Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 37 Who will be the winner?

Not to mention China, even in the history of publishing around the world, I have never heard of an author and a publisher signing an agreement in this way.

Although Zhang Chao's idea was a bit too much, the editors were still able to do the math clearly and knew that even if the sales of "Young Like You" exceeded 100 million copies, the publishing house would definitely make a lot of money.

However, no one had ever operated this kind of agreement, so they had to communicate with their leaders on the details. So they all left the meeting room, took out their phones and started making calls.

After listening to Shan Yingqi's retelling, the editor-in-chief of Chunfeng Society sighed: "This kid is not simple. He wants to achieve his goal in one step."

In fact, as a newcomer in the literary world, Zhang Chao’s bargaining power when facing publishing houses is very weak, especially when he is not familiar with the "rules" of the publishing industry.

15% royalties is the ceiling of the industry. Any other writer must have at least two or three works with sales of 50 to 100 million before they dare to negotiate with publishers, and they may not be successful.

Zhang Chao’s plan was to use his own profits as a bet and let the publishing houses join in.

For publishing houses, this is undoubtedly a poison wrapped in sugar - they are not worried about losing money, but once this precedent is set, it means that the warm and affectionate cooperative relationship between writers and publishing houses in the past will become a naked collusion of interests.

There are many stories of writers and editors complementing each other, especially in the era when publishing was not so market-oriented and there were only a few literary journals and publishing houses in the country.

Writers, especially new and young people, have less say than editors and need the "help" of editors. If a senior editor says how to revise a work, the writer should do it honestly.

Wang Shuo, known as the "ruffian writer", submitted his debut work "Stewardess" to "Contemporary" magazine. The first draft was a 3-word short novella. The reviewer thought that the plot was too thin and needed to be richer.

So Wang Shuo went back and revised it for several months, increasing the number of words to more than 10. However, during the revision period, the old editor retired, and the editor who took over thought that the revision was too long-winded and asked for more conciseness.

Wang Shuo simply handed the initial 3-word draft to the new editor, who immediately accepted it and it became an instant hit.

This shows the complex relationship between writers, works and editors. To be more serious, it is okay to think that editors are often pua writers.

Just like the "New Sprout" magazine, even after its sales rebounded greatly thanks to the "New Concept Writing Competition", it has been slow to raise the standard of royalties, and still maintains the standard of 50 yuan per thousand words.

Zhang Chao was obviously not interested in establishing this traditional cooperative relationship. He wanted to be on an equal footing with the publishing house in the publication of his first work, or even slightly better than the publisher.

Once the publishing house accepts this condition, it means that it will have to put its own industry reputation on the line to boost sales of Zhang Chao's works.

Because as long as the quality of Zhang Chao's subsequent works is fine but the sales volume fails to exceed 100 million copies, public opinion will blame it more on the poor operation of the publishing house.

At the same time, it almost meant losing the opportunity to work again with Zhang Chao, a potential best-selling author.

The key is that Zhang Chao’s plan is just the “bottom line”. If publishing houses want to obtain the copyright of “Young Like You”, they will definitely have to pay more.

Therefore, Zhang Chao's "bet" is to use interests to bind himself and the publishing house, forcing the publishing house to invest as many resources as possible in "Young Like You" to achieve a win-win situation.

"This kid is so smart. When you reported to me yesterday, I was a little bit unconvinced. What do you think of his brain? The young are to be feared, the young are to be feared!" After sighing, the editor-in-chief asked, "What do you think of the quality of this work?"

Shan Yingqi answered without hesitation: "It will be a hit! I don't know if it can surpass Xiao Si's "Fantasy City", but the sales volume will definitely not be less than 50 copies. The probability of 100 million copies is not low."

The editor-in-chief said, "I believe in your vision! So, take out a pen and paper and write it down..."

Shan Yingqi immediately took out a notebook and carefully wrote down the "quotation" given by the editor-in-chief.

