Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 83 The whole world is looking for Zhang Chao (asking for monthly tickets)

Hearing Zhu Yanling say this, Zhang Chao asked curiously, "Where did you get this from?"

Zhu Yanling asked: "Did you write a novel called "Dwelling Narrowness" at Luyuan? Who did you give the novel to?"

Zhang Chao suddenly realized something and replied calmly, "Didn't editor Shan from Chunfeng Press come to my house that day?"

Zhu Yanling said bitterly, "Why didn't you tell me about your new work? Our president Xiao has been criticizing me for not following you closely these past two days and for losing a good book."

Zhang Chao said: "It's not like there won't be opportunities for cooperation again in the future."

Zhu Yanling's eyes lit up, and she immediately said, "Then it's a deal. You are not allowed to give the next copy of 'Dwelling Narrowness' to other publishing houses. We can give them whatever conditions they give you."

Zhang Chao was a little fed up with Zhu Yanling's attitude, so he didn't want to agree right away, so he changed the subject and asked, "Then this matter isn't worth your special trip, is it?"

Zhu Yanling snorted in her heart, but still answered: "Two things. One is that our Huacheng Publishing House has decided to implement the 'contract writer' system, and we hope that you will be one of our first contract writers."

Zhang Chao asked suspiciously, "Contracted writer?"

Publishing houses usually sign works, not writers. At most, if a writer is happy with the cooperation with a certain publishing house, he or she will sign more of his or her works to this publishing house.

The form of signing writers is mostly adopted by the writers associations of various provinces. The signed writers can receive a minimum of 1000-3000 yuan of creative allowance each month, and can also receive a little advance payment for the royalties. The main purpose is to allow writers to have a stable income and to create with peace of mind.

People like Zhang Chao obviously don't need any creative allowance.

Zhu Yanling said, "This is the idea of ​​the CEO of the Guangdong Provincial Publishing Group above our publishing house. If you become a contracted writer of our Huacheng Publishing House, within a certain period of time, our Huacheng Publishing House will buy out all your works, and you will receive preferential remuneration and royalties. In addition, our group can conduct comprehensive copyright operations."

Zhang Chao asked: "Copyright operation? For example?"

"For example, adapting a movie."

“…I’ve already written the script for ‘Young Like You’ and Huayi bought it.”

"Then there's also an anime adaptation."

"…Two issues of the comic book Your Name have been published, Yanjing Cartoon."

Zhu Yanling: “…”

Zhang Chao said: "So, I won't sign this 'contracted writer'."

Zhu Yanling sighed and said, "I knew I couldn't convince you, but the president insisted that I come. These conditions are attractive to those fledgling writers, but they are really useless to you. But there is one more thing that won't embarrass you, I hope you can promise me."

"what?"

"Come and join our 'Gold Medal Writers Group' of Huacheng Society."

"What is this?"

"Don't worry, the 'Gold Medal Writers Group' doesn't have any rigid binding terms. It's mainly composed of writers who have published bestsellers in our publishing house. We usually invite you to give lectures, seminars, and go on field trips. Come when you're free."

Zhang Chao knew that this was just a means for the publishing house to win over best-selling authors and it had been in place for a long time. There was nothing to refuse, so he agreed.

Zhang Chao asked, "What's the other thing?" "There is a very important guest who wants to see you. You will find out when you arrive in Shanghai."

Zhu Yanling and Zhang Chao's plane arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport at around 2pm, and they took a taxi to the hotel. Zhu Yanling said, "Don't wear this camouflage uniform anymore. Go take a shower and change into casual clothes. A guest wants to see you later."

"…I didn't bring any. We were not allowed to wear civilian clothes during training, so we were given two sets of training uniforms, which we changed every day. I was planning to come back tomorrow after returning to school. Who knew you were so anxious that you dragged me here right after I left the base."

Zhu Yanling was speechless again. She could only ask Zhang Chao to go wash up first and go buy clothes after they finished discussing.

Huachengshe booked a business suite with a small living room for Zhang Chao. After washing and changing clothes, Zhang Chao could meet guests directly in his room. This also shows that Huachengshe respects Zhang Chao and does not take advantage of the good relationship and give him away like a "gift" everywhere.

