1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

Chapter 106: A sudden windfall, the small treasury bursts with money!
pity!

Copyright fees had not been restored in this era. It took several more years for Wang Shuo to propose it to the higher authorities before copyright fees were gradually liberalized!

Otherwise, the publication of a single volume would not be calculated based on seven yuan per thousand words, but based on sales volume plus a number of words per thousand!
Only then will the highlight of publishing come! By then, the saying "one book, one courtyard" may not be just talk.

"The author of The Wrangler is here, right?"

Just when Cheng Xuemin and Li Qingquan finished their work and were about to leave, another middle-aged man rushed into Li Shuguang's office and asked!
"You are Lao Xu, right? You came at the right time. I was just about to look for you!"

The visitor's eyes first fell on Cheng Xuemin and asked.

"Who is this teacher?"

Cheng Xuemin was puzzled and didn't understand who this middle-aged man who suddenly appeared was and what he wanted from him.

Could it be that he was also sending the manuscript fee invoice to him?

But Cheng Xuemin calculated that he had taken all the royalties he was entitled to, but he still had to give some to October.

As for the small treasury, it’s hard to say. It’s impossible for it to be published as a separate volume. Not so soon, right?

"This is Pan Hua, the team leader of the art editing group of Renwen Publishing House. You can just call him Lao Pan!" Li Shuguang helped introduce.

"Ah?! Hello, Teacher Panpan!" Cheng Xuemin greeted him repeatedly upon hearing the words, but he became more and more confused. What could the head of the art editing team want from him?

"Old Pan, this is Lao Xu, the author of The Wrangler. His real name is Cheng Xuemin, and he is the son-in-law of Mr. Feng and Mr. Gu!"

Immediately afterwards, Li Shuguang introduced it to Pan Hua!
"I know, I know. It turns out that you are Lao Xu, the son-in-law of Mr. Feng and Mr. Gu!" Lao Pan nodded repeatedly. Of course, he had heard that Lao Xu, the author of The Horse Wrangler, was the son-in-law of Mr. Feng and Mr. Gu, but he just didn't know Lao Xu himself.

"Hello, Xuemin!" Pan Hua greeted Cheng Xuemin formally again, and hurriedly took out some sketches and asked Cheng Xuemin, "Xuemin, did you draw these?"

Cheng Xuemin was puzzled, so he took it and looked at it for a while, then asked in surprise, "Is this the storyboard I drew for Director Xie? How come it is in your hands, Teacher Pan?!"

This really surprised Cheng Xuemin. Wasn't this the storyboard sketch he had drawn for the script of The Shepherd that he had written for Xie Jin?
At that time, Xie Jindu agreed, but Director Xie also had his own pride, and he insisted on making some changes based on Cheng Xuemin's work and adding some inspiration.

Afterwards, all of them were submitted to Yanying Studio for review, but my brother-in-law has not yet responded.

But how did these storyboards end up in the hands of Mr. Pan from Renwenshe?
"Did you really draw this?" Old Pan asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Ah! I drew it!" Cheng Xuemin nodded and said shyly, "But it's not very good. Director Xie drew it again, right?"

Since the storyboard drawings are in Lao Pan's hands, it means that Xie Jin has been replaced and they are not going to use his drawings!
"You drew all these, Xuemin?!" Li Shuguang took the draft and flipped through it, also looking surprised and saying, "I didn't expect that you, Xuemin, are not only good at writing, but also good at painting?"

"You can draw that, Xuemin. Then, Lao Li, our art team will not hire another artist to do illustrations specifically for the "Horse Wrangler" single volume. I will choose ten pictures and use them directly!"

Pan Hua nodded and confirmed that it was drawn by the author of "The Shepherd" himself. Then there was no need to worry about finding another artist to help with the illustrations!

"Xuemin, can this be used?!" Li Shuguang was also surprised that Lao Pan came here to find the author himself, it turned out to be for this!
"Why can't we use it? Xuemin's painting is no worse than those of other painters. I think it can be used directly!" Pan Hua nodded repeatedly. The illustrations made by the novel author himself can better reflect the theme of the article, so they are the most suitable illustrations!

