I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 496 The Conditions Given to Random House
"I finished a book last year, titled 'Assassination of the Emperor'."

Liu Jin took a sip of coffee, looked at Sen Quluo, and said in a deep voice, "I have finished the French version. Ms. Carmen Balces will take over the Spanish version. I am already working on the English version, and it is expected to be completed by the end of this month."

"Assassinate the Emperor?"

Sen Qu Luo was taken aback, looked at Liu Jin, and then smiled bitterly.

"Amos, you really are..."

I know you're dissatisfied with your life, but sometimes... we should forget the past and look forward.

"Ms. Sengoku, are you Jewish?"

"what?"

Sen Qulu thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes."

"Then will you forget the genocide and persecution of Jews by the Nazis?"

"I……"

"Just as you will never forget, I, as a Chinese, a native-born Chinese, whose ancestors even participated in the War of Resistance against Japan, will never forget that bloody massacre and disaster."

The Germans, at least, have publicly apologized to you.

But to this day, they haven't repaid their debts, and have even publicly denied their crimes… They've even fabricated and distorted history. How can you expect me to forget the past when I'm a nation that hasn't even offered an apology? Ms. Sen, are you kidding me?

"Amos, calm down, calm down!"

Sen Quluo is having a bit of a headache!

After "The Eye of the Ferocious Beast," Xiao Rizi protested to Random House, putting a lot of pressure on the bookstore.

It's not just Random House.

Even the parent company of Random House, Bestarman Group, has faced pressure.

After all, the Bestarmann Group's board of directors includes some influential and relatively minor members.

This is an irreconcilable contradiction.

At the shareholders' meeting at the end of last year, the representatives of Xiao Rizi once again raised a protest.

The board of directors also stated that they will treat works of this subject matter with greater care in the future.

But now...

If Liu Jin were just an ordinary author, Random House wouldn't even consider his new work and would reject it outright.

but now……

The phenomenal success of "The Da Vinci Code" has put immense pressure on Random House as well.

This is a bestselling author whose books often sell tens of millions of copies.

The new book has sold over 500,000 copies in just four days, and sales this week are highly likely to surpass one million copies...

You don't make much money selling books.

However, the impact of a bestselling book on a company's market value is difficult to estimate.

In the first ten days or so of the year, Bestman Group's stock rose by three percentage points due to the bestseller "The Da Vinci Code".

Moreover, Liu Jin currently has a trilogy in his possession.

This is Random House's biggest asset in its battle against the academic community's Harry Potter this summer.

For ten years since the Harry Potter series was first published, each new book has triggered a sales frenzy, leaving other works struggling to keep up.

As a result, the group of scholars is showing signs of becoming the number one book publishing company in North America.

Random House's goal this year is to use Liu Jin's new book to counter the academic group and break Harry Potter's influence in the book market.

Currently, the author most capable of challenging Harry Potter is Liu Jin.

If the collaboration between Random House and Liu Jin is ruined because of a book, that is definitely not the outcome Random House wants to see.

"Amos, do you have a manuscript?"
"A portion doesn't need to be the whole draft; I need to communicate with my superiors."

"Of course, I will send the manuscript to your email address."

"Amos, we have been working together for four years, and it has always been a very pleasant collaboration."

I will do my best to explain the situation to the board of directors…

"Published on August 15th, I have no other requirements."

"August 15th?"

"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the day when the little life surrendered!"

damn it!
Sen Qulu's head hurt even more.

"Amos, how long will you stay in New York?"

“The 18th… My vacation ends on the 19th, so I have to return to Barcelona on the 18th.”

"Please rest assured, I will give you a definite answer before the 18th."

After finishing his coffee, Sen Qu Luo said goodbye and left.

After seeing Sen Qulu off, Liu Jin retrieved the document "Assassination of the Emperor" from his computer, carefully proofread it, extracted 50,000 words of the manuscript, and sent it to Sen Qulu's email address.

Then he sent Blumenthal a private email.

Inform Blumenthal that he is in New York and hopes to visit him.

Then, I turned off the computer.

……

Random House did not respond in the following days.

Blumenthal replied to Liu Jin with an email, telling him that he was not in America, but in Iserlohn.

Blumenthal asked Liu Jin how long he would stay in New York.

If there's enough time, we can wait for him to come back.

Liu Jin answered truthfully and informed Blumenthal that *Life Is Beautiful* was expected to be completed in February, after which it would participate in the Cannes Film Festival. The film would have a simultaneous global release on August 15th.

He knew it very well.

The completion of "Life Is Beautiful" is only the first step.

The biggest problem is the upcoming global release.

It won't be easy for "Little Days" to be released, and given its influence, it will also affect multiple countries.

The distributor of "Life Is Beautiful" is DreamWorks.

But DreamWorks...

This year will bring enormous trouble.

