1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 597 "Soulmate"

When Shen Changwen told Jiang Xian the news, Jiang Xian didn't expect that a book like "The Little Prince" would be so important to Sanlian Bookstore.

Ye Shengtao, Bing Xin, Jin Jin, Yan Wenjing, Hua Junwu
Each of these renowned names alone could be the subject of a highly valuable preface.

It is extremely rare in the entire publishing industry for these few people to jointly recommend a novel.

"They must have put in a lot of effort. It seems that Sanlian Bookstore really values ​​your 'The Little Prince' this time." Zhu Lin smiled, looking at Jiang Xian with satisfaction and admiration in her eyes.

Sanlian Bookstore is willing to put in so much effort because Jiang Xian's own novels are of high quality.
What did you say?

Blacksmith need its own hardware!
Jiang Xian had read the prefaces by several authors and couldn't help but feel a little expectant, wondering what the Sanlian Bookstore's edition of "The Little Prince" would look like after it was completed.

"I hope to see him soon."

After finishing this, Jiang Xian went downstairs to the public phone in the two buildings by Tuanjiehu and called Liu Xinwu. "Old Liu, has the manuscript I asked you to recommend been submitted?"

Wuhan.

Under the Wuchang Bridge.

As one of the hottest spots in Wuhan, the temperature remained high until October, turning the area under the Wuchang Bridge into a popular free swimming spot, packed with citizens who came to swim, with the river teeming with people.

This is an old tradition in Wuhan. After all, even he himself said: "The Yangtze River is wide and deep, making it a good place for swimming. The Yangtze River is deep and has a rapid current, which can strengthen one's will."

"thump."

Hu Xunbi plunged into the river and swam several laps with great enjoyment before climbing back to shore to wipe the river water off his clothes.

He is just over thirty years old this year, and his body is at its strongest.

"Old Hu, swim a few more laps."

"Garlic Bird, Garlic Bird."

Hu Xunbi waved his hand, "I still have things to do at work."

After saying that, he put on his half-wet shirt, rode his bicycle to work, and although the weather was hot and humid, Hu Xunbi did not feel that wearing clothes soaked with sweat and river water was particularly stuffy.

A calm mind brings coolness.

When you're in a good mood, you feel refreshed all over.

He was born in a rural area, but fortunately, his family valued education, and his older brother was a college student. When he was young, although he couldn't read books, he could read his brother's essays, and from his brother's essays, he gradually developed his own literary skills.

In addition, he also had an uncle who loved ancient literature and would often read him a few passages from "Amazing Stories" in his spare time.

So when she got to high school, Hu Xunbi began to try writing novels and other literary works.

During his time back in his hometown, he worked as a private school teacher and the secretary of the Youth League branch of the production brigade, and wrote news articles in his spare time.

He was eventually transferred to the district committee to work on communications and reporting, thus beginning his career in journalism.

As the buzzing subsided, opportunities soon began to come one after another for Hu Xunbi.

Because of his literary background, Hu Xunbi was first transferred to the Hubei Youth magazine as the head of the regional reporter station, and then transferred to the editorial department of Hubei Youth to work as a formal editor. He was soon promoted to editorial team leader.
And so it went until the year before last, when, under the climate of advocating the establishment of economic entities, various regions of the Federation proposed real-world projects.

The director of the provincial Fuxing Association at the time felt that running a business was difficult, but publishing a magazine for the Fuxing Association could be considered a "physical entity" and could better serve the vast number of Fuxing women.

After careful selection, the Avengers felt that Hu Xunbi, a young literary enthusiast, had the potential to be the editor-in-chief, so he was chosen as the "general" to take on the main responsibility and publish the magazine "Zhiyin".

Why is it called "Zhiyin" (Soulmate)?

At that time, almost all publications added the region name before their titles, such as "Beijing Literature" and "Shanghai Literature".

Therefore, when the cadres of the Avengers were discussing the name of the publication, the vast majority suggested "Hubei Province Women". In the end, they submitted a report to their superiors with the provisional names "Hubei Province Women" and "Family Inside and Outside", deciding to choose one of the two.

However, Hu Xunbi, a young literary enthusiast, felt that the title was too vulgar and not at all suitable for his focus on life and human nature, so he suggested to the Avengers that it be changed.

The Avengers then asked, "So, what do you think should be called?"

At that time, the market economy was just beginning, so Hu Xunbi also adopted a relatively market-oriented approach in deciding on the name.