"That's fine. You're the head of the art team, so you have the final say on what illustrations to use!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shuguang did not hesitate and agreed readily in person!

"Okay, Lao Li, you should pay Xuemin the royalties as well! I'll choose ten pictures as illustrations, and I'll pay him twelve dollars for each one!"

Pan Hua also made the decision right in front of Cheng Xuemin. Before Cheng Xuemin could even yell "Wow!" Pan Hua added, "Xuemin, since you can draw, please help draw the illustrations for the single volume of "The Heart of Grass"!"

"This article is a bit long. I expect to use fifteen illustrations. I'll charge you twelve dollars per piece. Is that okay?"

After saying that, he looked at Cheng Xuemin, waiting for his answer!

"Teacher Pan, do you have to pay for this illustration?!"

Cheng Xuemin was so dumbfounded that he exclaimed sincerely, "Yes, yes, yes, he can do a thousand of them!"
But stay calm, don't act like you've never seen money before. He tried his best to control his inner frenzy and asked, but his tone was somewhat trembling.

Can I get paid for illustrating a single volume? And the price of a single illustration is as high as twelve yuan?
Twelve dollars, twelve dollars!

What concept! ?

The royalties he had just received from Li Shuguang were only three hundred and fifteen yuan!

But Lao Pan asked for ten plus fifteen, which means twenty-five illustrations. If each one costs twelve yuan, how much is the art fee?
Three hundred dollars!
Oh shit, it’s directly equivalent to the royalties for his two articles. Is this the extra benefit of publishing a single volume?

Not to mention the money from collecting the second manuscript fee, can you make more money by doing illustrations?
"Of course we have to pay for the work! Even if we hire another artist, we have to pay at least ten dollars per piece!"

"Xuemin, you are the original author, and your painting skills are indeed good. Why is the price of twelve yuan not acceptable? Is it Lao Li?"

Old Pan spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, and finally asked about Li Shuguang!

"Yes, yes, Xuemin, I didn't expect you to be so accomplished in illustration. That's amazing!"

Li Shuguang nodded and praised generously, and at the same time said, "Then Lao Pan, please report to me the 25 illustrations, and I will remit the royalties to you later!"

"Don't look back, let's go together now. I'll go and apply right away. Xuemin, you wait here, it will be ready soon!"

Pan Hua acted decisively. He came and left as he said he would. He took Li Shuguang away and did not give Cheng Xuemin any time to react.

"Can I really get paid for doing illustrations?!" Cheng Xuemin was still confused and muttered to Li Qingquan beside him.

"Oh, I didn't expect you, Xuemin, to be such a great painter?"

"Let's not talk about the previous part. I'll also help you draw the illustrations for the novella later!"

Li Qingquan did not respond to Cheng Xuemin's words, but sighed and directly assigned the tasks!

"what?!"

Cheng Xuemin just asked casually, "Is there any work to do again?"

"What?! We're going to find another artist to do it anyway. If you have time, Xuemin, do it with us!"

"But we at Yanjing Literature are not as wealthy as the Wenshe Society. The best we can give you is eight yuan per piece!"

"For your novella, we don't ask for much more than the single volume. It's about 50 or 60 pages in total!"

Li Qingquan made an estimate and calculated that if there was one illustration for every 5,000 words, he would need at least 50 to 60 illustrations for a novella of 200,000 words!
Snapped!
As soon as Li Qingquan finished speaking, Cheng Xuemin came up and slapped his hands hard, holding them tightly, and said excitedly in a low voice: "Old Li, can we contact each other for the royalties for this illustration?"

Regardless of whether a single ticket is eight yuan or not, the amount that Li Qingquan wants is enough to make Cheng Xuemin take the risk!
Because Cheng Xuemin didn’t know about the illustration, and Feng Jiayou certainly didn’t know either!

So, can the royalties from these illustrations be secretly embezzled and put into one's own piggy bank?

Good guy!
As soon as Lao Li asked him to prepare fifty or sixty pieces, although the price per piece was not as high as that of Lao Pan, the quantity was large and it would fill his stomach!

Eight yuan for a single ticket, so fifty or sixty tickets would be four or five hundred yuan, right?

