Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 266: Lao Zhang, what do you think?
Hearing Liu Xinwu say this, Su Yu's eyes showed curiosity.

"He is a very stingy person when it comes to royalties," said Liu Xinwu.

Su Yu's face understood. She had heard people say this before. "You mean, as long as we increase his fee, we will definitely get his manuscript?"

"That's not the case. It also depends on the influence of the magazine. Chaoyang has been famous for several years. There must be at least 80 publications that have commissioned him to write for them. When have you ever seen his novels published in those regional magazines?"

Su Yu thought about it and it seemed to be true.

Liu Xinwu continued, "I think we can ask Lao Wang to come along. Doesn't he also want the publishing rights to "The Chess Master"? It will definitely be easier for us to talk to Chaoyang together. And if we ask Lao Wang to come along, the publishing house won't be so strict about blocking the royalties."

Su Yu nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "Okay, then let's go to Lao Wang together, and I'll leave this matter to you."

The image flashed through his mind, and Liu Xinwu continued to say to Lin Chaoyang: "Our publishing house is very sincere this time. Not only does October want to publish your new work, we also want the publishing rights of Chess Saint."

"Oh?" Lin Chaoyang became even more interested after hearing this.

Wang Shimin said at this time: "Chaoyang, although our Yenching Publishing House is not as famous as the Humanities Publishing House, it is also a first-class comprehensive publishing house in the country. Thanks to you, the "Longing for Life - Biography of Van Gogh" introduced by our publishing house sold well after its publication..."

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand when he heard him say that, "The work is still excellent."

"No matter what, you have a close relationship with our Yanjing Publishing House. We sincerely hope that you can hand over "The Chess Master" to us. We will definitely give you the most generous royalties."

Okay, I like the adjective "the thickest", I hope you don't violate the advertising law.

Lin Chaoyang was happy in his heart, but his face was calm. "Then how much is the fee..."

"I heard that Renwen Press will charge 5 yuan per thousand words for the publication of The Death of Van Gogh. If the sales volume exceeds copies, the payment will be increased to % of the total number of copies printed," Wang Shimin asked.

Mrs. Wei, your Humanities Society has been infiltrated by me like a sieve!
"Yes, you understand it quite clearly." Lin Chaoyang said.

Wang Shimin's face was proud, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles."

Do you think I'm praising you?
After all, he is the new sponsor, so Lin Chaoyang definitely cannot say this. Instead, he has to say: "That makes sense."

Wang Shimin said solemnly: "When The Chess Master is published, we are willing to provide you with a basic remuneration of 5 yuan per thousand words. In terms of remuneration based on the number of copies printed, Renwen Publishing House will cancel the preconditions. As long as it is published, the remuneration based on the number of copies printed will be %."

After Wang Shimin finished speaking, Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly. This price was indeed very sincere.

At this time, Liu Xinwu added: "Chaoyang, if your new novel is published in October, the publishing fee will be 14 yuan per thousand words. And if you can give us the publishing rights of this novel, we can give you the basic publishing fee of 15 yuan per thousand words."

Is this packing game?
Lin Chaoyang remained calm, chuckled and asked, "You haven't even read the novel yet, and you've even thought about the publishing fee?"

"We believe in your ability and have confidence in the quality of your novel!"

Wang Shimin silently gave Liu Xinwu a thumbs up. This is a beautiful statement. Which writer can stand such nonsense? Xinwu is indeed an old editor!

However, the two of them were not blindly confident in Lin Chaoyang. Wang Shimin already knew that Lin Chaoyang's new work was the product of last year's "Yenching Literature" Huangdao Writers' Conference. Zhang Dening also gave him a brief account of his story. Later, Liu Xinwu learned about some of the creative situation from Li Tuo.

Although they had not read the manuscript, they had a rough idea of ​​the quality of the novel.

These old editors are cunning and will not act until they see the rabbit. They are just like the scumbags who flirt with women in bars. They use the same rhetoric to talk to every beautiful woman.

