Rebirth 96: Begin the life of a monster from kindergarten

Chapter 124 The plagiarism scandal that shocked the media (4000)

Since the release of "Fantasy City", Guo Jingming has experienced great success.

In just nine months, the novel sold 80 copies.

Unfortunately, he signed a buyout contract with the publishing house and received only tens of thousands of yuan in remuneration.

Missing out on millions made him grit his teeth with regret even in his sleep and dreams at night.

What's even more tragic is that he has to travel around the country to conduct autograph sessions in accordance with the contract. The more works he sells at autograph sessions, the more angry he becomes.

He was business-minded and knew that the book had been a lost cause and could not win anything more than fame and readers.

So he quickly compiled his previous essays into a collection and released "Reflection on the Left Hand, Time on the Right", which is a collection of essays about campus and youth. Like "Fantasy City", its target audience is also middle school students.

While the popularity of "Fantasy City" is still there, he will try his best to recover some lost profits and build momentum for the new book.

This time, he proposed to the publishing house to sign a share agreement. As a newly minted best-selling author, he now has bargaining power.

At the new book launch conference held in October, Guo Jingming not only introduced "Reflection on the Left Hand, Time on the Right", but also announced to the news media that he will release his second novel on Christmas Day at the end of the year. As for the title of the work, it is temporarily unknown. Confidentiality.

At this press conference, in order to build momentum for his new book, Xu pulled out Han Han, who is also a "Twin Star of Post-80s Writers".

He also explained to the media for the first time that he had been rejected by "The Minimum Story". His words had the meaning of "I used to be indifferent to you, but now I am too high for you."

Thanks to "Fantasy City", Guo Jingming now has many ardent fans.

After this incident was exposed, the magazine "Minimum Story" received many abusive phone calls, and someone even wrote a special letter to express greetings to Zhang and his party.

After hearing Sun Yawen report this matter, Zhang and his party didn't take it seriously.

After all, the fandom culture of later generations is even more terrifying, and all kinds of eye-catching fights have long made people numb.

But if someone tries to take advantage of someone, you can't help but show respect.

Will there be a new release on Christmas Day?

If I remember correctly, this work is the famous "How many flowers have fallen in my dream".

Zhang and his party recalled the plagiarism cases that had made a lot of noise, and said to Sun Yawen:

"On the Tianya Forum, there is a work called "Inside and Outside the Circle". Contact the author of this book and Dream Weaver Culture will help her publish the work. By the way, I asked her to change the title of this book to "Dream" As for the release date, Christmas will be pushed forward by 5 days!"

"How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" is plagiarized from Zhuang Yu's novel "Inside and Outside the Circle".

"Inside and Outside the Circle" was serialized in Tianya Forum and Overseas Literature Forum in the early days, and had a certain audience group, but the physical book was published later than "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams".

The gap between the Internet and the physical world made Zhuang Yu realize later. After discovering that his work had been plagiarized, "How Many Flowers Fall in a Dream" had become a best-seller that year.

The unknown writer Zhuang Yu and the popular writer Guo Jingming went to court. By the time the verdict came down, it was already two years later. Even the TV rights of "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" were sold.

Naturally, Sun Yawen didn't understand Zhang Yixing's intention. He just thought he saw a good book on the Internet.

After receiving instructions from Zhang and his party, they quickly arranged the docking matters.

Zhang Yixing waited for Sun Yawen to leave, then called Han Han. After the call was answered, Zhang Yixing laughed directly: "Hahaha, Old Han, can you do it? I heard that your CP is openly riding on you. There’s shit on your neck!”

……

"Yixing, I like the app website very much. I have been writing on it these days. Please give me some pointers!"

Xu Jinglei really serialized her works on the app website.

After hanging up Xu Jinglei's call, Zhang Yixing curiously opened the app website and searched, and found her works easily.

After clicking on a few articles and reading them, Zhang Yixing chuckled.

It is better to say that it is a work than a diary, a trivial matter in life.

She didn't choose a pen name, the author's name was simply Xu Jinglei.

Each article in it is only two to three hundred words. Write about which celebrity you went to dinner with today, and write about which celebrity you made an appointment to discuss the script with tomorrow.

There was also an article about the day Zhang and his party helped support her movie, and the content was quite factual.

Although this is not a work of fiction, there are quite a few comments from readers below.

Everyone is curious, and women especially like gossip.

For many female readers of the app website, these short articles written by Xu Jinglei are valuable in their authenticity and are a window for them to understand the entertainment industry.

