy to pure literature and is leading the Chinese literary world astray.
This group of people published articles in newspapers and magazines criticizing Guowen Publishing House and the new Bu Lao Hu series of books, and won the support of many literature lovers.
However, many people have also seen the decline of pure literature in China and realized that the traditional passive operating method of "good wine needs no bush" is long outdated.
Pure literature in the new era cannot stand still and should make such pioneering attempts.
Others believe that Guowen Publishing House's pace is too radical. After all, it is a national publishing house and has a significant influence in the Chinese literary world.
Such blatant promotion of commercialization is unbecoming of a major publishing house and sets a bad example for many other publishing houses.
Several heads of publications in the company got together these days and would complain about Lin Weimin whenever they had nothing to do.
"At the meeting, they scolded us profusely, saying that we were not allowed to reform. But when they started to reform themselves, they were even more radical than us. The officials are allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps!"
"That's right! After spending so much money, Old Cheng is so distressed these days that he can't stand anyone!"
"How can I not feel bad? That's a million dollars in royalties! Weimin is really bold in making false claims. If this amount of money is used to pay salaries, it would be enough to cover three months' wages."
…
Whether it is the various voices from the outside world or the discussions within the Guowen Society, it is irrelevant to Lin Weimin.
What he wanted was publicity effect, and it was obvious that the "million-dollar essay solicitation" campaign perfectly achieved his goal.
The name of the Cloth Tiger series of books became famous all over the country in less than half a month.
That's enough!
It’s the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, and there’s only one day left until the Chinese New Year.
The streets of Yanjing City were filled with a festive atmosphere, and the interior of the National Literature Society was also surrounded by a festive and lazy atmosphere.
Today the company distributed New Year benefits, and all the employees were chatting and slacking off.
After a busy year, the New Year is finally here, so of course I need to take a good rest.
The young man in the editor-in-chief's office knocked on Lin Weimin's office door, came in and asked, "Editor-in-chief, your benefits are ready. Are they loaded on the car for you?"
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment and said, "Goodbye, let's move to the guesthouse and send it to Jia Pingwa."
"yes."
Lin Weimin's family never lacks New Year's goods during the Spring Festival. The National Literature Publishing House, the People's Art Theatre, the Dramatists Association, the Chinese Literature Foundation, and the China Youth Education Development Foundation all send a portion of New Year's goods before the Spring Festival.
Some time ago, Jia Pingwa came to Yenching University to practice seclusion and write, but was locked up in a small dark room in the back building by Lin Weimin. It has been more than a month now, and he is like an ascetic monk, staying in seclusion every day and writing diligently. As the New Year is approaching, he has no intention of coming out. Lin Weimin felt a little annoyed.
What a great seedling this is!
Teacher Lin may be a black-hearted person, but he is not completely black after all.
Giving some New Year's gifts is also a way to express my gratitude to Comrade Pingwa for his hard work in writing these days.
After instructing his subordinates to deliver New Year's goods, Lin Weimin continued to be busy with the work at hand.
The commercial operation of the Ragdoll series of books was the first attempt in the Chinese publishing industry. For this purpose, Lin Weimin specially consulted several senior publishers he had worked with, including Roger Strauss, Johnson Williams, and Gary Young.
The publishing houses they work for are all large publishing houses. With this group of think tanks, Lin Weimin has become increasingly clear about the planning and development path of the Bu Lao Hu series of books, and has become more confident.
“Dangdangdang!”
There was a knock on the door. Lin Weimin thought it was his subordinate who had gone to deliver New Year's goods coming back to report, so he lowered his head and said, "Come in."
"Teacher Lin!"
Lin Weimin raised his head and unexpectedly it was Jia Pingwa.
After nearly fifty days of seclusion, Jia Pingwa looked haggard but in high spirits.
Lin Weimin thought he had come specially to express his gratitude, and just as he was about to speak, Jia Pingwa placed a thick stack of manuscripts on his desk.
"This is……"
"I just finished writing the manuscript. Just now you asked your colleagues to send me New Year's gifts, so I thought I'd come and tell you the good news first!"
There was a smile on Jia Pingwa's face when he spoke, which was the satisfaction after creating a work.
For writers, completing a work not only brings a sense of accomplishment, but also the joy of ending their "caged life".
Lin Weimin stood up in surprise, flipped through the manuscript and said something. Jia Pingwa looked surprised and full of surprise.
(End of this chapter)
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