He went to post offices, universities, and textile factories to collect magazine titles, and finally collected more than 30 titles. The leaders of the Avengers and the magazine preparation staff selected 10 of them for a vote. The result was that "Women's Light" received the most votes, and "Soulmate" came in second.

Hu Xunbi said that the Guqin Terrace in Hanyang, Wuhan, is the place where Bo Ya and Zi Qi met and found their soulmates. It is most appropriate to establish the "Zhiyin" magazine in the hometown of "Zhiyin".

More importantly, the name "Zhiyin" (知音) can capitalize on trending topics!

Didn't a movie like this just come out a few years ago? It was produced by Beijing Film Studio, directed by Xie Tieli, and starred famous actors Wang Xingang and Zhang Yu. What if some movie fans see it and think we have some connection with this movie? Maybe they'll buy it?
Of course, we can't say that to outsiders. We have to say that we feel the name "Zhiyin" (soulmate) is more in line with our cherished beliefs about "life and humanity".

Although the magazine was launched, its subsequent development was not easy. At that time, the government only allocated 30,000 yuan in funding and seven positions.

This money wasn't enough. Hu Xunbi borrowed another 7 yuan from his superiors to get the magazine up and running. This meant jumping straight into the market. Although it was a "public institution," every penny of income had to be earned in the market.

In later generations, newspapers and periodicals were mainly distributed in three ways: through post offices, through secondary retail channels, and through their own distribution.

During this period, the main channel for magazine distribution was post office subscriptions. Retail and "self-distribution" were often looked down upon and considered "unrecognizable," and few people had the courage to break through the traditional magazine sales methods.

Relying solely on postal subscriptions would be inefficient for the fledgling, self-financing "Zhiyin" magazine; doing so would have been a recipe for disaster from the start.

Under immense pressure and forced by reality, Hu Xunbi chose to build his own distribution team. Fortunately, they caught the wave of the wild growth period of the retail magazine distribution market.

Retail distribution became a risky move for "Zhiyin" magazine.

Wuhan is the largest transportation hub in central China.

So Hu Xunbi's team followed the trains, traveling all over the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and the Yangtze River. They went wherever the trains could reach. The employees rode tricycles through the streets and alleys of Wuhan, delivering goods and finding markets. Soon, at the end of last year, the actual circulation of the inaugural issue of "Zhiyin" magazine, priced at 35 cents, exceeded 1 million copies.

This also made the "Zhiyin" magazine a household name in Wuhan.

However, at the beginning of this year, while developing rapidly, Zhiyin magazine also encountered its first "turning point" in its growth period.

At the beginning of this year, 87, the monthly circulation of "Zhiyin" magazine continued to decline, once dropping to less than 20 copies.

Hu Xunbi didn't know where the problem was either. After some analysis, he concluded that as time went on, everyone lost the enthusiasm they had in the early stages of starting a business, and their physical and mental energy became fatigued, resulting in a continuous decline in the quality of the manuscripts.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the poor quality of the manuscript.

This is also the most awkward thing about "Zhiyin" magazine.

As a popular magazine, it's inevitable that they can't compete with traditional literary publications in terms of literary quality, and the quality of their manuscripts is poor. Faced with this situation, Hu Xunbi hurriedly tried to make several adjustments, but none of them had much effect.

Therefore, they had no choice but to take an unconventional approach.

If readers weren't satisfied with the previous half-vulgar style, then we'll go even further, vulgar enough to attract readers, vulgar enough to make them unable to put it down!
As a result, a large number of articles were quickly produced, all imitating the most popular articles on the market, using extremely exaggerated titles and ambiguous cover images to attract adults to buy them.

For example, novels like "The Hotel Hired Five Girls" and "The Arrest of the Playboy Boss" are generally quite veiled, but they are all very erotic.

The people who wrote these were all frustrated young men who were not successful in their literary pursuits. In modern terms, they were a group of "nerds" and a group of serious "male chauvinists." In the terms of the time, they were "older single men who couldn't find partners."

Hu Xunbi found many such authors. Don't underestimate these people just because they don't seem to have any talent. They are like duck eggs, full of yellow in their heads, always able to think of dark things that ordinary people can't think of.

The most frequently written content is of the "sad" or "creepy" type.

These men are extremely talented in this area.

Although there isn't much "substance" in it, the plot is basically based on fantasy, the writing style is that of someone who just graduated high school, it's not good at all, it looks fake, and it's all just words.

