Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 244 You Can Cheate Me, But Don’t Cheate Yourself
In the early days of reform and opening up, there was gold everywhere, and this was not an empty statement. In those days, as long as you were bold, making money was not a problem.

The difficulty lies in not being cheated, defrauded, or caught, and in maintaining sustainable and stable development.

In the 1980s, many trendsetters had a lucky start. Many people always regarded the gift of the times as a reflection of their personal abilities. After achieving a little success, they became arrogant and ended up with a miserable ending.

In 81, Du Feng had the courage to retire from the army and start a business. He would definitely make money, but whether he could make it bigger and stronger depended on his luck.

But looking at this kid's arrogant look, he is bound to fall down.

Every failure is a learning experience. It is a good thing to encounter some setbacks when starting out, which is better than stumbling again after you have grown bigger.

"Brother-in-law, don't cook tonight. I'll treat you to dinner at Lao Mo."

"Making a little money is not enough for you to show off!"

Tao Yushu scolded Du Feng and refused his invitation. Lin Chaoyang also said, "We accept the gift, but don't eat. Your business has just started. You should focus more on it when you have time."

After being hit by the couple, Du Feng's smug attitude when he came was lowered a lot. He ate a meal at home and then left.

"It's true that a dog can't hold two ounces of sesame oil!"

After Du Feng left, Tao Yushu summarized his cousin's condition.

"I was earning a meager salary before, but now I'm suddenly making so much money. I must go through this stage," said Lin Chaoyang.

Tao Yushu looked at him and said, "You earn so much from writing, but I don't see you getting carried away like him, do you?"

"That's because I know I will definitely earn more in the future. If you give me one million now, I might be even more arrogant than him." Lin Chaoyang said with a laugh.

Tao Yushu also laughed, but she didn't take her husband's words seriously, because she believed that even if her husband really made a million now, he would not be so complacent.

She thought of Du Feng's condition, "His temper is really worrying."

"As a young man, it's not a bad thing to fall down early."

Lin Chaoyang firmly believes in this saying: When people teach others, a hundred words are useless; when things teach people, they are taught once and for all.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang received the royalties for "The Shepherd" and "Little Shoes" from Renwen Publishing House. They were going to compile a collection of novels and publish it to their friendly country, Yugoslavia.

The payment was not much, six yuan per thousand words, which was four hundred and fifty yuan based on the number of words in the two novels.

In the past year, even when Lin Chaoyang had no new works published, he would receive royalties every one or two months, sometimes even several times a month.

Publishing fees, reprinting fees, reprinting fees... all added up, these fees alone would amount to several thousand yuan a year.

This is the benefit of having a high output of works. For other writers who are equally famous, because their output is not high, earning one or two thousand yuan a year is considered a lot.

After receiving the royalties, Zhu Changsheng found Lin Chaoyang again and said that the leader of the publishing house wanted to see him.

Last time Renwen Press said it was going to publish The Death of Van Gogh, Lin Chaoyang asked for a raise in his royalties, and Renwen Press agreed to a meeting for a discussion, which meant they were going to raise the price.

That morning, he happily came to No. 166 Chaonei Street.

I first went to the editorial office of "Contemporary" in the back building and sat there for a while. During the conversation, I heard a piece of news that the entire editorial office of "October" was taken to School D to study.

The reason why the editorial department of October encountered such treatment was because the magazine published the play "Bitter Love" in the third issue in September 79.

The script tells the life story of painter Ling Chenguang. Due to the sensitive content, the script has been controversial since its publication.

Last year, this script was picked up by Changchun Film Studio's director Peng Ning and made into a movie. It, along with "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" directed by Xie Jin, became one of the two films that were heavily criticized by the film and cultural circles at the end of last year.

Among them, "Bitter Love" was criticized by the "Liberation Army Daily" and "Report of the Times Supplement".

Xie Jin has been famous for many years and has the support of many famous artists. "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" was successfully reviewed and released, and also won awards at the first Golden Rooster Award and the fourth Hundred Flowers Award.

In comparison, the fate of "Bitter Love" was not so good. The film could not pass the censorship, and even changing its name to "The Sun and Man" did not help. In the end, it had to be shelved by Changchun Film Studio.

Two years after the script was published, the film could not be released, the script and the screenwriter were criticized, and even "October" which published the script suffered.

The entire editorial department was taken to School D for study, and Zhang Zhongye from the October editorial department had to "take sick leave" because he disagreed with the outside world's criticism.

The reason why the editors of "Contemporary" are discussing this matter today is that Zhang Zhonge will be transferred to "Contemporary" after his "rest".

After chatting with everyone for a while, Zhu Changsheng led Lin Chaoyang to the editor-in-chief's office in the front building.

"Talk to the editor-in-chief about the royalties."

After saying this, Zhu Changsheng threw Lin Chaoyang to Wei Junyi.

Wei Junyi, nicknamed Old Lady Wei, is an old revolutionary from the Yan A period, and therefore has great prestige in the Renwen Society.

There are three leaders in the Humanities Society, namely the president, the editor-in-chief and the secretary. The current president, Yan Wenjing, has a detached personality and does not compete with the world. Secretary Zhou You goes to work every day, but people in the society usually don't know what he is doing.

Speaking of it, among the three horses, only the editor-in-chief Wei Junyi has some presence in the company. She shoulders all the difficult, annoying and trivial tasks, which also further enhances her prestige in the company.

When Lin Chaoyang entered the office, Wei Junyi was reviewing the manuscript. She looked up at Lin Chaoyang, said, "Please sit for a while," and then lowered her head to continue reading the manuscript for a long time.

