Back to 80: My Literary Life

Fang Minghua took the train back to Xijing the next day.

After going home and taking a shower, Fang Minghua told Song Tangtang about her trip to Chengdu when she came back from work.

When I heard Fang Minghua talk about the current situation of Shang Zhongmin and others, and heard that all of them were far away from poetry, I couldn't help but sigh.

Poetry is really in decline.

"Hey, Minghua, when it comes to poetry, the Red Army is still looking for you." Song Tangtang said suddenly.

"The Red Army has returned from Hainan? What does he want from me?" Fang Minghua felt a little strange.

"It's still Wang Guozhen's poem. You can go to the company with me tomorrow and let him tell you slowly."

"All right."

The next morning, after the couple finished breakfast, Fang Minghua took Song Tangtang's car to the Shengshi Group near the Duanlumen intersection.

Fang Minghua had not been to the company for a long time. The current scale was several times larger than before. The third floor of the four-story building had been rented by the company. He followed Song Tangtang into the company. The employees who came and went were all calling him "Mr. Song, Mr. Song" respectfully. Stop, some people looked curiously at Fang Minghua who was following behind.

The women all wear OL skirts, and the men wear suits and ties.

The group headquarters is on the third floor. Fang Minghua met Zhao Hongjun in the office where the chairman and general manager was hanging.

This guy, after not seeing him for a while, has gained a lot of weight and gotten darker.

Zhao Hongjun saw the couple coming in and immediately ordered the female secretary to pour water.

Of course, the female secretary is not Liu Xue, who was pregnant and hidden by Zhao Hongjun in a golden house in Hainan, but a newly recruited one.

Fang Minghua took a look and saw that she was young, but not as beautiful as Liu Xue, and her appearance could only be considered average.

"What's going on?" Fang Minghua asked while sitting on the sofa.

"Look at this." Zhao Hongjun took out a book from the drawer and handed it to Fang Minghua.

Wang Guozhen's poetry collection: "The Tide of Youth"!

Oops

This seems to be Wang Guozhen's first poetry collection, right?

Fang Minghua flipped through the catalog of poetry collections

"Beyond Yourself", "Really Want", "Just Give Me a Smile" and "Love Life".

Indeed it is!

There is no ISBN or publisher on the back cover. It seems that the proofs are still unpublished.

He immediately understood what Zhao Hongjun meant.

"Is Shengshi Books ready to be published?" Fang Minghua asked as he returned the collection of poems to the other party.

"Yes, Shu Bin found this through a friend and planned to publish it, but there were many people within the company who opposed it, including Dai Jiali, the vice president in charge of business, who strongly opposed it." Zhao Hongjun explained.

Of course Fang Minghua knew that Dai Jiali, a girl who graduated from Yanjing Foreign College, broke into the South China Sea at a young age.

"The reason for their opposition?"

"It's not called poetry, it's just a "motto", a "collection of aphorisms", and "chicken soup for the soul".

oh.

Fang Minghua laughed after hearing this and said, "If it were a publishing house like Harvest or Contemporary, this reason would still be valid. However, Shengshi Books has published martial arts romances and the Shermily series, so it's okay to publish this, right?"

"The problem is that although the Shimeili series has little literary value, it has very high commercial value. The fact that 3 million copies of "The Housekeeper" alone have been sold can illustrate this problem, and this does not include those abominable pirated copies." Sitting down. Song Tangtang, who was sitting on the sofa next to him, interrupted.

"However, the literary level of Wang Guozhen's collection of poems is not high. If the commercial value is not high, it will not be worth publishing. Dai Jiali is mainly worried about the commercial value of this collection of poems, and is worried that it will not be sold after publishing."

I see.

"Then Shu Bin isn't worried about this problem?" Fang Minghua asked again.

