Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 34 The Sincerity of Chunfeng Literature Publishing House
In the next few days, in addition to typing normally and updating "Young Like You" every other day, Zhang Chao helped to clean up the storage room next to the preparation room. Lan Ting, Song Shiyu, and Shen Ming also came to help. They have all decided to join this "senior high school Chinese language intensive grouping".

The utility room is not big, about a dozen square meters. In the middle, several long conference tables are put together to form a large table that can seat about ten people. One wall is painted with blackboard paint, and a computer and printer are placed in the corner. It has taken shape.

In school, not only is life regular, but there are also few channels for accessing information from the outside world. Zhang Chao feels an unprecedented sense of peace.

However, this tranquility did not last long. At noon the next day, he was called to the school's small conference room again.

In the conference room, in addition to Director Zhou from the school office, there was also a tall, energetic and capable woman in her thirties.

Director Zhou had a lot of things to do, so he quickly introduced her identity to Zhang Chao: "This is Shan Yingqi, the editor of Chunfeng Literature Publishing House. You two can talk. I'll be leaving first."

Zhang Chao took the initiative to step forward, shook hands with Shan Yingqi and said hello: "Hello, Editor Shan."

Shan Yingqi smiled and said, "Although I know you are very young, it still doesn't seem real when I see you in person. I know you have classes in the afternoon, so to make a long story short, our Chunfeng Literature Publishing House wants to sign the novel "Young Like You"."

Zhang Chao was not surprised. Although he now had two cards in his hands, novels and essays, there was no doubt that novels had better publishing prospects.

Shan Yingqi went on to introduce: "Our Chunfeng Literature Publishing House is a long-established publishing house, and modern and contemporary literary works have always been our main focus. Moreover, we have always attached great importance to the works of young writers. Last year, we established the 'Rag Tiger Youth Literature' studio, which specializes in discovering and planning works like "Youth Like You"."

Zhang Chao asked, "Are you so confident about 'Youth Like You'? I've only written the beginning."

Shan Yingqi smiled confidently: "The editors in our studio are definitely the most experienced in planning youth literature in the industry. Although "Youth Like You" only has an opening, it has great potential. It would be a pity to publish it for free on the Internet. Leave it to us to run, and it will definitely become a bestseller."

Zhang Chao asked again: "Are there any cases?"

Shan Yingqi took out a beautifully sealed book from her pocket and handed it to Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao took it and saw that it was one of Guo Xiaosi's representative works - "Fantasy City".

Shan Yingqi said, "Guo Xiaosi, you should know. This book, "Fantasy City", was originally just a short story published in the magazine "New Sprout" in October 2002. After our editor saw it, he also thought it had great potential, so he signed it immediately and published it in January 10. It has been reprinted several times and has sold over a million copies so far."

Zhang Chao nodded. No matter what controversy there was later, "Fantasy City" had a huge influence on the youth group of this era. In an era when only a small number of people could access online literature, "Fantasy City" satisfied most of their imaginations of the fantasy world.

Even Zhang Chao could not deny his love for "Fantasy City" - otherwise he could not explain where the book on the bookshelf at home came from.

Chunfeng Literature Publishing House is indeed a good choice. Now it depends on what conditions this single editor can provide.

Zhang Chao then asked, "Based on your and the editor's predictions on the publishing prospects of "Youth Like You", what do you think its value should be?"

Shan Yingqi replied: "We can give you the same treatment as Guo Xiaosi."

"Oh?"

"One million for the publishing rights of 'Youth Like You' for the next four years. At the same time, during these four years, our publishing house will give you a certain amount of creative support every year, as long as you write at least one book every year and hand it over to us for initial publication."

Zhang Chao was very happy because he remembered that this model had been reported in the media. At first, everyone thought that Guo Xiaosi had made a lot of money, and Chunfeng Literature Publishing House had taken a certain risk.

As a result, at the 2003 spring book ordering conference, Fantasy City sold out and was in short supply, which forced the publisher to increase the first print run from 6 to 10 copies. You should know that in the publishing industry at that time, a first print run of 3 copies was considered a best-selling author.

In the end, Fantasy City earned 2000 million yuan for the publisher within a year. After that, Xiao Si also learned his lesson and no longer accepted a fixed price to buy out the copyright of his works, but settled the bill with royalties. Now, his novel How Many Flowers Have Fallen in Dreams, which caused even greater controversy and eventually led to the destruction of his business empire, should soon be published by Chunfeng Press.

So Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It seems that you are not particularly optimistic about the prospects of "Young Like You"."

Upon hearing this, Shan Yingqi's face suddenly became serious and she asked, "Have other publishing houses contacted you?"

Zhang Chao nodded.

Shan Yingqi asked: "Can you please ask what conditions they offer you?"

Zhang Chao hesitated for a moment and did not say it directly. Instead, he dipped his fingers in tea and wrote the numbers "20" and "12" on the table.

Shan Yingqi was an insider, so she understood it immediately and asked nervously, "Did you agree?"

Zhang Chao shook his head.

Shan Yingqi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It shouldn't be a state-owned publishing house like ours, right? It should be a private publishing company! Only they would be so crazy."

Zhang Chao nodded.

Shan Yingqi continued, "Our conditions are actually very generous. One million, including royalties, your book must sell at least 100 copies to get it. Are you really that confident?"

Zhang Chao said: "A few days ago, a classmate of mine said that my novel could sell 100 million copies. It seems that she has more confidence than you."

Shan Yingqi was speechless.

But she did not give up and continued to fight for it: "This is your first book. Although it is very popular now, it has not been tested by the market after all. Our advantage in sales channels can help you open up the market."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "I write popular novels, not highbrow serious literature, so I don't need to be assigned sales tasks. The channels for popular novels are already highly market-oriented, and bookstores that sell well will naturally keep looking for publishers for goods. So in this regard, state-owned and private companies have no advantages."

Shan Yingqi had no way to refute and could only complain in her heart about how this young man who had just reached adulthood was more cunning than a monkey.

But she came here with the mission of getting "Youth Like You", so she couldn't give up and gave her final offer: "Our publishing house can give you 10% of the royalties and a first print run of 10 copies. Other conditions remain unchanged."

Zhang Chao stood up and shook hands with Shan Yingqi. Shan Yingqi almost thought he agreed, but unexpectedly Zhang Chao said:
"Thank you for Chunfeng Press's kindness and Editor Shan's attention, but we do have a big disagreement at the moment. How about this, you go back to the hotel first, and I'll go to class first. You can think about the royalties and the first print run later."

Shan Yingqi nodded helplessly, said goodbye, and left the meeting room.

As a result, as soon as I walked to the school gate, I saw a familiar figure registering at the gate. Upon closer inspection, it was Qian Ying, the editor of the Youth Literature Editorial Department of the Writers' Publishing House.

The two had met several times at various activities in the industry.

Shan Yingqi's sense of crisis suddenly rose - this writers' publishing house had tasted the sweetness of "Sancongmen"!

(End of this chapter)