1980 My literary era

William Zhu arrived quickly, arriving in Yanjing the day after Lin Weimin called him.

Lin Weimin first treated him as a landlord, and after a night's rest, Zhu William officially came to the Chinese Literature Society for a visit and exchange.

William Zhu is able to establish a literary website like Under the Banyan Tree. He is naturally a literary young man and has a natural filter for the Chinese Literature Society.

The office building of the Chinese Literature Society is more than 40 years old, and it has an air of age from the inside to the outside, but this does not prevent it from shining in Zhu William's eyes.

Lin Weimin took him to the "Contemporary" editorial room to visit, and said to him with a smile: "The sofa you are sitting on now was made by Yan Gang, the husband of Mr. Liu in our editorial department. In the past twenty years, there have been many famous writers in China." Sitting there, Cheng Zhongshi, Lu Yao, Yu Hua, Mo Yan..."

Lin Weimin called out his name carefully, and William Zhu felt a strange feeling coming from his buttocks.

"Look, this is the manuscript of "White Deer Plain". Cheng Zhongshi gave it to our Chinese Literature Society in 1993."

When Lin Weimin was talking to William Zhu, Yang Xinlan brought over a manuscript, and Lin Weimin immediately introduced it.

When he heard the three words "Bailuyuan", Zhu William's eyes lit up, he took the manuscript with some excitement, and couldn't wait to read it.

After a long time, he finally put down the manuscript with satisfaction.

William Zhu spent half a day in the Chinese Literature Society, looking around the place inside and out. Although the facilities in the building were already outdated, they happened to show the profound history of the Chinese Literature Society.

After coming out of the classical literature editing room, William Zhu couldn't help but sigh: "The Chinese Literature Society is really rich in foundation and full of talents!"

Lin Weimin smiled, led William Zhu upstairs, and said, "I just introduced to you some of the work results of our Chinese Literature Society on copyright development. Now I will let you take a look at our website content editing room."

The office on the east side of the fourth floor has a nameplate hanging on the door that reads "Website Content Editing Room".

Lin Weimin pushed open the door with Zhu William. There were several desks scattered in the office, and each desk was equipped with a computer.

"President!"

The young editors who were sitting in front of the computer saw Lin Weimin arriving and hurriedly got up to say hello.

Lin Weimin waved his hand gently and motioned for them to sit down, "You guys are busy with your business."

He then said to Zhu William: "You have also visited the official website of our Chinese Literature Society. It has been online for almost four months. There are now more than 80,000 registered users. The most popular one is the readers forum. There are many people who are willing to come to our official website. There is more or less a literary plot.

Some time ago we held an Internet creation contest, which aroused the creative enthusiasm of many users. Now that the competition has come to an end, many readers still insist on publishing articles on the forum every day. This is also a source of manuscripts for our Chinese Literature Society.

However, our Chinese Literature Society has too many editorial offices and publications, and users have a wide variety of creative types. We originally planned to open an email submission channel next year, but everyone’s creative enthusiasm is too high, and a large number of manuscripts are sent to us every day. on the forum.

I thought that the content management of the website would need to be handled by editors anyway, so I simply set up a website content editing room first.

These are all young editors of our Chinese Literature Society, and this is Mr. Zhu William, the person in charge of the Shanghai Rongshuxia website..."

Lin Weimin introduced the official website of the Chinese Literature Society, and introduced each other to the editors and William Zhu.

After the greetings, William Zhu looked at the work content of several young editors with curiosity in his eyes.

He runs the Banyan Tree website by himself, and only he knows the hardships involved. If he had such an editorial team, how could it be as hard as before?

After observing the editors' work for a while, Zhu William was thoughtful.

Lin Weimin saw that it was almost noon and said, "Let's eat in our club at noon. The braised lion's head served by the master chef in our cafeteria is one of a kind. Come on, I'll take you to try it."

During lunch, Lin Weimin did not discuss the website with William Zhu. Instead, he talked about various tourist attractions in Yanjing.

