The acquaintance was none other than the male writer who had previously participated in the recording of a Hunan Satellite TV variety show with Wen Ying.
The male author's real name is Mu Fan, and his pen name is "Fan Sheng." He rose to fame several years before Wen Ying and has already published several novels. While Wen Ying has risen to prominence in the past two years, Mu Fan's novel sales have been somewhat declining. His latest work, released around the same time as Blue Whale's "Crown of Thorns," had an initial print run of 300,000 copies, but sales have been lukewarm.
Mu Fan likes to listen to gossip and has a good attitude. Even though his own book is not selling well, he is not jealous of Wen Ying who is currently popular.
Whether a novel can be a bestseller sometimes has nothing to do with the writer’s writing skills.
In the information age, selling books is inseparable from marketing.
Marketing the work, even marketing the writer himself!
Mu Fan is a bit aloof in nature. When he first debuted, he was willing to listen to the publishing house's instructions. In the past two years, he has become more and more arbitrary. He does not follow the arrangements of the publishing editors in selecting materials, and does not cooperate with the promotion after the novel was released. The publishing house has no way to deal with him.
Under such circumstances, Mu Fan's new book was still able to have an initial print run of 300,000 copies, all thanks to his previous fame.
It is rare for someone to go against a publishing house like Mu Fan did. When Bao Lixin was the editor-in-chief of Rongcheng Literature and Art Publishing House, he even used Mu Fan as an example to persuade Wen Ying to follow his arrangements.
——If writers don’t listen to publishers, their careers will only go downhill!
Wen Ying did not agree with Bao Lixin's idea. Afterwards, she made a point of reading all of Mu Fan's novels.
From Mu Fan’s famous work that became a hit back then to his latest work on the market.
After reading it, Wen Ying came to a conclusion: the decline in sales did not mean that Mu Fan’s writing was getting worse. On the contrary, Mu Fan’s books were getting better!
This kind of goodness is not the kind that caters to the aesthetic tastes of the general public, but rather a shift from focusing on the market to focusing more on "literariness."
Although Mu Fan is still young, his creative direction is slowly adjusting towards the word "depth".
He is transitioning from being a bestselling author to simply being a writer.
After seeing Mu Fan's latest work, Wen Ying was not surprised at all to meet Mu Fan in the School of Literature.
"Go ahead, why not? Let's talk while we walk."
Mu Fan laughed, "You really want to eat in the cafeteria? I thought you would eat out. Our training class this time is very lively and the relationships are very complicated. I guess you don't understand the situation very well."
Wen Ying only made up her mind a few days ago whether to come for further studies. As a high school student, she usually stayed in school and did not have close contact with her colleagues in the literary world.
The only person Wen Ying is most familiar with is Mr. Fu.
Given Mr. Fu’s age and status, it is obvious that he would not tell Wen Ying any gossip.
Wen Ying nodded honestly, "I really don't understand, I'm waiting for you to explain it to me."
As Mu Fan had said, most of the trainees who came for the training chose to eat out. Looking around the cafeteria, only Wen Ying and Mu Fan looked like trainees, and a few faculty members from the School of Arts were also eating.
As soon as the two of them sat down with their plates, Mu Fan told Wen Ying the first piece of gossip: "I bet you don't know, Blue Whale is on the preliminary list of our advanced training class!"
"She?"
Wen Ying was shocked, "Why is she here?"
Mu Fan chuckled, "Of course she can come. She debuted through an essay competition. That was the first competition with Master Fu as a judge. Blue Whale can be a bit thick-skinned and can be said to be Master Fu's student. In terms of literary background, she definitely has a good background. Plus, she has published two novels, so she is definitely eligible to register."
Wen Ying suddenly felt that there was too much vinegar in the cold cucumber salad in the cafeteria tonight, and it was so sour that it hurt her teeth.
Wow, the "essay competition" that Mu Fan mentioned was proposed by Wen Ying, and she herself was a judge.
What does it mean to shoot oneself in the foot? This is it!
“But she wasn’t on the final list.”
Wen Ying emphasized this point.
Mu Fan carefully observed Wen Ying's expression, very puzzled: "Yeah, but she wasn't on the final list. I thought you asked someone to eliminate her. It seems it wasn't you?"
Mu Fan felt empty and uncomfortable, and Wen Ying didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "How could I have such ability? If you hadn't mentioned it just now, I wouldn't have known that Blue Whale was on the preliminary list."
Not everyone can come to the School of Arts for further studies this time.
Students come from three pathways.
First, each provincial writers' association has recommendation quotas.
Second, each provincial Youth League Committee has recommendation quotas.
The third is personal recommendations from famous literary figures.
Wen Ying got the spot through the third channel, but I don’t know which channel Blue Whale used?
The three channels all submitted candidates, and the School of Arts carefully screened them. The final list differed significantly from the initial list. Some were rejected by the School of Arts due to lacking qualifications, while others voluntarily withdrew due to personal reasons and were unable to register on time.
Mu Fan thought that Wen Ying and Blue Whale were incompatible, and Wen Ying didn't want to see Blue Whale during the training period, so she asked someone to get rid of Blue Whale - if this was true, Mu Fan would feel very happy!
Wen Ying suspected that Blue Whale had turned it down herself. "She fainted at a book signing event in Shanghai a few days ago. She might not be feeling well."
Poor health is just an excuse. Blue Whale may be afraid of being slapped in the face on the spot.
Mu Fan was skeptical. "You turned it down because you're not feeling well? Most writers, unless they're too ill to get up, would come if given the chance to attend this kind of training! Don't be fooled by the fact that we're bestselling authors. Having a book sell over a million copies sounds impressive, but we're actually excluded from the real literary world. Some people don't even recognize our novels as 'literary works.' If we want to gain recognition in the literary world, we have to go through traditional channels."
What is the traditional path?
I came to the College of Literature to brush up my qualifications and receive systematic writing training, and gradually I became a regular from a self-taught person.
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