1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 609
Li Xin said: "Yu Qiuyu called and said he wanted to discuss the royalties."

When Li Xin said this, his expression was a little hesitant.

It has been more than four months since Guowen Society published "Cultural Journey" in Qiuyu.At the beginning of publication, no one in the Guowen Society was optimistic about this collection of essays.

One reason is that the author Yu Qiuyu is not well-known in the domestic literary circles, and the other reason is that Yu Qiuyu's prose style is different from previous works.

But no one expected that such a collection of essays would sell 50 copies within more than four months of its release, and the Guowen Press urgently reprinted it six times.

In the process of reprinting, "Cultural Journey" broke the perception of the collection of essays by everyone in the Guowen Society time and time again.

Reprint 15 copies, 15 copies, [-] copies, [-] copies, [-] copies...

The readers of "Cultural Bitter Journey" seem to be a bottomless pit. No matter how much the Guowen Press prints, they can snap up this collection of essays in a short time.

In the 40-year history of the Guowen Society, the Guowen Society has never produced such a monstrous book.

Even if the author is not well-known and his style is unique, and the genre is not popular, how did he manage to sell 50 copies in four months?

This question is not only a question lingering on the heads of all the people in the Guowen Society, but also a knot in the minds of all publishers across the country.

No, why is it?

However, if you can't figure it out, you can't figure it out. This does not prevent everyone from following suit and making money.

Since "Cultural Journey" became popular, even the Guowen Society has to take advantage of the momentum to release several collections of essays, let alone those publishing houses outside.

In just two months, the volume of prose collections published by major domestic publishing houses has exploded, and a hundred flowers bloomed at once, forming a powerful trend that makes readers dizzy.

Not to mention the prose trend triggered by "Cultural Journey", but Yu Qiuyu was happy at first after seeing his prose collection sell well.

He himself is a cultural scholar. Although he has published books before, they are all academic works, so don't even think about sales.

The essays in "Cultural Journey" are all works written by him during his lectures and investigations at home and abroad for many years. A rapturous welcome.

But after being happy for a short time, he began to feel depressed again. The cause was a conversation he had with his friend.

His friend is an editor of a publishing house in Shanghai. The two had dinner together that evening. During the dinner, his friend talked about the success of "Cultural Journey" after its publication, which touched Yu Qiuyu's heart and made him extremely proud.

But after his friend praised him, he asked casually, "Qiu Yu, the manuscript fee paid by the Guowen Society for publishing your book must be very high, right?"

Yu Qiuyu smiled and said, "Guowen Society is very fair and gave 8% of the royalties."

The friend said: "8%, that's a lot. But..."

When the friend said this, he pretended to be hesitant Yu Qiuyu couldn't help asking: "But what?"

"However, judging from the current sales volume of "Cultural Journey", the royalties that Guowen Society gave you are really not high, at least 10%!"

Yu Qiuyu smiled and waved his hands when he heard the words, "Who would have known that books could sell so well?"

The friend smiled and said, "That's right, I think it's easy."

After speaking, Yu Qiuyu didn't take the conversation during the banquet seriously.

But when I got home, Yu Qiuyu was lying on the bed in the middle of the night, but I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, all I could think about was the phrase "at least 10%" from my friend.

His "Cultural Journey" is priced at 3.2 yuan, 50 copies are 160 million yards, and the difference of 2% in royalties is a gap of 3 yuan. 3 yuan, new houses can't be thought of, but buying in Shanghai It's no problem to get a house in the condo, and there are even some leftovers.

After thinking about it for several days, Yu Qiuyu finally couldn't hold back and called the Guowen Society.

His call was to Li Xin, and the editorial review of "Cultural Journey" was in charge of the first editorial office of contemporary literature.

After listening to Yu Qiuyu's thoughts, Li Xin also scratched his head.

In the past, when the works sold well, the Guowen Society did not fail to pay the authors supplementary manuscript fees.Just in Mr. Lin's tenure, there have been many things where the contract was changed and the profit was given to the writer.

But what made Yu Qiuyu scratch his head was that the royalty share given to him by the Guowen Society was not low, but Yu Qiuyu now wants more, which is not easy to deal with.

Li Xin wanted to reject Yu Qiuyu. After all, the previous royalties were not low, but "Cultural Brigade" is a big hit now, so it is hard for him to say no directly.

He asked Yu Qiuyu to wait for his news, and he went to discuss with the leader, who was naturally referring to Lin Weimin.

After listening to Yu Qiuyu's request and Li Xin's own thoughts, Lin Weimin said with a relaxed expression, "What am I supposed to do? Promise him and give him 10% of the royalties, not only for this book, but for the next one." You can also give him this amount. In addition, he will make up for the difference in royalties from the last printing."

