When she got home and turned on her phone, WeChat showed several unread messages. It was from Qingniao, the editor of Dingfeng Literature. The first thing Qian Muchue did when she got up in the morning was to add Qingniao on WeChat.
Qingniao, editor of Dingfeng Literature: "Hello, Mr. Liufeng, I am Qingniao, editor of Dingfeng Literature."
Dingfeng Literature Editor Qingniao: "It is a great honor that your work "That Summer" won the first prize in the Dashen Cup Essay Competition."
Qingniao, editor of Dingfeng Literature: "I will coordinate with you on the follow-up work."
The last message was sent half an hour ago when Qian Muchue was shopping in the supermarket.
Xue: "Sorry, I just saw the message."
Qian Muchue had just sent the message when she received a reply within seconds.
Peak Literature Bluebird: "It's okay. Teacher Liufeng, are you free now? I'd like to discuss the follow-up arrangements with you."
Xue: "Sure."
Peak Literature Bluebird: "Yes, our Great God Cup Awards Ceremony will be held in City B on August 28th. We would like to invite you, Mr. Liufeng, to attend."
Xue: "Sorry, for personal reasons, it's not convenient."
Qian Muchue refused without a second thought. She participated in the essay competition mainly for the money and had never thought about showing her face.
Qingniao, editor of Dingfeng Literature, said, "It's okay. Mr. Liufeng's work is truly excellent. The company plans to publish 'That Summer' in September. I'll send the electronic version of the contract to your email address later. To receive the prize money for this competition, you'll need to provide your ID and bank card information. If you have any questions, please contact me."
Xue: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Dingfeng Literature Editor Qingniao: "Teacher Liufeng, you are too polite to smile."
…
In the editorial office of Dingfeng Literature in City B, a young man wearing glasses was typing on the computer keyboard. His messy hair showed that he had spent yesterday in the editorial office.
"Done."
After pressing the enter key, the email was sent and the man leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.
"Bluebird, how's Liufeng doing?"
Editor-in-chief Li Muzi's voice came from behind, and the man named Qingniao immediately stood up.
"Editor-in-Chief, I've contacted Professor Liu Feng. He can't attend the award ceremony. The publishing contract has been emailed to him. I'm waiting for a reply."
"I can't come, which is a shame. After all, I'm the first prize winner. Are there two versions of the contract?"
"Yes, one is a buyout, and the other is a profit-sharing. The figures are based on yesterday's meeting."
"Well, you better keep up. It would be best if there is a result today."
Li Muzi was a decisive female boss. She left the message and went back to her office without waiting for an answer.
…
Qian Muchue opened the contract sent by Dingfeng Literature and was reading it carefully. She didn't expect that Dingfeng Literature was very friendly to newcomers, and the conditions offered in both versions of the contract were quite good.
"That Summer" is indeed good, but Liu Feng himself is a newcomer and has no appeal, so sales are difficult to guarantee. The buyout price offered by Dingfeng Literature is 120,000 yuan, which is more than 100,000 yuan after tax, equivalent to a share of 40,000 copies sold. The royalty rate given in the share contract is 8%. For mature authors, if they cannot sell more than 40,000 copies, it is better to choose a buyout.
Qian Muchue was very confident in her favorite work. She believed that a top-selling work in another time and space would not be bad here either. In addition, she had originally wanted to earn a bonus of 30,000 yuan, and now she had an extra royalty, which was an unexpected surprise. Even if she did not earn much from the buyout in the end, she would not regret it. So Qian Muchue replied to the email without much thought and sent the bank card related information.
Qingniao didn't expect Liufeng to reply so quickly, and even chose the profit-sharing model.
"Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Liufeng has replied, choosing the profit-sharing model."
"It's understandable that he made such a choice so quickly. Judging from his writing style, he's a mature author who's very confident in his work. Did you send Liu Feng's information? He should be quite old, right?"
Li Muzi speculated that she was amazed when she saw "That Summer". Although it was a sweet pet story, it was cleverly conceived and emotionally delicate, and the entire text did not need any modification and could be published directly. So she guessed that it was a mature author and Liu Feng was a pseudonym, so she gave great preferential treatment in the contract terms and wanted to keep Liu Feng in Dingfeng Literature.
"Well, he shouldn't be that old. He's 20 years old this year. He might be a college student."
Qingniao hesitated for a moment and replied that the email contained Qian Muchue's information, and she looked very beautiful judging from the photo on her ID card.
"The student, it's possible. Judging by his writing style, he has a solid foundation. He might be a literature major."
"Editor-in-chief, do you want to sign a contract with her now?"
"Okay, you can make an appointment with Liufeng Online."
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
Bluebird came out of the editor-in-chief's office happily, and everyone else knew what was going on at a glance.
"Congratulations, you got it done so quickly. I'm so envious."
The editor sitting next to her, Yang Liu, was a lively girl. She congratulated Qingniao with a smile.
"Thank you. I'll buy you a drink after I get the prize money."
"Thank you, Bird Brother."
"That's just the beginning. Many of you young people have failed in your attempts to sign publishing contracts. Newcomers from writing competitions like this don't have the charisma to bring in sales. Bluebird still needs to work hard to sign a few talented authors. You can't do without performance like this. The editorial department can't use idle people."
The speaker was Lao Pao, a senior editor in the editorial department, known as Brother Pao. He was a greasy man in his 40s who had some mature author resources. His performance depended on his past achievements and he loved to give guidance to editors with less experience than himself.
Lao Pao looked down on this essay competition and refused to do some of the post-production work on the grounds that he had too many authors on hand and needed time to maintain them, and he did not have the energy.
Everyone was used to his style of doing things. Yang Liu secretly stuck out his tongue and turned to busy himself with his own business. Blue Bird rolled his eyes where no one could see and ignored him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
