Exciting 1979!

Chapter 354 The Battle for Authorization: Wei Ming Becomes a Hot Commodity

This person had an Asian face, and Wei Ming immediately thought that the other person must be Chinese.

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Why's Lion King? My God, five million! It's already sold that many!"

“Yes, this is the total global sales for both the English and Chinese versions.” Seeing that a task had come up, Melinda immediately went over to agree.

Several publishers were just attracted by the imposing poster of "The Lion King," but they were all English publishers, and their businesses conflicted. Finally, someone who clearly wasn't from an English-speaking country showed up.

"Sir, where are you from?" Melinda asked.

"Oh, I'm a publisher from the United States."

Wei Ming: Oh, an American of Chinese descent. But this remark deflated Melinda's spirits.

The other party continued, "We not only have our own publishing company, but also our own chain of bookstores, with more than 50 bookstores in North America. The Lion King has been in the top ten of our chain's sales charts for three consecutive months."

Upon hearing that the other party also ran a bookstore, and on a considerable scale, Melinda became noticeably more enthusiastic: "The Lion King's excellence deserves such good results. We also have two new works by Mr. Why here, one about dinosaurs and the other about solving Rubik's Cubes. May I ask what they are called?"

Just call me Beyond.

Wei Ming, who was reading a book in the rocking chair behind, almost fell off. "Your name is Beyond?"
A Chinese-American named Beyond said, "I don't think I've seen these two new books on the market yet."

"Yes, this is their debut, and they may not be available in the US market for a while." As she spoke, she led them to the Rubik's Cube activity area, where Wei Hong was teaching several publishers how to solve Rubik's Cubes according to her own rules, and everyone was having a great time.

Beyond flipped through "Jurassic Park" again and then said, "Our bookstore wants 10,000 copies of each, and we hope to be the first bookstore in North America to receive them."

In addition to selling translation licenses in various languages, books can also be sold directly at book fairs. For example, the "China International Bookstore," which was later renamed China International Book Trading Group, was responsible for the import and export of books.

They not only want to distribute Chinese books abroad, but also import foreign books, periodicals, and audio-visual products.

Universities and libraries all have original foreign language books, and they all need such institutions to be responsible for importing them.

On the plane to here, Wei Ming had talked with colleagues from the International Bookstore. They were interested in importing the English picture book versions of "The Lion King" and "Brave Game," but the quantity would definitely not be too large. A thousand sets would be enough, mainly to facilitate English learners in China and foreigners in China.

Melinda was naturally happy to hear that each of them wanted 10,000 copies, but she was also a little worried for him: "Can your chain of bookstores handle that?"

This requires each store to sell 200 copies, which is no small amount.

Beyond said, "Our bookstores are mainly located in Chinese communities. Mr. Why is very famous in overseas Chinese circles, and Chinese children love Rubik's Cubes and other educational toys. I believe it should be a piece of cake. Maybe we'll need to restock in the future."

Since he said that, Melinda immediately prepared a letter of intent.

At this point, Beyond said, "Ms. Melinda, could you introduce me to Mr. Why? I would really like to talk to him in person."

Melinda flipped through the documents and pointed to the back: "Go and get to know them yourself."

Wei Ming put down the erotic book in his hand, stood up and waved to Mr. Beyond.

The other party was greatly surprised, excitedly took two steps forward, shook Wei Ming's hand, and said in Chinese with an accent somewhat similar to Melinda's: "Mr. Wei Ming, hello, my name is Gong Biyang, and I am the manager of Tangren Publishing Company in San Francisco."

Two questions immediately popped into Wei Ming's mind.

The first one: "Which gong?"

"Gong as in Gong Zizhen".

Wei Ming: Isn't that my Xue-jie's Gong?! Wei Ming immediately had a very good impression of this person.

The second question: "Mr. Gong, where are your ancestors from?"

“I am a third-generation immigrant to the United States. My grandparents moved from Shanghai to San Francisco.”

Hey, he's from the same hometown as Sister Xue, maybe even from the same family 500 years ago! Wei Ming's impression of him immediately improved.

