Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 241: It's not too much to give more royalties

"…You may not know that their house has a nickname called 'Xunweizhai'. Writers from Yenching would go there for dinner and gatherings from time to time, and sometimes they would also invite many writers from other places.

If Yushu becomes an editor, it will be a piece of cake to collect manuscripts.”

Having said this, Zhang Dening stopped.

Yang Mo pondered and asked, "Have you ever told Comrade Qingquan about this idea before?"

Zhang Dening knew that Yang Mo would definitely ask this question, so she nodded and said truthfully, "I have mentioned it. Comrade Qingquan approved of my idea. I had a brief communication with Yushu some time ago, and she is interested in editing work.

But this matter must be discussed with the distribution office by our unit. Unfortunately, Comrade Qingquan has been transferred, so I wanted to ask for your opinion."

After she finished speaking, Yang Mo pondered for a moment and said, "Now our magazine is thriving, with more and more manuscripts, and the workload is naturally increasing. Comrade Yushu has excellent qualifications, and it would certainly be a good thing if she could come to us."

Zhang Dening's face relaxed after listening to Yang Mo's words. "Then according to your opinion..."

"Let me push this matter forward. You will be responsible for communicating with Comrade Yushu. The school will definitely ask for her opinion when the time comes."

"I understand, don't worry."

Zhang Dening finished talking about the business and was about to leave, but Yang Mo stopped him and asked, "Dening, what is the exact word count of the novel "The Chess Master"?"

"131246 words." Zhang Dening answered without hesitation. The novel was edited and proofread by her, and it was a manuscript she paid special attention to, so she was deeply impressed by it.

Listening to Zhang Dening's answer, Yang Mo's face flashed with admiration, and he asked again: "It is also a short novel, right?"

Zhang Dening nodded hesitantly. The literary theory community has never had a strict, unified standard for distinguishing the length of novels, especially for novels of around 100,000 words. Sometimes even editors can't tell whether it should be called a novel or a novella. Everyone defines the classification of novels based on needs.

For example, "Yenching Literature" mainly publishes short and medium-length novels, so "The Chess Master" would be a medium-length novel if it were published here.

Can you call it a novel? Of course you can. A novel with more than 100,000 words is a novel, and no one can find fault with it.

But compared with a real novel, "The Chess Master" is obviously too short, and in terms of story structure it is indeed closer to the size of a novella.

"I just received a notice from the Writers Association that they are going to hold a novel award soon and are sending letters to Writers Associations, literary journals and publishing houses across the country, asking everyone to recommend outstanding novels.

The letter clearly stated that novels with more than 10 words are considered novels.

Our Yenching Literature has always been mainly publishing short and medium-length novels, so there shouldn’t be many works with more than 10 words published, right?”

Hearing this, Zhang Dening thought of the news that has been circulating in the literary world recently.

"Since the resumption of publication, Chaoyang's "The Chess Master" is the only novel with more than 10 words that we have published."

After answering Yang Mo's question, Zhang Dening asked curiously, "Editor-in-Chief, are you talking about the award that was established according to Mr. Mao Dun's will?"

Yang Mo nodded slightly, "Yes."

“Is it really called the Mao Dun Literature Prize?”

"We have already held a meeting to finalize the name, Mao Dun Literature Prize."

Zhang Dening was amazed. This was the first literary award in the country named after an individual, and it was for novels.

Yang Mo added, "The first Mao Dun Literature Prize is awarded to novels with more than 1977 words published between 1981 and 10. Lin Chaoyang's "The Chess Master" just meets the registration requirements. You prepare the novel materials and we will submit it later."

"Okay!" Zhang Dening responded happily.

It is certainly a happy event that the novel for which she is the editor is competing for the first novel award in the Chinese literary world.

After work, Zhang Dening couldn't wait to catch up with Tao Yushu and go to the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

Then, when she entered the room, she saw Zhu Changsheng from "Contemporary" sitting on the sofa and chatting and laughing with Lin Chaoyang, and she suddenly felt annoyed.

Every time they report good news, they try to steal the spotlight from others. Renwenshe is really going too far!
"Why are you here?" Tao Yushu asked Zhang Dening.

"You're asking even though you already know the answer. People are already here."

Tao Yushu was confused by Zhang Dening's words. "What do you mean?"

Seeing Tao Yushu's expression, Zhang Dening asked, "Didn't he come to talk to Chaoyang about the award?"

"What award? I'm here to discuss the publication of The Death of Van Gogh with Chaoyang."

After hearing this, Zhang Dening realized that she had misunderstood the situation and became happy. She felt glad that he didn't take away the credit for announcing the good news.

A smile spread across her face. "The Death of Van Gogh is going to be published too? Your money-grubber will receive a large sum of royalties again."

Tao Yushu rolled her eyes at her. Since no one was rushing to tell Zhang Dening the good news, she was no longer in a hurry. Seeing Lin Chaoyang talking to Zhu Changsheng, she rushed into the kitchen to help Tao Yushu with the work, preparing to have dinner here.

Zhu Changsheng did come to discuss the publication of "The Death of Van Gogh" with Lin Chaoyang. In a blink of an eye, the novel has been published for more than 9 months and has received unanimous praise from the literary community and readers. The issue of "Contemporary" that published the novel broke the sales mark of one million copies, and its influence is extraordinary.

The film "The Death of Van Gogh" made the Western painter, who was previously unknown in China, a household name in the country.

Not only that, some time ago, Yenching Publishing House took advantage of the trend caused by "The Death of Van Gogh" and directly introduced Irving Stone's biography of Van Gogh, "Lust for Life: A Biography of Van Gogh".

