A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 354 Recruiting Soldiers

At the Beijing News, with the popularization of information technology in newspaper operations, the internal server that needed to be set up has been completed.

In the future, people will no longer need to go to the editor-in-chief for review when they bring news articles. Instead, they can write the news articles on their computers and send them directly to the editor-in-chief through the internal system.

It's similar to the principle of email. After the editor-in-chief processes these "new emails," he continues to send them to the next level.

It will definitely be much more efficient.

The authority of the new media department is to ensure that the published news appears in the MMS every day, and then fill in the remaining content from the second-level or even first-level approved news.

At first glance, this department doesn't seem to have much real power, since it doesn't have reporters or editors, nor does it follow up on hot topics... But upon closer inspection, you'll realize that this department actually has quite a lot of functions.

However, this "large" range is very ambiguous.

For example, if after all the news at level 3 is entered today, there is still 50KB of content missing from the 100KB limit, then we need to find it in the lower-tier markets.

If there's news about a celebrity filming a movie, the newspaper might think it's not newsworthy and doesn't deserve to be published, but if the new media department sees it and thinks it's good as gossip, they'll put it in the MMS.

So... even if you can't see news about this celebrity in the newspaper, you can see it in MMS.

Li Mu's point of view is very simple.

Not everyone reads newspapers every day.

But... the future of mobile phones will definitely be one for everyone.

Therefore, his ambition was quite simple.

That is... to strive to have more subscribers to the Beijing News MMS news each month than the newspaper's circulation!

And as long as this is achieved...

The influence of the new media department will be amplified in all areas!

Currently, the number of users in China who have activated the MMS function has exceeded 600 million.

And this is data from the beginning of this year. After a year of growth, breaking 10 million is inevitable.

Putting everything else aside, let's just say it's ten million.

He doesn't want much, ideally one million stable subscribers... So, based on a price of 8 yuan per month, each MMS user can bring the group more than 6.5 million yuan in profit every month!

You should know that newspapers actually lose money.

Many people might not believe it, but the reality is... Take the Southern Metropolis Daily as an example. One copy of the newspaper costs 50 cents.

But what about the cost?

The printing cost of a 56-page (8-page) newspaper is around 6 cents. If you include the labor costs of reporters' gathering and editing, its price could be close to 8 cents, or even a dollar.

In other words, the Southern Metropolis Daily was actually losing money on every single newspaper it printed.

It profits from the GG content and publication volume mentioned above.

If you increase the number of issues published, the price of GG will be higher, and your income will be higher!

If you only publish newspapers and don't sell Google services, you'll be losing money hand over fist.

Newspapers that can be sent via MMS or WAP webpages don't have this problem. They don't even have much cost, because as the SP (Service Provider) for China Mobile and China Unicom, they simply share the monthly subscription revenue with these two service providers.

For each subscription by China Mobile and China Unicom user, 15% of the subscription fee is taken, and the remaining 85% goes to the Beijing News!

The cost incurred by The Beijing News was only a negligible amount, consisting of the salaries of a few department staff.

Therefore, as long as the circulation is high enough, the new media department won't need to worry about anything. The subscription fees alone will be a significant source of income every month.

This was also what Li Mu was most interested in.

And most importantly... this kind of news format doesn't exist in China yet! (Note 1)

He was the first person to try something new!

It would be a real shame if they didn't make a fortune!

Early on the morning of the 6th, Li Mu arrived at Wala Wala Company and met Guan Yue.

There's no need to elaborate on the negotiations; let's just talk about the results.

Li Mu stood behind the company's technician, watching him edit a "Beijing News Test MMS" message through the MMS management platform. The message was divided into sections such as "Politics, Economy, Culture, Sports and Current Affairs," and each section had an option for "Beijing News Test."

And in the user field, Li Mu's mobile phone number was entered.

Less than two minutes after he clicked send, Li Mu received a multimedia message.

After clicking on it, you can see the full content of this MMS message.

Become!

This management system is so user-friendly that even someone without technical knowledge can understand how to operate it with just one glance.

And even things like uploading pictures and editing content... actually have nothing to do with him.

He doesn't understand technology, but the new people he's about to hire do.

"Sure, no problem."

Li Mu made the decision on the spot.

The next step is contract negotiation.

Guan Yue provided the quote, and Li Mu took it directly back to the newspaper office for review. Once confirmed, a management system worth 28,000 yuan could be officially launched, and the Beijing News wouldn't even need to do any maintenance. Guan Yue and his team would be responsible for any issues that arose.

How much user market Li Mu can leverage with these 28,000 yuan will determine how much he can tap into.

……

After finishing this business, I had lunch with Guan Yue and we talked about the WAP webpage market, which is part of Li Mu's second step plan. I also took away a few questions that Guan Yue had prepared, which are for interviewing technical personnel.

