1980 My literary era

"Sing Tao Evening News" has been developing very steadily since it was founded in 1938, and it has firmly become a first-line newspaper in Hong Kong.

By 1954, Hu Xian, the daughter of the founder Hu Wenhu, took over the family legacy and vigorously developed its newspaper industry. In 1972, "Sing Tao Daily", "Sing Tao Evening News", "Sing Hua Daily" and "English Tiger Daily" were After the media integration, Xiangjiang Xingdao Newspaper was established. It quickly became the leading media group in Xiangjiang in the form of group army operations.

Hu Xian herself became the "Queen of Newspaper Industry" in Xiangjiang. Her fame was no less than that of Nai's father back then, and her wealth was even better.

Entering the 1980s, competition in the newspaper industry in Hong Kong has entered a fierce stage. Various newspapers and magazines are competing across the sea, each showing its magical powers and always coming up with a variety of tricks.

"Sing Tao Evening News" has benefited from the large-scale content of novels since the 1960s. As the deputy editor of the newspaper, Cheng Yiqiu is naturally extremely sensitive to this type of content.

Readers in Xiangjiang have a preference for romance novels, especially novels with meaty dramas. This is one of the reasons why the works of many female writers such as Guo Lianghui, Li Bihua, Zhang Ailing, and Yi Shu are popular in Xiangjiang.

The temperament of "Lover" coincides with the works of many Hong Kong female writers of this era. At the same time, the writing style is more delicate and sophisticated. The love between the male and female protagonists and the descriptions of the sexes between the two are all gorgeous and beautiful. , tactful and attractive, which is infinitely superior to those popular romance novels on the market today.

After consulting several readers who had read "Lover", Cheng Yiqiu decisively approached his old friend Gu Cangwu and expressed the hope of reprinting the novel "Lover".

It was also through Gu Cangwu's eloquence that he found out that "Lover", a graceful and beautiful work, was actually written by a mainland writer. What was even more surprising was that this person was actually a man!

It turns out that "Lin Weimin" on "Bafang" is not only a pseudonym, but also a real person.

But this would be easier to handle. The difference in royalties between the Mainland and Hong Kong is ten to a hundred times. It is estimated that a newcomer can win the right to reprint this novel for less than the price of a newcomer.

But Cheng Yiqiu never expected that before his wishful thinking could start, he would be slapped to the ground by the other party.

"What should we do now?"

Cheng Yiqiu looked at his old friend and hesitated for a moment, "How about you make another call and discuss it?"

Gu Cangwu couldn't help but give him a roll of his eyes, "If you want to call, you can do it. I'm not that shameless. This Mr. Lin has a very tight temper!"

Cheng Yiqiu said helplessly, "Then, give him ten more Hong Kong notes!"

Gu Cangwu was completely speechless. He felt that his old friend had really changed completely since he became the deputy editor. He was full of the copper stench and stinginess of a businessman.

"Tell him yourself."

Gu Cangwu made up his mind not to get involved in his old friend's troubles, and walked aside with his hands folded.

Cheng Yiqiu suddenly fell into a dilemma.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to make another call.

Before, he purely had the mentality of getting a bargain, but now that he can't get a bargain anymore, he will give a relatively higher price.

There is no shame in doing business!

Yan Wenjing listened to Lin Weimin's extremely impatient words, then put down the phone and asked with concern: "What's going on?"

"The editor of "Bafang" said that a newspaper in Hong Kong wanted to reprint "Lover" and gave me a price of ten Hong Kong dollars per thousand words." Lin Weimin simply explained.

Hong Kong is still under the jurisdiction of the British. The Hong Kong dollar has been a subsidiary currency of the pound since its birth. In 1972, due to the continuous depreciation of the pound, the United Kingdom announced the implementation of a floating exchange rate. Hong Kong's economy suffered a heavy blow due to the binding of the Hong Kong dollar to the pound. , thus decoupling from the pound.

At the same time, due to the small size of Hong Kong's own economy, the Hong Kong dollar's circulation range as a currency is narrow, and it must be tied to a strong currency to maintain currency value stability, so it was announced that it would be linked to the rice knife.

When the economic crisis broke out in the United States in 1973, the Hong Kong dollar was forced to untie itself from the dollar and began to implement a floating exchange rate system.

As a result, in 1982, the Hong Kong dollar experienced three crises within a year, and Hong Kong's economy suffered a heavy blow. Hong Kong decided to implement a fixed exchange rate with the United States dollar, with one US dollar exchanged for 7.8 Hong Kong dollars, forming a linked exchange rate system that has continued until later generations.

Since the beginning of this year, the exchange rate between RMB and rice has been infinitely close to 2:1. If you convert it, the 10 Hong Kong dollars given on the other end of the phone is about 2 yuan and 50 cents per 1,000 words.

In the industry, the difference in royalties between first publication and reprinting of an article can often reach three to four times. If you convert it, it is actually not bad.

But the problem is that when Lin Weimin publishes works in his own company, the standard is fifteen yuan per thousand words. This time, "The Lover" was published by "Contemporary" after Lao Meng and Lao Tan worked hard to get it down to twelve yuan per thousand words.

When you ask for royalties from outside, you are obedient, but when you ask for royalties internally, you are aggressive?

This is not Teacher Lin's style.