Soon, there was a knock on the door, and Zhang Chao went to open it. He saw Xiao Jianguo, the president of Huacheng Society, and Zhu Yanling, coming in with a gentleman in his 50s who looked elegant.

Xiao Jianguo introduced: "Zhang Chao, this is Mr. Pan Yaoming, the president of Hong Kong Mingchuang Publishing House, and the editor-in-chief and general manager of Ming Pao Monthly."

Mingchuang Publishing House, like Minghe Publishing House, is a publishing house founded by Jin Yong. However, unlike Minghe Publishing House which only publishes Jin Yong's own works, Mingchuang Publishing House is "open to the outside world". The earliest "Wesley Series" was published by Mingchuang Publishing House.

Pan Yaoming took the initiative to extend his hand, shook hands tightly with Zhang Chao, and said in Mandarin with a strong Hong Kong accent: "Student Zhang Chao, it's not easy to find you."

Zhang Chao said embarrassedly: "I'm in military training, there's really nothing I can do."

After they sat down, Xiao Jianguo continued to introduce them, "President Pan is Mr. Cha's right-hand man. Our company was fortunate to publish Mr. Cha's revised version of martial arts novels two years ago, and we became acquainted with President Pan because of this. President Pan has always been committed to cultural exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong Island. I heard that your novels are selling very well in the mainland, so I want to introduce them to readers in Hong Kong Island..."

Pan Yaoming smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Zhang Chao and I are from the same hometown. My hometown is Nan'an, Fuhai. I went to Southeast Asia with my father when I was 10 years old..."

Although Zhang Chao did not have a deep sense of hometown sentiment, he also knew that the other party was showing goodwill. Although Pan Yaoming had a heavy accent, he was very humorous and witty, and was very familiar with the cultural stories of Hong Kong and Guangdong, so chatting with him was like a spring breeze.

The two sides had a pleasant discussion and preliminarily agreed that the Hong Kong edition of "Youth Like You" would be published by Mingchuang Publishing House, with a royalty of 15% and a first print run of 3000 copies. According to the population ratio and the low sales of mainland books in Hong Kong, this is already a very high first print run. Many mainland "famous books" have a first print run of 1000 copies in Hong Kong, but in the end they cannot be sold out and can only be recycled.

However, the price of books in Hong Kong is high, and the price of a single copy of "Youth Like You" is expected to be over 100 yuan, which can make up for it a little. But Zhang Chao wanted to test the Hong Kong market first, and he didn't have too high expectations for the specific benefits.

If the response is good, the movie "Better Days" might also do well at the box office in Hong Kong Island.

As for "Your Name", since the single volume from Huacheng Publishing House has not yet been officially released and the market prospects are unclear, Mingchuang Publishing House has no intention of introducing it for the time being.

After politely seeing off Pan Yaoming, Xiao Jianguo and his group, he looked at the time and saw that it was already past four o'clock, so he went downstairs to buy some clothes. At this time, the phone rang. It was Li Shidong from Youth Literature. As soon as Zhang Chao picked up the phone, he asked hurriedly: "I heard that you have arrived in Shanghai? Didn't you say you would arrive tomorrow?"

The hotel was full of people attending the book fair these two days, so it was not surprising that someone recognized him. So Zhang Chao explained the reason, and Li Shidong said, "Don't move, stay in the room, I have a guest here, I want to chat with you..."

Not long after, Li Shidong came with a guest. When the guest saw Zhang Chao, who was wearing camouflage training uniform and was tanned, his pupils were shocked and his attitude became much more respectful...

More than half an hour later, Zhang Chao had just seen off Li Shidong and his guests when Yan, the editor-in-chief of Yanjing Cartoon, called him and said anxiously, "Xiao Zhang, why didn't you tell me you were coming to Shanghai? I was so worried."

"I'm so sorry, I just got here."

"Please wait a moment. There is an important guest who wants to discuss cooperation with you. I will bring him upstairs to see you now, and we can have dinner together in the evening."

Not long after, Yan Baohua also came with guests. When he saw Zhang Chao's appearance, his pupils were also shocked, and his attitude was also much more respectful...

(End of this chapter)