After she finished writing and hung up the phone, she looked at the lines of words on the paper and silently said to herself: "This is equal cooperation, this is not a loss of sovereignty and humiliation of the country; this is equal cooperation, this is not a loss of sovereignty and humiliation of the country; this is equal cooperation..." Then she wrote down Chunfeng Society and her own name and mobile phone number, tore off the paper, returned to the small meeting room, and handed the paper to Zhang Chao.

However, not all publishing houses could accept such conditions. In particular, most of the leaders of state-owned publishing houses were former editors and were often more conservative. After hearing Zhang Chao’s proposal, one of them cursed, “You are going against the will of Heaven!” and decisively refused.

The most confident one among them was Lu Jinbo of Beirong Culture. As the editor-in-chief of the private company, his authority was greater than that of the editors present, so the note he handed to Zhang Chao contained a number that Zhang Chao would never refuse.

Half an hour later, all publishing houses willing to accept the bet wrote down their conditions and handed them to Zhang Chao. There were a total of 10 publishing houses.

The rest that had not been submitted were also left in the meeting room. Anyway, they were free to do nothing, so they decided to see who would sign this kind of humiliating agreement with Zhang Chao.

It is impossible to say that Zhang Chao has no inner fluctuations at this moment, because the ten notes in his hand will determine the direction of his life for a long time to come.

Some of the conditions proposed by the publishers really made him jealous, but he suppressed his impulse and compared and thought carefully.

Although the "betting agreement" is based on interests first, are there traps hidden behind the huge interests?
After a long wait, Zhang Chao took out a piece of paper from the ten pieces and said to everyone, "After consideration, I decided to cooperate with Huacheng Society. Thank you all!"

Everyone was in an uproar, and all their eyes were cast on the person from Huacheng Society who came this time, the editor-in-chief, Zhu Yanling.

Zhu Yanling has been engaged in editing work for nearly 20 years. She has discovered many outstanding writers and has long been indifferent to fame and fortune. However, she is a little confused at this moment.

Lu Jinbo was the first one who couldn't help himself and stood up, saying, "I want to know why it's Huacheng Society."

He was very sure that as a state-owned publishing house, Huacheng Publishing House would never offer more favorable conditions than his - a royalty rate of 15% for copies below one million and 20% for copies above one million, and a first print run of 50 copies.

The leaders of the state-owned publishing house who can make the final decision will definitely not bear the decision-making pressure of offering Zhang Chao higher royalties and first print conditions than this.

Zhang Chao explained: "Huacheng Publishing House is not the most aggressive in terms of royalties and first print runs. But Huacheng Publishing House gave me the most ample time to achieve a million sales volume, which made me see the most sincere cooperation sincerity. Therefore, I chose Huacheng Publishing House."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jinbo sat down dejectedly. He and other publishing houses were only thinking about the royalty ratio and the first print run, but he did not expect that Huacheng Publishing House would focus on the 18-month period.

Zhang Chao went on to say, "I cannot reveal the specific details here for now. After I sign a specific agreement with Huacheng Society, Huacheng Society will announce it to the public at an appropriate time. I am very grateful that everyone can tolerate the misbehavior of a newcomer like me this time. I hope to cooperate with you all in the future."

"So you also know that you are 'doing evil'..." Except for Zhu Yanling from Huacheng Society who made the list, everyone else was a little bored.

"Go away!" An old editor called out and everyone was about to leave.

Who knew that at this time, the principal Wu Xingyu shouted, "Don't rush to leave, the school cafeteria has prepared a sumptuous midnight snack for everyone, including barbecue and beer. I'll ask them to bring it over right away."

Who wouldn’t want to have free midnight snack? Upon hearing this, all the editors sat back down.

The next second, the door of the conference room was pushed open with a bang, and a group of reporters and photographers rushed in, and the flash lights blinded everyone's eyes.

At this moment, Principal Wu’s face was smiling like a flower!

There really is no such thing as a free midnight snack in this world!

(End of this chapter)