Lin Chaoyang didn't feel any waves in his heart, but he still had to pretend to be grateful on the surface. After all, the other party gave him a lot of money!
"Thank you both for your trust. Both October and Yanjing Publishing House are leaders in the industry. I feel relieved that my work can be handed over to you."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Liu Xinwu and Wang Shimin were overjoyed.

Liu Xinwu held Lin Chaoyang's hand and almost cried for joy. He felt that the bad luck that had been plaguing him for almost three years had finally dissipated.

"Chaoyang, I finally got your manuscript!"

After greeting each other, Lin Chaoyang said, "By the way. What I just promised was the publication of "The Chess Master" and the publication of new works. It's too early to talk about it now, so let's talk about it later."

Hearing this, the smile on Wang Shimin's face faded a bit. He thought he could get it all.

"Alright, alright."

Anyway, since I had taken down "The Chess Saint" first, it was already a victory, Wang Shimin thought.

After seeing off Liu and Wang, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang, "Your novels are really popular now!"

"Hasn't it always been popular?" Lin Chaoyang said jokingly.

His arrogance was just a joke between husband and wife. Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at him and said, "I mean the payment for manuscripts. It seems that these magazines and publishing houses are increasingly willing to increase the payment to recruit manuscripts."

"That's normal. Literary magazines have been so popular in the past two years, with sales of hundreds of thousands of copies.

Take October as an example. The price of their magazine is one yuan, and the sales volume of 500,000 copies of a bimonthly issue is 500,000 yuan.

Even if the discount is 60% to 70% to Xinhua Bookstore, it will still be 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.

Their biggest cost is printing and binding, which only accounts for 25%. The remaining biggest expense is the manuscript fee. The content of an issue of the magazine is limited, at most words. If we calculate it at yuan per thousand words, it is only yuan."

Having come to this point, Lin Chaoyang sighed: "Nowadays, publishing magazines is indeed a good business."

Tao Yushu joked, "I think you should stop being a writer and start a magazine."

"I can't do this. I'm too lazy. I need someone as hardworking as you."

Tao Yushu laughed at him, "Your laziness is not physical laziness, but mental laziness."

Lin Chaoyang did not argue with her, "Madam is right." He held her hand and said, "I will be diligent tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up Tao Yushu's body and strode towards the bedroom.

Three days later, in the old wooden building at No. 51 Dongxinglong Street, Jingcheng District, Yanjing.

Compared to when it was first published four years ago, the decoration and layout of the editorial office of October have not changed much. The real changes are in the personnel.

When October was founded in 78, it did not have a chief editor. It was managed by Wang Shimin, the head of the literary and art group of the publishing house. In 79, the publishing house appointed Su Yu as the chief editor of October.

During this period, two new people came. In the second half of last year, the entire editorial department of "October" was taken to D School for study because of the "Bitter Love" incident, and Zhang Zhonge, one of the founding members of the magazine, was also transferred out of the editorial department.

Fortunately, his final result was good, and he was selected to join the equally famous magazine "Contemporary".

In the past two days, Liu Xinwu has been sitting at his desk, concentrating on reviewing manuscripts. His brows are furrowed most of the time. Occasionally, his brows relax, but he will soon become frowned again.

That afternoon, as it was almost time to get off work, Liu Xinwu finally put down the manuscript in his hand and sighed softly.

"Xinwu, how is it? Is the manuscript not satisfactory?"

Zhang Shouren has been observing Liu Xinwu for the past two days.

Three days ago, Liu Xinwu and Wang Shimin went to Lin Chaoyang together. It was said that they spent a lot of money to get Lin Chaoyang's new work and the publishing rights of "The Chess Master".

Zhang Shouren did not quite agree with this way of compiling manuscripts. It was not that he had any problem with Lin Chaoyang. He had been an editor for decades and firmly believed that magazines were a platform for works to shine.

How can a magazine take the initiative to increase the author's royalties? If this were the case, wouldn't the entire literary journal industry be in chaos? They might as well just compete to see who makes more money.