"It's not easy to come to Yanjing. After visiting our Chinese Literature Society, you can visit these scenic spots if you have time."

William Zhu chewed something in his mouth and nodded, his expression not focused.

After dinner, Lin Weimin invited William Zhu to his office.

The two sat down and drank a cup of tea. Lin Weimin said again: "William, have you ever thought about how literary websites can make money?"

Hearing Lin Weimin's question, a trace of confusion flashed across William Zhu's face.

"Advertise."

Today, most Internet companies in the world can only find two profit models, one is selling software like Microsoft, and the other is selling advertising like Yahoo.

Under the Banyan Tree is a literary website. The software cannot be sold. At most, it can sell advertisements.

"You are a literary website. Although it is developing well now, its traffic is inherently insufficient. How many advertisers would be willing to place ads with you?"

Lin Weimin's words silenced William Zhu. He originally worked in advertising, how could he not know the shortcomings of the website under the banyan tree? "

Literary websites are inherently deficient, and William Zhu never thought about how profitable the website would be by building Rongshuxia, but at the very least it should be able to maintain a balance of payments, so finding a profit point is crucial for him and Rongshuxia.

But this is easier said than done. Whether it is the United States or China, so many Internet companies are trapped in the problem of profit model. This is an industry problem.

"I have plenty of funds in hand, so it shouldn't be a problem to hold on for a few years."

In desperation, William Zhu said this.

Lin Weimin admired his courage to generate electricity for his love, but he immediately asked, "But have you ever thought that if you have money and can afford to pay, will those amateur authors who contribute to the banyan tree continue to do it for their interest?" ?”

When William Zhu heard this, the expression on his face froze. He opened his mouth, thought for a long time, and finally said: "These users came here for interest from the beginning, and most of them should be willing to persist for interest.

However, if we maintain the current status under the banyan tree, these users will definitely not persist forever. They should continue to metabolize, and there may be a new generation of users in a few months or half a year.

If this is the case, it will still be somewhat detrimental to our development under the banyan tree. With such a loss of authors one after another, there is always a lack of precipitation under the banyan tree..."

William Zhu muttered to himself, frowning, if according to this deduction, the development under the banyan tree would almost be in a dead end.

He thought for a while, and finally stopped worrying and said to Lin Weimin: "I had imagined before that we under the banyan tree could connect with publishing houses and magazines to promote the works of our authors and cultivate a group of famous authors."

Lin Weimin said: "There is no problem with this idea. Internet literature is still in its infancy and cannot be separated from the support of physical literature. But you should also understand that this approach can achieve success for the author and bring some fame to the banyan tree, but for It is difficult for development under the banyan tree to be of substantial help.”

William Zhu nodded, "Yes. It is too difficult for literary websites to develop independently now. It seems that the best way is to rely on a big tree."

William Zhu knew very well that Lin Weimin was guiding him, but he also knew very well that what Lin Weimin said was the truth, so he admitted it very simply.

"You should be clear about the purpose of inviting you here today. The resources our Chinese Literature Society has can exactly complement those under the Banyan Tree. At the same time, we are willing to invest time and money to cultivate the growth under the Banyan Tree."

William Zhu looked at Lin Weimin and asked the question in his heart.

"Didn't your company also have an official website? The user activity is also very high. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to turn it into a literary website."

Lin Weimin said with a smile: "Of course our own website must continue to operate, but this does not prevent our Chinese Literature Society from investing under the banyan tree."

Hearing this, William Zhu looked puzzled. He already had it, so why would he spend money to invest in other people's websites? And investing under the banyan tree will definitely be a losing business in a short period of time.

Looking at his expression, Lin Weimin asked: "William, I want to ask you, what do you think of China's Internet market?"

Faced with Lin Weimin's question, Zhu William pondered for a moment and said: "China is a big country with a population of over 1 billion. Although the current number of Internet users is less than one-third that of the United States, I believe that the potential of the Internet market is undoubtedly huge. With China’s current development speed, sooner or later the number of users will exceed that of the United States.”

