Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 100 Xia Dajiang, let me show you a treasure!

Before the reporters could speak, Zhang Chao quickly replaced Yu Hua and stood in front of the microphone again and said: "This decision is very difficult for me. But please believe me, I definitely don't want to ruin the youth literature industry!

The New Concept Essay Competition was the literary enlightenment for many people and also had a significant impact on me. The anthologies of the first three competitions are still on my bookshelf - I hated it as much as I loved it.

I have one more thing to announce here - New Sprouts magazine will launch an independent supplement starting next year, and I will serve as the temporary editor-in-chief. The name of this supplement, the requirements for selected articles, and its operating mechanism will be announced by New Sprouts magazine and me after the New Concept Essay Competition.

My goal in being a judge in Shanghai this time is to 'Make New Concepts Great Again!'

After the news was released, the first to make a mess was New Sprout magazine.

Li Qigang, holding the newspaper, looked pale as he approached Zhao Changtian and asked, "Editor-in-chief, why didn't you discuss with us beforehand about Zhang Chao being a judge?"

Zhao Changtian explained slowly: "I made the decision myself and reported it to the leader. The leader just said one thing - any method that can save the magazine and the competition should be tried."

Li Qigang said: "You shouldn't hide it from us!"

Zhao Changtian said, "What if someone says it's leaked? Will the news effect be as good as it is now? At the last meeting, Xiao Xu said it well, 'If you have influence, you have everything.' Among the young writers now, who has influence comparable to Zhang Chao?"

Li Qigang was still a little indignant: "We can't invite him. If it weren't for him, the competition wouldn't have turned out like this."

Zhao Changtian was silent for a while, then said, "Qigang, others can't predict what the competitions have become in recent years, but don't you and I have an idea? Why are there fewer and fewer schools willing to directly enroll students after the third competition?

Even if Zhang Chao wasn't there, would nothing go wrong if we continued like this?"

When talking to smart people, there is no need to say anything, those who understand will understand naturally.

Li Qigang couldn't continue the conversation on this topic, so he had to ask again: "What about that supplement Zhang Chao mentioned?"

Zhao Changtian suddenly became energetic when he heard this. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Li Qigang, saying, "If Zhang Chao hadn't shown me this, I might not have made up my mind."

Li Qigang took the paper and quickly scanned it, his face strange, and asked: "This... this... is this really not a joke?"

Zhao Changtian said: "We will discuss the specific details after Zhang Chao comes to Shanghai, and you will also participate at that time."

In Yanjing, in Zhang Chao's office, Huang Jiefu asked him excitedly, "Boss, how did New Sprout magazine invite you to be a judge? Aren't you mortal enemies?"

Zhang Chao replied: "At first they only invited Professor Yu Hua to be the chairman of the jury. I don't know what I, as a teacher, was thinking, but I actually suggested to them that I should also be a judge. Zhao Changtian tentatively communicated with me, and I proposed a plan, and he agreed."

Huang Jiefu asked, "Were you the one who asked us to keep the media secret later?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Yes. What the competition needs now is attention, so I will help them get as much attention as possible."

Huang Jiefu praised: "You are really a master at manipulating public opinion!"

Zhang Chao said, "But whether the supplement can be successful depends on you. How is your work going?"

Huang Jiefu complained as soon as he heard it: "The registration procedures here in Yanjing are too troublesome... I never thought that there could be so many stamps on a piece of paper..."

Zhang Chao said: "I just want to know the result."

Huang Jiefu quickly put away his sad face and said with a smile: "You will definitely be able to get it done before you leave for Shanghai!"

Zhang Chao breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. Without this, it would be hard for me to talk to them."

On Friday afternoon, Zhang Chao went to the airport with a bag after class and arrived in Shanghai that evening.

At 9 o'clock on Saturday morning, Zhang Chao showed up at the office of New Sprouts magazine on time. Today was a day off, but almost all the editors of the magazine took the initiative to stay and work overtime.

Everyone looked at Zhang Chao with complicated eyes. He was the man who had kicked them into the abyss and now was reaching out to pull them out of the abyss like a savior.

The editors can clearly feel the surge in media traffic for "New Sprout" magazine and the "New Concept Essay Contest".

Xu Minxia brought Zhang Chao to the conference room, where Zhao Changtian and Li Qigang were already waiting.

Zhang Chao looked at the manuscript on the conference room table and asked, "How about we review it first?"

Li Qigang said, "Don't worry, the manuscript review will be in the afternoon. These are the ones left after the first round of selection. The editors of our magazine and local college teachers and writers in Shanghai have already screened out most of the obviously unqualified ones in the past two weeks."

Zhao Changtian said, "Tell me the detailed plan for your supplement first." Zhang Chao sorted out his thoughts and then said, "This supplement must be a magazine that belongs entirely to 'youth'. When I say 'entirely' here, I mainly refer to the authors."

Li Qigang asked suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

Zhang Chao further explained: "I said before at the Shanghai Book Fair that writers of youth literature who don't want to grow up will only grow acne. This view has not changed. Therefore, the age of the authors of this supplement must be controlled under 22 years old.

