The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 77 Become famous in the market
Huang Daozhou asked curiously: "Brother Jianyang's "History of Portugal" has been sold out of print. Although it is widely circulated in Fujian, the authentic copy cannot be found in many places outside the province. Has Jianyang ever prepared to add a copy? print?"

Wang Wenlong nodded: "When I go to Sanwu, I also want to find someone locally to cooperate with me in reprinting the History of Portugal."

Books in this era are more like handicrafts. The main cost lies in the engraving of the workbook. The copyright protection for the author is not very strict. For example, the cooperation between Wang Wenlong and Xiong Qingbo is a one-time deal. After the first draft of the collaboration, Wang Wenlong can still use his own manuscript to write another book. Find someone else to work with elsewhere.

Xiong Qingbo would not lose money. Before he raised the price, he had already calculated how much work it would cost to print "History of Portugal" and how much income he would get. Chengdetang relied on this calculation to negotiate the manuscript fee with Wang Wenlong.

After the first edition of "History of Portugal" was printed, Xiong Qingbo's sale was completed.When others later reprinted the "History of Portugal", he could also use the manuscript printing plate retained in Chengde Hall to continue engraving.

The premise that this business method can be established is that the rigid cycle of this era is too long.Even if another bookstore wants to reprint "History of Portugal", it will take a long time to prepare. During this time, the first printed version by Xiong Qingbo has long been sold out.

Many pirated copies of "History of Portugal" have become popular on the market, and most pirated booksellers delete, delete, and alter the contents of the books in order to make profits.

The names of many Portuguese people in "History of Portugal" are too long and will be shortened to two-character code names in pirated books. Some booksellers also omit all content that they think is not important. Some versions of pirated books look quite good. It is thick, but the actual word count is less than two-thirds of the original version.

The most exaggerated thing Wang Wenlong saw was a bookseller in Jianyang. The bookseller did not delete but added. They got a set of historical novels from nowhere. They changed the names of two characters and added the printed content. The number of pages of "History of Portugal" has been added to the content of the original "History of Portugal".

"Cabral made a move with his sword, and all the ships in front were on fire. The fire took advantage of the wind, and the wind helped the fire. The ships were like arrows, and smoke spread into the sky. Twenty fire ships crashed into the water village, and all the ships in the Indian village were destroyed. , and was locked by the iron ring, with nowhere to escape..."

This book is not even called "History of Portugal", but "Complete History of Portugal". It claims to be the original manuscript written by Wang Wenlong. It is sold for more expensive than Chengde Tang's "History of Portugal". People who read it to Wang Wenlong are numb. .

Sanwu's bookshop was of course unwilling to print such an edition, and book buyers were eager to find Wang Wenlong's original edition and did not want to read something inexplicable.

So this time Wang Wenlong personally took his manuscript to Sanwu to find a bookstore to cooperate with, and wrote a preface to the bookstore to prove that the bookstore printed his authentic book. Such cooperation conditions are still quite tempting.

One more thing, with the development of the printing industry during the Wanli period, the speed of stereotypes has become faster and faster, and the traditional profit model of only protecting the copyright of the first edition will soon be unsustainable.

In the original history, Li Yu encountered this problem decades later. Because his writing speed was too slow, someone stole his manuscripts and sold them to pirates while he was writing. It even appeared in his Mustard Seed Garden Library. Before his new work was printed and released, pirated copies were already available.

At the same time that his new book was on the market, even bookstores thousands of miles away had already openly sold pirated books. Li Yu could not even make money from printing the first edition.

Li Yu was so angry that he could only curse on the title page of the book: "Those who take other people's achievements as their own, take advantage of them and obliterate their names are like Zhongshan wolves!"

Li Yu later sued Su Songdao and won several copyright lawsuits.

With the development of printing technology, writers naturally gave birth to the concept of copyright in order to protect their own interests.

The wax printing technology promoted by Wang Wenlong of this time and space is faster than engraving printing, and the cost is many times cheaper. It will inevitably speed up the process. Those bookstores that do not follow this trend will know this technology in a few years. Very powerful.

This is why Wang Wenlong must take Xu Xueju's shareholding. This technology will have a huge impact on the book industry. Without Xu Xueju's help, other booksellers may be forced to make this business impossible.

The conversation between Wang Wenlong and Huang Daozhou Ye Chengxue was inevitably overheard by the guests passing by. They kept calling Wang Wenlong "Jianyang". One guest curiously asked: "Wang Jianyang, why do you talk to the author of "History of Portugal"? Same name?"

As soon as this sentence came out, it attracted the attention of everyone around him. "Is he Wang Jianyang?"

"Which one?"

"The author of "History of Portugal" is in the store?"

You can understand how popular "History of Portugal" is just by looking at the reactions of these people. Within a few breaths, before Wang Wenlong had time to speak, several people came over excitedly, and some even shouted loudly to the back to convey the news.

Seeing that there were more and more people, Ye Chengxue and others also became nervous. Wang Pingbao reacted quickly and shouted quickly: "My husband is Wang Jianyang, the author of "History of Portugal" as you call it. Don't crowd or bump into him! "

Everyone was instantly surprised.

"Mr. Wang, is he such a young man?"

"I only thought that Mr. Wang must be an old man to write such a book, but I didn't want to look several years younger than my son."

"Mr. Wang, do you know if the Ming Dynasty can develop sea trade like Portugal?"

"Sir, do you think the imperial court can pay attention to business?"

Ye Chengxue was almost squeezed away. He could only smile bitterly to the servants on the side and said: "Jianyang is really famous. These people almost pushed me against the wall."

Wang Wenlong was also stunned. He never expected that readers in this era were so enthusiastic. A large number of people asked him questions in various accents and he couldn't answer them at all.

Fortunately, Wang Pingbao on the side reacted quickly enough. He put his hands on his waist as if he were a slave, while protecting Wang Wenlong and pushing him away. He quickly shouted: "You guys are talking one by one, sir, you won't be able to hear me!"

Wang Wenlong saw that there were more and more people. If he didn't control the situation, he would not be able to leave tonight. He also shouted loudly: "Don't be anxious, everyone. Let me say a few words first."

"Wang Wenlong is just a country scholar, not a figure in the court. I am not a scholar who can control the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. I heard someone asking whether the Ming Dynasty can pay as much attention to trade as Portugal. This is a big question. How will it develop now? , scholars all over the world are discussing it today.”

"I am honored to have everyone here today. The students were not prepared before, and the topics were too big for the students to talk about. You can ask questions one by one, and I will answer them bit by bit. I can't say how much insight there is, but in the end it is a reference for everyone."

Wang Wenlong gave a speech that did not involve any issues, but he also expressed his willingness to talk. All the businessmen and scholars present were very excited.

"If you want to ask me anything, you can come and ask me. However, there are too many people, so I can't answer them all. So, just ask one question per person."

Even if they were asked random questions like this all night, they would not be able to end it, so Wang Wenlong learned from his previous life at the university how to control the audience before the lecture was about to end and let the audience ask questions. On the surface, he was giving the audience the right to choose. In fact, the rhythm was completely controlled by him. He wanted to answer. Just click on a few questions and you can withdraw at any time after answering them.

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(End of this chapter)