1980 My literary era

"Exquisite skill but no craftsmanship, a heavy sword without an edge - On "The Thirteen Langs of the South China Sea"" From a purely literary criticism point of view, the first half of the book is very good, with clear ideas and precise writing.

But in the second half, the blind praise of Lin Weimin seems a bit amateurish.

After reading this article, many critics sneered at Tong Zhonggui's "flattery". If you want to brag about your teacher, no one can stop you, but you are using our literary criticism cover to do this. Isn't this disgusting?

A few days after the article was published, several critics published articles criticizing the article and its author, Tong Zhonggui.

These critical articles also indirectly made the article "Exquisite skill without workmanship, heavy sword without edge - On the "Thirteenth Lang of the South China Sea"" originally a lot of people not paying attention to this article. After being scolded by these critical articles, they went to look for Tong Zhonggui's articles and read them.

This is probably what later generations would call "black and red".

Tong Zhonggui didn't mind at all when he was scolded for Lin Weimin's praises. When he wrote the article, he was prepared to be scolded. Now the reaction of these critics is much softer than he expected.

Tong Zhonggui attributed this situation to Teacher Lin's good works. Otherwise, these critics might not only scold him bloody, but they might not even let Teacher Lin off.

Now that they are only scolding themselves, it proves that his evaluation of Teacher Lin is not exaggerated!

When he thought of this, Tong Zhonggui became extremely happy.

In the office of "Contemporary", a colleague read a recent article criticizing Tong Zhonggui and read a few sentences to Tong Zhonggui with great interest.

"Xiao Tong, in the past, writers were scolded after their works were published. How come you are the one being scolded now?" Yao Shuzhi joked.

Tong Zhonggui had a calm mind and was still smiling, "I can't help it. Teacher Lin's novels are so good that they can't read them, so they can only find fault with me."

"Okay, I'm worthy of being your second scoundrel under Teacher Lin."

Among the old colleagues, they joked unscrupulously and everyone laughed, but Tong Zhonggui didn't mind at all.

Yang Xinlan, a young female editor in the editorial department, asked: "Teacher Yao, Brother Tong is the number two loser, so who is the number one loser?"

Zou Changyi held the envelope in his hand and was stuffing the rejection letter, and said: "This question is on point. I guess Yu Hua should have a sense of crisis now."

The office burst into laughter again.

Literary men's mouths are much more poisonous than those of ordinary people.

While they were joking in the office of "Contemporary", Yu Hua was sitting in his seat in the editorial department of Tongwen News, looking at the article in front of him seriously.

"Xiao Tong's skills have improved a lot now!" He murmured to himself.

"It's like the moon surrounding the sun, like the stars surrounding the moon... It's so shameful. I'm embarrassed to write such words. Is there any literati ethics in this?"

Yu Hua watched and criticized, his tone full of reluctance and sense of crisis that the scrawled puppy had been robbed of his job by Shar Pei.

"No! Doesn't Xiao Tong ruin Teacher Lin's reputation by doing this? I have to clear Teacher Lin's name and write a serious review!"

As soon as he thought of it, Yu Hua spread out the manuscript paper and wrote quickly.

While he was writing at his desk praising the great teacher Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin happened to walk into the office.

"Yu Hua!"

Hearing Lin Weimin's cry, Yu Hua raised his head and stood up quickly, "Teacher Lin, are you okay?"

"For the press conference the day after tomorrow, remember to dress appropriately."

When it comes to the press conference, Yu Hua is full of energy, "Don't worry, don't worry."

He approached Lin Weimin again and asked quietly: "Teacher Lin, I heard that there will be another big event at this press conference?"

The Chinese Literature Society has never had any secrets, so it is not surprising that Yu Hua would ask this question.

The day after tomorrow is the first anniversary of the release of the Buhu series of books, and it is also the day when the fourth batch of books in the series was released.

After this year's development, Buhuhu Series has published three batches of 12 novels, with cumulative sales exceeding 14 million copies, becoming a rare best-selling series in the history of Chinese publishing, and this record is still accompanied by Buhuu The series of books is continuously updated with the continuous release.

In the future, Buhushu's only enemy will be himself.

Also because of the terrifying sales volume over the past year, the Buhuhu series has established a strong brand effect and influence in the domestic publishing industry, literary circles, and among readers.

When booksellers heard the name of "Buhu Book Series", they didn't even read the content, and lined up to go to the printing factory to pay money to buy books.

Discounts for best-selling books are usually low, and for super series best-sellers like the Buhu Book Series, the discount is only 25% off, but booksellers are still flocking to them for fear of not being able to get their hands on them.

There is no way this book is selling so well!

In the literary world, the reputation of the Buhuhu series is somewhat mixed.

Again, the literati look down upon each other. The Buhuhu Series values ​​the popular attributes of his works, which to a certain extent gives many writers and critics reasons to criticize him, such as "low style", "kitsch" and so on. Reviews have accompanied the development of the Buhu series over the past year.

But it is undeniable that the Buhu Book Series brings benefits to contracted writers.

Not only because of the popularity brought by the best-selling works, but also the high 10% royalties.

