Back to 80: My Literary Life

"How many places are you going to?"

"Not much. Shu Bin means Yanjing, Shencheng, Huacheng and our Xijing."

Damn it!

I ran in a circle around China.

Fang Minghua couldn't help but remember that he went to the United States the year before last to sign a book signing event for the English translation of "Enter Guandong". He took a plane and ran around the United States in a big circle, and he almost vomited while signing autographs!

But this is promoting your own book.

I also need to support Shu Bin’s work.

Fang Minghua had no choice but to agree.

"Minghua, you can stay in Yanjing for two more days and stay with my grandparents!"

"Don't worry, I'll stay with them at night, play chess with grandpa, and chat with grandma." Fang Minghua said.

"That's good. I'll hang up. Shu Bin will contact you when he arrives in Yanjing. Goodbye."

"goodbye."

Fang Minghao hung up the phone and came to the dinner table again.

"Whose phone number is it, Tangtang's?" Grandma asked kindly.

"Well, she said she wanted me to stay in Yanjing for two more days to promote my book." Fang Minghua explained the matter briefly.

"Okay, you can stay wherever you want, as many days as you want." Grandma said lovingly.

Grandpa was holding a piece of steamed bun, but he was thinking about another question:

"Xiaohua, when writing novels, do you still need authors to sign and sell books? As the saying goes, good books will be read by people. As the saying goes, the alley is not afraid of the smell of wine. I read the book you wrote "Skywalker". It's very good. No need. People will also read the propaganda.”

Fang Minghua was thinking about how to answer his grandfather's question, but the grandmother next to him took over and said: "Who said that good books don't need publicity? You don't understand, let alone now, in the Republic of China, those literary masters still publicize Promote your own book.”

"Which literary master?" Fang Minghua became curious.

"There are many, including Lu Xun, Lao She, Palladium, Zhu Ziqing, and Zhang Henshui."

“How do they promote their books?”

"They were mainly advertising texts written for books and periodicals. It was so long ago that I can't remember what others wrote, but the ones written by Lao She were the most interesting."

"This is how he advertised his "Collection of Humorous Poems by Lao She": It's not a novel, it's nothing."

""Cat City" is a novel, there is no real story.

"Divorce" is a novel and does not advocate divorce. "

I can’t tell that Mr. Lao She has a very unique personality.

Fang Minghua listened with great interest.

"At that time, there were no televisions and very few radios. These advertisements were mainly published in newspapers. Has your book been advertised in newspapers?" asked my grandma.

"I'm not sure about this. It's run by Shengshi Book Company and I have no control over it." Fang Minghua explained.

"You can advertise."

Oh my grandma, of course she was born in a lady's family. She went to a women's university when she was young, and she has some modern economic acumen.

The next morning, Fang Minghua received a call from Shu Bin, saying that he was staying at the Songhua Lake Hotel on Andri North Street and would like him to come to the hotel to discuss the book signing in detail.

Fang Minghua knew that the hotel Shu Bin mentioned was only two stops away from the General Political Courtyard by bus, so he told his grandparents and then left the General Political Courtyard and took the bus to rush there.

In a room on the fourth floor of the hotel, Fang Minghua met Shu Bin and a young man, Jin Hai, the deputy general manager of sales at Shengshi Books.

They are all in suits and leather shoes, and put on a woolen coat when going out - this is how successful people dress in this era.

"Minghua, let me tell you the good news. Hainan Publishing House has agreed to use the name of our company - Joint Publishing - on the publishing side of your book. From now on, all the books published by the company will have the name of Shengshi Books."

This is great news!

Fang Minghua took a book from Jin Hai, it was "Skywalker"

The cover is simple and solemn, with a line of words written on it:

"Skywalker" - depicts the past and reality of rural education in China from a distance, paying tribute to ordinary but great rural heroes.

"When the sky is strong, a gentleman will strive to strengthen himself; when the terrain is weak, a gentleman will be virtuous."

On the copyright page, Fang Minghua saw the words jointly published by Hainan Publishing House and Hainan Shengshi Book Publishing Company.