Gong Biyang introduced their Tangren Publishing Company and Tangren chain bookstores.

"Our company has a long history of forty years, and our users are mainly of Chinese descent. Our bookstore has books in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and English. Another reason we wanted to meet you this time is to introduce the book 'The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes' to the United States."

Wei Ming asked in surprise, "You've read this novel in America too?"

"Yes, I saw the serialized version of Harvest magazine from mainland Chinese students studying abroad. It was so well-written. I heard it has already been published as a standalone book?"

“Yes, you can see it in Hall 6. I can take you there to take a look. We also have many books suitable for overseas compatriots.” Wei Ming was thinking of helping Director Liu and his team boost their sales.

"Okay."

Wei Ming then greeted Melinda and led Gong Biyang to Hall 6.

On the way, Wei Ming also asked him what type of Chinese books were most popular in the United States.

Gong Biyang has a lot to say on this: "Books about food and beverage, traditional culture, and medical care are most popular among foreign readers. A large part of the business in acupuncture and physiotherapy clinics in Chinatown comes from white people."

"Do you read a lot of literature?"

“Classical literature and works by great authors from the Republican era are still very popular. Of course, most of them are consumed by the Chinese community. I also read Lu Xun from a young age, and I read both Chinese and English versions. When I was a child, there were no good translations of the Four Great Classical Novels, so I read the original versions, which was quite difficult.”

"Haha, you've come at the right time. This time, our Foreign Languages ​​Press has brought the complete English translation of 'Dream of the Red Chamber.' If you didn't understand it before, you should be able to understand it more smoothly this time."

“Oh, really? Then we at Tangren Bookstore would certainly welcome that warmly!” He then added, “We also hope to publish an English translation of ‘The Road to Awakening’ in the United States, so that more Westerners can learn about this poignant and moving history.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Ming was taken aback: "You still want to buy the English translation rights for 'The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes'?"

"Yes, that's arguably my main purpose for this trip to Frankfurt."

Wei Ming smiled and shook his head: "Brother, you're lucky. You don't need our translation. Just wait for the translation by Mr. Yang Xianyi and Ms. Dai Naidie from our Foreign Languages ​​Press. They are the translators of 'Dream of the Red Chamber,' and their skills are quite profound. I don't know if you've heard of them."

“As someone who does this kind of work, I naturally know. I’ve read his and his wife’s English translation of ‘The Scholars,’ but our boss wants our company to translate and publish ‘The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes.’”

Wei Ming waved his hand: "There's no room for discussion. This is a decision made by the higher-ups."

Because "The Road to Awakening" involves many real historical figures from both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, some of whom are still alive, the English translation with the widest distribution must be firmly in our hands for the sake of political correctness. This is a struggle for the right of interpretation.

Gong Biyang was dejected, feeling he wouldn't be able to explain himself to his boss when he got back.

As they approached Hall 6, Gong Biyang said, "Mr. Wei, may I make a phone call first?"

"For your boss?"

"Correct."

"Okay, our booth is on the first floor. It's quite large and has Chinese lanterns hanging on it. Just come and find us when you come in. Don't confuse it with the Taiwan booth. I'll go in and take a look first."

Gong Biyang nodded and immediately went to find a place to make an international call.

The call went directly to Tangren Publishing Company. Gong Biyang was the president of Tangren Publishing Company. Above him was a general manager of a publishing company, who was in charge of both publishing and bookstore operations. He was also Chinese.

Above the general manager is a big boss; the publishing company is just one of her many businesses.

Gong Biyang couldn't reach the big boss, so he could only report to the general manager. Securing the English translation rights for "Renjian" before leaving was the most important task assigned by the general manager.

The general manager hesitated for a moment and said, "I will talk to the big boss and call your hotel later. But your priority right now is to acquire the copyrights to Wei Ming's other works. The big boss admires him very much."

"I admire him too, but not all of his works have market potential. I just discovered two of his new books, both of which are quite good, but some of his older works are probably..."

General Manager: "I don't care, you just have to do things that make the big boss happy."

