Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 294 "A lifetime of love, a glass of wine, a special song from the city"

"Why, can't it be done?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Of course!" Bai Miao agreed wholeheartedly: "I once mentioned this matter to Editor Zhang and President Huang. Editor Zhang rejected it outright, and President Huang's attitude was ambiguous. Minghua, how did you convince President Huang?"

"Do you still need persuasion? The plan for the editor-in-chief competition is very clear. The editor-in-chief is responsible. I have the final say on how to run this magazine." Fang Minghua said lightly.

Of course, Fang Minghua was not unreasonable. He had communicated this matter with President Huang in advance.

"Okay, I'll go!" Bai Miao agreed immediately.

"I heard from my uncle that the other party is a wine seller. You know I can't drink now and it's all up to you." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Don't worry, I will risk my life for our magazine this time!" Bai Miao said with a sigh of relief.

After work, Fang Minghua and Bai Miao rode straight to Xijing Restaurant.

Song Yuemin has arrived, wearing casual clothes, and there are three middle-aged men. The leader is a tall and burly man, who is Song Yuemin's comrade Wu Jianye, the deputy director of Chenggu Winery.

Sure enough!

I finally became the deputy editor!
I wholeheartedly supported Fang Minghua’s bid to be the editor-in-chief. Of course I admired his ability and agreed with his concept of running a magazine, but why didn’t I have my own ideas in my heart?
After Fang Minghua became the editor-in-chief, one of the deputy editor positions must belong to him.

Do you want me to be creative in advertising?

"Hello, Deputy Editor Bai." Director Wu extended his right hand again.

Several people raised their glasses to express congratulations, and Fang Minghua also raised his glass. Wu Jianye looked at him, his face flushed: "To be honest, we are all rough people. We need to think of a nice word for this advertisement, right? Editor Fang, you You are a cultural person, why don’t you think of something for us?”

"Hello, Director Wu." Bai Miao smiled with a smile on his face, and he was even more ecstatic in his heart.

After hearing this, Fang Minghua hurriedly smiled and said: "Director Wu, Brother Yuemin must have told you that I can't drink recently, for the sake of the next generation. But I called my colleague, he is a hero in drinking."

After introducing both parties, Wu Jianye held Fang Minghua's hand and said, "Editor Fang, I heard from Song Yuemin that you were promoted to editor-in-chief. It's such a happy event. I want to have a few drinks with you today to express my congratulations."

Fang Minghua pondered for a moment and said, "How about calling it: a lifetime of love, a glass of wine, and Chenggu special music?"

Then Fang Minghua said: "Let me introduce to you: This is the deputy editor-in-chief of our magazine, Comrade Bai Miao."

Fang Minghua stopped drinking recently, but he poured a glass and tasted it.

Everyone took their seats. Director Wu pointed to a bottle of wine on the wine table and said, "Let's try the Chenggu Tequ produced by our factory today and see how it tastes compared to your Xifeng wine."

Of course, I didn't forget to get down to business. It was finalized at the wine table that Chenggu Tequ was willing to buy the first advertising space after the title page of "Yanhe" magazine for 5 yuan, starting from May, for a period of one year, tomorrow Director Wu took people to the magazine to formally sign the contract.

Seeing that you are my first customer and my uncle’s comrade-in-arms, I will give you one for free.

Everyone was drunk until the end.

Fang Minghua couldn't drink, and Song Yuemin didn't drink well either. Bai Miao and Director Wu were there drinking one glass after another. They were all great drinkers, and the four of them actually drank six bottles of Cheng Gutequ.

It has a round taste and rich aroma, which is really good.

"Okay! Let's call it this!" Director Wu immediately clapped his hands and applauded: "I'll find someone to design a layout for us right away!"

After settling the 8 yuan advertising fee for Chenggu Winery, Fang Minghua contacted Qin Terracotta Milk Powder, a dairy company in Xijing, and sold the advertising page on the back of Chenggu Winery for yuan.

The first phase of Fang Minghua's advertising expansion business has come to an end. Originally, he planned to add an advertising page to the back page of the magazine, but after careful consideration, he decided not to do it for the time being. He had to eat one bite at a time and not take too big steps.

