1980 My literary era

After a pleasant exchange, Qiaoson finally obtained the publishing rights for the three works "Horse Trapper", "The Chaser" and "The Lover" on behalf of Random House.

After signing the agreement, Qiao Sen said to Lin Weimin: "Lin, there is another good news that I forgot to tell you!"

"What good news?"

"Farewell My Concubine will be released in several Commonwealth countries soon!"

The agreement signed by Lin Weimin and Random House includes the more important English-speaking countries in the world, because Random House has publishing and distribution channels in these countries.

However, for nearly two years, "Farewell My Concubine" was only released and sold in the United States.

The expanded distribution and sales scope now also shows that Random House is optimistic about this novel.

"This is indeed good news. It seems that I can receive a lot of royalties in the future."

Qiao Sen said proudly: "Lin, it's not just the royalties. You have to understand that with the influence of our Random House, in the near future, your reputation will become internationally famous and you will become a world-renowned writer!"

I believe you!

These old guys are really bragging without drafting.

"Farewell My Concubine" has only sold hundreds of thousands of copies two years after its publication. You dare to boast that you have made me famous internationally. How can you embarrass future writers who have sold tens of millions of copies?

However, Qiao Sen’s words are not without purpose.

First of all, as a multinational publishing group, Random House does have this ability.

When they first started running the novel "Farewell My Concubine", they took very small steps. To be precise, they held the idea of ​​​​taking three shots if there were no dates.

"Farewell My Concubine" has consumed almost no decent publicity and promotion resources from Random House in the past two years in the United States.

Under such circumstances, the fact that this novel can achieve the minimum best-selling standard of exceeding 100,000 copies for two consecutive years is enough to prove the potential of this novel.

Now, after two years, the market popularity of "Farewell My Concubine" has been initially verified. Naturally, Random House is not willing to sell this novel only in the United States.

Because of the convenient conditions of language and culture, Random House has strong publishing and distribution channels in other English-speaking countries around the world. There is no reason not to use it at this time.

They believe that as long as it is run properly, the novel "Farewell My Concubine" will definitely bring considerable profits to the company.

After all, in the past two years, with almost no resources invested, "Farewell My Concubine" has created a net profit of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the company.

Compared with the United States, English-speaking countries around the world account for the majority of their book sales.

That's why Qiao Sen said that Lin Weimin's "Farewell My Concubine" has a tendency to become a best-seller.

In the American book market, there are many best-sellers every year, but only those books that occupy the best-seller list all year round are called "frequent sellers."

This type of book is the lifeblood of almost every publishing house. With such a book, the publishing house is equivalent to having a stable cash flow, which plays a great stabilizing role in the development of the company.

After the agreement was signed, Lin Weimin had only two things to do.

The first is to wait for Random House to translate the manuscript and confirm the content, including the book cover, binding design, etc.

The second is waiting to receive the royalties.

Compared with the cautiousness when it first published "Farewell My Concubine", Random House took a much more ambitious approach this time.

"Farewell My Concubine" will soon be available for sale in most English-speaking countries. Counting the additional printings in the United States, the number of additional printings this time has reached an astonishing 600,000 copies.

Coupled with another increase in royalties, this additional printing alone brought Lin Weimin an income of nearly 780,000 US dollars.

Lao Meng almost lost his temper when he listened to Lin Weimin talking about his royalties.

"You...you said...how much?"

Lin Weimin stepped forward to support him, "Don't go over there all at once."

"How much?" Lao Meng didn't care about his own body, he only cared about Lin Weimin's royalties. He had never cared so much about Comrade Weimin.

"780,000 yuan, aren't we discussing raising the standard for manuscript fees this time? It's more than half higher. Won't the fee for manuscripts increase all of a sudden?"

Meng Weizai looked at Lin Weimin. In the past, "Farewell My Concubine" was published in the United States for a fee of more than 100,000 yuan. This time, it suddenly jumped to 780,000 yuan. You can't steal money so quickly!

"Oops! How do you think this money should be spent?" Lin Weimin was a little worried.

Meng Weizai looked at his expression as if he had eaten his answer.

How to spend it?

Throw it into the water and listen for the sound!

Virtue!

Tan Chaoyang on the side asked: "Aren't they going to take away several of your novels when they come back? Where are the royalties?"

"Those novels haven't been translated yet, and the fastest I'll receive royalties will be the second half of the year. If all the royalties for the three novels are paid, it will be fast by the middle of next year."

Tan Chaoyang gossiped: "How much money can you have?"

"It's estimated to add up to two to three hundred thousand."

Tan Chaoyang was surprised, "Why so little?"

"So much?" Lin Weimin looked at Comrade Lao Qin.

Comrade, let me give you a chance to organize your language!

"I mean compared to your book Farewell My Concubine." Tan Chaoyang explained.

"It can't be compared like this. How long has it been since "Farewell My Concubine" was published? The additional printing this time alone will be 600,000 copies. Those three novels have not been verified by the market. Qiao Sen and the others plan to start with an initial printing of 100,000 copies. Let’s test the waters.

Back then, "Farewell My Concubine" was first printed with only 30,000 copies. This was already a huge improvement. "

Qin Chaoyang nodded after listening to Lin Weimin's explanation, "Then you are still behind when you collect the royalties!"

"Not necessarily. If the market response is not good, they may not print more copies, and why do they still charge royalties?"

At this time, Meng Weizai said quietly: "So, this time your boy received more than 1 million yuan in royalties from Random House?"

