1980 My literary era

The day after the "White Deer Plain" work seminar was successfully held, Cheng Zhongshi came to the Chinese Literature Society again. When he mentioned the drunken gaffe last night, he looked a little shy and embarrassed.

Lin Weimin knew his temperament well, ignored the matter, and then took out the publishing contract.

Cheng Zhongshi picked up the pen and was about to sign the contract, but was stopped by Lin Weimin, "Why don't you take a good look at the contract?"

"I can trust you, and I can trust the Chinese Literature Society!" Cheng Zhongshi said.

"Then you should take a look. This is related to your vital interests, so you can't be careless."

Lin Weimin asked Cheng Zhongshi to look through the publishing contract, and Cheng Zhongshi had no choice but to do so. As he looked at it, he discovered something was wrong.

"The time limit written here is three years?" Cheng Zhongshi asked, pointing to a place in the contract.

Lin Weimin nodded, "This is the shortest number of years I can change."

Seeing Cheng Zhongshi's puzzled expression, Lin Weimin explained: "The royalties have been changing every year in the past few years. If the contract period is too long, you will easily suffer losses."

Cheng Zhongshi was deeply moved when he heard this, "Thank you so much for serving the people!"

"There is no need to say thank you. The publishing house and the author should be in a mutually beneficial relationship, not one that exploits the other. If you can get generous royalties, our publishing house will not suffer."

Lin Weimin's generous remarks made Cheng Zhongshi admire and move him from the bottom of his heart, and then he signed the contract.

Lin Weimin joked: "That's it for this version of the contract. When you sign the contract next time, maybe you will get royalties!"

Cheng Zhongshi smiled honestly, "I don't dare to think about it, I don't dare to think about it."

This time "White Deer Plain" was published, and he could get a royalties of 30,000 yuan, which was already the ceiling of his imagination.

After his wife learned the news, she was so happy that she stayed up until midnight. How could he dare to think about royalties? Those are rules that only exist abroad, not in China.

"The royalties will be wired after you return to Xi'an. It's safer this way." Lin Weimin said.

After finishing the chat, he sent Cheng Zhongcheng off, "After I've been busy these two days, I want to take my sister-in-law to have a good time in Yanjing when I have time."

"That's for sure. It's not easy to come to Yanjing."

Having said this, Cheng Zhongshi thanked Lin Weimin again. It was thanks to Weimin's arrangement that he brought his wife to Yanjing this time.

After sending Cheng Zhongshi away, Lin Weimin returned to the office to review the manuscript.

Colleagues in the editorial department sent me the release notes for two books, "Revolutionary Road" and "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" by Richard Yates. It took half a year to translate from last year to this year, and now they are finally going to be published. .

This matter was originally the responsibility of the Foreign Literature Editorial Office, but because Richard Yates's works were introduced by Lin Weimin, his name was added to the signature line.

For the publication of "Revolutionary Road" and "Eleven Types of Solitude", the Chinese Literature Society paid Richard Yates a royalties of thirty-five yuan per thousand words. The two books together amounted to about fifteen thousand yuan. , according to the currency exchange rate between China and rice, it is nearly 4,000 yuan.

It wasn't much, but it was an unexpected income for Richard Yates.

Lin Weimin ordered that after the sample book came out, two copies would be sent to him, and he also asked the finance department to wire the royalties to Richard Yates in a timely manner.

After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin returned home, and Han Zhuangzhuang came with his family.

A few days ago, he went to the Berlin Film Festival to participate in the exhibition. He just came back recently and came to Lin Weimin's place to get together today.

Seeing Lin Weimin, Han Zhuangzhuang looked excited, "Uncle, let me show you something good!"

After speaking, he took out a book from his bag, acting mysteriously.

"Guess whose book this is?"

"Don't guess!"

Lin Weimin didn't give him a chance to show off, and Han Zhuangzhuang said depressedly: "You are such a boring person!"

After saying that, he revealed the book cover. Lin Weimin glanced at it with surprise on his face.

"Where did you find this out?"

"Where else can I go? From a bookstall on the street!" Han Zhuangzhuang replied.

Lin Weimin took the book and flipped through it carefully. The paper was thin and brittle, and the font was small and blurry. He knew it was a pirated book without looking at the cover.

Tao Huimin came over at this time and saw the title on the cover of the book, her expression did not tense up.

"Who is this? So talented?"

The quality of the book is undoubtedly shoddy. Even the design pattern on the dark book cover is unclear, but the title and author's name on it are extremely eye-catching.

"Hunting 2", a new book by Lin Weimin.

"Will anyone really buy this thing?" Tao Huimin couldn't help but ask.

"If you meet a fool, you will definitely be sold!" The couple sang and Han Zhuangzhuang was humiliated.

"Good intentions are not rewarded!" Han Zhuangzhuang said aggrievedly.

After the joke, Lin Weimin asked Han Zhuangzhuang in detail about the pirated book.

In the past two years, more and more pirated books have been sold at book stalls on the street. Han Zhuangzhuang bought this book at a pirated books stall.

Lin Weimin's original decision to hide the novel "Hunting" and not publish it for ten years once triggered a rush among readers to buy the current issue of "Contemporary". That issue of "Contemporary" once sold 3.8 million copies. Achievements, looking at the history of "Contemporary" for more than ten years, this sales volume is also unique.

After "Hunting" was published that year, it caused great discussion and controversy.

