1980 My literary era

At the end of the month, Cheng Zhongshi came to Yanjing.

These days, Sanlian Bookstore in Xiangjiang and Xindi Literary Publishing House in Bay Island have contacted him. After some communication, the publication of "White Deer Plain" has been basically determined. The two publishing houses will soon send people to the mainland to discuss with Cheng. Cheng Zhongshi signed a publishing contract, and Cheng Zhongshi agreed to meet in Yanjing this time.

This time he came to Beijing not only because of the contracts between "White Deer Plain" and publishing houses in Xiangjiang and Wandao, but also to communicate about the abridged content of "White Deer Plain".

The deletion work of "White Deer Plain" was handed over to He Qizhi by Lin Weimin. He and Cheng Zhongshi were similar in age, had decades of editing experience, and had excellent writing skills. Lin Weimin and Cheng Zhongshi felt relieved when they were given this task to him.

When Cheng Zhongshi came to the Chinese Literature Society, Lin Weimin first arranged for him to go to the guest house upstairs, and then handed him the abridged manuscript.

Cheng Zhongshi looked carefully for two days and found Lin Weimin's office. Lin Weimin called He Qizhi over.

After some exchanges, Cheng Zhongshi basically approved of He Qizhi's abridged version of "White Deer Plain".

"Okay. Then let's type and print this version of "White Deer Plain" first, and then publish a full version when we have the opportunity in the future!" Lin Weimin said.

Cheng Zhongshi nodded, looking a little disappointed.

Seeing that he was unhappy, Lin Weimin said to him, "By the way, I have some good news for you."

"What good news?"

Lin Weimin said with a smile: "The company has decided to update the publishing contract and change your publishing contract to a royalty sharing ratio of 10%."

Cheng Zhongshi was dumbfounded when he heard the news, "You still want to change it?"

Lin Weimin winked at him and said, "I'll make it up to you this time."

Cheng Zhongshi looked at Lin Weimin, not knowing what to say for a moment, but he was very moved.

After signing the contract, Cheng Zhongshi did a simple calculation. "White Deer Plain" has sold more than 700,000 copies in more than half a year since its publication this year. According to his current royalty share, he can get at least nearly 100,000 yuan.

Of course, those that are sold must not be forgotten.

But the best-selling books have always been long-tail sales. According to the current trend, it will not be a problem for "White Deer Plain" to sell three to five million copies every year for at least the next three years. With a minimum of 300,000 copies, he can also sell 300,000 copies every year. Got 42,000 yuan.

This is 42,000 yuan per year!

Cheng Zhongshi thought about the results of his communication with the publishing houses in Hong Kong and Wandao. Thanks to Lin Weimin's advance communication, the publishing houses in the two places also gave him 10% of the royalties.

Xiangjiang Sanlian Bookstore plans to first print 30,000 copies, and Wandao Xindi Literary Publishing House plans to first print 50,000 copies. Based on the selling prices of books in the two places, Cheng Zhongshi will earn 260,000 yuan from this first printing alone.

Thinking about the huge sum of hundreds of thousands of dollars that he was about to receive, even though Cheng Zhongshi had reached the age of knowing his destiny, he was still a little excited.

Zhou Zhaoyun is the vice president in charge of distribution of the Chinese Publishing House. Hearing that Cheng Zhongshi was signing a publishing contract in the front building today, he immediately ran over.

"Oh, loyal comrade, you came just in time. Xinhua Bookstore is planning to invite you to hold a book signing event."

Cheng Zhongshi was a little uncomfortable with Zhou Zhaoyun's enthusiasm. When he heard about the "book signing" event, he was even more confused. He had written novels all his life and had never enjoyed such treatment.

Lin Weimin patted him on the shoulder and joked: "Old Cheng, it seems you are really popular!"

Cheng Zhongshi smiled bitterly, readers welcomed it so much, why should they ban it?

Two days later, Lin Weimin had nothing to do in the morning and accompanied Cheng Zhongshi to Wangfujing Bookstore, where a book signing event arranged by Xinhua Bookstore was held.

As soon as Wangfujing Bookstore opened in the morning, readers who came after hearing the news already lined up in a long line at the door. As time goes by, the length of the team tends to grow.

Cheng Zhongshi was so busy that he had no time to raise his head. Lin Weimin and Manager Zhang from Wangfujing Bookstore were standing in the corner. He looked at the long queue at the door and couldn't help but think of the scene of queuing up to buy books ten years ago. He sighed: "That was like that before. Back then, I would queue up to buy books, but now I can’t see them.”

Manager Zhang smiled and said: "It's not that you can't see it at all. Look, when Teacher Cheng is here, isn't there a queue? And when your works are put on sale, the queue is even longer than this!"

Manager Zhang's words are not entirely a compliment. Lin Weimin's novels are far more popular than Cheng Zhongshi. Whenever they are released, long queues will form at the entrance of major bookstores in Yanjing.

After watching the excitement at Wangfujing Bookstore for more than an hour, Lin Weimin returned to the Chinese Literature Society.

After returning, he sneaked into Cheng Wuchun's office.

"I don't think it's necessary."

"I think it's necessary."

"You are the president and I am the president?"

"Did you ask me to be the editor-in-chief? Do you understand that the new official has been appointed as the new chief? Is this how you support my work?"

Lin Weimin stood in front of Cheng Wuchun's desk and argued hard.

Cheng Wuchun took off his glasses with a headache and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I understand your mood and thoughts, but things have to be done step by step."

