Back to 80: My Literary Life

What?

Is the company also opened by your partnership? !

Lu Yao was extremely shocked.

The couple exchanged glances, and finally Lu Yao decided: "If it is as you said, then I will let you publish it!"

"That's it for now. I'll communicate with Zhao Hongjun and find a time to sign the contract."

After finishing Lu Yao's side, Minghua went to Duanlumen Cross Shengshi Book Company to find Zhao Hongjun after lunch the next day.

Although the Chinese New Year is just a few days away, the company is still very busy. Jin Yong's "The Condor" trilogy has been published, and it is now working hard to publish Qiong Yao's "Heart Has Thousands of Knots", "Yilian Meng", "How many times the sunset is red" is a three-length novel.

In the words of Zhao Hongjun: "Women hold up half the sky, and they also have to earn money."

Fang Minghua knocked on the door of the general manager's office and saw Zhao Hongjun making a phone call.

Seeing Fang Minghua come in, Zhao Hongjun pointed to the microphone and motioned for him to sit wherever he wanted.

Fang Minghua glanced at the spacious office and found that the layout of the office seemed more elegant now than at the beginning. It turned out that the large bookcase behind the boss's desk had been moved to the side and against the wall, and there was a calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall behind it.

It turned out to be a small seal script.

Fang Minghua looked at it for a while before he recognized the words "Peace and Peace" written on it.

Fortunately, it is not a "women's treasure".

At this time, Zhao Hongjun had already hung up the phone and looked at him staring at the calligraphy and said with a smile: "Is this OK? It was written by Liu Zichen himself, and there is also his signature and seal."

Fang Minghua took a closer look and recognized the three characters "Liu Zicheng" on the signature.

He also knew Liu Zitong. He was the chairman of the Qin Province Calligraphy Association. He was excellent in all aspects of calligraphy, especially seal script. According to rumors, in the calligraphy circles of Qin Province, it was well known that Liu's character was difficult to find. I don't know how this guy got it.

"Not bad." Fang Minghua nodded. To be honest, he really couldn't appreciate seal script. He always felt that it had a "ghost-painted peach charm" feeling.

He still likes to read the cursive scripts of Wang Xizhi and others.

"Minghua, are you looking for Tangtang? Let me make it clear first that I gave Tangtang a holiday to prepare for the wedding at home. She took the initiative to come to work." Zhao Hongjun said with a smile.

"No, let me tell you something. I mentioned it some time ago, which is the publication of a book written by Lu Yao. Have you got the book number?"

"We've got it. This time it's Haitian Publishing House in Pengcheng. This is the first publishing house in the Special Administrative Region. It is jointly led by the State Press and Publication Administration and the Pengcheng People's Government. But they still want to take a look at the books we want to publish."

Fang Minghua understands this, lest you buy someone else's ISBN and publish some reactionary or pornographic books, wouldn't the publishing house take the blame?

Fang Minghua explained the cause and effect of the matter.

Zhao Hongjun was a little surprised when he heard this.

Damn it!

The dignified Lu Yao suddenly acted like this? Are you writing a novel that no one wants to publish?

Of course, he was just expressing sympathy and had nothing to do with him, but if he wanted his company to publish it, it would have a lot to do with it!

"Minghua, there are two problems here." Zhao Hongjun didn't hold back and stated his true thoughts directly.

"First, if magazines like "Contemporary" are unwilling to publish the first part of "Ordinary World" written by Lu Yao, it means that the writing is really not good. If we publish it, isn't it obvious that we will lose money? Although You have a good relationship with Lu Yao, but you can’t help him in this way, right?”

"Second, you said you want to pay royalties. We have no precedent in this country! It's good for the author, but it will increase the cost of printing books! We will suffer losses, Minghua, you have to think clearly!"

Zhao Hongjun's expression was also very serious, unlike his usual cheerful appearance.

