Back to 80: My Literary Life

"American publishing houses are divided into profit-making and non-profit ones. I stayed in the United States for more than 20 days and visited New York, Washington, and San Francisco, three cities with relatively developed publishing industries. I also went to Time Publishing Company, Simon \u0026 Schuster "We visited two companies including Ste Publishing Company and talked with the leaders of relevant departments of the companies, which was very beneficial," Su Bin said.

"Generally speaking, competition in the U.S. publishing industry is very fierce, and mergers are also very fierce. It often happens that the big fish eats the small fish. The head of the public relations department of Ximeng Company said that there were 15 large-scale mergers in the country last year. The transaction volume is as high as 11.1 billion U.S. dollars, and American and European publishing companies are often merging. Giant publishing groups are constantly emerging, and Ximeng Company is feeling a lot of pressure.”

"Ximeng Company feels a lot of pressure, so other small and medium-sized publishing companies will have a hard time, right?" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Yes, when I was in San Francisco, I visited a small publishing house with more than thirty employees. Although it is small, it has a long history. It was established in 1942 during the golden age of American literature. It mainly publishes poetry and serious novels. But now the pure literature market in the United States is shrinking, so it is about to go bankrupt," Su Bin said.

"What's the name of that publishing house?" Fang Minghua suddenly asked.

"Ashley press, I call it Ashley Press, is not far from the San Francisco State University campus."

"Oh" Fang Minghua remembered the name, and something suddenly occurred to him: "Su Bin, do you have access to the Internet in the United States? It's called Internet in English."

Su Bin became excited when he heard this.

"It's a magical world! It has everything, including news, BBS, and search engines. By the way, I also saw an electronic publication in Chinese on the Internet called "Hua Xia Digest"!

"Chinese? Who did it? What's written on it?" Zhao Hongjun was curious.

"It was run by a few Chinese students, Ruopeng, Liang Luping, and Xiong Bo! The website has their names, and it published an original essay. I still remember the name is "The Legend of the Sun Column." It also published a poem by Shu Ting, " "Loneliness when reading magazines"!

"Oh my god. This Internet can actually publish literary works." Zhao Hongjun was stunned.

He knew that his literary level was not high, so he rarely asked about the business of Shengshi Books. Su Bin's report from his inspection trip to the United States last year mainly focused on the situation of the publishing industry and did not mention it, so what he heard today was very disturbing. Fresh.

Dai Jiali was not surprised. Su Bin had communicated with her about these situations a long time ago. When Fang Minghua asked about it today, he added:

"Not only abroad, but also in China, Tsinghua University recently established an internal Bulletin Board System on campus, which in Chinese means Internet Forum, or BBS for short. They gave it a special name called Shuimu Tsinghua."

"I went to Yanjing on a business trip some time ago and made a special trip to Tsinghua University. I found a friend and logged into their BBS. There were also novels and poems written by Tsinghua students on it."

After hearing the two people's narrations, Fang Minghua nodded and said, "Have you ever thought about this question after seeing these? What impact will the emergence of literature on the Internet have on literature and book publishing?"

"Teacher Fang, I think it is subversive!" Dai Jiali responded first: "Think about it, these prose novels on the Internet have completely changed the history of literature existing in the form of "books". The Internet has become The carrier of literature is no matter what kind of books, everyone can just read it online.”

"According to you, no one will buy books in the future?" Zhao Hongjun interjected.

"It's very possible!"

"I think Jiali is a bit alarmist." Su Bin expressed a different opinion.

"Oh? You said?" Fang Minghua watched the two arguing with interest.

“The first paper book has a unique paper texture and scholarly atmosphere, which makes it easier for readers to immerse themselves in it and truly feel the joy of reading. To be honest, although I saw Shu Ting’s poem on the Internet, I still feel and hold the real one. Books are different, I feel like something is missing.”

"Although it is convenient to read books on the Internet, even in the United States, the Internet is not popular, let alone China. How many people know about the Internet now?" Su Bin finally said.

"What about a few years later when the computer network becomes popular? What if every family has a computer and can access the Internet?!" Dai Jiali asked.

"I don't know how many years you are talking about." Su Bin immediately retorted: "Even if one day in the future, the Internet and computers become popular, it will not be possible to read them anytime and anywhere, right? You can carry books with you, or in the wild We can take out a book and read it on an outing, on a plane or on a ship, even now. Can online books be used? ”

"Ah? This" Dai Jiali was stunned.

Reading online is convenient, but at least you need a computer and Internet access.

Fang Minghua laughed secretly in his heart.

Problems that seem unsolvable in this era will not be problems at all in a few years!

"There is another reason! Although novels and prose can be published on the Internet, the literary nature of those things cannot be complimented by me. After all, our books are checked by editors at all levels, but who is the editor when publishing novels and prose on the Internet? ? Even if there is someone to check it, the literary quality is definitely not as good as the physical book. "

Dai Jiali fell into deep thought.

Zhao Hongjun felt a little dizzy after hearing this.

Internet, network, BBS, these names made him a bit overwhelmed.

He couldn't help but look at Fang Minghua who had been silent: "Minghua, after hearing so much, tell me what you think."

"I agree with Jiali's opinion. The emergence of Internet and online literature has indeed had a subversive impact on literature itself and book publishing. I hope that the top management of Shengshi Books will pay close attention to this point." Fang Minghua looked serious.

Dai Jiali smiled immediately. It was a good thing to get Fang Minghua's affirmation.

"As for the reasons given by Lao Su, I think they also make sense." Fang Minghua continued.

Of course, he had to give Su Bin face.

"After all, online literature is a new thing. Compared with traditional books, which I will call traditional literature, it has its shortcomings and deficiencies, but we cannot deny it because of these shortcomings and deficiencies, and we cannot ignore it because it is still young."

"Old Su, Jiali, I suggest that Shengshi Books set up an online literature department to pay close attention to the development of domestic online literature and prepare for a rainy day."

"Okay." Su Bin nodded, and smiled and said to Jiali: "You will be in charge of this department."

"Okay, but our company must quickly apply for Internet access. How can we read books online if we only have computers but cannot access the Internet?" Dai Jiali said.

"Okay, let's have a meeting with a few leaders later to discuss the technology and budget and then decide."

Fang Minghua naturally wouldn't worry about these internal affairs of the company. The direction has been pointed out, and it depends on the ability of these people.