Besides, it's not like he has no experience in publishing novels abroad. "Farewell My Concubine" earned him more than 200,000 to 300,000 yuan this year, and now he can go back and pick up the small gain of 10 Hong Kong dollars for 1,000 words.

Isn’t that a loss of value?

He's not that short-sighted.

After chatting with Yan Wenjing for a while, Lin Weimin was about to leave when the phone on Yan Wenjing's desk rang again.

"Hey, you're good!"

Lin Weimin and Yan Wenjing signaled and prepared to leave the office. Unexpectedly, Yan Wenjing heard a few words on the other end of the phone and waved to Lin Weimin, indicating that he would stay.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin asked: "Leader, what's going on?"

"It's still the phone number from Xiangjiang. I probably want to talk to you again, so I'll wait a little longer."

Lin Weimin was a little impatient, looked at his watch, and said reluctantly: "Okay."

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the phone finally rang again, and this time Lin Weimin answered the phone.

"Hi, Lin Sheng, hello, I'm Yi Qiu, the deputy programmer of "Xingdao Evening News"."

When he came up, he announced his family name, and there was one missing word in his title. Even though this word was missing, it was a status difference in Xiangjiang.

The reason why Cheng Yiqiu called him that was mainly to show his respect for Lin Weimin.

Lin Weimin has watched countless Xiangjiang movies in his later generations, so he naturally understands this language habit.

"Hello, Chief Editor Cheng!" Lin Weimin said politely.

"Haha! I'm so sorry. It was me, Mr. Tuogu, who requested you to reprint it before. There may have been some communication problems between the two of us. What I told him was ten yuan per thousand words in RMB."

Ten yuan for a thousand words, that is thirty-four Hong Kong dollars for a thousand words.

It seems to have increased more than three times, but in today's newspaper industry in Hong Kong, thirty or forty yuan per thousand words is a symbolic manuscript fee. Among the authors who contribute to newspapers every day, the number of contributors who receive this level of manuscript fee is the largest. , has no reputation, and the quality of the articles is mediocre.

Many people do not write for this fee at all, but purely out of interest, so they call it a nominal fee.

Lin Weimin shook his head again, his impression of Cheng Yiqiu declining again.

"Mr. Cheng, I think you should think it through before talking to me. Maybe your newspaper should not reprint my novel."

Lin Weimin still couldn't hold back and said something harsh and mean. This man was arrogant at first but respectful at the end. He paid lip service but didn't follow through on his words. He was stingy and tight-fisted in his actions. He repeated them over and over again, which was really off-putting.

It's best not to reprint it, which will save your newspaper a lot of money.

The last half of this unspoken sentence was the last dignity Teacher Lin gave Cheng Yiqiu.

Writers and literati are not aloof saints who do not eat the fireworks of the world. Farmers make a living by farming, workers make a living by going to work, and writers make a living by writing. They all pay attention to the capital of settling down.

According to statistics from later generations, among the total 293 letters that Mr. Wang Zengqi communicated with friends, publishers, and editorial offices, 42 letters mentioned royalties, accounting for about one-sixth of all letters.

The old gentleman also bluntly stated in the letter that he did not write for profit but for fame. But for the sake of my family, I also need to earn more money.

On the other hand, the level of the manuscript fee is, to some extent, also the degree of recognition of the work by the publication or publisher.

If you offer a low price, it means the quality of your novel is not good!

Compared with Cheng Yiqiu's fussing over the reprint fee, Lin Weimin was more concerned about this reason.

If the work that you have worked so hard to write is rejected or rejected by others, who can not be angry if you let go?

"Did the talks break down again?"

Seeing that Lin Weimin only said two words this time, Yan Wenjing hung up the phone, his face darkened, and he asked.

Lin Weimin shook his head and said: "Probably he wants to come to me to pick up something cheap. Don't answer the phone calls of this newspaper in the future. It is a waste of national resources. And this "Bafang"..."

Lin Weimin stopped here and said, "Forget it, it has nothing to do with them."

Saying this, Teacher Lin made up his mind that "Bafang" would also be blacklisted in the future.

Do you really think that I took advantage of you by publishing my novel?

Lin Weimin, who was disgusted by Cheng Yiqiu, directed his anger towards "Bafang" and Gu Cangwu.

Who says literati are not stingy?

Teacher Lin is the most vengeful person!

Especially when someone wants to blackmail him for his royalties!

The matter of Hong Kong's "Sing Tao Evening News" calling and requesting to reprint "Lover" was over.

October is over and November is ushering in.

There were two things related to Lin Weimin at the beginning of the month. One was the performance of the drama "Horse Trapper" at the Capital Theater, and the other was "Lover" published in the sixth issue of "Contemporary" this year.

"Horse Trapper" has been welcomed by hundreds of thousands of readers since its publication at the beginning of this year. The sales volume of the first supplement of "People's Literature", which published the novel, exceeded 1.5 million copies. The novel has been subscribed for 500,000 copies. It is now being published Towards sales of one million copies.

The news of the drama adaptation has already spread a lot, and it has received a lot of attention before it was staged.

Now, once it was performed, it was immediately enthusiastically sought after by the Yanjing drama market and fans, including many readers.

Compared with the enthusiastic reception of "Horse Trapper", "Lover", which was just published in "Contemporary", had a completely different fate.