Lin Weimin laughed, "Like you, I am full of optimism about the development of China's Internet. Based on China's population base, if it develops for another twenty years, even if only one-tenth of the population uses the Internet, it will be hundreds of millions. The scale of users. With such a market size, it is difficult for one company to capture all the market share. Literary websites themselves are not a field that can breed giants, and in terms of investment in our Chinese Literature Society, we value more It will have a positive impact on the field of Chinese literature in the future."

Wanting to invest in literary websites to make money in 1997 was nothing more than a wishful thinking. Zhu William himself did it for his feelings and dreams. Lin Weimin said that the Chinese Literature Society wanted to invest under the banyan tree for its future influence on the literary field. This fact won him over. recognition.

After accepting Lin Weimin's statement, Zhu William had no resistance to cooperating with the Chinese Literature Society. He asked: "Then how do you want to cooperate?"

Lin Weimin said seriously: "Rongshuxia is now affiliated with Shanghai Online. I hope you can move the website to Yanjing and set up a separate company. Our Chinese Literature Society is willing to invest 2 million in exchange for 50% of the shares of the new company."

Upon hearing Lin Weimin's request, Zhu William was slightly startled. He was surprised when he asked for 50% of the shares.

He had started his own business before and was not a newbie in the business world.

Under the Banyan Tree has 100,000 independent IP access users. Lin Weimin offered a valuation of 4 million yuan, and the conditions were very favorable, but what Zhu William could not accept was to cede 50% of the shares.

"You want too many shares."

Lin Weimin said unhurriedly: "William, I think you should also understand. Rongshuxia is different from ordinary Internet companies today. It is unlikely to find too many financing channels. The future development of Rongshuxia requires you and We, the Chinese Literature Society, are working together to help it. So it won’t do you any harm if we take more shares.”

"And I think you should also understand that only publishing companies or media companies with a background like our Chinese Literature Society would be willing to engage with websites like Rongshuxia. Cooperation would benefit both sides."

"Our Chinese Publishing House is one of the most powerful publishing houses in the country. It has 9 publications with sales of more than one million copies. The readership it covers is calculated in units of 100 million. We also have an elite editorial team. These will all It will become an important support for future development under the banyan tree.

Including several cultural industry companies under the Chinese Literature Society, they can also play a role in promoting the future development of Rongshuxia.

I know you are not short of money, and you have run your own company. If our shareholding is too small, how can we fully support Rongshuxia? "

Lin Weimin looked at Zhu William's expression and said: "We want 50% of the shares. The rights and obligations of both parties are equal. This is also a manifestation of sincerity. You can sell the advertising company to run such a destined business under the banyan tree." As a loss-making website, you must also believe that our Chinese Literature Society is by no means a company that pursues profit. What the Chinese Literature Society carries is the lofty mission of leading the development of Chinese literature."

Each shareholder holds 50%, which seems to be balanced, but in the later stage it is likely to restrict the development of the company, but it also seems to be an attitude that expresses friendliness and trust.

Lin Weimin's words suddenly opened up the situation. He didn't talk about money, but talked directly about sincerity and feelings.

This kind of rhetoric doesn't work well for those old foxes, but it works very well for William Zhu, who can sell a prosperous advertising company to make money and work under the banyan tree.

He looked relaxed, and after hesitating for a moment, he said: "The website has moved to Yanjing. I hope that the Chinese Literature Society can help establish a complete editorial team under the banyan tree."

"no problem."

Lin Weimin discussed some specific details of cooperation with Zhu William. As Lin Weimin said, the Chinese Literature Society is sincere and affectionate. After a frank exchange, Zhu William was extremely satisfied with the cooperation between the two parties.

Lin Weimin stood up and extended his hand to William Zhu, "Happy cooperation!"

“Happy to work with!”