Daming: Wanted to be a small landlord, but was forced to ascend the throne

Chapter 187 The pirated bookseller who robbed directly

"It's just some performances! Let me tell you that I met a troupe from Datong on the road. It's a small family. It's very pitiful. They rely on performances to earn expenses on the road, and they actually acted in my script. But they probably also heard some jokes, and they acted half-and-half, and I even gave them some pointers."

An Yongzhen said with a sigh.

Qin Shao understood An Yongzhen's mood.

After all, it would be uncomfortable for someone to steal the script that I worked so hard to write.

Qin Shao didn't understand ancient times before, and always thought that ancient people had no awareness of anti-piracy.

After getting in touch, I discovered that, in fact, literati in this era have a strong sense of copyright, but they can't stop piracy.

Moreover, the pirated booksellers in this era are as arrogant as those in the previous life, or even better.

The pirates in the Song Dynasty were quite arrogant and directly started the stealing mode.

Zhu Xi was the writer most closely watched by pirates in the Song Dynasty.

You must know that his book "Four Books Chapters and Sentences" is the only officially designated textbook and reference book for imperial examinations in the Southern Song Dynasty.

After he became famous, all the books he wrote were sold out quickly.

Naturally, it aroused the coveting of some pirated booksellers.

The manuscripts of his books such as "Yilao Yuanyuanlu" and "Four Books or Questions" were stolen before they were published.

How could Zhu Xi not be annoyed when he saw that Baihuahua's silver was about to be obtained, but was robbed halfway?
Reported directly to the official, wanting the official to recover it for him, but it turned out to be useless.

The manuscript was spread out and directly pirated on a large scale, and it couldn't be stopped at all.

The thief was aggrieved when he was caught, saying that he did that because he admired Master Zhu so much.

Can scholars' things be considered stealing?

In addition, Zhu Xi reported to the official that his book was pirated, but the imperial court did not have any regulations on punishment for pirated editions.

The result can only let it go.

Zhu Xi was so angry that he almost vomited blood, and complained to his friends that he had lost too much money!
Later, when Zhu Xi wrote a book again, he announced in advance that if anyone wanted to steal his manuscript again, he would directly report it to the officials and rob him, and he would no longer be punished as a pirated copy.

Those booksellers have restrained a lot. You must know that a conviction for robbery is very serious.

Later, many people who wrote books would report to the government for the purpose of getting the government to issue a certificate stating that the book was written by themselves and that they were the masters.

It will also print "No reprinting" and "No engraving" on the book, which is equivalent to: All rights reserved, offenders will be prosecuted.

It's just that the Tao is one foot tall and the devil is one foot tall!
Pirate booksellers are basically scholars, and even more savvy scholars, they have more ideas.

Many people even change the appearance of books when they pirate.

Qin Shao once went to a book store to buy books, and wanted a copy of "The Compilation of the History of Tongjian" written by Li Dongyang.

The boss directly recommended a book that was almost half the price to him, saying that the content was similar.

Qin Shao opened it and found that the name was "Tong Yao of Past Dynasties", the author: Wuxi Qin Kui.

He directly shortened Li Dongyang's 92-volume book to 28 volumes.

But because it is cheap, there are many buyers.

And in order to attract people, booksellers will change the names of some books and sell them again.

Qin Shao had seen a storybook titled "The Story of the Elopement of a Lady from a Family", and only after opening it did he realize that it was actually "The Story of the West Chamber".

This Ming Dynasty bookseller's brain is really not covered!

In the final analysis, it is still the temptation of money.

As long as there are huge benefits, someone will take risks.

There are many books in the Ming Dynasty, especially some rare books from the Song Dynasty, which are quite valuable.

One must know that Qian Qianyi once sold a genuine Song edition book, and used the money to build a mansion for Liu Rushi. One can imagine how valuable the Song edition book is.

Some literati regard books as their lives, and the greatest wealth left to future generations is "my only son, the only scripture".

Even though books are valuable, opening a bookstore is not as easy as making money.

Otherwise, so many officials and gentry from aristocratic families in Shangjing would come to grab this cake.

Qin Shao has investigated these days and found that there are advantages and disadvantages to opening a bookstore.

The advantage is of course that the market potential is not small.