Including me, the temporary editor-in-chief, I will work until I am 22 at the latest, and then I will quit. As for other editors, we will try to limit them to under 30 years old - we should have such talent reserves in our New Sprout magazine, right? "

Zhao Changtian said: "This is indeed a point that attracts young readers. It is easy to resonate with them... Can you tell me more about the vote?"

Zhang Chao said: "The last page of each supplement is a voting column. Readers can cut it out and then tick their favorite works and authors - the specific number is to be determined - and send it to us.

In the next issue of the magazine, we will publish the rankings of the previous issue. At the end of the year, we will review and publish the annual rankings in the first issue of the next year, selecting the best novel, best essay, best poem, best non-fiction writing, best author... and hold an awards ceremony, which will be held together with the New Concept Competition. "

Li Qigang said: "This, isn't this the same as that female voice this year? Besides, wouldn't the works suffer a lot when the magazine sales were low in the early days? Wouldn't the good works be buried?"

Zhang Chao said: "If there are people who want the early magazine, we will continue to print it. Just explain it to the readers in the magazine. What's the difficulty? We just need to stick to one principle, which is never to print the voting page separately."

Li Qigang then asked: "How do we prevent cheating? Magazines are not banknotes. What if someone prints voting pages? In addition, the workload of counting votes..."

Zhang Chao said, "Just make it the same as the answer sheet for the college entrance examination. Give each ballot page an independent barcode, color it with a 2B pencil, and scan and count them in batches with a machine after they are mailed. What era is it now? Do you still need to do manual calculations?"

Zhao Changtian asked: "Is voting the only way?"

Zhang Chao said: "There are many other ways. For example, we can hold a 'graduation ceremony' or 'literary coming-of-age ceremony' for authors who are 22 years old every year, publish a supplement or special issue, and congratulate them on completing the journey of youth literature in our magazine and officially entering the hall of adult literature... the hall of adult literature..."

"We can also design a cartoon image for each author who has published works in our magazine multiple times... We can design color pages and posters for outstanding works from time to time..."

"We can also launch an 'Author Group'..."

"We can also hold a 'China's Best Poetry' competition, and let Xichuan, Shu Ting, Zhang Zao and others be judges. They sit on a big chair with their backs to the contestants. When they hear a good poem, they press a button and the chair turns around... Uh, this doesn't count, it's a bit nonsense..."

Zhang Chao talked for more than an hour, making Zhao Changtian and Li Qigang dizzy. In the first 1 minutes, they were still writing and drawing in their notebooks, but later they simply threw away their pens and stopped writing.

While Zhang Chao was drinking water, Zhao Changtian half-jokingly asked, "Aren't you afraid that we will copy your ideas?"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Then how about this? You two take your notes and repeat what I said to the editors outside to see if you can make it clear to them."

Zhao Changtian and Li Qigang looked at each other, shook their heads involuntarily, and their smiles were very dry.

Li Qigang asked a key question at this time: "Then what can we rely on to attract outstanding authors from all over the country? As far as I know, the Children's Publishing House in Hunan Province launched a magazine called "Fireworks" this year, and its positioning is very similar to what you said. And Xiao Si, didn't he set up a studio and also published a magazine called "Island"?

Also, this supplement also costs money. Are we going to publish it all by New Sprout? You just put yourself in charge as the editor-in-chief? How will the profits be calculated in the future?"

Zhang Chao took out a small card from his bag and handed it to Zhao Changtian and Li Qigang, saying, "Let's get to know each other again - 'Midnight Tide Cultural Agency', I'm the boss."

Zhang Chao was still in a good mood after returning to Yenching. The review process in Shanghai went smoothly and he saw many authors with great potential.

This "New Concept Composition Contest" almost eliminated all speculators, and the authors who were able to submit their works all had very good literary qualities, and there was no tired routine from the previous competitions at all. They generally showed a fresh and lively spirit.

But after the plane landed, Zhang Chao received a text message from Xia Da, asking him to talk to him. Zhang Chao immediately had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, after returning to the "company", Xia Da first reported to him the progress of "Your Name": "Because it has changed from a monthly magazine to a weekly magazine, this work will be completed within the next year."

There is no way around it. The length of the novel has been fixed, so the comic cannot live long - unless the two of them want to spoil the fun and continue writing a story about the protagonists reuniting.

Xia Da continued, "...After Your Name ended, I went back to Hunan Province."

Zhang Chao asked, "Don't you want to stay here? My other works may also need to be adapted into comics. And we will have more and more design work in the future... You are very important."

Xia Da whispered: "I don't like your other novels. Besides, I still prefer to draw stories in a classical style. I like "Your Name" because the core of this story is classical, a bit like a Tang Dynasty legend. So..."

Zhang Chao took out a thin stack of manuscript paper from his desk and said, "I didn't want to give it to you so early - Xia Da, take a look at this, and then you can make a decision."

Xia Da took it and saw three large Chinese characters printed vertically on the cover:
Long song line

(End of this chapter)