Chapter 710: The Second Lackey
If we talk about "Great skill is not elaborate, heavy sword has no edge - on "The Thirteenth Son of the South China Sea"" purely from the perspective of literary criticism, the first half of the content is very good, with clear ideas and precise writing.
But the blind praise of Lin Weimin in the second half seems a bit amateurish.
After reading this article, many critics sneered at Tong Zhonggui's "flattery". No one can stop you from praising your teacher, but you are doing this under the guise of our literary criticism. Isn't this disgusting?
A few days after the article was published, several critics wrote articles criticizing the article and its author Tong Zhonggui.
These critical articles also indirectly made the article "Great ingenuity is not elaborate, heavy sword has no edge - on "The Thirteenth Son of the South China Sea"" popular. Many people had not paid attention to this article originally, but after being scolded by these critical articles, they went to find Tong Zhonggui's articles to read.
This is probably what later generations called "black and red".
Tong Zhonggui didn't mind at all being criticized for praising Lin Weimin. He was prepared to be criticized when he wrote the article. Now the reaction of these critics was much milder than he had expected.
Tong Zhonggui attributed this situation to the quality of Mr. Lin’s works. Otherwise, these critics would not only criticize him severely, but would probably not let Mr. Lin off either.
Now they are only scolding himself, which proves that his evaluation of Teacher Lin was not exaggerated!
When he thought of this, Tong Zhonggui was extremely happy.
In the office of Contemporary Magazine, a colleague finished reading an article that recently criticized Tong Zhonggui, and read a few sentences to Tong Zhonggui with great interest.
"Xiao Tong, in the past it was the writers who got scolded after their works were published, how come now it's you who gets scolded?" Yao Shuzhi teased.
Tong Zhonggui was calm and smiled, "I can't help it. Teacher Lin's novel is so good that they can't finish it. They can only find fault with me."
"Okay, you really deserve to be the second lackey under your teacher Lin."
The old colleagues joked with each other without restraint, and everyone laughed, and Tong Zhonggui didn't mind at all.
Yang Xinlan, a young female editor in the editorial department, asked, "Teacher Yao, Brother Tong is the number two lackey, so who is the number one lackey?"
Zou Changyi was holding an envelope in his hand, stuffing a rejection letter into it, and said, "This question hits the nail on the head. I guess Yu Hua should be feeling a sense of crisis right now."
There was laughter in the office again.
When intellectuals speak maliciously, they can be much more vicious than ordinary people.
While people were joking in the Contemporary office, Yu Hua was sitting in his seat in the editorial department of Tongwen Press, looking at the article in front of him with a serious expression.
"Xiao Tong's skills have improved a lot now!" he murmured to himself.
"Like the moon surrounding the sun, like the stars surrounding the moon... It's so shameful. I am embarrassed to write such words. Is there any integrity left in this?"
Yu Hua watched and criticized, his tone full of resentment and sense of crisis as a sloppy puppy had his job taken away by a Shar-Pei.
"No! Isn't Xiao Tong ruining Teacher Lin's reputation by doing this? I have to clear Teacher Lin's name and write a serious review!"
Yu Hua did what he thought, spread out the manuscript paper and wrote quickly.
When he was writing at his desk to praise his great mentor Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin happened to walk into the office.
"Yu Hua!"
Hearing Lin Weimin's call, Yu Hua looked up and quickly stood up, "Teacher Lin, what's the matter?"
"There will be a press conference the day after tomorrow. Remember to dress nicely."
When talking about the press conference, Yu Hua was full of energy, "Don't worry, don't worry."
He moved closer to Lin Weimin and asked quietly, "Teacher Lin, I heard that this press conference is going to be a big event again?"
The Guowen Society has never had any secrets, so it is not surprising that Yu Hua asked this question.
The day after tomorrow is the first anniversary of the release of the Buhuhu series of books, and it is also the day when the fourth batch of books in the series will be released.
After one year of development, the Rag Tiger Series has published three batches of 12 novels, with cumulative sales exceeding 14 million copies, becoming one of the rare best-selling series in China's publishing history. This record is still being broken with the continuous release of the Rag Tiger Series.
In the future, the only enemy of the Ragdoll series is itself.
Because of its astonishing sales over the past year or so, the Ragdoll series of books has established a strong brand effect and influence in the domestic publishing and literary circles as well as among readers.
When booksellers heard the name of the "Rag Tiger Series", they lined up at the printing factory to pay money and get the books without even reading the contents.
The discounts for best-selling books are already rare, and for super-series best-selling books like the Ragdoll series, the discount is only 25% off. However, booksellers still flock to them for fear of not being able to get the goods.
There’s no way this book sells so well!
In the literary world, the reputation of the Rag Tiger series is somewhat mixed.
As I said, writers look down on each other. The Bu Lao Hu series values the popular nature of the works, which to a certain extent has given many writers and critics reasons to criticize it. Negative comments such as "low taste" and "vulgar" have been accompanying the development of the Bu Lao Hu series in the past year.
But it is undeniable that the Ragdoll series of books brings benefits to the contracted writers.
It's not only because of the fame brought by the best-selling works, but also the high 10% royalty share.