What Lin Weimin was discussing with Cheng Wuchun was the editorial department performance appraisal system. The editorial department performance appraisal system was not a new thing. Many publishing houses in the south were already ahead of the curve, but the Chinese Literature Society had not started to reform the system.

As the president of a publishing house, Cheng Wuchun does not have a strong sense of business management.

His ideas are still old-school thinking under the planned economy. He attaches great importance to the accumulation of book culture and emphasizes the social benefits and artistic quality of publications, but does not pay much attention to making money from publishing books. He has always been concerned about the commercialization of publishing management. Have some scruples.

"What does it mean to be steady and steady? Without performance appraisal, the casual management style like now is just steady and steady?"

When talking about official business, Lin Weimin's expression was serious and unsmiling, "I know you are afraid that if you rush to reform and go out of your way, problems will be difficult to deal with. But have you ever considered that editors have created benefits, but they cannot get the rewards they deserve? , What do they think? Now that writers have begun to receive royalties, if we still stick to the old rules, can they not talk about it? Can they have no opinions? "

At the end, Lin Weimin added, "Have you forgotten about Xiao Guo? Why do young people want to leave?"

Lin Weimin's words could be described as heart-wrenching words, and they were deeply rooted in Cheng Wuchun's heart.

Why do young people like Guo Xugang and others leave? In addition to the large amount of money offered by outsiders, another very important reason is that they cannot see their future in the Chinese Literature Society.

Speaking of the Chinese Literature Society, the first thing people think of is the "Royal Publishing House", a temple in the field of domestic literature with a lot of talents and famous editors.

But it is precisely this famous editor that makes the young people of the Chinese Literature Society lose hope.

The conditions for these young people to be able to work in the Chinese Literature Society are not bad. After several years of training here and the guidance of knowledgeable and respected seniors, they have long been able to take charge of their own business.

But because there are so many seniors in front of them, many people can only stay in the editing room and work as a small editor.

There are only a handful of people like Lin Weimin and Li Xin who have been promoted to middle- and senior-level leaders in the society at such a young age.

If nothing else, just the matter of professional title is enough to make many young people despair.

This group of people can be evaluated as assistant editors after one or two years in the Chinese Literature Society. After four years as editors, they already have to fight among their peers in the society.

When it comes to the deputy editor review stage, you have to face many seniors in the club who have already become famous and have families, and the difficulty is hellish.

Gao Xianjun, the director of the first editorial office of contemporary literature, has outstanding work ability. Like Li Xin, he is less than 40 this year and has been promoted to director, but his professional title is always stuck at the editor level.

Of course, this is not because his professional ability is not good enough, or his performance is not outstanding enough, but because there are too many seniors lining up in front of him who meet the requirements, and he will not get this opportunity even if he wants to compete.

Gao Xianjun's experience is a true portrayal of the younger generation of the Chinese Literature Society. Unlike Lin Weimin, who has huge royalties to support them, they can face things like ratings and benefits calmly.

Now, when Cheng Wanchun asked Lin Weimin to take up the position of editor-in-chief, the first idea he could think of was to formulate an editorial department performance appraisal system.

In the press, young editors do no less work than older editors, but their wages, benefits, and professional title evaluations cannot match the workload and work ability. If this continues, how can the Chinese Language Press retain people? How many of those who remain are real talents?

Lin Weimin stared blankly at Cheng Wuchun, showing no sign of compromise.

Cheng Wuchun looked at him tit-for-tat for a long time. Of course he understood what Lin Weimin said, but he was still stubborn and said to Lin Weimin: "The situation in the society is complicated, and you don't understand."

When Lin Weimin heard this, he choked back: "You understand, do you understand it's useful? Do you have to wait until it is necessary to change? Is that called reform? That's called revolution!"

After saying this, he still felt uneasy and said, "If this is the case, then it will be meaningless for me to be the editor-in-chief, so I will quit!"

Cheng Wuchun said angrily: "Don't threaten me here!"

"This is not a threat, this is a statement! Anyway, if I say this, let me be the editor-in-chief, then the performance appraisal of the editorial department is imperative."

Cheng Wuchun looked at Lin Weimin, who was playing tricks again, and stood up in frustration, pacing back and forth in front of the window and the desk.

After a while, he turned around and said: "The business atmosphere of performance appraisal is too strong. Carrying out such reforms rashly will have an impact on the atmosphere of the society. As the editor-in-chief, you have just taken office, and you will engage in such things as soon as you come up. If you don’t do it well, it will be difficult to do future jobs!”

Lin Weimin stared at Cheng Wanchun, wondering whether he was sincerely defending himself, or whether he was using these words to dispel his thoughts.

"What's that look in your eyes?" Cheng Wanchun knew what was going on in Lin Weimin's eyes as soon as he looked at him, and asked angrily.

"I know you are doing it for my own good. But since you asked me to be the editor-in-chief, I can't be mediocre. The external environment is so severe now. We can't tolerate it anymore. We should have the courage and courage to overcome difficulties. Determination to move forward.”

After Lin Weimin said these words, he looked at Cheng Wuchun firmly.

Cheng Wuchun looked at him for a long time, and finally said helplessly: "That's it! Your wings have become stronger and you are going to be the editor-in-chief. I can't control you anymore!"

When Lin Weimin saw Cheng Wanchun softening his tone, he immediately changed his expression and said with a playful smile: "Look what you said, I will be your soldier forever!"

Cheng Wuchun snorted coldly, "My soldiers? Is my karma still about the same?"