When Gong Biyang made the phone call, the Chinese booth was also quite lively.

After the reform and opening up, we began to look at the world, and the world was very curious about China, which naturally attracted the attention of many foreign publishers.

However, having just come from the European and American regions and returned to the domestic market, Wei Ming could clearly feel the difference in appearance between domestic books. The covers and bindings were too simple and plain, and their visual appeal was naturally inferior.

Take Wei Ming's Chinese version of "The Lion King" for example; there isn't a single lion on the cover, although there are a few illustrations inside.

At that moment, an Asian man picked up a copy of "The Lion King," and Wei Ming immediately recognized that he was not Chinese.

Sure enough, Mike from the embassy soon went over to talk to him. After speaking a few sentences in English, he switched to Japanese. I didn't expect Mike to be such a pro!
Wei Ming couldn't understand what they were saying; he mainly learned everyday language, while they were using professional vocabulary.

Seeing him approach, Mike immediately greeted him, "Teacher Wei, over here!"

He introduced them to each other, explaining that this man was a staff member from Tokuma Bookstore who had been sent to Frankfurt specifically to handle copyright transactions.

Wei Ming politely shook hands with the other party. Tokuma Bookstore was quite good. Its founder, Tokuma Yasuyoshi, was a well-known left-wing pacifist who was even received by the Premier after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Tokuma Bookstore not only deals in books, but also in films. Tokuma Yasuyoshi has made many contributions to Sino-Japanese cultural exchange, including the two excellent co-productions, "An Unfinished Game of Go" and "Dunhuang".

Yasuyoshi Tokuma's greatest contribution to world culture was undoubtedly his support for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata in establishing Studio Ghibli.

Recently, exchanges between China and Japan have been very close, and there are usually special exchange activities for copyright cooperation between the two countries.

Previously, through this kind of Sino-Japanese exchange, Tokuma Shoten bought the Japanese translation rights to Wei Ming's "Niu Yu Niu Er" (牛与牛二), but it has not been translated yet, so Wei Ming is still a nobody in the Japanese literary world.

The middle-aged Kato Hiroto bowed formally to Wei Ming. He knew Wei Ming because he had heard his songs. Sada Masashi's Japanese version of "First Love" had already been released in Japan and was very popular among young people, and coincidentally, Kato Hiroto's girlfriend was quite young.

Furthermore, Masashi Sada mentioned Wei Ming, a literary figure he had in China, when he appeared on a television program.

Looking at Wei Ming's works, Kato Hiroto felt that Sada Masashi was not exaggerating. He was so young, yet he already had so many works, and he was even compared to writers like Lu Xun and Yu Dafu.

Kato casually picked up a copy of "The Lion King" and, relying on his decent understanding of Chinese, found himself engrossed in reading it. Although the story pattern of the lion cubs growing up in the lion kingdom reminded him of Osamu Tezuka's "Kimba the White Lion," the content and core of the story were completely different.

After reading only the beginning, Kato Hiroto decided to buy the Japanese translation rights for the novel and even thought about finding a manga artist to make it into a manga and serialize it in their manga magazine.

However, just as Mike was about to call Deputy Director Liu over for his decision, another Japanese man approached.

"The Lion King? Is it the Lion King that has sold 500 million copies worldwide?!"

Mike was unaware of the 500 million, and Wei Ming nodded without batting an eye.

Then, under the watchful eyes of Kato Hiroto, the other party began to introduce himself. He said he was from Kadokawa Shoten, also wanted to acquire the Japanese translation rights for "The Lion King," and that his surname was Kadokawa.

Kadokawa Tsutohiko is the younger brother of Kadokawa Haruki, the current president of Kadokawa Shoten, and the son of the former president.

Kadokawa Shoten is also very powerful in Japan. There is a saying that there are five major film companies in Japan, and one of them is Kadokawa Pictures.

However, Kadokawa's film business wasn't that strong at the time. It was only after acquiring Daiei Co., Ltd. from Tokuma Shoten that it entered the ranks of the top five film companies.

