Rebirth of the courtyard, the start is 80s

Chapter 200 Sincerely buying a collection of poems and giving a novel

Although Cao Zhiqiang's approach is a bit unreliable and unreliable, but who made him the real founder of the publishing house.

The entire Hongguang Publishing House was established by Cao Zhiqiang from scratch. He still has financial and personnel rights, so everyone can only obey orders.

In this way, following Cao Zhiqiang's order, everyone devoted themselves to the project of publishing "Shattered Void".

Since the original manuscript already exists, it only needs to proofread the text, and then do some illustrations, and then it can be directly taken to the printing factory for typesetting and printing.

Among them, the biggest cost comes from the printing cost of the printing factory.

Originally, Cao Zhiqiang thought that the printing cost would be very high, and he did it with the idea of ​​ruining his family, and even thought of going to the bank for a loan.

But when the book was actually published, he found that the cost was not as high as he thought, even so low that he felt it was outrageous.

A 16-format "Shattered Void" with a lot of illustrations.

Plus a copy of "The Farthest Distance in the World" which is also in 16 format and also adds a lot of illustrations.

The two 16-mo books are all made of relatively advanced 157g coated paper at this time, and the ink is also used with good ink, so how much is the printing quotation for the two books combined?

The answer is that if the initial printing is 30 copies, the combined cost of the two books is only seven cents a book!
That's right, the cost of two books is seven cents!

It's not seven yuan, and it's not seven cents, it's really only seven cents!

The average printing cost per book is only 3.5 cents!

In this way, the initial printing cost of 30 sets is only 1000 yuan!

Seeing that the printing cost is so cheap, not 30 to 100 as he imagined, Cao Zhiqiang immediately decided to increase the price and print [-] million sets directly!
As a result, because the number of prints more than doubled, the price was lowered again, and only 6 yuan was enough.

In other words, the average cost of the so-called set of these two books is only six cents a set!
Since a set consists of two books, to be more specific, the average printing cost of a book is only three cents!
The reason why the printing price is so low, besides the low printing cost during this period, is also related to Cao Zhiqiang’s background support.

Because the printing factory Cao Zhiqiang was looking for was not an outside printing factory, but the internal printing factory of Hongguang Machinery Factory.

And for the sake of convenience, before Cao Zhiqiang asked the printing office for help, he first went to Director Li.

Director Li has always been very optimistic and supportive of Cao Zhiqiang.

In addition, strictly speaking, Hongguang Publishing House is also the son of Hongguang Machinery Factory, so there is no reason for a father not to take care of his son.

In particular, this is the first shot since the establishment of Hongguang Publishing House, so it needs to increase support.

Therefore, the printing office of Hongguang Machinery Factory, this printing is the real cost price printing.

The so-called "true cost price" is strictly speaking a kind of loss-making printing.

Because the printing office of Hongguang Machinery Factory only counted the cost of paper and ink when printing this batch of books, and did not include other labor costs, electricity costs, depreciation costs, etc.

After all, what Cao Zhiqiang wanted was high-standard 157-gram coated paper, which is quite expensive in this era.

In fact, if Cao Zhiqiang did not print at Hongguang Machinery Factory, but went to other printing factories, the price would at least double.

For example, the former Writers Publishing House, when they published Cao Zhiqiang’s collection of poems, the printing cost was five cents a book.

Looks like five cents less.

However, the printing paper of Writer Publishing House is the first batch of 100g coated paper, which has no illustrations inside, and the cover is not 200g thick cardboard, so the quality is far inferior to the new set of books printed by Cao Zhiqiang.

Moreover, the Writer's Publishing House only printed a collection of poems before, and the amount of paper used was far less than the amount of paper used by Cao Zhiqiang's current set of books.

The amount of paper used for just one "Shattered Void" is equivalent to four "The Farthest Distance in the World".

Of course, this is also because they are all paperback books.

If Cao Zhiqiang wants to produce hardcover books, the printing price will at least triple.

Since the printing cost is so low, Cao Zhiqiang can't let the masters work for nothing.

So Cao Zhiqiang paid out of his own pocket, and spent a total of 5000 yuan to give allowances to all the masters of the printing factory.

Not to mention, the power of this 5000 yuan is quite great.

You must know that at this time, the printing office of Hongguang Machinery Factory is an internal unit of a state-owned enterprise. In the past, tasks were assigned according to the plan. To be precise, they only listened to the orders of the leaders.

Why did the printing office of Hongguang Machinery Factory only use the cost price of paper and ink to set the price for Cao Zhiqiang?

It is because the workers in the internal printing office of Hongguang Machinery Factory, no matter who they work for, the factory will pay wages as usual, as long as they do not violate the orders of the leaders above.