After all the calculations, it took less than half a year from the time this novel was published to the time when that issue of "Contemporary" stopped printing it.

Coupled with the fate of "Hunting" being hidden, it is natural that countless readers are curious about the content of this novel.

The rush triggered by the issue of "Contemporary" in which the novel was published ultimately only sold a few million copies, which could not satisfy the curiosity of the majority of readers.

In the past two years, Lin Weimin has successively discovered inferior versions of "Hunting" printed by pirated booksellers at street stalls. These booksellers ripped out the content of "Hunting" from "Contemporary" and then retyped, designed, and Binding and printing brought this hidden work back to the public.

As far as Lin Weimin knows, the sales of pirated copies of "Hunting" are quite good, and a large number of readers have seen the true content of this novel.

In fact, not only "Hunting", but all of Lin Weimin's novels are hardest hit by piracy. According to estimates from the Chinese Literature Society, the number of pirated copies of his novels sold is at least five or six times more than the genuine ones.

Lin Weimin is not a god, and the piracy issue cannot be solved even if the boss of the Publishing Department comes, let alone him.

But are "Hunting 2" and "Lin Weimin's new work" a bit too much?

Pirated booksellers publish his old works. After all, readers are still reading his stuff, but under his name, they are selling stuff written by unknown authors. Isn't this ruining his reputation?

Lin Weimin took a look at the book "Hunting 2" specifically, and it was similar to what he imagined. The content was based on the background of educated youth going to the countryside to join the queue, and highlighted the words "**" and "**". It was probably sold as a pornographic novel.

This cannot be entirely blamed on the pirates. In recent years, educated youth literature, or to expand the scope, scar literature, is all over the place. Anyone can write it, and a large number of shoddy and inferior works have appeared. There is no way for these works to be published. , but became a pirated bookseller.

It's ridiculous to say the least.

When he went to work the next day, Lin Weimin took this copy of "Hunting 2" to the Publishing Department.

"Leader, you can't ignore this matter! Even if it's piracy, now they're still pretending to be my name. If these pirated booksellers dare to take my name today, they'll take the leader's name tomorrow. That's going to cause big trouble!"

The leader flipped through the book and couldn't help laughing, "It's indeed a bit too much!"

The leader was helpless and said, "Definitely, I can't beat you!"

He added: "I know about this, let's go back and join forces with the public security and propaganda departments to crack down!"

After receiving the leader's reply, Lin Weimin felt much relieved. He knew that this was the best that the leader could do.

What he can do, what the leader can do, is probably this.

A few days later, Wang Xiaobo came to the editorial office as a guest and sent Lin Weimin his two newly completed works, "Standing at Thirty" and "The Years Go by". Lin Weimin took a quick glance at it, and found that the style was the same as before, but the description was not the same. There are so many "Golden Ages", but there are still a lot of descriptions about human organs.

"Your style is really a headache!"

Wang Xiaobo was a little embarrassed. He knew that what he wrote was not popular with many people at this time, but who made Teacher Lin appreciate him? After he had written something, his first and only choice was Lin Weimin. .

"Teacher Lin, there is actually nothing too extreme in these two novels of mine." Wang Xiaobo argued.

What Wang Xiaobo said is actually correct. Apart from the constant mention of human organs, these two novels are not too excessive. Compared with many "literary" works nowadays, there are many more elements.

Lin Weimin put down the manuscript, and Wang Xiaobo looked at him nervously.

"I'll let my colleagues take a look first!"

Wang Xiaobo was overjoyed when he heard this, but this ordinary sentence represented Lin Weimin's attitude, "Thank you, Teacher Lin, thank you!"

"Don't be too happy too early. If you can't pass the review, I won't intercede on your behalf!" Lin Weimin warned.

Wang Xiaobo said happily: "As long as you give me a chance."

Then he added: "If that doesn't work, I can just go to Xiangjiang."

Lin Weimin said angrily: "Then you might as well send it to Editor Liu!"

Wang Xiaobo chuckled and said: "You have been kind to me. I will definitely come to you first after finishing the novel!"

"Editor Liu, that's a guarantee, right?" Lin Weimin said sarcastically.

Wang Xiaobo didn't speak, just smiled.

"You, I can hear all the calculations in your heart." Lin Weimin said in disbelief.

The conversation between the two was naturally more playful.

After Wang Xiaobo left, Lin Weimin gave the manuscript to Tong Zhonggui.

"Xiao Tong, please review these two manuscripts."

"Okay, Lin..."

Before Tong Zhonggui finished speaking, his eyes caught sight of the signature on the manuscript, and he swallowed back the second half of the words.

"What's wrong?" Lin Weimin asked.

Tong Zhonggui looked embarrassed, "Teacher Lin, is this Wang Xiaobo's manuscript?"

"You asked knowingly, didn't you watch? What? You don't want to review his manuscript? Then I'll find someone else!" Lin Weimin said and was about to greet the others.

Tong Zhonggui hurriedly stopped Lin Weimin, "Hey, Teacher Lin. Judge, I will judge!"

Lin Weimin looked at him and said reasonably: "Don't force it!"

"Don't force it, don't force it." Tong Zhonggui said.

Lin Weimin nodded with satisfaction, "Okay, I'll leave it to you. Review it carefully and write more detailed review comments later."

Tong Zhonggui looked at Lin Weimin's back with a bitter look on his face. It's hard for me to write down my opinions on this kind of manuscript in detail!