Xu Jinglei has indeed gained some fans, and is affectionately called [Old Xu] by readers!

After supporting her that day, the media also published some reports, and some reports dubbed Xu Jinglei a "talented woman".

"Genius writer Zhang Yixing serves as a film platform for talented Beijing-based actress Xu Jinglei!" 》

"Xu Jinglei: Zhang Yixing is like her younger brother!" 》

Zhang and his party could tell that some of the reports were definitely approved by Xu Jinglei, and might even be directly provided to the media by her.

Ming people and entertainment reporters often have a symbiotic relationship.

Today I have a work that needs to be promoted, so I will contact the media to report a scandal. It is almost an unspoken rule.

Different from Guo Jingming’s method of building momentum, Xu Jinglei is also gaining popularity, but pays more attention to propriety.

Except for using Zhang Yixing to create her image as a talented woman, all the reports were fairly objective.

"No wonder he is the number one blogger. All his articles are about celebrities to capitalize on their popularity. He is someone who understands marketing!"

We don't expect Xu Jinglei's content to win over 100 million clicks like her blog. As long as it can attract some users to the website, it can be considered an additional benefit.

Fortunately, she was not allowed to contribute to "Mind Stories" and was immediately killed in front of the editor.

……

Zhuang Yu is a journalist who writes serialized novels online in her spare time. "Inside and Outside the Circle" is her work published publicly on the Internet.

On this day, her online account received a private message. The other party said that it was the publishing department of Dreamweaver Culture and wanted to discuss with her the publication of the novel "Inside and Outside the Circle".

"Dream weaving culture?"

As a journalist and literature lover, Zhuang Yu naturally knew about Zhang Yixing and his dream-weaving culture.

However, she never thought that her work would be favored by DreamWeaver Culture.

She was surprised and worried at the same time, and even wondered if this was a message left by a scammer.

Turn on the computer and find the official website of DreamWeaver Culture, and compare the phone information left by the other party. It turned out to be the same.

It’s really a message from DreamWeaver Culture.

Which article writer doesn’t want his words to become a physical book?

I dialed the phone number excitedly, and when the phone was picked up, I heard a voice coming from inside, "Hello, this is the Dreamweaver Culture Publishing Department..."

Zhuang Yu's voice trembled with excitement, "Hello, I'm Zhuang Yu. I received a message saying that your company is going to publish my novel "Inside and Outside the Circle"."

After the two chatted for a few minutes, Zhuang Yu hung up the phone, feeling like it was a dream.

I pinched my arm hard, it hurt!

it is true!

After jumping around the room excitedly for a few minutes, Zhuang Yu sat down panting. "Why did you change the name to "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams"? Does the editor like Sanmao?"

Zhuang Yu couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. What could be better than publishing his own book?

This is my first published book!

……

On December 2003, 12, Zhuang Yu's novel "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" was released in a low-key manner.

As a new writer, Zhuang Yu's new book did not attract media attention, and the first printing was only 2 copies.

But Zhuang Yu was already very satisfied, and even felt a little ashamed of the kindness he had given to DreamWeaver Culture.

After just a few days, things started to get interesting.

On Christmas Day, December 12, Guo Jingming held a new book launch conference in Shanghai to grandly launch his second novel, also titled "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams", with an initial printing of 25 copies.

Just this first printing is already a big news.

This is a strength that only best-selling authors have.

The editor of the Dreamweaver Culture Publishing Department naturally noticed this news. After all, Guo Jingming is a very famous writer.

“What a coincidence, the names of Guo Jingming’s works are exactly the same as those of Zhuang Yu!”

"Really? Buy a copy and read it!"

Amid this discussion, within two days, Guo Jingming’s new book was placed in front of everyone in the editorial department.

Out of curiosity, an editor opened the book, frowned as he looked at it.

"What's wrong? Doesn't it look good?"

"No, this book has many similarities with Zhuang Yu's works!"

"Holy crap, no way!"

"how is this possible?"

"Did someone copy it? Who copied whom?"

"Zhuang Yu's novels have been serialized on the Internet for a long time. Guo Jingming just wrote the new book!"

"No way, how could someone plagiarize even the title of a book?"

"I remember seeing a rumor on the Internet that "Fantasy City" seemed to have plagiarized Japanese comics!"

"I'll see, I'll see!"

Guo Jingming, the best-selling author who is rising like a comet, actually plagiarized. This fact in itself is breaking news.

Moreover, it was plagiarized from a novel published by my own family.