Lin Chaoyang thought, this was a way to intimidate him!
He sat calmly for a while, then picked up a book from the bookshelf and started reading.

After an unknown amount of time, he raised his head when he heard the noise, only to see Wei Junyi lowering her head, staring at him over her reading glasses with raised eyebrows.

"You are quite patient."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "What are you saying? I haven't done anything wrong, so why should I lose my temper?" "I feel a little guilty when I say that."

Lin Chaoyang said casually: "Whatever you say is fine."

After talking around for a while, Wei Junyi got to the point, "I heard from Contemporary that you want to increase your royalties?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded calmly, "Yes. Our Renwen Press has published several of my works, and you should know how they sell. My works have created a lot of benefits for the press, so I think it's reasonable to increase the royalties."

"The standard of payment we give you is the maximum amount according to the regulations on remuneration for manuscripts."

"The regulations don't say you can't raise prices. Besides, if the standards for selling a novel well or poorly are the same, how can we inspire the creative enthusiasm of our writers?"

Wei Junyi's eyes were sharp, "You have quite a few reasons."

“They are all reasonable reasons.”

"Now the publishing houses and magazines are implementing the above-mentioned remuneration regulations. Why do you think you can increase the remuneration? What if I disagree? If you go to other publishing houses, they will also give the same remuneration standards."

Wei Junyi looked serious and did not smile.

Lin Chaoyang said nonchalantly, "That's not necessarily true. Renwen Publishing House is a big company with a lot of business, and they don't need a novel like mine. Other publishing houses may not be so kind. I heard that Huacheng Publishing House in Guangzhou treats writer friends very friendly."

Hearing this, Wei Junyi's eyes narrowed. "Huacheng is a newly established publishing house with limited resources. Giving your novel to them may be a waste of money."

"It doesn't matter. I have no problem selling my novels!"

As soon as these words came out, a strong sense of self-confidence came over him, leaving Wei Junyi silent on the spot.

After a long while, she slowly said, "You have been working with our Humanities Press for such a long time. If you have any requirements for manuscript fees, we will definitely try our best to meet them... I will raise your manuscript fee to 12 yuan per thousand words."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "This standard is a bit low."

"12 yuan per thousand words is low? Just ask, how many people in the Chinese literary world can reach this standard?"

“It has nothing to do with whether anyone can get this standard or not, but because I have created value for the publishing house, I should be rewarded accordingly.

Editor-in-Chief Wei, with all due respect, our current publishing remuneration regulations seriously underestimate the value created by our writers..."

Wei Junyi waved her hand and said, "Don't say these words. We didn't set the rules."

Lin Chaoyang stopped talking, "Okay, let me be frank. I don't ask you to increase my basic remuneration, but in terms of print run remuneration, I hope the publishing house can consider the sales performance of the novel and increase it as appropriate."

Hearing his words, a hint of tenderness flashed in Wei Junyi's eyes.

Both basic royalties and print-based royalties are royalties paid by publishing houses to writers, but the difference is that basic royalties must be paid after publication, while print-based royalties are settled based on the sales performance of the work.

Some works do not sell well after publication, and the writers do not receive any royalties except for the first print run.

If the work sells well, the writer can get royalties based on the number of copies printed, and the publishing house can earn more. Lin Chaoyang's request is equivalent to sharing risks with the publishing house.

"Discretion?" Wei Junyi picked out the words in Lin Chaoyang's words.

"6% out of copies." Lin Chaoyang said a number.

"Impossible! 6% is too much." Wei Junyi said firmly.

According to the current remuneration regulations, the remuneration for print run is based on the basic remuneration, which is 2% for every 200 copies. The figure proposed by Lin Chaoyang is equivalent to a % increase on the existing standard.

"You said I want more, isn't it because my works sell well? Doesn't the company make money?"

Lin Chaoyang's words made Wei Junyi fall into silence.

"It is true that writers are the soul of their works when it comes to creation. But in the book publishing industry, every process of planning a book, publishing it, editing, proofreading, printing, binding, transportation and shelf placement has its own costs."

"I understand what you said. But the remuneration that the publishing house pays us writers is not calculated based on the cost, but based on the basic remuneration, right?
No matter how well my novels sell, the standard for calculating the remuneration is still the basic remuneration, and the publisher will not suffer any loss no matter how it is calculated. "

Lin Chaoyang's attitude of insisting on reason gave Wei Junyi a headache. She had heard that this young writer attached great importance to royalties, but she didn't expect him to be so difficult to deal with.

Not satisfied with the 12 yuan per thousand words fee, he actually wanted to increase the remuneration based on the number of copies printed. And not just a little bit, but a direct increase of 200% on the original basis.

"Your request is too high. 3% at most."

Lin Chaoyang smiled bitterly and said, "I've been talking for a long time, and you only give me a 1% increase. I might as well ask for 12 yuan per thousand words."

"Well, let's both take a step back and give it 5%. If my novel sells a million copies, I'll only pay a few thousand more in royalties. Your publishing house makes hundreds of thousands."

"Nonsense. If we really sell a million copies, our publishing house will only earn tens of thousands of dollars."

"You can fool me, but don't fool yourself."

Lin Chaoyang made a witty remark and was glared at by Wei Junyi.

After a long silence, Wei Junyi finally said, "Okay! I can agree to your 5% condition."

When Lin Chaoyang heard this, a smile of victory appeared on his face.

At this time, Wei Junyi said: "But you have to agree to one condition of mine."

(End of this chapter)