Adding the three hundred from Lao Pan Humanities Publishing House, Cheng Xuemin’s small treasury will skyrocket by seven or eight hundred, and it will finally break a thousand!

Moreover, these are the illustrations that Li Qingquan needs for Yenching Literature Magazine. After his novella is published, will Renwen Press's single volume follow suit? Will it also need illustrations?

Moreover, the amount of illustrations used in Renwenshe's single volumes is obviously much greater than that of Li Qingquan's magazines.

Just for these two short stories, there are 25 illustrations needed. So a novella of 200,000 words would require at least a hundred illustrations, right?
The most important thing is that the price is high!
At 12 yuan per piece, the royalties for hundreds of illustrations must be over a thousand, right?
Add to that the more than 1,600 yuan in royalties for a single volume, so for each single volume, Cheng Xuemin can get nearly 3,000 yuan in royalties. Is that how it is calculated?

"I understand, I understand. Of course, of course!" Li Qingquan also smiled and said slyly, "As for the manuscript later..."

"Teacher Li, don't worry. If you need me, I will try to give you an article every six months... every quarter. How about that?"

Old Li was straightforward and Cheng Xuemin was even more straightforward. After all, it was just a tribute. The manuscripts in his mind were like a library, so he could just copy them!

"Okay, then it's a deal. I'll write one every quarter!"

"Then Xuemin, please find some time to finish the illustrations first!"

They hit it off immediately, and Li Qingquan also got hold of the same secret of Cheng Xuemin, so he no longer had to worry about writing manuscripts for The Horse Shepherd Lao Xu.

There is no need to consider the face of his mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, just get the manuscript!

Then I talked to Li Qingquan for more information, and I realized that in this era, in addition to making a fortune quietly by writing articles, in fact, those art students from Qingmei have also been making a fortune quietly for a long time!

According to Lao Li, the remuneration for the illustrations or covers required by their newspaper and magazine publishing houses ranges from six to fifteen yuan per piece!

Apart from this, the most profitable thing is actually picture books. Although the price of a single piece is only five to eight yuan, the main body of a picture book is the illustrations. A picture book with hundreds of pages can cost the artist thousands of yuan!
Moreover, comic books have begun to gain popularity. For example, the printing factory behind Li Qingquan's "Yenching Literature" is working day and night to print comic books in addition to magazines. They are much more popular than magazines.

Moreover, they only have an art editing team but no dedicated painters. They usually hire outside painters to paint, and most of them are Qingmei.

After being reminded by Li Qingquan, related things also popped up in Cheng Xuemin's mind!
It is indeed just as Li Qingquan said, now is the time for those art students of Qingmei to make a fortune quietly, and perhaps each of them has become a millionaire secretly!

What does it mean to be a ten thousand yuan household in this era?
Ordinary people wouldn't even dare to think about it, but now Cheng Xuemin is excited!
If you know how to make money, your small treasury will be overflowing soon!

So Cheng Xuemin secretly decided in his heart that in the future, he would focus on illustrations in his small treasury!

I will go back to Lao Pan to learn more about comic books and see if I can get my hands on them.

"Xuemin, here, this is the bill for the twenty-five illustrations. Keep it!"

Soon Li Shuguang and Lao Pan returned to the office again. Li Shuguang held a receipt for royalties in his hand and handed it to Cheng Xuemin and said.

"Xue Min, you have to hand in the fifteen illustrations of 'The Endless Love of Grass' as soon as possible so that I can typeset and produce a sample book as soon as possible!" Old Pan also followed suit.

"Okay, Mr. Li and Mr. Pan, I will hand over the illustrations as soon as possible!"

While chatting with Li Qingquan, Cheng Xuemin's mind popped up several single volumes of "The Shepherd" and "The Grass Heart". There were indeed many illustrations in them, and he could actually copy them and draw them. With Cheng Xuemin's painting skills, it would not be difficult.

After everything was settled, there was nothing else to do. With Li Shuguang and Lao Pan watching them leave, Li Qingquan and he left Renwen Publishing House.

After parting with Li Qingquan at the door, Cheng Xuemin first went to his mother-in-law's unit, October, with a document in his hand from Mr. Wu regarding the additional issues of October, which he was asked to deliver personally.

……

Please recommend monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)