But strangely, it manages to attract readers.

Thanks to the group of authors she cultivated, Hu Xunbi's "Zhiyin" magazine quickly recovered from its slump, especially last month when the magazine's monthly circulation even exceeded 50!
With the situation looking very promising, Hu Xunbi was naturally overjoyed. As he watched the money come in, he gradually forgot about "life and humanity" and "serving Fu Nu".

"Editor-in-chief, we have received a letter."

Back in the editorial office, an editor placed a letter on Hu Xunbi's desk. "It's from Beijing."

"What letter?"

"Um"

Seeing the editor's hesitant expression, Hu Xunbi guessed what had happened, quickly opened the letter, and asked:

"Say it."

"This"

After hesitating for a moment, the editor spoke up, explaining that the letter was from writer Jiang Xian. The content was quite simple: he was very dissatisfied with the article published in the previous issue of their magazine, "Zhiyin," believing it to be a slander against him. He demanded that they retract the article, withdraw the published magazine, and then issue a public apology to Jiang Xian.

"Ah."

Hu Xunbi glanced at the letter, then slapped it aside. "Alright, I understand."

Seeing that he didn't react, the editor was a little puzzled. "Editor-in-chief, shouldn't we respond?"

"Respond? How should we respond?"

Hu Xunbi said irritably, "I'm telling you, you're not young anymore, why are you still responding to this kind of thing? Shouldn't you get your head checked?"

"This is Jiang Xian, after all."

What happened to Jiang Xian?

Hu Xunbi rolled her eyes. "What's wrong? Just because Jiang Xian is here, does that mean we have to listen to him? Take back the publication?"

As Hu Xunbi spoke, his eyes widened, and he slammed his hand on the table, shouting, "What's going on? Are you kidding me? He's just taking back over fifty publications like that?"

"But he is, after all, a leader of the Writers' Association, shouldn't we..."

What's wrong with the Writers' Association?

Hu Xunbi continued irritably, "Does the Writers' Association have any say in our Avengers? Besides, what can he do with just one article? If he wants to argue with us, then we'll play along. If things get out of hand, he'll be the one who gets sullied, and who knows, our 'Zhiyin' magazine might even sell a few more copies."

"."

Upon hearing what his editor-in-chief said, the editor felt that there really wasn't a big problem.

Black and red are still considered red, right?

"Besides, I don't believe Jiang Xian can be so clean. Can he withstand an investigation?!"

Hu Xunbi said, "Which person involved in culture isn't fickle? If things really escalate and they find out he has a mistress, do you think he'll still be able to save face? I'm telling you, Xiao Liu, don't be intimidated by the name Jiang Xian! Why did he write to us? Isn't it because he's guilty himself?"

"Editor-in-chief, what you said makes a lot of sense." After hearing this, the editor felt more confident.

After reading the letter, he felt the matter was very difficult to handle. He thought that a public apology and clarification would be fine.
Recalling the publication?!
How can you withdraw a publication once it's already been sold?

And that's over 500,000 copies!
If they take it back, what will happen?
Not to mention how much resentment the readers might feel.

Just in terms of money, how much money will Zhiyin magazine lose?

It's not just the publication that's losing money; there are costs involved in bringing the publication back, right? And shouldn't we compensate the readers?

In this way, their funding for "Zhiyin" magazine will be cut off, right?

If funding is cut off, how can their basically privately-run publication survive?

So this letter put him under a lot of pressure. He waited outside the editorial department for a long time, and as soon as he saw the editor-in-chief, Hu Xunbi, coming over, he quickly handed the letter over.

However, after hearing Hu Xunbi's explanation, the junior editor felt more confident.

Jiang Xian himself probably wouldn't dare to make a big fuss!

And even if things get out of hand, Zhiyin magazine isn't afraid.

What's this called?
This is what they call "the barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes"!

However, the editor and Hu Xunbi probably never expected this.

Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who are wearing shoes.

But I'm afraid of foot fetishists!
Just as Hu Xunbi put Jiang Xian's letter into his drawer, another editor came in, beaming with joy, to report that he had received a great manuscript. It was highly literary and had a compelling story, and it met their popular literature's needs for "mystery" and "curiosity." It was even recommended by a well-known writer.

"Editor-in-chief, we must feature this article prominently in the next issue!"

"Oh?"

Hu Xunbi looked at him curiously, "What manuscript? Let me see it."

(End of this chapter)