The work sold over 20 copies in the month it was released. In the two months since then, the cumulative sales have exceeded 30 copies. At this rate, the sales of this biography should exceed 100 million copies within one or two years.

For a biography, especially one whose protagonist was not well-known in China a year ago, it is undoubtedly a miracle to achieve such sales. The biggest reason behind such a miracle sales is neither the legendary experience of the protagonist Van Gogh nor the outstanding talent of the biographer Irving Stone, but the huge influence of "The Death of Van Gogh", a novel widely welcomed by Chinese people.

Just like the best-selling novels and animations in later generations will have fan works, "Lust for Life: The Biography of Vincent Van Gogh" also enjoyed the same blessing of fan fiction as the original work, and its sales soared.

At the beginning of the year, "The Death of Van Gogh" was published in the form of a special issue of "Contemporary". Originally, the editorial department of "Contemporary" had not planned to publish "The Death of Van Gogh" so soon.

After all, special issues can be equated with individual publications to some extent. Once readers have purchased a special issue, they do not have a strong desire to buy the book again in the short term.

But now seeing the sales performance of "Lust for Life: The Biography of Vincent van Gogh", the editorial department can no longer sit still. A work introduced with the influence of "The Death of Vincent van Gogh" can sell so well. They dare not imagine what the sales will be like after the novel is published.

Anyway, the novel has been published for nine months. With some more editing, proofreading and printing work, it will be almost a year, which is enough.

Therefore, under the instruction of the leaders of the community, Zhu Changsheng’s visit today took place.

After listening to Zhu Changsheng's request for publication, Lin Chaoyang remained silent. Seeing this, Zhu Changsheng asked, "Chaoyang, what are you worried about?"

No worries, just want to pay more.

Of course, this cannot be said directly, it has to be more tactful, otherwise it would not be in line with his personality.

"Is Lai Zi's Summer selling well this year?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Zhu Changsheng was stunned for a moment when he heard his question, then replied: "Very good. This is the third reprint, and the sales volume is approaching 50 copies."

"Lai Zi's Summer" was published at the end of last year. It has been 10 months since then and has achieved sales of 50 copies, which is already quite good.

But compared with Lin Chaoyang's other works, there is still a certain gap.

"Parents' Love" and "Lai Zi's Summer", both published in "Harvest", were published almost at the same time. This novel was not even written under the pen name "Xu Lingjun" before, but nearly 70 copies have been sold in more than half a year.

The total sales of "Little Shoes", the longest-published novel, has now reached 135 million copies, not to mention "The Garland under the Mountain", a work that has swept the country, whose total sales have exceeded 400 million copies.

Compared with these works, the sales of "Lai Zi's Summer" of 50 copies are much inferior.

Judging purely from literary evaluation and reader reputation, "Lai Zi's Summer" is not inferior to any of these works, and may even be better.

As a leading work that pioneered the concept of "Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature", Lai Zi's Summer has gradually been recognized by the literary community in the history of contemporary literature.

But the problem is that stream-of-consciousness literature naturally has a certain reading threshold compared to general realistic novels. When it was first published, it was very popular and readers flocked to it, but it was difficult to see anything.

When the novel is published and needs to be supported with energy and money that is different from reading magazines, the limitations of the reading threshold are revealed.

"'Little Shoes' and 'Parents' Love' also sold quite a lot." Lin Chaoyang added.

Zhu Changsheng looked at his eyes, thought of Lin Chaoyang's usual style, and understood something in his heart.

"The royalties from the novel's publication..." After saying only a few words, Zhu Changsheng noticed that Lin Chaoyang's eyes were flickering. It seemed that his guess was correct.

"What do you think about the royalties?" Zhu Changsheng asked.

Lin Chaoyang was disappointed, but he still insisted that I say it in person, which was not very kind of him.

"I think the royalties can be raised appropriately."

"Are you still bringing it up? It's already the highest limit."

"Regulations are regulations, and the Publishing Bureau didn't say that you can only give this much," Lin Chaoyang defended.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's firm attitude, Zhu Changsheng looked worried, "I can't make the decision on this matter!"

"Then go back and discuss this with your boss. My novel is selling so well, it wouldn't be too much to give me a little more in royalties, right?"

Lin Chaoyang's novels have always been popular, which is why he dared to ask for an increase in his royalties. Even if Renwen Publishing House does not agree to this request, Lin Chaoyang will not worry about not having a publishing house willing to publish his novels.

Thinking of this, Zhu Changsheng nodded helplessly, "Then I'll go back and ask the leader."

Lin Chaoyang teased, "Don't be so sad, it's as if I'm using your salary to increase your royalties."

After finishing the conversation, Zhu Changsheng was about to leave, but Lin Chaoyang asked him to stay at home for dinner.

Zhang Dening came over when he saw him finish talking to Zhu Changsheng, "Chaoyang, I have good news for you!"

"What good news?"

"The Mao Dun Literature Prize is about to be awarded, and our editorial department plans to submit your "The Chess Master" for consideration," Zhang Dening said excitedly.

"Oh." Lin Chaoyang nodded with a calm reaction.

"What do you mean by 'oh'?" Zhang Dening looked at his reaction and felt like someone had poured a bucket of cold water on his head.

“It means I know.”

Zhang Dening glared at him. "This is the first long novel competition in China, and it's named after Mr. Mao Dun. Aren't you excited?"

"This award has been circulated for half a year, everyone knows about it."

(End of this chapter)