China Entertainment Mythology 2004

In the afternoon, Yang Feng came to the office of deputy editor Yao Haijun.

"Editor Yao, how did you feel when you first read Liu Cixin's submission in 1999?"

Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of "Science Fiction World" magazine, is the main promoter of the China Science Fiction Vision Project. In the future, he will become an important promoter of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and even spread it to the world. The famous science fiction writer Dong Renwei praised him as a "science fiction gold digger".

Yao Haijun recalled for a while and said: "The grand imagination, the broad vision, and the charm that makes people want to stop."

Yang Feng smiled and said: "I felt it today too."

"Oh? From what you said, this is a work that excites you. What do you think? Do you think it can be included in the next issue of the Galaxy Award essay competition?"

Yang Feng smiled and said: "I'm afraid it's more than that."

Yao Haijun said: "Does that mean we can win this year's Galaxy Award? This year's "The Bottle" by Xia Jia and "God's Will" by Qian Lifang are both rare masterpieces. Even veteran science fiction authors such as He Xi, Luo Longxiang, and Liu Cixin

You may not be sure to beat them."

Yang Feng said: "If this novel cannot win this year's Galaxy Award, it will be a loss for the Galaxy Award."

Yao Haijun didn't expect that Yang Feng's evaluation of the work would be so high. He knew Yang Feng's character very well. He was not a person who would talk nonsense, so now he also became very interested.

"What's the name of the work? Is it an old author?"

"The work is called "Moon", and the author is Li Mu. I checked and it turns out he is a newcomer."

Yao Haijun found the work called "Moon" from his mailbox and downloaded it. Yang Feng sat directly on the sofa in the office. As soon as Yao Haijun saw this situation, he knew that Yang Feng had great confidence in this work, so

I am even more curious about this "Moon".

Half an hour later, Yao Haijun finally finished watching the entire work.

"Not bad, very good."

Yao Haijun raised his head and looked at Yang Feng: "You are right. If this novel fails to win this year's Galaxy Award, it will be a loss for the Galaxy Award."

Yang Feng said: "Will this novel be published in the next issue of the Galaxy Award Essay Competition?"

Yao Haijun said: "The novel is divided into three parts and serialized in a magazine. The first part ends with the protagonist discovering another seriously injured version of himself in an abandoned lunar rover. The second part begins with clone No. 5 making a video call to his home. The person who answers the phone

But it ends with my grown-up daughter, and the third part is serialized to the end.”

Yang Feng nodded: "Okay."

Yao Haijun continued: "The manuscript fee is settled at the highest standard of 180 yuan/thousand words. The author is told that this work may win this year's Galaxy Award, with bonuses ranging from 10,000 to 30,000."

"good."

"By the way, ask the author if he has any other works. If so, let him continue to submit. If not, advise him to continue writing. This author's talent is extremely high. Even Liu Cixin's first work has not reached this level."

"I'll do it right away."

…

According to the contact address on the manuscript, Yang Feng called Li Mu's phone that afternoon.

"Hello, are you Li Mu, the author of "Moon"? I am Yang Feng from the editorial department of "Science Fiction World" magazine. Our editorial department has seen your work."

"Yes, I'm Li Mu." Li Mu answered the phone at home.

Yang Feng smiled and said: "That's right, your work has been unanimously recognized by the editorial department of "Science Fiction World". The editorial department has decided to serialize your work starting from the tenth issue. The manuscript fee is based on the magazine's highest standard of 180/thousand words.

At the same time, editor-in-chief Yao Haijun of the editorial department gave your work a very high evaluation. He asked me to let you know in advance that your work has a chance to win this year's Galaxy Award."

Li Mu replied: "Okay."

Yang Feng asked again: "Do you have any other works? If so, you can submit them to Science Fiction World magazine. With your talent and writing power, you may not be able to become the next Liu Cixin or Wang Jinkang."

After thinking for a moment, Li Mu asked: "Does your "Science Fiction World" magazine have any contact with foreign publishing houses? If I want to publish a novel in the United States, can you help me run it?"

Yang Feng was quite surprised and asked: "Do you want to publish books in the United States? Science Fiction World Magazine has always had contacts and exchanges with foreign science fiction writers and scientists. In 1997, we also organized the World Science Fiction Conference, which invited everyone

Science fiction writers, scientists, and astronauts from all over the world come to China to attend the conference."