Tan Chaoyang was shocked, it seemed like it was true!

Lin Weimin said: "It must be added together, but you can't calculate it like this. I also collected the royalties in batches. It will take at least more than a year to get them all."

"The last time we published your novels in Xiangjiang, the royalties were 400,000 yuan, right?" Meng Weizai said again.

"Hey, those are Hong Kong dollars. They're not worth much. They're only tens of thousands of dollars. Besides, I've only received two payments from "Sing Tao Evening News" until now, and the rest haven't happened yet."

Tan Chaoyang thought to himself, the word "cai" is used well and very spiritual.

"In our Chinese Literature Society, there is no one richer than you!" Meng Weizai concluded.

"Leader, what you said is not accurate." Lin Weimin's smile was a bit awkward, "It should be said that there is no one richer than me in the domestic literary world!"

The two old comrades looked at Lin Weimin.

This kid really deserves a beating!

"Okay, it's enough for a few of us to know about the royalties. Don't go out and talk nonsense in the future." Meng Weizai warned.

Lin Weimin said nothing and looked at Tan Chaoyang.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Comrade Lao Qin, you are very unconscious. Why do you have no idea when you look at me?

It's a pity that Comrade Lao Meng still underestimated the speed of gossip news circulation within the Chinese Literature Society.

Just one day after Lin Weimin signed the agreement, news that he had received millions of dollars in royalties had already spread within the Chinese Literature Society.

After all the colleagues heard the news, they were so shocked that they could not speak for a long time.

In 1983, the country's foreign exchange reserves reached 14.7 billion US dollars.

One million dollars is equivalent to 14,700 percent of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Lin Weimin's royalties of more than 10,000 yuan are equivalent to the foreign exchange reserves of this huge country. Can you believe it?

To compare it to future generations, Lin Weimin's royalties alone must be at least two to three hundred million dollars.

And this does not include the royalties that Lin Weimin has received before and may receive in the future. If all were included, what a terrifying figure it would be!

The impact of the astronomical royalties on outsiders was huge, but for Lin Weimin, he still did what he should do. His life did not have any special changes because of the emergence of these royalties.

Thanks to Comrade Lao Yan's hard work, he made another report to the superiors for his foreign exchange.

These days, foreign exchange remitted from overseas to the country must be forcibly sold to the Bank of China. According to the official exchange rate, individuals will lose a lot of money.

In the past, Lin Weimin always reported the royalties he received from abroad and used special channels to exchange them into foreign exchange coupons. This time was no exception.

The issuing bank of foreign exchange certificates is the Bank of China, which is also the foreign exchange management bank.

When people see this situation, they also murmur.

In the past, when I made a report, it would cost more than 200,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons.

The first royalties Lin Weimin received this time were as high as US$780,000, and it is said that there will be more to follow. Calculating this, it is likely to be in the millions of US dollars.

If all of them are exchanged for him at once, if these foreign exchange certificates are circulated on the market in a short period of time, it will have a certain impact on the domestic foreign exchange certificate market. In serious cases, it may even directly affect the circulation and use of foreign exchange certificates.

You must know that foreign exchange certificates are directly linked to the RMB, and it will be a big deal if it goes wrong.

But it would be unreasonable to force Lin Weimin to sell these foreign exchanges. His overseas manuscript fees are more than this, and they can be regarded as earning foreign exchange for the country.

Not only is it unkind to do this, but Teacher Lin is also very influential as a writer. If someone is dissatisfied and makes trouble again, it will be even more troublesome.

After much discussion, the bank came up with a solution for Lin Weimin.

Don't exchange these foreign exchange coupons. I'll open a foreign exchange account for you and save the money for you.

In the future, you can exchange up to 200,000 foreign exchange coupons in China every year. If you go overseas, the amount of money in this account will be 200,000 US dollars a year.

Lin Weimin was immediately overjoyed, but he didn't expect that there was an unexpected surprise.

He currently has more than 300,000 foreign exchange certificates stored in the People's Bank of China, and he doesn't know how to use them. If he exchanges them all for foreign exchange certificates, he will actually have a headache.

But there is no other way. If you sell it to a bank, you will suffer even more losses. On balance, converting the royalties into foreign exchange coupons is also a helpless move.

Now that the bank is willing to open an account for you, that is the best thing.

These days it is impossible for individuals to keep foreign exchange, let alone trade. That is to say, only some units and institutions involved in foreign transactions have the right to retain foreign exchange, and they are also subject to supervision.

If I have this foreign exchange account, I won't have to report every time I receive overseas manuscript fees, and I won't have to go to the People's Bank to deposit foreign exchange certificates. I don't know how much convenience it will make.

As for the annual limit of 200,000, Lin Weimin didn't care.

In the past year, he has been open to buying antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and he has spent nearly 100,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons. 200,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons is enough for him to squander in China.

"What? I still have more than 300,000 foreign exchange certificates in the safe at the People's Bank. Do you think I can exchange them for foreign exchange and deposit them into my account?"

Sitting in front of Lin Weimin was the president of the Yanjing Branch of the Bank of China. The amount involved was one ten thousandth of a country's foreign exchange reserves, which was enough to alarm someone of his level.

President Zhou was speechless. Are you here to steal our money?

"This is unlikely."

After getting this answer, Lin Weimin felt a little disappointed.

It seems that those foreign exchange certificates will have to be kept in the safe for a long time.

He sighed: "Oh, I'll tell you the truth. It's really worrying that I have money but can't spend it!"

President Zhou:? ? ?