Around 1 p.m., Li Mu made an overseas call.

It was a call to Li Xiaomu.

Li Mu has decided to publish his book, "I Work as a Guide in Kabukicho," in the newspaper.

The payment is 150 yuan per thousand words.

This amount of money is not much.

However, if we consider its promotional value, then it's quite suitable.

"Li Ji, about the publishing..."

"Brother Xiao Mu, let's start with serialization, just like Jin Yong and Gu Long did back then. If it gets a good response after serialization, I'll help you contact a publisher. You can come back later if you want. This time, just like we said, you find someone in China, sign an authorization letter, and let them handle the serialization entirely. I'll just pay the royalties to that person later."

"Okay, I understand. I'll contact them now and ask Li Ji for help."

"Haha, you're too kind. Let's get started. We'll launch on November 11th, and it will definitely be available via MMS this month. We'll arrange it for you right away then."

"Haha, no problem. By the way, Mr. Li, when are you coming to Tokyo...?"

Li Xiaomu wanted to arrange things for him in Tokyo.

But Li Mu wasn't very interested.

Although Kabuki culture is prevalent in Japan, he didn't find those girls attractive.

After chatting for a few more minutes, he rushed to his workplace.

Then I went straight to the Human Resources Department.

Upon seeing Zhou Lu, the woman who had helped him with his onboarding, he smiled and greeted her.

"Sister Zhou."

"Little Li is here."

Zhou Lu greeted him warmly, and without Li Mu even having to say anything, she took three thick folders from the side.

"Here you go, these are the job postings for your new media department. One is for editorial, one for technical, and one for operations."

Li Mu picked it up and thought to himself, "It's quite heavy."

Holding it in both hands, he asked:

"Sister Zhou, will we let you know after we've finished choosing?"

"Yes, proceed with the second round of interviews."

"Okay, got it? I'll be going now?"

"Um."

Carrying three large stacks of documents, Li Mu went straight down to the second floor.

This old office building has a very "administrative" style, similar to the TV series "The Editorial Department". It is configured in a two-to-one ratio, with one large office and two small offices, corresponding to the head and deputy head of each department.

The areas are all the same.

Although the New Media Department currently only has one leader, the Office Director, its administrative rank is the same as other departments, but Li Mu has nothing to do in these two offices.

For now, he can only share a large office with everyone else.

Only when he takes up the position of "deputy director" can the second office be put into use.

Back in the new media department office on the second floor, facing an empty desk, I could just spread out all the documents.

Li Muxian picked up the box of materials for the editorial team.

His expertise lies in editorial work. As for operations... the best candidates will be selected.

As for the technology...

He figured he'd have to ask Guan Yue for a favor.

So, after a busy afternoon, he selected the candidates he liked from the other two boxes of documents.

The two sets together comprise 31 people.

As for the technology...

There's nothing I can do; I can't understand it.

We need to find someone who knows the stuff.

"Hey, Professor Guan, I need to trouble you with something..."

……

11 month 8 number.

There are three days left until the launch of The Beijing News.

Bie Yan finally arrived in Yanjing.

At 9 a.m., Li Mu, who was sitting in his office, heard a noise, looked up, and made eye contact with his older brother.

"Brother Bie."

"Ha, um."

Bie Yan smiled and nodded, then walked in.

Li Mu then handed him the stack of personnel documents he was holding.

"Brother, these are the 44 people who came for interviews today. For the internet technology side, I asked the CEO of Wala Wala, who developed our system, to go through the questions. The interview questions for today's 13 technical staff are here. They are required to answer the questions on the spot. After collecting them, Guan Yue will review them for us."

"OK."

After a quick glance, Bie Yan had a general idea of ​​Xiao Li's recent work achievements:

"The group also said that they would set up a technical team in the logistics department, with a staff of about 2 to 3 people. If they recruit again in the future, it won't be so troublesome."

"It's not really troublesome, it's just treating someone to a meal."

Hearing Li Mu's words, Bie Yan nodded, glanced at the office door, and said in a low voice:

"I had dinner with Dong Huaiming again yesterday. We've basically gathered enough information on the big fish, and now we're starting to catch the smaller fish. This case... will be dealt with intensively at the end of the year. Our group has actually made preparations, but in my opinion, they're not very useful. In the next few days, disciplinary officials will be coming to talk to people in our group who were involved in the GG case. None of the three of us have touched this, but they might still ask us about the situation, so just keep that in mind."

"Understood."

"Okay, let's go, to the interview."

The older brother took the lead, and the two of them went out together.

(Note 1: In reality, it was the first MMS newspaper launched by the Yangtze Evening Post.)