1980 My literary era

In January 1993, following the “Fake News” incident in Nandu Weekend in the second half of the year, another eye-catching event occurred in the Chinese press

——Many central-level newspapers including "Reference News", "Guangming Daily", "Economic Daily", "China Youth Daily", "Liberation Daily" and other central-level newspapers have revised and expanded their pages. The layouts that have been consistent for decades have been revised to be more adaptable. Patterns of market development.

"Reference News" is an important information newspaper founded in November 1931 at the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviet in Ruijin. It had four pages before 1993 and expanded to Four to eight editions.

"Guangming Daily" is one of the newspapers of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It was founded in June 1949. In 1993, it proposed a revision measure to "change a science, education and cultural newspaper into a comprehensive newspaper".

"Economic Daily" was first published in BJ in January 1983. It was China's first specialized newspaper about economic life and information. In 1993, ten years after its founding, additional pages were added to the original basis.

From the founding of New China to the late 1980s, the development of literature and even culture was inseparable from the communication capabilities of various newspapers and periodicals, especially literary journals.

From the "weaning" of various periodicals in 1984 to the revision of major newspapers this year, newspapers and magazines that are accustomed to eating "imperial food" are either actively or passively moving into the depths of the market economy.

With these central-level newspapers taking the lead, provincial, municipal and other newspapers at all levels have also joined the process of revising or expanding their editions.

In addition to retaining the original style and layout, the biggest change of these newspapers is the establishment of supplements and weekend editions. For example, "Chinese Culture News" established "Culture Weekend", "BJ Daily" established "Jinghua Weekend", and "China Sports News" established "China Sports Weekend". "New Weekly", "China Women's Daily" founded "With You", "BJ Youth Daily" founded "Youth Weekend", etc.

In addition to publishing necessary news, political commentary, thoughts, and cultural content, these supplements and weekend editions also include overwhelming advertising and soft cultural and entertainment content.

This kind of revision and expansion of the edition is, in industry jargon, "repay with reward."

In addition to newspapers, the renaming and revision of literary journals has also gradually become a trend.

"Literary Critic", founded by the Ludong Provincial Literary Research Institute in 1985, was renamed "Literary World" and changed from a purely literary review publication to a comprehensive, informative and interesting publication.

"Hebei Literature" was renamed "Contemporary People"...

Such reform events appear to be endless.

I don’t know when it started, but it seemed like overnight, newspapers and magazines couldn’t keep up with the trend unless they changed their names and layouts.

If you don't emphasize the words "comprehensive newspaper" or "comprehensive magazine" in your statement, then you have no market economy acumen and no development pattern.

In the face of the changes that are disrupting the outside world, several publications under the Chinese Literature Society are like thousand-year-old turtles, unmoving.

It’s not that everyone doesn’t want to move. Dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country have revised and expanded their editions. It’s impossible to say that the people in charge of these publications don’t feel angry.

But they just had an idea in their minds. Before they could discuss the matter, they were thrown several basins of cold water on it by Lin Weimin, the editor-in-chief, at the meeting.

"It's only people who can't live any longer who want to change the version. Who's a good person who can't change the version?"

"Is sales now falling off a cliff? Or are readers enthusiastically making requests?"

"The market didn't respond and readers didn't respond. Why are you so excited?"

"Watching others poop, does your butt feel itchy?"

"Just thinking of a random idea is called reform?"

…

In the conference room, Lin Weimin picked up his head and scolded him. The editor-in-chief of the Chinese Literature Society became sober, and everyone looked at each other with eyebrows.

Being scolded is not terrible, but being scolded by a group of people is even less terrible. It is almost the same as not being scolded.

However, everyone can't help but secretly criticize Lin Weimin, who has become the editor-in-chief for two years, and is becoming more and more disrespectful of his elders.

After the meeting, Cheng Wuchun came to Lin Weimin's office.

"I heard that you showed off your power at the meeting?"

"Who is suing me again?"

Cheng Wuchun shook his head, "No one accused you of being cunning. I just heard about your meeting and came here to ask."

That’s weird!

A group of people in their fifties and sixties were trained by a young man like me in a meeting for more than half an hour. It was strange that these people were moodless.

But I really don’t blame him for being angry, “These people are just following the wind. Do they think reform is just playing house?”

Lin Weimin's words made Cheng Wuchun deeply gratified. He had always been cautious about reform. In the past two years, he was worried that Lin Weimin was too young and too enterprising, which would conflict with his ideas.

But now it seems that I saw the right person.

For the people, he is young and mature.

"Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes. Although our Chinese literary society is small, we cannot be impatient." Cheng Wanchun said.

Lin Weimin glanced at Cheng Wuchun, he was trying to tease me!

"There is no problem with reform, but it cannot be done haphazardly, let alone follow the trend. It must be targeted." Lin Weimin responded.

Cheng Wuchun knew Lin Weimin so well that when he heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "What are you planning to do again?"

"What is Yao Mozi? It's called assessing the situation and catering to the market."

"Say it directly."

Seeing Comrade Lao Cheng being so straightforward, Lin Weimin was also unambiguous and said, "I plan to launch a 'series of books'."

"A new book series?" Cheng Wanchun asked with a frown.

"A book series is different from a book series. A book series like the World Literature Masterpiece Library is a library-type book series. This time, what I want to create is somewhat similar to the concept of fine books."