According to calculations by some interested parties, over the past year, the total royalties paid by the Bu Lao Hu series to contracted writers have exceeded 8.4 million yuan.
There are 12 contracted writers, and each writer earns an average of $700,000 in royalties.
Of course, there are highs and lows. The sales of "Wasteland" alone account for half of the sales of the Buhuhu series. Jia Pingwa's income is naturally the highest among the contracted writers. His royalties alone are as high as 4 million.
4 million yuan for a book.
Moreover, judging from the current momentum, the development momentum of the Bu Lao Hu series of books has no rivals in China. The book "Wasted City" can still create a lot of wealth for Jia Pingwa in the next few years.
Many people are saying that Jia Pingwa could become a multi-millionaire with the book Wasted City.
A novel, a multimillionaire.
These two seemingly unrelated words, after a year of refinement, do not seem to be incompatible.
Wouldn't it be enough if 20 million copies were sold?
This may be an incredible statistic for other novels, but for "Wasteland", which sold 8 million copies in one year, it is not a luxury but a practical and achievable goal.
Jia Pingwa's experience is certainly not replicable, and his income is already the sum of all other contracted writers of the Bu Lao Hu series.
But even among the 11 people who were averaged, the lowest royalty income was still 200,000 to 300,000 yuan.
In 1994, when the average monthly income was only two or three hundred yuan, such income was a dream come true for most writers.
Therefore, although many people criticize the Rag Tiger Series, this does not prevent them from submitting their works to the series, and they eagerly look forward to their works being selected by the series and becoming future super bestsellers.
It is precisely because of such contradictions that the editorial team of the Rag Tiger Series has maintained high-intensity work since its establishment more than a year ago. During this year, the editorial team of the Rag Tiger Series has worked almost all year round. The editorial team of nearly 20 people handles hundreds of novels every month.
Even with such high-intensity work, there is still a large backlog of manuscripts within the editorial team, and many of the manuscripts that editors read were received two or three months ago.
Occasionally, in their spare time from their busy work, the editors would joke with each other that the small office of the Ragdoll Series editorial team has now become a transit station for most of China's novels.
Only after the editorial team has selected the remaining ones, will the eliminated novels flow into the hands of other first-line publications.
Today, the Buhuhu series has to a considerable extent formed a monopoly on the creation of domestic novels, and many publications and publishing houses are complaining about this.
Not to mention outsiders, even the people at Contemporary Magazine have considerable opinions about the Ragdoll series.
But these people forgot that before the rise of the Rag Tiger series, many first-line literary magazines such as "Contemporary", "Harvest", "October" and "Huacheng" collectively monopolized the priority selection rights of the vast majority of excellent manuscripts in the country.
During those years, weren't it the manuscripts they left over that would be published in a number of second-tier literary magazines such as "Yenching Literature" and "Shanghai Literature", and so on?
People whine and complain only because they are not the vested interests.
Compared with the literary world's complex feelings towards the Rag Tiger series, readers' perceptions of this series are much more simple, and the sales volume has proved everything.
Like many booksellers, many readers have gradually formed the habit of buying books with their eyes closed when they hear the name of the "Rag Tiger Series".
The day after tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the release of the Buhuhu series of books, and also the day when the fourth batch of books in the series will be released.
At the same time, Guowen Publishing House will also announce a major news at the press conference.
"Don't ask nonsense questions!" Lin Weimin said with a stern face.
Although he got nothing in return, Yu Hua was not discouraged. The news had already spread in the club, and only Teacher Lin was still pretending to be mysterious.
After Lin Weimin left, colleagues in the office started a discussion based on Yu Hua's words.
Two days later, the banquet hall of Yanjing Hotel was as lively as it was on this day last year. No, it was even more lively.
Guowen Publishing House widely sent out invitations to heroes, and dozens of domestic media responded, and the venue was almost filled with reporters.
Before the press conference began, the scene was noisy as reporters discussed the new book that was about to be released today. Some people had already heard that there would be big news released at today's press conference.
At half past nine in the morning, Old Cheng walked onto the stage with big strides and a rosy face.
Throughout the year, he only has these few days to look forward to.
As soon as Cheng Zaochun came on stage, the reporters in the audience quickly quieted down, staring at him intently, with cameras in their hands ready to go.
Cheng Zaochun spoke passionately for several minutes on the stage, but he simply introduced the brilliant achievements of the Bu Lao Hu series of books in the past year. The reporters knew these things better than he did and sounded uninterested.
The topic soon turned to the new book promotion, and the reporters finally got a little excited.
Four writers walked onto the stage, each holding his or her new book in his or her hands. The fourth batch of books in the Cloth Tiger Series included four works, including Jin Ying's "The Rainless City" and Yu Hua's "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".
After taking pictures, the reporters nodded with satisfaction. The four works were the same as the previous ones. There were both well-known writers and unknown writers. The Ragdoll Series really treated all writers equally.
Cheng Zaochun said with a smile on the stage: "The fourth batch of works in the Cloth Tiger series has been shared with everyone. Next, I have another good news to share with everyone!"
The reporters in the audience were suddenly shocked. They knew that the main event of today's drama had finally arrived!
(End of this chapter)
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