Fang Minghua did not argue with him directly, but took out a thick stack of manuscripts from the briefcase he was carrying.

"This is his manuscript. You can read it first and then decide whether it is worth publishing. We can discuss it after you read it."

Zhao Hongjun took it over with some suspicion.

"Let's go." Fang Minghua waved to him: "Be careful not to lose the manuscript."

Fang Minghua left Zhao Hongjun's office and went to the office next door with the sign of deputy general manager to find Song Tangtang. The door was locked. After asking in the finance department, he found out that the girl had gone to the bank with the cashier to reconcile.

In this case, Fang Minghua didn't waste any more time and rode directly back to the unit.

Not long after going to work the next morning, Fang Minghua received a call from Zhao Hongjun. The other person's tone on the phone was a little excited.

"Minghua, I have finished watching the first part of "The Ordinary World"."

"So fast?" Fang Minghua was a little surprised. At least it had more than 300,000 words.

"When I got home last night, I planned to read a few pages, but I got stuck and read all night long!"

I see.

"How is it? Does it look good?" Fang Minghua asked.

"The writing is so fucking touching, damn it! No one is willing to publish such a novel? Are the editors of those magazines and publishing houses blind?! If I were the leader, I would immediately publish such a novel Fired!"

"That means you look at the novel from the perspective of ordinary people, whether it is touching or good-looking, while the editors consider it more from a literary perspective." Fang Minghua explained a few sentences and then said: "Okay, let's not talk about this. , since you think it’s good, shall we publish it?”

"Publish, must publish! Including the second and third parts of this novel!" On the phone, Zhao Hongjun agreed: "But, this royalties? I think the royalties are enough. Lu Yao is your friend, so I will follow what you said. How about the standard of 18 thousand words?"

"Red Army, it's not because Lu Yao is my friend that I give him special privileges." Fang Minghua explained patiently: "From now on, all books written by mainland authors published by our company will be paid royalties."

"ah?"

"First of all, our mainland will definitely implement the same royalty system as foreign countries in the future. We are just one step ahead." Fang Minghua patiently explained: "In addition, this is also the most powerful condition for attracting famous writers to come to our company to publish books. Otherwise, why don’t people go to those state-owned publishing houses?”

"But this will increase the cost a lot. After all, we have to buy a book number, which is also a big expense." Zhao Hongjun expressed his worries.

"I know, so at this stage we try to publish mainly popular novels from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Anyway, we won't give anything away for free. Lu Yao's "Ordinary World" is just an example. If you want to choose, choose the best-selling one, Red Army, you believe me With your vision, you will definitely make a lot of money.”

"Okay, then I will listen to you. Contact Lu Yao and sign the contract immediately!"

On February 1, 1986, which was the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the day of the Northern New Year, in the office of the general manager of Shengshi Books, Zhao Hongjun signed a contract for the publication of the first part of "The Ordinary World" on behalf of Party A and Lu Yao as Party B. The exclusive period of exclusive publication rights is 10 years.

The contract clearly states that Party A will pay 10% of the income to Party B as royalty income, and also proposes a minimum guarantee agreement. Party A will provide Party B with minimum guarantees in accordance with Qianzi 18. The first part has a total of 330,254 words, the minimum security deposit is 5,950 yuan, and Party B will pay the personal tax himself.

Fang Minghua was present and witnessed this moment.

After the contract was signed, both parties shook hands. Lu Yao smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, Minghua, with your money, I can celebrate the New Year in peace and contentment. Thank you, thank you."

"Thank you for what you are doing? This is called a win-win situation! Chairman Lu, hurry up and write the second part. We are still waiting for it to be published."

After Lu Yao left, Zhao Hongjun said to Fang Minghua: "I'm going to ask the editorial department to work overtime in the past few days to proofread his manuscript. After the New Year, we will start thinking about printing it. How many copies will you print for the first time?" ?At least 200,000 copies, right?"

"No, 20,000 copies is enough."