According to calculations by thoughtful people, in the past year, the cumulative royalties paid by Buhuhu Series to contracted writers have exceeded 8.4 million yuan.

There are 12 contracted writers, with an average royalty income of 700,000 per writer.

Of course, there are highs and lows. One book, "Desolated Capital", accounts for half of the sales of the Buhu series. Jia Pingwa's income is naturally the highest among contracted writers. His royalties alone are as high as 4 million.

A book costs 4 million yuan.

And judging from the current momentum, the development momentum of the Buhu Book Series has no rival in the country. The book "Dead City" can still create a lot of wealth for Jia Pingwa in the next few years.

Many people are rumoring that Jia Pingwa may become a multi-millionaire with the book "The Wasted City".

A novel, Multimillionaire.

The two seemingly incompatible words do not seem to contradict each other after a year of tempering.

Wouldn’t it be great if it sold 20 million copies?

It may be an incredible statistic for other novels, but for "The Wasted City" which sold 8 million copies in one year, it is not an extravagant hope, but a realistic and achievable goal.

Of course, Jia Pingwa's experience cannot be replicated. His income is already the total of other contracted writers in the Buhu Book Series.

But even among the 11 people who were averaged, the lowest royalty income was 200,000 to 300,000 yuan.

In 1994, when the per capita monthly income was only two to three hundred yuan, such an income was a dream for most writers.

Therefore, many people criticize the Buhu Series, but this does not prevent them from contributing to the Buhu Series and eagerly looking forward to their works being selected by the Buhu Series and becoming super best-sellers in the future.

It is precisely because of such contradictions that the editorial team of the Buhu Series has maintained high-intensity work since its establishment more than a year ago. During this year, the editorial team of the Buhu Series worked almost 24 hours a day. The human editorial team produces hundreds of novels each month.

Even with such high-intensity work, there is still a large backlog of manuscripts in the editorial team, and many of the manuscripts editors read were received two or three months ago.

The editors occasionally joke with each other after their busy work, saying that the small office of the Buhuhu Series editorial team has now become a transfer station for most of China's full-length novels.

Only after the editorial team selects the remaining ones, will the eliminated novels flow into the hands of other first-tier publications.

Nowadays, the Buhu Book Series has formed a monopoly on the creation of domestic novels to a considerable extent, and many publications and publishing houses are complaining about this.

Not to mention those outsiders, even members of "Contemporary" now have considerable opinions on the Buhu series.

But these people have forgotten that before the rise of the Buhu Book Series, many first-tier literary magazines such as "Contemporary", "Harvest", "October", and "Flower City" collectively monopolized the priority of most excellent domestic manuscripts?

In those years, weren't they the ones who selected the remaining manuscripts before they were sent to second-tier literary magazines such as "Yenjing Literature" and "Shanghai Literature", and so on?

People complain and complain just because they are not vested interests.

Compared with the complicated feelings of the literary world towards the Buhu series, readers have a much simpler perception of this series, and the sales volume has proven everything.

Like many booksellers, many readers have gradually formed the habit of buying books with their eyes closed now that they hear the name "Buhu Book Series".

The day after tomorrow is not only the first anniversary of the release of the Buhu series of books, but also the day of the release of the fourth batch of books in the series.

At the same time, the Chinese Literature Society will also announce a big news at the press conference.

"Don't ask nonsense!" Lin Weimin said with a face.

Even though it was boring, Yu Hua was not discouraged. The news had been spread in the club for a long time, so Teacher Lin still pretended to be mysterious.

After Lin Weimin left, the colleagues in the office discussed it based on Yu Hua's words.

Two days later, the banquet hall of Yanjing Hotel was as lively as it was last year. No, it should be even more lively.

The Chinese National Press spread the hero post widely, dozens of domestic media responded, and the press conference venue was almost full.

Before the press conference started, the scene was noisy. Reporters were discussing the new book that would be released today. Some people had already gotten wind that there would be big news released at today's press conference.

At 9:30 in the morning, Lao Cheng walked onto the stage with long strides and a glowing face.

At the end of the year, there were only a few days that he looked forward to.

As soon as Cheng Wuchun came on stage, the reporters in the audience quickly fell silent, staring at him with burning eyes, and the cameras in their hands were ready to go.

Cheng Wuchun spoke impassionedly for a few minutes on the stage, nothing more than introducing the brilliant achievements of the Buhu Book Series in the past year. The reporters knew more about these things than he did, but he sounded uninterested.

The topic soon turned to the promotion of new books, and the reporters finally gained some energy.

Four writers walked onto the stage, each holding their own new book in their hands. The fourth batch of books in the Buhu Book Series includes a total of four works including "City Without Rain" by Jin Ying and "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood" by Yu Hua.

The reporters finished taking photos and nodded with satisfaction. The four works were the same as the previous ones. There were writers who had been famous for a long time and writers who were unknown. As expected, the Buhu series treated them equally.

Cheng Wuchun said with a smile on the stage: "The fourth batch of works in the Buhu Book Series has been shared with you. Next, I have another good news to share with you!"

The reporters in the audience suddenly became excited. They knew that today’s drama was finally here!