Li Newsyan's face was full of surprise, "Ms. Lin..."

"what happened?"

Li Xin hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't help but said: "You are too easy to talk."

Lin Weimin laughed and asked, "You mean you don't agree to Yu Qiuyu's request?"

Li Xin hesitated. In fact, he knew very well what might happen if he didn't agree to Yu Qiuyu's request.

If Yu Qiuyu's request for royalties is not agreed this time, then his next book will most likely not be given to the Guowen Society.With the popularity of "Cultural Journey" and Yu Qiuyu's current popularity, it is certain that his next work, or even the next few works, will sell well.

For the sake of 2% royalties, it is possible to shut out such writers, which is obviously not a good deal.

However, the Guowen Society was obviously good at Qiu Yu, and no one was optimistic about the collection of essays when it was published. It was Mr. Lin who took the initiative to send out the invitation and gave him a good royalty share.

When Li Xin thought of this, he felt depressed for a while.

Lin Weimin looked at Li Xin standing there, his expression changed, and he asked with a smile, "What do you think? Do you agree or not?"

Li Xin said with difficulty: "From the perspective of the society, I should agree."

Lin Weimin nodded slightly.

"We work in a publishing house, not only for cultural work, but also a business. Since it is a business, the most important thing is to make money through harmony.

Assuming that "Cultural Journey" does not sell well, do you think he has the confidence to ask us to increase the royalties?

The biggest advantage of the royalty system is that, to a certain extent, the publishing house and the writer share the risk. If the works sell less, the writer gets less, and the publishing house earns less, and vice versa.

I know where you feel uncomfortable. In the past, the agency took the initiative to increase the authors’ fees and royalties. Now someone suddenly proposed it. Do you think this person is a bit too snobbish?
But have you ever thought about a question, in fact, it's not that the writers in the past didn't think about asking the agency to raise their prices, it's just that many people were too embarrassed to speak up.

Active or passive, this matter is not important, nor should we consider it.

The important thing is that we hold writers and work resources in our hands.As long as his works sell well, what does it matter if he pays a higher royalty?It's not as high as the sky, after all, it's within a reasonable range.

On the spur of the moment, someone publishes his next book and submits it to another publishing house. His reputation has already been gained, and his works will not worry about selling. What good does it do for our publishing house? "

Lin Weimin's tone was calm and unhurried, but Li Xin was completely convinced by it.

It's not that he doesn't know what Lin Weimin said, it's just that in his heart, his anger at Qiu Yu's greed and snobbery overwhelms his rationality from the perspective of the publishing house as a whole.

This is also the trap that many people are most likely to fall into when thinking about problems, being influenced by emotions rather than rationality.

Li Xin thought of Lin Weimin's statement that he would also repay Yu Qiuyu with the difference in the royalties from the last printing. He couldn't help asking, "Mr. Lin, do you think a person like him will be moved by our behavior?"

Lin Weimin asked back: "Who said I wanted to impress him?"

Li Xin looked at Lin Weimin, but didn't react for a while.

Lin Weimin asked with a smile: "In your heart, what kind of person is he?"

Li Xin's lips were muffled, but he didn't say anything.

But Lin Weimin already knew what he was going to say, and continued to ask: "Have you ever heard of petty profit?"

Li Xin's mind suddenly brightened, and he immediately understood Lin Weimin's intentions.

Yes, for a person who is short-sighted and greedy for small profits, what is more attractive to him than the small profits in front of him?

Now that Yu Qiuyu is well-known, there must be many publishing houses that want to cooperate with him, and many of them will offer high prices. How can the Guowen Press retain people like him?
Relying on this petty profit.

Thinking of this, Li Xin couldn't help but come up with another thought.

Mr. Lin did this not only from the perspective of business, but also from the perspective of righteousness.

You see, you proposed to change the contract, and we agreed.Not only agreed, but also added a little more to you, which can be described as the utmost benevolence.

When this matter gets out, who can boast that the Guowen Society is unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness?

In the future, when Yu Qiuyu thinks of Yao Mozi again, even saliva can drown him.

Teacher Lin is tall!

Li Xin thought for a while, and looked at Lin Weimin with admiration full of admiration.

"Mr. Lin, I understand!" He said excitedly.

Lin Weimin nodded, "Just understand. I will call Yu Qiuyu later and ask him to come to Beijing to change the contract. By the way, the priority right to sign the next book will be included in the contract."

Li Xin immediately showed a tacit smile, "Yes."

No wonder it took Mr. Lin only one year to run the Tongwen Agency in a good and colorful way. Look at his brain.

"Okay, let's go."

Li Xin strode vigorously back to the office and called Yu Qiuyu back.

"Oh! Old Yu, you have to treat me to dinner this time!"

(End of this chapter)