Both companies had their eyes on "The Lion King," but when Liu Gao arrived, he awarded it to Tokuma Bookstore without even letting them compare prices.

Tokuma Yasuyoshi is considered an old friend of the Chinese and knows many people in the domestic publishing industry, while Kadokawa Shoten doesn't have such a high profile.

However, Kadokawa Tsuhiko was not discouraged and stood aside to look at Wei Ming's other works.

His Chinese wasn't very good, but he brought a Chinese translator with him, hoping to find other treasures in Wei Ming's works. He then discovered that the story of "The Book of Wonders" was very interesting and richly illustrated.

Wei Ming introduced the novel and mentioned that there is also an animated version that is about to be completed.

"The animation was a collaboration between Shanghai Animation Film Studio and the BBC," he said.

"Sigh!" Kadokawa Tsutohiko had obviously heard of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. He quickly flipped through "The Legend of the Heavenly Book," looked at all the illustrations, and then said to Deputy Director Liu Gao, "I'd like to talk about this novel."

After finishing "The Lion King," Kato Hiroto became anxious when he saw that Kadokawa Tsutohiko had taken a liking to another book. He quickly picked up a sample copy of "The Legend of the Heavenly Book" and became very interested in it.

The competition began, and this time Deputy Director Liu asked the two to each state their terms, including licensing fees, royalty sharing, commitments on publication and distribution timelines, and initial print runs, etc.

Mr. Why has international fame, so he must make good use of it to earn more foreign exchange for the country.

Just as the two major Japanese publishing giants were locked in a fierce battle over Wei Ming, Charlotte Gaskell arrived, accompanied by Minford.

Wei Ming quickly stepped forward to greet them. The two of them were there for Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie's English translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber". At this time last year, the last volume of "Dream of the Red Chamber" had not yet been published. This year is the first time that the complete set of this version has been officially launched. Recently, many English publishers have expressed interest in this set of books.

However, seeing that Wei Ming was also there, the two came to his side.

"Aunt Charlotte, are you planning to buy something? I can help you with your shopping."

Mei's mother smiled and said, "I heard you have a collection of short stories and novellas."

Wei Ming quickly pulled out "Animal Ferocity" and Charlotte handed it to Minford.

Minford watched as Charlotte pointed to a cat plush toy on the stall: "I have a cat like that, except it's not wearing clothes."

Wei Ming immediately took it: "Then it's yours."

These are Black Cat Detective dolls. Wei Ming had a large batch sent from his hometown, and he packed one of them into a bag to bring to Germany, intending to use it to promote "Black Cat Detective".

As a children's story series that combines science and entertainment, Wei Ming felt that this story was worth promoting, but no one was optimistic about it because the black cat was wearing a police uniform.

Charlotte didn't seem to care much, and after taking the doll, she asked, "What story did it tell?"

Wei Ming immediately explained the creative process behind "Black Cat Detective," detailing one of the stories and giving her the first volume of "Black Cat Detective," which contained many illustrations created by Wei Ming and A Long together.

Charlotte's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she asked in surprise, "What a very interesting idea! Melinda didn't manage to secure the English translation rights for this book?"

She said she doesn't really like cats.

"It's just that she was scratched by a cat when she was little. If she hadn't been so naughty as to provoke the cat, why would it have scratched her? Cute cats usually don't cause trouble on their own initiative."

So that's how it all happened. But Wei Ming had reservations about the last sentence: the police chief in the family often took the initiative to provoke Yinxing, acting all cheeky.

Charlotte added, "I'm very interested in the story of this black cat managing the forest and solving cases, but not every country's police are as respected as the police in mainland China. Perhaps that's Melinda's concern."

That's true. Right now, the reputation of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force isn't great. It only improved after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) came out. British police aren't popular either. In the Sherlock Holmes series, British police are always portrayed as slow, dull, and lacking in insight. The protagonists of foreign detective novels are mostly detectives, with few being former police officers.

Therefore, Charlotte suggested, "If Penguin were to promote and publish the English translation of this novel, I might change it to 'Detective Black Cat,' give it a top hat, a walking stick, and make it a famous detective who assists the police in solving cases, while keeping everything else basically the same."