However, Liu Xinwu dealt with the editor-in-chief Su Yu and found Wang Shimin, so even if he wanted to object, there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Shouren has been paying attention to it ever since Liu Xinwu took back Lin Chaoyang's manuscript that day. Today, when he saw that Liu Xinwu seemed to have finished reviewing the manuscript, he immediately asked about it.

Listening to Zhang Shouren's question, Liu Xinwu looked somewhat embarrassed.

“It’s not undesirable.”

Seeing his expression and hesitation, Zhang Shouren was curious, "What do you mean?"

Liu Xinwu recalled the plot in the novel and said thoughtfully: "After reading the novel, I felt that it was a little different from what I imagined. Chaoyang seemed to be taking a very new path."

Zhang Shouren was getting more and more confused by what he said, "Why don't you let me take a look at the manuscript first, and then we can discuss it after you've read it."

"Okay." Liu Xinwu handed over the manuscript.

Another three days passed. During these three days, Zhang Shouren had been reading the manuscript given to him by Liu Xinwu, and his behavior was exactly the same as Liu Xinwu's.

"Xinwu, let's talk." Another afternoon, after reading the manuscript, Zhang Shouren found Liu Xinwu.

"Okay, I'll talk first."

After holding it in for three days, Liu Xinwu seemed quite excited that he could finally communicate with Zhang Shouren.

"Okay, then you talk first."

Liu Xinwu rubbed his hands. "From his previous novel The Death of Van Gogh, we can see that Chaoyang has a special liking for suspense elements. This time, his creation is even bolder, and he uses the suspense elements to the extreme. Or let's put it this way, this is a suspense novel in itself."

"If we talk about the story alone, the story of this novel is not complicated. Yan Shouzhong, a public security officer, and his colleague Lei Jianming came to an island to investigate the disappearance of a female mentally ill prisoner, Zhang Peilan. Zhang Peilan was accused of murdering her three children and was highly dangerous.

Upon arrival on the island, the weather is bad, which adds to the island's isolation and the story's mysterious atmosphere. During their investigation, Yan Shouzhong and Lei Jianming discover that the staff of the mental hospital seem to be hiding something from them.

At the same time, he was haunted by nightmares of his wife's death.

As the investigation deepened, Yan Shouzhong discovered that there might be illegal human experiments on the island. He thought he had found clues to the missing case, but it turned out that he was the one suffering from schizophrenia.

Zhang Peilan was the name of his wife. She did kill their child due to mental illness. Yan Shouzhong could not accept this reality, so he created an identity as a public security officer to try to escape his inner pain.

And his colleague Lei Jianming is actually the doctor in charge of him, and the whole investigation process is actually a carefully designed drama designed to help him face and accept the truth. "

"This is my simple summary of the story. I just said that this story is not complicated, but it is extremely sophisticated and profound in terms of structure and narrative.

Chaoyang used the isolated island and bad weather to create a veil of mystery. On the narrative level, he adopted a non-linear narrative structure, cleverly interweaving reality and fantasy, past and present, to form a multi-layered narrative.

His narrative style first appeared in "Lai Zi's Summer", was further developed in "The Death of Van Gogh", and in this novel, it can be said to have reached perfection.

This narrative style is more like a narrative trap, but when you watch it, you can't help but feel like you are there, and you have the urge to uncover the mystery step by step.

Comparing with Chaoyang's previous works, it can be clearly found that in this novel, he put more energy on techniques.

This creative trend of his appeared in "Lai Zi's Summer", but his skills were not as sophisticated as they are now.

If I had to sum up this work in one word, I would say: showmanship.

Of course, his showmanship does not neglect the story itself, on the contrary, it adds a mysterious touch to the story, making it unique in style. "

After a long conversation, Liu Xinwu finally spoke out the thoughts that had been pent up in his heart for the past two days. He looked at Zhang Shouren eagerly, "Old Zhang, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)