Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 293 Black Hearted Things
"Brother-in-law, what's the matter with this book?" Du Feng asked.

Lin Chaoyang explained the "second channel" thing to him, "This kind of book is probably reprinted by local booksellers in Guangzhou because they see that my book is selling well."

"Is it illegal for them to do this?"

Du Feng understood what Lin Chaoyang meant and asked with some confusion.

Nowadays, Chinese people have no concept of intellectual property rights and have a weak sense of copyright. Du Feng just feels that this kind of thing is definitely wrong, but he can't be sure whether it is an illegal act.

“It’s definitely illegal.”

Lin Chaoyang looked at the book in his hand and couldn't help wondering.

The trend of piracy only started in the mid-82s and became widespread in the s. How come pirated books of my own works were published in ?
It’s so fucking unfair. Aren’t people allowed to enjoy some of the benefits of this era?
After figuring out the origin of the book, Du Feng said, "Businessmen don't do anything without profit. It seems that your book is too popular."

Listening to Du Feng's words, Lin Chaoyang didn't know whether to be happy or depressed.

Du Feng asked again: "Shouldn't the publishing house be in charge of this matter?"

"Forget it." Lin Chaoyang waved his hand. "Selling books like this cheaply is also a benefit to readers."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Du Feng couldn't help but feel admiration for him.

My brother-in-law is truly a great writer, he has a really broad vision!

However, he seemed to have a misunderstanding of the situation.

"Brother-in-law, take a look at the back." Du Feng reminded.

Lin Chaoyang flipped the novel over and revealed the price, "3.95 yuan."

He couldn't help but widen his eyes, extremely angry, "What a bunch of black-hearted people! How dare they?"

How much money would I make if I got royalties? It's all my money!

Du Feng echoed, "These booksellers are really going too far. Books from Yanjing Publishing House only cost 1 yuan, yet they dare to sell them at such a high price. They are just trying to rip off these readers!"

Lin Chaoyang also understood that at this time, the prices of pirated martial arts novels in China were generally high, with a book costing three or four yuan, and some even priced at ten yuan.

The title of his novel itself carries a certain legendary color, and the cover was probably made like this intentionally by booksellers. These booksellers pirated his books, and their intended target audience was not his readers, but those martial arts novel fans.

After figuring out the connection between the two, Lin Chaoyang was filled with anger.

I only sell the original version for 1 yuan, but you guys change the cover and sell it for 3 yuan. Is there still law? Is there still justice?

The next day, Lin Chaoyang took the book to Yenching Publishing House. At this time, Wang Shimin had already retired, so Lin Chaoyang found the vice president and deputy editor-in-chief, Tian Geng, who was also a writer, through Liu Xinwu.

Tian Geng also attached great importance to "The Chess Master", which was packaged as a "martial arts novel", and decided to send people from the distribution team to Guangzhou to investigate the situation.

Nowadays, there are two types of book piracy in China. One is the piracy of foreign classics and works from Hong Kong and Taiwan. This kind of piracy is not only done by book dealers, but also by many publishing houses.

Pirated copies from many publishing houses are even displayed openly on the shelves of Xinhua Bookstore.

Another situation is stealing domestic works, which is not common at this point in time.

Because pirated books by contemporary writers are far less popular than pirated world classics and popular literature from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the cost outweighs the benefits, and pirated booksellers are not as rampant as they are in later generations.

Occasionally, a publishing house or bookseller does this kind of thing, and it is relatively easy to deal with through the relationship between publishing houses.

After all, at that time, all domestic publishing houses were state-owned, and even booksellers basically did business through channels of state-owned publishing houses and printing factories, which made them easier to investigate and deal with.

After Tian Geng arranged the work, he comforted Lin Chaoyang and said, "Don't worry, this situation is not difficult to deal with. Just find the publishing house and the printing factory and say hello. It shouldn't be a big problem."

"You misunderstood. I'm not worried. If they do this, the sales will definitely not be too high, and it won't have a big impact on "The Chess Master"."

Hearing Lin Chaoyang say this, Tian Geng's expression was calm, thinking that he was just saying some polite words, but Lin Chaoyang's next words made Tian Geng look at him differently.

"In my opinion, it doesn't matter if you do this kind of piracy. After all, there are still so many people in China who don't have enough food to eat. Before the economic problems are solved, this kind of piracy is unavoidable.

There are so many people who want to read literary works and cultivate their sentiments. If there are cheaper books, it would be a good thing.

But the nature of these booksellers is different. They are selling dog meat under the guise of sheep meat and cheating readers. This is what makes me angry."

Tian Geng looked at Lin Chaoyang with admiration and said, "Comrade Chaoyang, your broad mind and vision are admirable. Don't worry, our publishing house will definitely handle this matter well."

After discussing the issue of piracy, Tian Geng and Lin Chaoyang talked about the sales of "The Chess Master" after its publication.

It has been over a year since the novel was published, and it was quite controversial in the first few months.

The controversy surrounding the novel was not settled until Nie Weiping, a leading figure in the domestic Go community, was interviewed by New Sports after winning the National Go League and lavishly praised the novel.

Now the novel has been published for half a month, and the first print of 20 copies has just sold out. Yanjing Publishing House has printed another 20 copies, which is consistent with the consistent best-selling effect of Lin Chaoyang's works. Tian Geng mentioned "The Chess Master" to Lin Chaoyang mainly because of "Shutter Island".