Today is Fang Minghua's first editorial meeting since he took over as editor-in-chief. More than 20 editors are sitting in the conference room on the fourth floor, all of them very excited.

Well, in just a few days, Fang Minghua has brought in a net income of 18 yuan for the magazine. This would have to be earned by selling 36 magazines, and this is still gross income!

If converted into net income, we would have to sell 180 million copies!

Last year, the magazine sold nearly 150 million magazines in one year!
This year’s unit bonuses and benefits.
The editors seemed to have a few more unity cards in their pockets.

Of course, everyone here is a scholar, and intellectuals can’t just think about money.

There is another important matter to be announced today, the candidates for the three new deputy editors!
The Provincial Writers Association hired Fang Minghua as editor-in-chief, and Fang Minghua as deputy editor-in-chief, also for a period of three years.

"Comrades, according to my proposal, I have reported it to the Provincial Writers Association for record. Now I announce:" Fang Minghua sat on the rostrum with a serious look on his face: "Bai Miao, the deputy editor is also the leader of the novel group."

"Zhao Muchun, deputy editor-in-chief and leader of the poetry and prose group."

"Liu Xuefeng, the deputy editor-in-chief and the leader of the literary criticism team, will invite three people to come to the stage to receive the appointment letter."

The venue immediately burst into warm applause.

No one was surprised that Fang Minghua promoted these three people to deputy editors.

Li Tianfang, the original deputy editor and leader of the novel team, has been transferred to the Writers Association to specialize in writing. Wang Yu, the original deputy editor and leader of the literary review team, led a few people to found the "Novel Review" publication. The vacant position naturally went to Fang Minghua. people on top.

These are usually editors that Fang Minghua admires and are very close to him.

After the conference, Fang Minghua left three deputy editors, and the four held a small meeting to discuss the work of the new editorial department after its establishment.

"I won't go into the general truth. We raised 18 yuan in advertising fees, and all the comrades in the unit were very happy. This greatly eased the financial pressure on the magazine, but this is not fundamental."

"The most fundamental thing about a good magazine is whether the content of the works you publish is of high quality and whether the readers like it." Fang Minghua said with a serious expression: "This is the foundation of our magazine, and it is also an urgent problem that needs to be solved. What do you have? Please share your good opinions and suggestions.”

"I say!" Bai Miao was the first to speak: "To publish good works, the fastest way is to invite some excellent writers for manuscripts! Editor Fang, I suggest that in the name of the editorial department, we should ask Liu Suona, Mo Yan, and Ma It turns out that these newly emerging writers write letters to request manuscripts! Just like you did when you were in the novel group."

In 82, when Fang Minghua first joined the novel section of the editorial department as editor, he took advantage of various opportunities to request manuscripts from Wang Anyi, Li Baocun and others. Of course, he did not forget about writers such as Lu Yao from the province. The quality of the novels published in "Yanhe" at that time improved significantly. .

Unfortunately, he was soon transferred to the position of deputy editor in charge of the poetry and prose section. The poetry started to flourish, but the novels gradually fell into silence.

Even Liu Suona's article "I Have No Choice" was unwilling to be delivered to my door, allowing "People's Literature" to take advantage.

Now Fang Minghua listened to Bai Miao and said: "Bai Miao, your idea is very good, but it is not strong enough. Emerging writers like Mo Yan, Ma Yuan, and Liu Suona must be the only ones asking for manuscripts from us, right?" Why don't people vote for "People's Literature" but our "Yanhe"?"

"Editor Fang, you are so proud." Bai Miao said with a smile.

"Don't flatter me!" Fang Minghua cursed with a smile.

The other two laughed after hearing this.

"Okay, okay, no kidding." Fang Minghua didn't want to joke about this, and he continued: "My idea is to invite some young and middle-aged domestic writers to come to our Xijing to hold a symposium on literary creation, and everyone can sit down and chat together. Let’s talk about literature, and by the way, we can visit the Terracotta Warriors and climb the Big Wild Goose Pagoda!”

(End of this chapter)