"Yes, yes, Shengshi Books finally has its reputation." Fang Minghua praised it.

"Tell me about your arrangements."

"That's it," Shu Bin took a piece of information handed over by Jin Hai and handed it to Fang Minghua.

"Take a look and see if you have any comments."

Fang Minghua took it and took a look:

From 2:30pm to 4:30pm on January 5th, there will be a book signing and sale at Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore.

January 6th, 2:30pm-4:30pm, Haidian Book City

January 7th, 2pm-4pm, Xinhua Bookstore, Nanjing East Road, Shanghai.

All are Xinhua Bookstores.

This is reality.

Although private bookstores are popping up in various places, Xinhua Bookstore is the one with the largest scale and widest influence.

Shu Bin chose Xinhua Bookstore, a landmark in major cities.

"Teacher Fang, we have contacted the managers of various Xinhua bookstores and promoted it a week in advance. By the way, Mr. Shu also placed advertisements in newspapers in order to increase the effect." Jin Hai interrupted.

"Advertisement?" Fang Minghua was a little surprised.

"Take a look." Jin Hai took out a newspaper from the briefcase he carried and handed it to Fang Minghua.

It's "Yanjing Evening News"

On the second page, Fang Minghua actually saw an advertisement. The design was very similar to the book cover, with a line of small words at the bottom: Make friends with books, and Minghua will meet you.

Write down the location and process of the event in detail.

Um.

Not bad.

It's much better than the advertisement that starts with "XX famous scholar in my country".

"If the effect is good, we are also going to publish it in newspapers in other cities." Shu Bin said with a smile.

"Mr. Shu, my grandma seems to have a sharp eye." Fang Minghua joked.

"Your grandma?" Shu Bin was a little confused.

"It should be my wife's grandma, a female college student in the Republic of China, talking about the writers selling books in the Republic of China, haha."

January 5th is today. Fang Minghua did not return to the General Political Department compound at noon. He called his grandparents and had a casual meal outside with Shu Bin and other staff members. Then he rushed to the Xinhua Bookstore in Wangfujing according to the time.

Yanjing in January is very cold, and the weather is not good today. It was snowing.

When Fang Minghua and his friends arrived by taxi, they found a long line along the street in front of the Xinhua Bookstore, and the security staff of the bookstore were maintaining order.

The manager of Xinhua Bookstore was surnamed Liu. He was waiting at the door in person. When he saw them get out of the taxi, he hurried forward to greet them and shook hands with them.

"Comrade Minghua, look at how influential you are!" Manager Liu joked, "We haven't had such a long queue in Xinhua Bookstore for a long time."

Fang Minghua said a few humble words, and several people entered the bookstore. Manager Liu said again, "It's cold today, Comrade Minghua, why don't you go upstairs to rest for a while, there's still some time."

Fang Minghua looked at the watch on his wrist: 2:15, so he said,

"Forget it, let's get started. It's not good to let so many people wait outside in the wind and snow."

"Okay, then let's get started!"

The long and boring signing event began.

There were men, women, young and old who came to buy books, but most of them were young people in their twenties and thirties. Most of them were the newly published "Pioneers". Of course, there were other books, such as "Selected Short Stories of Minghua" and "Crossing Guandong". Some of them were even old books!

If you look at the wrinkled books, you have read them many times.

It's just an old book, Fang Minghua didn't care to write her name on it.

As long as it's not a book by another writer, it's fine.

Wait, an old book, and it's in English? !

"Ghost lover outstanding"

"Ghost"?

Fang Minghua looked at the blond and blue-eyed foreigner in a bit of astonishment.

The foreigner said in broken Chinese that he was from New York, USA, and he liked this book so much that he brought it with him when he came to China for further studies. He saw you signing books in the newspaper, so he brought this book with him.

Okay

Fang Minghua signed her name on the title page of the book.

According to the original plan, it would end at 4:30, but there were too many people outside, so it was postponed until 5:30, when Xinhua Bookstore closed.

Damn it!

I will definitely not do it for such a long time tomorrow.

Fang Minghua rubbed his aching right wrist, thinking to himself.