"Since last year, the editor-in-chief Yao of the magazine has been promoting the Chinese Science Fiction Vision Project. The goal is to complete the systematic publication of core classics of Western science fiction literature in five years, satisfy readers' long-awaited reading needs, and promote foreign science fiction.

The study of science fiction literature and the prosperity of original science fiction. Magazines still have close ties with foreign publishing houses, but now they mainly translate and publish Western works in China. However, if there are works that meet the needs of the Western market, magazines are capable of helping

Published in the West.”

After listening, Li Mu asked again: "Is the category limited to science fiction works?"

"That's not true. Magazines and foreign publishing houses have relatively in-depth cooperation in the fields of fantasy, fantasy and many other works." After a pause, Yang Feng added, "Mr. Li, publishing novels abroad is not as easy as you think.

, for Chinese people, apart from paying their own expenses, the easiest way is still to first write a work that becomes popular in China, then find someone to translate it into English after it becomes popular, and then see if there are any publishers abroad who are willing to publish it."

Li Mu said: "Okay, I understand. Thank you, Editor Yang. I will contact you when the new book is ready."

After hanging up the phone, Li Mu fell into deep thought.

In fact, the reason why he submitted novels to "Science Fiction World" was not for the 180/thousand-word manuscript fee, which was only a few dollars. What he really valued were the classic science fiction movies behind the science fiction novels.

For example, "Inception" and "Interstellar" directed by Nolan, or "Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock or "The Martian" starring Matt Damon.

The current domestic film market is far from mature, and the market is not yet able to accept such domestic works. Moreover, with Li Mu's financial strength and domestic technical reserves, he is not able to produce such works for the time being, but if it is ten

How many years later?

What if these movies could be released in the era of "The Wandering Earth" as domestic films?

Thinking of that scene, Li Mu was still very excited.

So he thought about it, could he create novel versions of these works first? It would be best to make these novel versions well-known abroad, then wouldn't these movies be "occupied" by him in advance?

?

It would be even better if it could become a best-seller and earn a lot of royalties.

Li Mus thought about it over and over again, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this plan was feasible. It happened that preparations for "Hurricane Rescue" had just begun, and there were not many places where it would be used. He had plenty of time.

Thinking of this, Li Mu decided to take action immediately.

So which work will he write first?

Editor Yang Feng just said it right. There is a threshold for Chinese people who want to publish books in the United States. What is this threshold? In fact, it is reputation. Publishing houses need to make money. The publishing house must first think that your book can sell well, and then they

Only then will they be willing to publish your work.

In this way, Li Mu's goal becomes clear. His primary reference indicator is sales.

In this way, he first excluded "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Gravity". These three works are all original script movies and are not adapted from novels. So can the novel versions of these three works be acceptable?

Li Mu is not sure about the best seller.

The original novel of "The Martian" is a bestseller in the United States, and both the original novel and the movie it was adapted from won the Hugo Award, so it seems to be a good choice.

However, the road to publication of this work was not smooth. At first, the author approached a publishing house to publish "The Martian". After being rejected, the author began to serialize the work on his personal website and make it available for download for a fee.

Three months later, "The Martian" hit the bestseller list in the science fiction category of the e-book store, and the publisher finally woke up from a dream and came to find the author to sign a contract. After the paper version of "The Martian" was released, it ranked among the best-selling books in the New York

Times bestseller list for months.

The work is good, but it is still not popular enough.

Then Li Mu thought of "The Hunger Games".

Li Mu does not know the exact sales figures of the "Hunger Games" series of novels. There are many opinions online, some say it exceeds 30 million copies, and some say it exceeds 87 million copies. However, whether it is 30 million copies or 87 million copies sold worldwide,

It has firmly ranked among the super best-sellers.

The novel has also been adapted into a series of movies. Before Li Mu's time travel, four movies had been released, with a total box office of nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars. The author's income from 2012 to 2013 exceeded 55 million U.S. dollars.

This is a super IP, and Li Mu must not let it go. He plans to first make a name for himself in Europe and the United States with this book, and then publish works such as "Inception", "Interstellar", "The Martian" and "Gravity" in advance.

pit.

He also plans to write the Chinese and English versions of the novel together to save the trouble of finding someone to translate it.

He had not read the English version of this series of novels in his previous life, but fortunately the movies he watched in his previous life were all English original versions, and the movies were all equipped with English subtitles. Thanks to the time travel, everything he had seen in his previous life was imprinted in his mind.

Fingers, it is not difficult for Li Mu to write both Chinese and English versions of this series of novels.