It seems like it's going to be acquired.

Therefore, a single DreamWorks is definitely not enough.

Sofia asked her father to find a new publishing company.

The closest one is Paramount Pictures. And this year, Paramount Pictures is undergoing a major reshuffle at the top.

Brad Gray was appointed as the new chairman and CEO, and he officially took office three days ago.

The person Sofia had contacted had already left the company.

Although negotiations have not stopped, with a new official in charge, who knows whether Brad Gray will continue the negotiations?

Besides Paramount Pictures, Fox is currently the most active in the industry.

Their conditions were also very good... But Liu Jin knew that the Murdoch family behind Fox had an extremely close relationship with Xiao Rizi.

Therefore, he did not want Fox to take over, as it could potentially cause a lot of trouble.

Aside from these two companies, there are two other options.

One is The Weinstein Films, the new company founded by Harvey Weinstein.

Regardless of his character, his abilities are indeed remarkable.

Moreover, Miramax, which he founded, had previously collaborated with Liu Jin.

"Amélie" was driven by Miramax.

At the time, Harvey was the chairman of Miramax, but he left Miramax last year to found The Weinstein Company. He also needed a project to help his new company establish itself and was very keen on "Life Is Beautiful."

However, he proposed increasing the issuance costs by $20 million.

The reason is simple: our competitors are very strong, and without sufficient distribution funds, it's difficult to persuade them to release the film simultaneously worldwide.

Liu Jin was also hesitant about this.

As for New Line Cinema, they also showed great sincerity.

Michael Lynn, co-chairman and CEO of New Line Cinema, was instrumental in the production and distribution of "The Lord of the Rings" and wields considerable influence within the company. However, he is currently embroiled in a bitter feud with New Line's founder, Robert Saya. The reason is that Saya seeks greater control and even intends to reclaim shares, leading to a significant rift between him and Lynn.

Hand it over to the new line?

Liu Jin was a little worried that Saya might cause trouble.

Although Lynn was very sincere, he couldn't help but consider this issue.

Therefore, Liu Jin is also hesitant at the moment.

That is why he wanted Blumenthal's support.

But he's not in America right now, so there's nothing we can do.

We can only wait for him to return, and then wait for Sofia to finish post-production before sending the finished film to Blumenthal for review, to see if he is willing to support it.

so hard!
It's really not easy to accomplish something in a foreign country.

Now, Liu Jin can only hope that God will bless him and that everything will go smoothly.

……

While waiting for Random House's reply, Liu Jin contacted Spike Lee.

Old Hei has been quite relaxed since returning from the Venice Film Festival.

Hearing that Liu Jin was in New York, I immediately offered to invite him to a basketball game, an NBA game, Rockets vs. Knicks...

He had originally said he would invite Scarlett Johansson to join him.

However, Scarlett was on set and couldn't get away, so they had to give up.

She is currently filming a movie called "Match Point," which is nearing its end but is also in its busiest phase.

Thinking about this made Liu Jin feel a little guilty.

Because of him, Scarlett Johansson missed the movie "The Island".

But the new version of "The Island," directed by David Lynch and starring Naomi Campbell, was a huge success after its release last year.

Its suspenseful and thrilling story earned it $280 million at the North American box office and $410 million worldwide.

The total investment for this film was only 60 million.

David Lynch thus achieved great success.

However, after his success, or perhaps as a form of correction, he went on to work on "Inland Empire".

The only change is that Naomi no longer participates in this project.

The main reason was that she had already joined the cast of "King Kong" at that time.

Liu Jin felt that he owed Scarlett a movie.

I need to find the time to fix it for her.

It's better that she didn't come; otherwise, I might overthink things if I saw her.

This girl is increasingly showing the makings of a future Black Widow...

……

The New York Knicks' current star player is still the future "Political Commissar Ma".

The head coach is Larry Brown.

Overall, they cannot be compared to the Rockets with Chairman Yao.

Liu Jin, under Spike's guidance, appeared in the back position for the Knicks.

Before the start of the competition, Liu Jin greeted Chairman Yao.

He and Chairman Yao didn't know each other, but when he sat next to Spike, Chairman Yao knew that he was no ordinary fan.

However, it was just a brief greeting.

There was no small talk or conversation between the two sides.

"Amos?"

After Liu Jin sat down, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder from behind.

Turning his head, Liu Jin was also taken aback.

"Giselle? What are you doing here?"

Behind him was none other than Gisele Bündchen.

She was accompanied by two supermodel beauties.

Gisele smiled too.

"It really is you. I thought I had mistaken you for someone else when I saw your back."

"Haha, it's Spikela. I'm not very familiar with basketball."

Why are you here?
Uh, New York Fashion Week!

Giselle couldn't help but laugh, and gave him a high five, saying, "You guessed right!"

……

(End of this chapter)