Lin Weimin said, explaining his thoughts to Cheng Wanchun in detail.

The major revision of newspapers and magazines in 1993 was of a national nature. Some publications were determined to make progress and hoped to revitalize the publications through reform, but many more publications just followed the trend and followed what others said.

If the revision of publications is still an improvement, then some actions in the publishing industry during this year can be called large-scale reforms to adapt to the market economy.

In November 1993, Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House used "Buhu" as the registered trademark name and launched the "Buhu Series". This is a brand book carefully created by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House. It is also the most influential commercial operation since the literature of the new era in China. A series of books.

Chinese writers have had a very prosperous life since 1977. At that time, the royalties system had just been restored, and most writers worked part-time. In addition to their own jobs, they could use their spare time to write.

In addition to having a job, there are also manuscript fees. In the era when prices have not yet risen, if you can publish a short story of 10,000 words, you can easily earn more than a hundred dollars, which is equivalent to two or three months' salary. You can live a very moist life all year long.

But after so many years, the increase in royalties is far from catching up with the increase in prices. For a short story of 10,000 words, many magazines only offer about 20 yuan per thousand words, which is less than the standard for many people. monthly salary.

There are not many publishing houses in the domestic publishing industry that are willing to pay writers high remunerations and royalties like Guowenshe. Most publishing houses are not very efficient and have no confidence to pay such high remunerations and royalties.

This is one of the reasons why many writers are willing to cooperate with the Chinese Literature Society.

The increase in royalties is slow or even stagflation, which brings about a big disadvantage: some publications that are already struggling to survive find it more difficult to receive manuscripts, let alone receive any good manuscripts.

Such a vicious cycle leads to people seeking medical treatment in a hurry, catching up with the trend of newspaper and periodical reform, and then trying to make changes at the expense of doctors.

Coming back to the issue of author remuneration, according to a survey: in 1992, 17 professional writers in Shanghai relied on wages from the Association of Literary and Art Circles and royalties. The salary of first-level writers is more than 400 yuan, while the salary of second-level and third-level writers is more than 300 and 200 yuan respectively.

This year, the average monthly expenditure per capita in Shanghai was 270 yuan.

The salary of a third-level writer is about the same as the average monthly expenditure per person. Without royalties, they cannot even support their family.

Not having any works published means a sharp drop in income, making it difficult to make ends meet.

When prices skyrocketed and wages in factories and enterprises were several times higher than before, writers who had been able to rely on wages and royalties were in an unprecedented predicament.

For many full-time writers, without significant salary increases, the increase in manuscript fees cannot keep up with the increase in prices, so their income is reduced in disguise and they are struggling to make ends meet.

It should be said that this is the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China that the difficulties of material survival have had such a direct impact on a group of writers.

At this time, the "Buhu Series" came into being.

It used high remuneration and high print runs to attract well-known writers to join. It was extremely popular at the beginning of its establishment. With a brand-new publishing model, it took a firm step towards the marketization of Chinese literature.

In later generations and into the 21st century, there are still many writers who became famous through the "Buhu Series", such as Guo Xiaosi, Wei Hui and others.

And if we want to examine the fundamentals of the success of the "Buhuhu Series", we cannot do without two important factors.

First, it is high royalties and high print runs.

On September 7, 1990, the Copyright Law passed regulations that remuneration can be paid according to the contract.

The remuneration system was no longer unified, and the publishing market was gradually liberalized. As a result, Huayi Publishing House became the first publishing house in China to pay royalties to writers. Guowen Publishing House followed closely behind and became a trendsetter at the time.

However, the royalty system is not a "panacea." The opening of the royalty payment system means that writers' income is directly related to book sales, unlike before, where the income was guaranteed by droughts and floods.

This is certainly a good thing for some writers who are famous and have best-selling works.

But for more writers or part-time writers, this is disadvantageous.

Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House gave up on the fashionable "royalty" and instead offered high royalties to attract writers to contribute, which quickly received an enthusiastic response from the writer community.

Publishers can also use the huge income generated by high print runs to pay high royalties to writers.

The second is to establish brand image and strengthen publicity.

Before the "Buhuhu Series", there were no publishing houses that had published a series of books. Many publishing houses, including Guowenshe, had taken this step, but it was difficult to balance sales and influence.

At that time, Lin Weimin launched the "Contemporary Selected Series" in "Contemporary", which sold well, but after all, it was a derivative series of a magazine and lacked influence.

Last year, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House launched a "Cross-Century Series", which was very influential, but its sales volume was hard to say.

The brilliance of the "Buhuhu Series" is that it fully utilizes market-oriented means and the media power of the new era to carry out multi-faceted and large-scale publicity, pushing the popularity of the series to a peak, and then smoothly converting this popularity into sales .

In this way, a beautiful picture of soaring sales and influence is formed, and a long-lasting brand is formed.

In the past, Lin Weimin was at "Contemporary". Although he had good ideas, the resources he could mobilize were limited. As a result, "Contemporary Selected Books" did not become a brand as he thought.

Now that he has become the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Literature Society, serious literature has been deteriorating in the past two years, which just gives him an opportunity to re-establish a "branded literary series".

As long as this series of books can be launched, it will definitely further promote the development of the Chinese Literature Society.