Wei Ming was considering the pros and cons of doing this when Gong Biyang arrived. He had just been standing by and listening for a while.

Seeing that Charlotte was interested in "Black Cat Detective", he quickly said, "Your unauthorized alteration of Mr. Why's original work is completely superfluous, Mr. Wei. Our Tangren Publishing House also wants to obtain the English translation rights for this "Black Cat Detective" and guarantee an authentic translation."

Charlotte looked at Gong Biyang, who had suddenly appeared, and said, "Tangren? Never heard of it. Wei, you should know the power of Penguin. In the field of children's book publishing, we are even stronger than Macmillan."

"Excuse me, are you Ms. Gaskell from Penguin Books?" At that moment, Mr. Ye Junjian walked over from another corner of the booth.

"you are?"

"My name is Ye Junjian. I am a translator and I studied at Cambridge University."

“Oh, we’re alumni! Did you write ‘Mountain Village’?” Charlotte shook hands with him.

"Yes."

Mr. Ye is capable of writing directly in English; "Mountain Village" is a novel he wrote during his studies at Cambridge.

After a lively conversation, Wei Ming said to Gong Biyang, "Take a look at my other works; they're quite good too."

Then he gave Gong Biyang a copy of "Ferocious Animals".

At this point, the battle between Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Shoten has been decided, with Kadokawa Shoten winning the round with "The Legend of the Heavenly Book".

However, Tokuma Shoten's Hiroto Kato has set his sights on Jurassic Park.

This book has not yet been officially published as a standalone book in China. Some sample copies were made temporarily for export purposes to generate foreign exchange, and an English story synopsis was attached to the cover.

Kato Hiroto understands Chinese, and after reading it, he showed interest in the story. Perhaps the description of the main characters being chased by giant dinosaurs reminded him of the fear of being dominated by Godzilla.

At this moment, the venue bell rang, it was 12 o'clock, time for lunch, and it also meant that the general public was beginning to be allowed to enter.

Deputy Director Liu patted Wei Ming on the shoulder: "Let's have a meal first."

Wei Ming quickly replied, "I saw a Western restaurant nearby."

Director Liu shook his head: "No need, I've already had Xiao Kuai bring over the dumplings."

Wei Ming: "..."

Wei Ming ate dumplings with everyone, while Wei Hong was taken by Melinda to eat German pork knuckle and German pork leg.

After they left, the two new books, "The Rubik's Cube" and "Jurassic Park," sold over 100,000 copies to various English bookstores. "Jurassic Park" and "The Lion King" also sold translation rights to several countries, which can be described as a great success.

"cheers."

Melinda and Wei Hong even had a small drink together. Melinda drank wine, while Wei Hong drank grape juice. After all, they were still minors, and drinking alcohol would affect their speed in solving the Rubik's Cube.

Wei Hong was overjoyed: "I earned tens of thousands of dollars in just half a day, it's unbelievable!"

"Now I can save up the money for studying abroad myself."

“Yes, that’s enough, but not all of this money is mine,” Wei Hong said. “My classmates also provided a lot of help when I was creating it, so half of my share will be left to our Peking University Rubik’s Cube Club.”

At that point, the Peking University Rubik's Cube Club might become the public enemy of all clubs in Yenching University. With so much money, how are we supposed to survive?
"Have you thought about where you'd like to study abroad? How about Oxford or Cambridge?" Melinda asked.

Wei Hong shook her head: "I've already decided on my target, Stanford University."

"Oh, it seems you're going to seek refuge with Wei Lingling."

"Sister Mei, you know my aunt too?"

"Of course, we are your brother's right-hand men."

"Do you know exactly what my aunt's relationship is with our family?" Wei Hong asked softly. "Is she from Taiwan?"

At the table behind them sat an Asian woman and a Caucasian man, who appeared to be a couple. When Wei Hong mentioned "Taiwan," the Asian woman turned around and glanced back.
……

(End of this chapter)