A group of editors gathered around and began to look for similarities between the two novels. The more they read, the more frightened they became.

"No, report it to Sister Wei Shi immediately!"

Hu Weishi was once very optimistic about Guo Jingming's market prospects. When she received the news, she was shocked.

She remembered that she once wanted to sign Guo Jingming, but Zhang and his party vetoed it.

The reason is that there are rumors on the Internet that Guo Jingming is suspected of plagiarism.

Hu Weishi was not optimistic about Zhuang Yu's novel originally called "Inside and Outside the Circle", as it did not have the potential to be a bestseller.

But since this was a publication order issued by Zhang Yixing, it was passed.

The change of name to "How Many Flowers Have Fallen in a Dream" made Hu Weishi even more confused.

Hu Weishi went to see Zhang Yixing with two novels, opened the door and asked, "Have you known this for a long time?"

Zhang Yixing was playing with the cat. When he saw the two books in Hu Wei's hand, he understood the purpose of her visit and explained in nonsense: "Well, I have a friend at Chunfeng Literature and Art. He happened to have read "Circle in the Circle" on the Internet. "Outside", after seeing the new book that Guo Jingming was going to publish, I found plagiarism, so I casually mentioned it to me."

Hu Weishi sat down next to him, "That's why you asked for "Inside and Outside the Circle" to be renamed and published, so that you can ride on Guo Jingming's popularity. Even if this book is not popular, it will be popular!"

Zhang Yixing nodded, "Who asked him to scold me? I'm still a child and I don't have a big belly!"

Hu Weishi sighed, "Guo Jingming is really unlucky to meet you!"

Zhang Yixing rolled his eyes and expressed his disapproval, "You don't blame me for this. The fault is that he did copy it, and then he offended me!"

Hu Weishi pondered for a while and said to Zhang Yixing: "I will contact Zhuang Yu and she will file a lawsuit!"

On December 12, just when Guo Jingming's "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" announced in a high-profile manner that the first printing of 27 copies had been sold out and additional printings would begin, a piece of heavy news broke.

A writer named Zhuang Yu held a press conference to accuse Guo Jingming of plagiarizing her novel "How Many Flowers Fall in My Dream"!

"How many flowers have fallen in my dream" plagiarized "How many flowers have fallen in my dream"?

When the media got the news, everyone was confused!

How the hell could it happen that even the title of the book was copied?

This thing that seems like a joke is huge news in itself!

Who is Zhuang Yu? Never heard of it? When was the novel published?

After more and more information was revealed, the media across the country became restless!

Just because Guo Jingming is so popular and praised so highly, he is like the second Han Han!

And the plagiarism of the book title is too outrageous!

So after it was confirmed that the plagiarism incident was true, everyone from the news stations to the entertainment tabloids below reported on it, even CCTV reported it.

The influence of public opinion was so great that the second printing of Guo Jingming's novel was forced to be suspended.

On the contrary, Zhuang Yu's novel of the same name is simply a resurrection of the dead. It suddenly became famous and started to be reprinted.

At the same time, Zhuang Yu sued Guo Jingming in court, but Guo Jingming appealed dissatisfied.

However, everyone who pays attention to this matter knows that Guo Jingming will definitely lose because the influence of public opinion is too great. According to the evidence of the content of the novel that has been revealed, Guo Jingming has indeed committed plagiarism.

Moreover, Zhuang Yu's novel was published by DreamWeaver Culture. Guo Jingming was equivalent to harming the interests of DreamWeaver Culture. Dreamweaver Culture would definitely support its writers.

Just when things were turbulent, Han Han stood up again and shouted to Guo Jingming through the media: "Brother, do you know? You are so despicable. Why do you have to bend down to write? Can't you write straight up?"

Guo Jingming, who was in the midst of plagiarism controversy, responded to the media: "I don't know Han Han!"

At the end of the year, the court made a final judgment, rejecting Guo Jingming's appeal, and ordered Guo Jingming and the publisher to compensate Zhuang Yu for economic losses of 20 yuan. At the same time, Guo Jingming's book "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" was ordered to stop sales.

The final judgment also required Guo Jingming and the publishing house to publicly apologize to Zhuang Yu.

At the same time, in order to "punish" his plagiarism, Guo Jingming was sentenced to compensate Zhuang Yu 1 yuan in moral comfort.

Guo Jingming paid compensation but refused to apologize!

A sudden wealth fell on Zhuang Yu's head.

As the sales of Zhuang Yu's works surged, Dreamweaver Culture naturally made a lot of money from them.

(End of this chapter)