The same is true for electricity and depreciation expenses. Whether you do it or not, it will be reimbursed by the factory, and the printing office does not need to bear the expenses in this regard.

And Hongguang Publishing House is also a subordinate unit of Hongguang Machinery Factory. The subordinate units of a factory work for the subordinate units, and the basic practice is not to pay.

It’s just that Hongguang Publishing House is of a special nature and belongs to the contract management system, so it must pay for the cost. Hongguang Machinery Factory General Factory will not bear the cost of purchasing paper and ink, but only these two fee.

However, when Cao Zhiqiang gave 5000 yuan, it was not for nothing, it was actually an incentive bonus.

According to Cao Zhiqiang's rules, if 100 million sets of books can be printed within three days, and the quality and quantity are guaranteed, all 5000 yuan will be issued.

If it exceeds one day, five hundred yuan will be deducted.

If it exceeds ten days, all bonuses will be deducted.

Under this kind of incentive policy, who doesn't work hard?
It only takes three days of hard work, and each person can get an average of 100 yuan. Who wouldn't like this?

Therefore, as soon as this policy came out, and the real money was put there, the enthusiasm of the printing house workers was instantly ignited.

The reason is simple, Cao Zhiqiang's overtime bonus is really too high.

If you think about it, there are only 50 workers in a printing office.

An average of 5000 yuan is equivalent to an average of one hundred yuan per person!
This is worth three months' salary of an ordinary worker in a printing house.

Of course, this must be done on the premise of completing the task within three days with guaranteed quality and quantity. If the task is not completed, one extra day will be deducted.

But normally, if there are enough materials and willing to work overtime, 100 million sets can be completed within three days.

This is the director of the printing office, and he helped Cao Zhiqiang to formulate the rules, so is it still unclear?

So, what nine-nine-six, zero-zero-seven, as long as there is enough money, it is really a blessing for people in this era!
It's not what everyone likes, it's because there's no way to do it.

If you really work hard, you can earn more money. Anyone who doesn't work is a fool.

In this way, under Cao Zhiqiang's incentive policy, the scene of working overtime and working three shifts reappeared after a lapse of 17 years.

This kind of situation where all the workers are competing to work overtime, the old director of the printing house is crying.

Even Factory Manager Li and Secretary Dong were alarmed and came to inspect it specially.

After seeing the energetic scene of the workers in the printing office, they also sighed for a long time, and their love for Cao Zhiqi deepened.

Having said that, the printing cost is so low, so how much should the retail price be?

Originally, Cao Zhiqiang wanted to set a price of 25 yuan, but this price immediately frightened everyone.

Because of this price, this book cannot be sold at all, because it is too high, too high.

In the end, we negotiated and negotiated, and the final price was ten yuan a set.

That's right, it's ten yuan a set, which is only two yuan more expensive than Cao Zhiqiang's collection of poems published by the Writer's Publishing House!
This is the result of Cao Zhiqiang's hard work. According to Yu Deli, he originally wanted to sell a set of six yuan.

And what made Cao Zhiqiang speechless was that the main reason why everyone agreed to set a price of ten yuan was because Cao Zhiqiang's poetry collection was added to this set of books.

You must know that in this period, the price of a book is actually very cheap. Books of average quality on the market usually cost two or three yuan a book, and books of poor quality cost only [-] cents a book.

But there is one kind of book that is an exception, and that is poetry.

Poetry in this period is still a high-level form of writing. After all, it is more refined and more difficult.

So in this period, the status of poets is obviously higher than others.

For example, if you are both a writer and you say you are a novelist and I say you are a poet, then my status as a poet is higher than that of your novelist.

This is established by convention and is recognized by the public.

It is precisely because of this that when the Writers Publishing House published Cao Zhiqiang's poetry collection, it set a price of eight yuan.

This price is inherently high, but it is also in line with the pricing strategy of poetry anthologies.

Because the unit price of poetry collections at this time is indeed higher than similar books.

But relatively, the sales volume of poetry collections is also very low, and the audience is too small.

Therefore, it is precisely because the collection of poems is a niche book that the original writer's publishing house was willing to set an internal royalty sharing contract with Cao Zhiqiang instead of a buyout system.

If it is a novel, the previous writer's publishing house will not do that.

Cao Zhiqiang’s set of books sold together, if not for the collection of poems "The Farthest Distance in the World", which also added Cao Zhiqiang's autograph and preface, plus many sketches drawn by Cao Zhiqiang himself, it would be of great importance. Commemorative significance, then this set of books can't be sold for ten yuan.