Since its publication in March, Lin Chaoyang's latest work has been warmly welcomed and well received by readers, and has pushed the sales of "October" to more than 150 million copies per issue.

Among the works published and released by Yenching Publishing House and October in recent years, this performance is far ahead of others.

At the same time, this novel has been unanimously praised by the literary community, especially theoretical researchers.

Last month, Lei Da, a young critic who became famous for a series of critical articles on scar literature, wrote an article in the Literary Gazette titled "Reading Shutter Island: The Search for Truth and Self-Redemption in the Labyrinth of the Mind."

The article reads: "Shutter Island" constructs an intricate narrative maze through the tracking and investigation of the protagonist Yan Shouzhong, allowing us to gradually uncover deeper psychological and moral dilemmas beneath the surface of searching for missing patients.

It prompts readers to constantly reflect on the boundaries between reality and fiction, sanity and madness, and how individuals seek identity confirmation within the framework of society and self-cognition, adding infinite space for interpretation to the work.

In short, "Shutter Island" is a work full of wisdom and depth. Through a journey of exploration into the subtleties of human nature, it not only explores the complexity of the human mind and the dark side of society, but also unearths the literary value behind the depth of human nature.

After the article was published, it attracted a lot of attention in the literary world. Lei Ta's praise for this novel also represented the voice of the vast majority of people in the literary world.

In the past few months, there have been many review articles like this one published in major literary magazines and literary review magazines that have expressed positive praise for "Shutter Island."

The popularity among readers and the recognition from industry insiders have made "Shutter Island" well-known, and also made Yenching Publishing House full of expectations for the future publication of this novel.

As early as when the manuscript of "Shutter Island" was delivered to "October", Wang Shimin had discussed the publishing rights of the novel with Lin Chaoyang, but at that time Lin Chaoyang thought he could talk to Renwen Press and did not agree immediately.

Now the attitude of Renwen Press is clear. The conditions on the other hand are still more favorable. The basic remuneration is 15 yuan per thousand words, and the remuneration is 5% based on the print run of copies.

Since Tian Geng mentioned this matter today, Lin Chaoyang agreed and signed the publishing contract on the spot.

When he returned home in the evening, Tao Yushu said that Lu Yao had sent a letter.

Lin Chaoyang opened the letter: "... Life was published smoothly and in such a satisfactory way, thanks to your sincere help. In recent days, I have been receiving comments from colleagues and readers.

I have recently been thinking about the creation of the second part of "Life". This is a very important issue that requires repeated thinking and a certain amount of time to distinguish voices from all sides.

I feel that I am still confident in developing the other characters in the next book and can give certain summaries for each of them.

The only thing is my protagonist Gao Jialin, his development trend and some twists and turns in the middle.

I haven’t thought it through yet. It’s not the plot, the details, or the overall theme of the work, but the ideological development of the character Gao Jialin that needs to be considered. Any clichés may ruin this work…”

On the 25th of last month, Lu Yao's "Life" was successfully published in "Harvest". After the publication of the novel, it attracted much attention in the literary world and gained a good reputation among readers.

This novel became another masterpiece of Lu Yao after "A Thrilling Scene", and Lu Yao's reputation became more and more famous with the spread of this novel.

He wrote to Lin Chaoyang mainly to inform him of the response after the publication of "Life", and also mentioned his thoughts on the second part of "Life".

In Lu Yao's plan, "Life" will have a sequel.

Unfortunately, after the publication of "Life", the response was very enthusiastic, with countless letters pouring in from all over the country. Many readers came to ask for advice after reading the novel, treating Lu Yao as a life mentor, which made him laugh and cry.

At that time, several film studios took a fancy to "Life" and wanted to shoot it into a movie. Lu Yao's life and creative order were completely disrupted, and the idea of ​​creating the second part of "Life" had to be shelved.

More than a year later, when he finally had the energy to think about it, he no longer had the same enthusiasm as before.

After reading the letter, Lin Chaoyang wrote back to Lu Yao, first congratulating him, and then responding to his thoughts on the second part of "Life".

"…The wave of Life is just the beginning. You must be prepared to deal with the huge wave. If you cannot devote yourself to the creation of the second part of Life, this is also a perfect ending. After all, the story and characters of Life are already very complete.

If I really want to write, it would be best to retreat for a while, not be disturbed by the outside world, and calm down. Following the thread laid out in "Life", I will continue to dig deeper into life and strive to come up with a new style in artistic description and artistic treatment..."

Tao Yushu watched Lin Chaoyang finish writing the letter and sighed, "I never thought that Lu Yao's "Life" would be so popular."

"What? Do you regret pushing it to Harvest?" Lin Chaoyang joked.

Tao Yushu chuckled, "That's not the case. Black Stallion is no worse than life. One should not be too greedy."

Zhang Chengzhi's "Black Stallion" was published in March and received outstanding reviews. It's a pity that Lin Chaoyang's "Shutter Island" was published that month, but its popularity was completely suppressed by "Shutter Island". Compared with "Life", it was a bit unlucky.

The couple was chatting and laughing when Zhang Guiqin called them to eat.

The two were about to go to eat, and when they walked into the yard, they heard a knock on the door.

Lin Chaoyang asked Tao Yushu to eat first, and he walked to the courtyard gate.

Lin Chaoyang thought it was a friend coming over for a free meal and didn't want to open the door, but it turned out to be a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

(End of this chapter)