Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 33 Kodansha

The second company to come in was enter brain, owned by Kadokawa Shoten.

The leader of the discussion was the company's vice president, Taro Yoda.

He was both enthusiastic and humble. He started by praising Chen Linfeng and his novels, and described Chen Linfeng as a once-in-a-century talented writer in China.

In his mouth, The Beginning of Destiny also became a novel about life and death, separation and sorrow, with profound meaning. Those who don't know would think he was talking about Dream of the Red Chamber or Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

This middle school style was too strong, and Chen Linfeng interrupted his flattery with a smile on his face.

"You are too kind. My novel is not that good. You are here today to discuss the publishing cooperation of the novel, right? May I ask about your conditions?"

Taro Yoda said a number that he had not expected, 12% royalties, which is almost the level of Japan's first-tier writers.

The two editors were overjoyed because they didn't dare to hold out too much hope due to the harsh conditions proposed by the previous publishing house. Who would have thought that the second publishing house would offer such favorable conditions right from the start.

The royalties for Japanese writers are roughly in the range of 8% to 14%.

As a novelist who had just entered the Japanese market, the 12% royalty rate given to Chen Linfeng right from the start was indeed a bit high.

And judging from the other party's attitude, 12% may not even be the final bottom line. Maybe we can try to negotiate it higher.

Chen Linfeng couldn't help but become alert. There are no kind people in the capital world, and there is no such thing as benefits that come for free.

He recalled the information about enter brain from his previous life.

It is indeed a company under Kadokawa. I remember that it published a famous light novel called "I Want to Become a Powerful Shadow" in its previous life.

In his previous life, he had seen the name of this company when he searched for the Baidu entry for this light novel.

Suddenly Chen Linfeng thought of something.
"Let's put aside the conditions for now. Can I ask when your company was founded?"

Taro Yoda stammered, "The predecessor of our Enter Brain was established in 1987."

Editor-in-Chief Zhao gently tugged at the corner of Chen Linfeng's clothes from behind, thinking that it was a bit impolite to ask this question.

Chen Linfeng sensed something fishy from this man's attitude. He relaxed and leaned back in his chair.

“So what did this predecessor company do?”

Taro Yoda saw that he couldn't hide it anymore, so he said awkwardly, "My previous company was called ASCII Film Co., Ltd., and it mainly dealt in film and television entertainment.

Of course, we have also worked as editors for some entertainment magazines before, and have some experience in publishing literary works. We have recently officially switched to publishing literary works.”

Cheng Yongxin was greatly disappointed. It was hard to call a new publishing house that had just changed its business professional. It was far from his expectations.

Taro Yoda actually concealed some information.

Enter Brain was originally just the editorial, sales and business departments of that film and television company.

These divisions were transferred to a holding subsidiary of Kadokawa and reorganized into a new company, which has only been established for about four months.

Although the company has developed well in later generations, it is now undoubtedly just a small publishing house and a branch of Kadokawa Shoten.

Although Chen Linfeng didn't know the truth behind it, he could guess that this Japanese man would definitely not tell everything.

He patiently asked, "What are your company's corresponding promotional strategies and channels?"

Taro Yoda gave an overview of the strategies and promotional resources they had prepared.

As expected, when it comes to the actual situation, although the company executive tried very hard to cover it up, his words still showed his timidity. Even though it is under Kadokawa and can borrow some of the group's resources, the newly established small company will not have a very high status in the Kadokawa system, and its resources are very limited.

Chen Linfeng didn't say anything definite, he just said he would think about it.

If the last one doesn’t work out, I’ll have to settle for this one. After all, their attitude seems pretty good.

Taro Yoda went out with a gloomy face.

"The Chinese are so shameless that they actually dare to reject Kadokawa's proposal." At this time, he completely brought himself into the headquarters.

It’s a pity that he learned the news in advance through his connections.

I came here before the main department just to get a chance to grab a good work for the startup company.

Once the people from Kadokawa headquarters arrive, he will definitely have no chance at all.

The people from the third Kodansha were well-behaved and finally didn't cause any trouble. They came in with a businesslike attitude.

Chen Linfeng breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, this company was his preferred target. In his previous life, "Kara no Kyoukai" and "Fate Zeeo" were both published through them.

Kodansha is a large comprehensive publishing house in Japan that has published a large number of popular literary novels and is very familiar with this kind of promotion.

Moreover, Kodansha dominates most of Japan's literary awards. By cooperating with them in the future, you may have a chance to win an award or something, which is an important part of building your image.

Kodansha sent people from the planning, editing and sales departments this time, led by the editor-in-chief of the editorial department.

They explained in detail the company's promotion methods and channel resources, and finally provided Chen Linfeng with two conditions to choose from.

One is a buyout, and the price is 1000 million yen per novel, which is the same as the final price given by Shueisha.

The other is royalty sharing, which is 10 points.

Editor-in-chief Nobuhiko Noma concluded, "New authors of light novels are generally given 8%. Chen Jun's novel will be sold as a light novel, and 10% is already a good price among light novel writers."

This is a normal business negotiation, what the hell are the first two!

Chen Linfeng was quite satisfied with Kodansha's conditions and was inclined to cooperate with them.

I generally agree with the publicity strategy they promised, but I still have to fight for the conditions that need to be fought for.

“As far as I know, the royalty rate for light novel authors is the lowest because 2% of the royalties for published light novels have to be given to illustrators, and I have already drawn all the illustrations for Fate, so I don’t have to pay the other 2% of royalties.

In other words, after deducting the 2% for illustrations, the royalty share your company gives me is the treatment for a novice and the minimum standard. I don't think this is a reasonable number.

Since your release strategy is to release Fate first and then Book of Life and Death later, I think we should discuss these two works separately."

Nobuhiko Noma discussed in a low voice with the people behind him and agreed to increase the proportion of "Fate" to 11%. After deducting the royalties for illustrations, the pure text was equivalent to 9%.

Secondly, some one-time fees were added as basic remuneration.

"The Book of Life and Death" was considered a latecomer. After "The Beginning of Destiny" had been warmed up to a certain extent, the conditions were relatively higher. In the end, it was given to Chen Linfeng according to the 10% ratio of mature writers.

Such conditions are more suitable. It is not impossible to strive for higher conditions, but it is not advisable to make the relationship too tense. It is better to quit while you are ahead.

Chen Linfeng hesitated for a moment, but still did not make a decision on the spot. "I am generally satisfied with these conditions, but as you know, I am still a minor. Such a big thing needs to be discussed with my family. Please wait for a while. I will give you an accurate answer within three days."

Noma Nobuhiko suddenly thought of the troubles of signing a contract with a minor, and asked anxiously, "Are any of Chen Jun's parents coming with the group? If not, then even if the cooperation is reached, it will take a long time for Chen Jun's family to get a visa and fly to Neon."

(End of this chapter)