Chapter 69: "Cliff" published as a single volume
In the 1980s, the term spy novel was not popular and the public still classified it as a military-themed novel.
Since the 1950s, many outstanding military and espionage novels have emerged in China.
Due to political reasons, the domestic literary scene was in decline in the past few years, and it was only in recent years that it began to recover. This was inseparable from the guidance of knowledgeable people in the country and cultural circles.
The popularity of "Contemporary - Spy War Album" has, to a large extent, aroused the enthusiasm of domestic readers for spy war novels. Similar situations have also appeared in this period in later generations.
In 1982, Mr. Li Yu completed the novel "Harbin at Night", which is 710,000 words long.
The novel was first serialized in Harbin Daily and published by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House in June of the same year. The first edition printed 117,000 copies, and was reprinted four times within two years, with sales exceeding 300,000 copies.
Afterwards, "Harbin at Night" was adapted into audio and TV series and became popular all over the country.
Spy novels are easily accepted by domestic readers because of their strong suspenseful nature and special historical background. Any work of acceptable quality can achieve good results.
Lin Weimin's "The Cliff" is the only novel in the album, and this is enough to show the quality of this novel.
The hot sales of the album made the entire Humanities Publishing House happy. At this time, Lin Weimin received a notice from the editor-in-chief Qin Chaoyang that the publishing house hoped to publish a single volume for "The Cliff".
Lin Weimin looked at Qin Chaoyang in disbelief, "Editor-in-chief, are you serious?"
"Of course it's true. Readers have a high degree of recognition for our album this time. Most of the letters mentioned your "Cliff" and hoped that it could be released separately. So our editorial department and the leaders of the company considered it comprehensively and decided to respect the readers' ideas."
"That's great." Lin Weimin clapped his hands happily. "What's the standard for the manuscript fee?"
Qin Chaoyang's face suddenly turned unhappy, "Vulgar!"
Lin Weimin was shocked. "What's going on? The publishing house is planning to use my novel for free?"
Qin Chaoyang was so angry that he laughed, "Look at your awareness! Don't worry, the manuscript fee is not bad, ten yuan per thousand words."
Ten yuan per thousand words, this standard is not low. In an ordinary editorial department or publishing house, only top-notch and capable writers can get this.
The full text of "The Cliff" is 200,000 words, so the revenue from publishing it alone can be 2,000 yuan.
This does not include the royalties that "Contemporary" paid him for the manuscript. The editorial department of "Contemporary" had previously paid him eight yuan per thousand words for "The Cliff". With this calculation, the income that Lin Weimin earned from the book "The Cliff" alone exceeded three thousand six hundred yuan.
This was three thousand six hundred yuan in 1980!
After all, writing books still has a future!
"Okay, then I'll hand over "The Cliff" to the publishing house for publication."
We came to seek Lin Weimin's opinion purely for the sake of form. Even his people are from the Guowen Publishing House, so how could the novel be published in other units?
Of course, Qin Chaoyang definitely couldn't say this to his face.
Anyway, every penny of the commune's money was spent, and there was nothing wrong with this kid Lin Weimin.
The news that "The Cliff" was about to be published spread quickly, and all the colleagues in the editorial department came to congratulate Lin Weimin.
After thanking his colleagues for their blessings one by one, Lin Weimin made himself a cup of tea and sat comfortably at his desk, enjoying the rare leisure time.
It is already early December, and if we calculate according to the Gregorian calendar, there is less than a month left before we enter the year 1981.
When he released "Death of Yura" and "Insidious", he had just earned over a thousand dollars.
During this period, he spent nearly 400 yuan on daily expenses, going back to his hometown in Northeast China to do business, and sponsoring Shi Tiesheng's hospitalization, leaving about 600 yuan.
The house in his hometown was sold for eight hundred yuan, and with the income from "The Cliff", his savings have reached an astonishing five thousand yuan.
Lin Weimin looked at the sky outside the window and wondered if he should buy a place to live.
From the 1960s to the present, domestic cities have implemented a welfare housing distribution policy, which was a unique form of housing distribution in the planned economy era and was not abolished until nearly 2,000 years ago.
At this time, the main criteria for housing allocation are non-economic factors such as length of service, length of factory service, and family structure. It is common for colleagues who have worked for decades in a unit to fight for housing as a welfare benefit, and this has also led to many cases of giving gifts, using connections, and asking for favors.
Considering Lin Weimin's length of service at the Guowen Society, it would take at least ten years for him to get a house, and he couldn't afford to wait, as he happened to have money at the moment.
In later generations, housing prices in Yanjing remained among the highest in the country, beyond the reach of ordinary people like Lin Weimin.
But it’s different now. Houses in Yanjing are also more expensive than other cities in the country, but the price is limited.
If you look carefully, you can imagine that a courtyard house is not beyond your reach.
Thinking about how the courtyard houses that used to cost hundreds of millions in the past are now worth only 18,000 yuan, Lin Weimin couldn't help but feel the urge to rush out to pick up a bargain.
But he calmed down and thought about it. There was no rush to buy the courtyard house. He should ask someone first. It would be best if he could meet someone whose family had fallen on hard times, whose ancestors had a foundation and who wanted to cash out quickly. That would be much more convenient.
Buying a house at that time was not as convenient as in later generations because of the welfare housing distribution policy. Ordinary people might not have a spacious place to live, but most urban residents had no shortage of houses.
The most common situation in which people buy a house is when their children are getting married. Because of their short years of service, they cannot get a house, and the conditions in the staff dormitories are too poor, so people think of buying a house.
Moreover, everyone's income level is similar these days. Those who earn more than 100 yuan a month have to be senior officials, intellectuals or technicians. A dual-income family may not be able to save more than 200 yuan a year. If there are many children in the family, it is normal to spend more than income. It is not easy to save enough money to buy a house.
Lin Weimin has some money now, but it is still not enough to buy a courtyard house that suits his taste.
Most of the mansions of the dignitaries in the previous dynasty have now become important offices of government departments, and some have even become cultural protection units. Not to mention that he cannot buy them, he cannot even afford them even if he is asked to.
The next level is the former wealthy families. These courtyard houses are usually small in size, with three courtyards at most. After liberation, many were distributed to employees of various institutions and factories. There are often dozens of households in one courtyard. The property rights are unclear, making it difficult to buy. If you just look at the price, Lin Weimin can still get one if he works hard.
The worst are the slums built before liberation. Those places are basically unsightly, and most of them are in the south city.
When I think about it this way, the dream of living in a siheyuan is indeed a long way to go!
(End of this chapter)
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