In other words, in the eyes of most people, "The Farthest Distance in the World" is the main sales of this set of two books, and "The Shattered Void" is a tie-in, even if the book "The Shattered Void" is thicker, There is also more content.

But this majority of people does not include Cao Zhiqiang and Zhao Shouwen.

Because Zhao Shouwen is the main proofreader of "Shattered Void", he is very clear about the content of this book.

In Zhao Shouwen's opinion, "Shattered Void" has a compact plot and a majestic atmosphere, especially the concept of martial arts, which has a kind of fantasy color of returning pearls. Anyway, Zhao Shouwen himself quite likes it.

Therefore, Zhao Shouwen believes that this martial arts novel is a rare masterpiece, and once it is released, it will definitely be popular.

For Zhao Shouwen's approval, Cao Zhiqiang was very helpful. Even though he knew that the book would be fine, he was still a little hurt when others were not optimistic about it.

In fact, this other person mainly refers to editor-in-chief Yu Deli and president Zhou Huai'en.

Not to mention Yu Deli, as the editor-in-chief, it is necessary to proofread and check.

As for the president, Zhou Huai'en, Cao Zhiqiang positioned him as a reviewer.

Because Cao Zhiqiang discovered that publishing houses in this era have no real audit management.

In this day and age, there is no review team at the top level, and the publishing house does not need to submit books for review.

Therefore, for the content of the books published by the publishing house, it mainly depends on the self-discipline of the publishing house.

Of course, this freedom is relative. Some obviously reactionary speeches and some authors who have not been rehabilitated are not allowed to be published.

In addition, although publishing a book is free and easy, once something happens to your book after publication, such as being reported for various reasons, you will also be held accountable.

But generally speaking, the publishing house in the 80s was really super free and super loose, so that the staff of the publishing house in this period would let themselves go freely.

If you don't believe me, go and look at the books on the market. Even regular bookstores like Xinhua Bookstore can find a lot of yellow and violent books, and the publishing houses that publish such books are all so regular publishing houses!

It can be said that in the entire 80s, all formal publishing houses in China had almost no review and the publishing content was extremely free, and they really relied on self-discipline.

It is also because of this that Cao Zhiqiang, based on the principle of waste utilization, let President Zhou Huai'en, who is like a mascot, do the work of content review.

To put it simply, Zhou Huai'en's job is to check the contents of the books to be published, whether there are any illegal or sensitive contents, and if so, quickly revise them.

Zhou Huai'en is an old-fashioned conservative figure. If he can approve the content of the book, there is a high probability that there will be no problem.

Fortunately, the content of "The Shattered Void" is relatively healthy, and it is pure fantasy popular literature, which is relatively loose.

In the efforts of these people, Cao Zhiqiang himself was not idle.

As the general manager, his most important role at the moment is to open up sales channels.

Cao Zhiqiang was no stranger to this. He directly approached Director Chen of the Publishing Bureau, and through Director Chen, he made an appointment with the secretary and manager of the main branch of Xinhua Bookstore, and we all had a meal together.

After the meal, one person gave a cash red envelope of 1000 yuan!

With this layer of public relations activities, the effect is leveraged.

Secretary Gao of Xinhua Bookstore finally made the final decision. From now on, as long as it is a book from Hongguang Publishing House, Xinhua Bookstore will buy it at a [-]% discount.

That is to say, in the future, Xinhua Bookstore will eat all the books published by Hongguang Publishing House at half price, and will notify you. When the books of Hongguang Publishing House are retailed in the store below Xinhua Bookstore, they will try to place them in a conspicuous place. The place.

Ma Dan, only spent a total of 3000 yuan in red envelopes, plus a meal of more than 100 yuan, and you can get such a big discount. This is so profitable!
You know, this is the policy of the main store of Xinhua Bookstore, which is equivalent to the decision of the headquarters of Xinhua Bookstore!

However, the current book distribution market is still dominated by Xinhua Bookstore, which has formed a monopoly with the post office.

It's just that Xinhua Bookstore is more inclined to books, while the post office is more inclined to periodicals, with a slightly different focus.

But after all, this is also a national distribution agency.

This kind of issuing organization can make a point deduction, and its profits are huge.

Just having a meal with someone, if you give 1000 yuan per person, you can get a [-]% discount, which is really a bargain.

Of course, this also took up the light of the capital.

Only in the capital city, there is such a convenience that can affect the whole country at every turn. If it is other places, I am afraid that there will be no such convenience.

Ever since, under the concerted efforts of everyone working overtime.

It only took a week.

With such sincerity, the truly "produced by Qiangzi" "buy poems and get a novel", with a collector's edition set with "Qiangzi"'s autograph and paintings, is officially on sale in major Xinhua bookstores across the country!

(End of this chapter)