In this era, there are no televisions, mobile phones, and few entertainment activities.

Spiritual cultural entertainment means reading books, listening to opera scripts and the like.

Although the cost is not low, this is Shangjing after all. The country's largest middle and upper elites are concentrated here, and there is no shortage of cultural people.

Another point is that there is no need to pay taxes to open a bookstore!

Yes, selling books in Daming is tax-free!
"History of the Ming Dynasty": "Ming Hongwu: In addition to the tax on books and farm equipment, folks are exempt from taxation."

But there are also great disadvantages.

That is the high cost of selling books.

It's not like in the previous life, you opened a bookstore, rented the store directly, renovated it, and just purchased and sold books.

The big bookstores here basically have a facade bookstore in the front, a printing factory in the back, and a shop in the front and a factory in the back. The bookstore is not only a place for selling books, but also an editorial department, and a printing factory. It is completely a vertical integration of resources.

Qin Shao visited many bookstores like this, of course they were all big bookstores.

"Ziming, do you really want to open a bookstore? This business is actually not that profitable."

An Yongzhen was very excited at first, but when she really calmed down, she was a little worried.

He has written story books and has contacts with many booksellers. He knows a little about this industry and thinks it is not easy to make money.

Qin Shao understood what An Yongzhen meant.

Facade is nothing.

In this day and age, for those who run a business like a bookstore, appearance is not a big expense. The problem is that book printing is actually a risky business.

These days are basically engraving technology printing.

Block printing is to first write characters on a piece of thin paper, stick it on a wooden board, then carve the characters, and then add ink to print on the board.

Printing a book is basically a big project, and the cost is not low.

After engraving, many copies can be printed, the sales volume is very good, and it can make money.

If the sales volume is poor, it is basically a loss-making business.

Many bookstores not only need to consider the issue of consumables when printing books, but also have to support many engraving masters.

These are expenses.

And now in Shangjing, not to mention the official printing institutions of the imperial court, there are nearly twenty private printing factories.

They are mainly distributed in Zhengyangmen Inner Street, Xingbu Street, Xuanwumen Lane, Chongwenmen Lane, Taipingcang, and Guozijianqian.

These are all good positions.

These printing factories are basically a combination of bookstores and printing factories.

The engraved books are mainly classics, histories, subsets, poems and other scientific research books, as well as almanacs with relatively good sales. Of course, there are also some scripts, which are basically famous in the early days.

The printing of these scriptures is actually for drainage.

In addition, these scriptures are widely disseminated and well-known, so they are relatively easy to sell.

If Qin Shao opened a bookstore to print the same books as these bookstores, he would not have much advantage as a new bookstore.

Moreover, these bookstores have been open for many years, and they have many engraved editions of best-selling books in their hands. If there is a shortage in the store, they can just print them directly.

As a new bookstore, he couldn't compete with these bookstores in terms of price or customer connections.

Without its own advantages, it would be difficult for the business to make money, and it would be difficult for the bookstore to survive.

It's no wonder that An Yongzhen became worried after being excited for a moment.

Qin Shao also thought of some time-travel novels he had read before, and some time-travelers improved printing techniques, such as using movable type printing.

He thought about it too.

Just find it difficult to implement.

Even though during this period, some regions in the West seemed to have started large-scale movable type printing, but the situation was different.

They only have 26 subtitles, and it is easy and convenient to disassemble and assemble.

The Chinese character library is too large, and a book of "The Analects of Confucius" has more than 1 characters, such a workload...

As far as Qin Shao knew, Daming had experimented with movable type printing before, but in the end it was nothing.

The most important thing is to make so many fonts, which are still made of copper. The cost is not affordable for folk bookstores.

"Ziming, if you want me to say that we are not going to open this bookstore, why don't you just continue to run my storybook like before, let's find someone to rehearse and make a little money!"

An Yongzhen looked at Qin Shao and remained silent for a while.

Feeling that this matter is difficult to handle, directly advise.

He doesn't have much ambition, he just writes story books, as long as he can make a living.

As far as Qin Shao used that method earlier, for him, the money he earned was enough to live on.

"The book shop still needs to be opened, and the storybook needs to be rehearsed, both of which must be done!"

Qin Shao made up his mind and said.

(End of this chapter)