"Shu Bin believes that this collection of poems has high commercial value for the following reasons:" Zhao Hongjun's thinking is also very clear:

"In the past two years, Mengwu poetry has obviously declined. However, the third generation poets such as Han Dong, Yu Jian, and Xu Jingya are too colloquial, vulgar, and ruffian, causing discomfort to many readers. However, Wang Guozhen is easy-to-understand, simple, and straightforward. , has a positive poetry style that just meets the needs of current readers. "

"And according to the survey, Wang Guozhen's poetry has begun to become popular in universities such as Yanjing and Guangdong Province, so he believes that now is the right time to publish this collection of poems."

Fang Minghua secretly admired this.

This Shu Bin has a really unique vision.

Just as Zhao Hongjun said just now, the poetry world in the late 1980s and early 1990s was called the "vacuum era". Literature and the system restricted each other, and the excitement and pleasure caused by the early "poetry craze" to readers was greatly weakened.

Wang Guozhen, on the other hand, stood out from the crowd with his easy-to-understand, simple, straightforward, and positive poetry style, successfully taking advantage of the vacuum in the poetry era.

Historically, this book "Young Tide", which does not seem to have high literary value, has been printed and sold 600,000 copies, more than any contemporary poetry collection!

Thinking of this, Fang Minghua smiled and said: "Shu Bin is the general manager of Shengshi Books. He can make his own decisions, so why do he need to ask for my opinion?"

"Shengshi Group has an unwritten rule: if you have any questions about internal affairs, you can ask Minghua." Zhao Hongjun looked serious.

"What about foreign affairs?"

"If you don't decide on foreign affairs, please ask Minghua."

Fang Minghua couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "Okay, don't put your hat on me so seriously."

"Hehe, just kidding, Minghua, what's your attitude towards this matter?" Zhao Hongjun also laughed.

"I think Shu Bin is quite discerning. If I were the editor-in-chief of Yanhe, I might not publish the poems on it, but if I were the boss of Shengshi Books, I would publish them."

"OK, I'll call Shu Bin right now." Zhao Hongjun picked up the phone on the desk and was about to dial the number, but was stopped by Fang Minghua.

"Wait, how many copies of this poetry collection are going to be printed?"

"I heard Shu Bin said that the first print is about 150,000 copies, see how the market responds, and then do a second print." Zhao Hongjun replied.

Fang Minghua shook his head after hearing this:

"Don't print it the first time or the second time. Wait until the book becomes popular before printing it. The daylily will be cold! You all know the speed of piracy now, which is much faster than the speed of genuine products."

"What do you mean?"

"Just print 500,000 copies at a time!"

Print 500,000 copies of a poetry collection? !

This is unprecedented!

After all, this is poetry, not a popular novel.

Zhao Hongjun was stunned for a moment, and laughed: "Okay, 50 copies is 500,000 copies. The bolder the person, the more productive the land! I'll tell Shu Bin."

At this time, Shu Bin was anxiously waiting for Zhao Hongjun's call in his office in Haikou.

He got this collection of Wang Guozhen's poems by stealing it.

He met Wang Guozhen, then deputy director of the editorial department of the "China Literature and Art Yearbook", through a friend when he went to Yanjing not long ago.

At this time, Wang Guozhen was already famous and served as a columnist for "Liaoning Youth", "China Youth" and "Girlfriend".

This collection of poems "Young Tide" was originally submitted to Yanjing Academy Press for publication. After Shu Bin saw it, he immediately saw the huge commercial value hidden behind it and asked Wang Guozhen to hand it over to Shengshi Books for publication.

In order to get Wang Guozhen's consent as soon as possible, Shu Bin used his trump card - royalties!

Instead of giving you royalties, he gave you royalties! 6% royalties!

In this era when most publishing houses still pay writers for their royalties, this trick is always successful, and Wang Guozhen immediately agreed.

After returning from Yanjing, Shu Bin immediately asked the relevant departments of the company to start proofreading and typesetting, striving for early publication, but he did not expect that many people in the company strongly opposed it.

As a last resort, Shu Bin asked Zhao Hongjun who was in Haikou to bring the collection of poems back to Xijing. He knew that there was a hidden boss behind Shengshi Group.