When colleagues in the department talked about the gossip about Song Foxiang being beaten, Zou Weijun automatically filtered it out.
She is very busy today!
Zou Weijun was going to talk to his leader today about the publication of "Teenage Idol". His leader had a meeting in the morning, and now that he was finally free, Zou Weijun quickly took the materials he had prepared and knocked on the office door.
The leaders also heard about Song Foxiang being beaten.
When I looked up, I saw Zou Weijun was so calm, it seemed that it was not Zou Weijun's fault.
But "Teenage Idol"...what kind of project is this?
"Xiao Zou, aren't you still in charge of 'Hush, Little Secret'? Can you handle it?"
"Please take a look at the manuscript first. This is a youth literature novel, which is different from the popular science book. I personally don't think there is any conflict."
Seeing that the leader didn't take it seriously, Zou Weijun pulled a chair and sat down. It seemed that she was waiting for the leader to read the 120,000-word manuscript and give her a reply.
lead:"……"
Xiao Zou was not like this when he first came to work.
It’s all Editor Wan and Song Foxiang’s fault for irritating Xiao Zou.
The leader was a little confused about who was the superior, but as Zou Weijun was watching him quietly, the leader's hands became disobedient and he flipped through the manuscript on the table.
——Xiao Zou is a serious person, so it’s impossible not to look at it. We all work in the same department, so harmonious relationships must be maintained.
——I’ll just take a look and then find a reason to reject Xiao Zou.
I opened it and quickly finished reading the 20,000 words.
Still haven't found the reason.
The leader read another 20,000 words.
...There's nothing wrong with this book, what should I do?
Then take a look below, there must be something wrong!
Twenty thousand words after another, and before I knew it, I had finished reading six chapters of twenty thousand words. The leader looked up and asked, "And then?"
Zou Weijun chuckled softly. "Are you asking about the rest of the book? The book is still being serialized in a magazine. What I'm showing you is what's already been published. If we don't sign a publishing contract, we definitely won't get the rest of the manuscript."
She just knew it.
I knew Wen Ying’s novels could touch people!
Although there are many things in the publishing department that make Zou Weijun dissatisfied, such as the greasy male colleagues who like to make dirty jokes, the female colleagues who like to gather in groups of two or three to gossip about others, and the department leaders who are not very responsible...but there are also things that make Zou Weijun satisfied. The unit's employee turnover is not strong, and there are no "outsiders" in the entire department. They are all people who have been immersed in the publishing industry for many years. Everything else can be bad, but the vision is not bad.
There is no reason why her boss would not like the book she likes.
The leader asked Zou Weijun to wait and read the 120,000 words again.
The leader spent a full hour on this inspection.
An educated person reads ten lines at a glance, which is considered slow.
After reading it, the leader was silent for a while before asking Zou Weijun, "This book is quite different from the popular youth literature novels on the market now."
——Other people’s youth is painful, but yours is warm.
As a middle-aged person, the leader naturally prefers to see such works.
What pain of adolescence? It’s simply that teenagers nowadays live too comfortably and don’t have to worry about being hungry, so they have the energy to complain without any reason.
When their generation was young, they definitely had troubles during adolescence, but they were definitely not about premature love, heartbreak, and abortion. They were thinking about their future, how to change their family's difficulties, and how to build the motherland... "Teenage Idol" has a bit of the positive and optimistic flavor of the leader's youth, which reminds the leader of his own youth. He sighed a little and felt a little embarrassed.
When you have no ability, think about how you will overcome all obstacles and shine brightly when you have the ability.
After becoming truly capable, they think about how to fight for power and climb up the ladder, and have long forgotten their original intentions.
"Teenage Idol" tells a modern story, but it takes the leader's memory back twenty or thirty years.
"Of course it's different. If it were, I wouldn't be interested in planning and publishing it. There are so many writers writing the type of youth literature you mentioned, and there's no shortage of it in the market. But this one I discovered is special, and I believe you've already felt it."
The publishing department hasn't planned and published a best-selling novel for a long time.
"Hush, Little Secret" is an exception.
Of course, the publishing department is affiliated with the Chengdu Publishing Group. Even if it fails to produce best-selling novels, it is certainly not at risk of bankruptcy.
The leaders of the publishing department were not happy to be asked to swallow their pride and promote so-called youth literature writers.
The leaders are somewhat interested in programs like "Teenage Idol".
The writing is not pretentious and can make the leader read it.
Leaders are unsure whether the market will accept it.
How about... just testing the waters?
The leader tapped his fingers on the desk and said, "Xiao Zou, tell me what you think."
Zou Weijun talked about his plan, focusing on the first print run and royalties of the book. Although the leader wanted to test the waters with "Teenage Idol", the conditions offered by Zou Weijun were too good - not for the publishing department, but for the author of "Teenage Idol"!
Fish swimming upstream?
The leader has never heard of this pen name, so he must be a newcomer.
For new authors, the publishing house generally gives a royalty of 8%. This 8% royalty does not refer to the taxes the author has to pay, but to the income the author receives from the publishing house.
The author's royalties are settled in the form of "number of printed copies of the book * book price * 8%". For example, if the first print run of "Teenage Idol" is 10,000 copies and the price of each copy is 30 yuan, then the publisher has to pay the author "*30*8%", which is only yuan.
The author has to pay taxes on this yuan.
If the book does not sell and there is no reprint after the first printing, then this yuan will be all the revenue that "Teenage Idol" will earn from publishing the single volume.
All in all, it’s not as much as the royalties Wen Ying received after serializing 300,000 words in "Aige"!
It's not that the management is particularly stingy and wants to bully new authors; it's just the way the industry works. Authors are paid based on the number of copies printed, but the publisher bears the risk. From planning to printing, the entire cost of a book is borne by the publisher. Even if a book is priced at 30 yuan, the publisher won't make 30 yuan!
If the book cannot be sold, the publishing house will have to keep it in the warehouse and it will be impossible to return the income to the author.
Publishing houses have to cover costs and take risks, so shouldn’t they make a little more money?
Zou Weijun laughed and said, "Then do you think that this book, 'Teenage Idol', deserves only a first print run of 10,000 copies?"
——What else?
Not to mention a new author, even the most popular best-selling author of youth literature today cannot have a first print run of 1 million copies.
The fact that they can be called best-selling authors and become leaders in youth literature is indeed related to the sales of their works.
Someone sold more than two million copies of one book. That's not writing a novel, it's like printing money!
For an ordinary author, getting 8% royalties on a first print run of 10,000 copies is already very good.
Some new authors don’t even deserve royalties, and all they get is a buyout fee.
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