Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 530 Wang Guozhen is here: "The Tide of Youth"

The next day Fang Minghua took the train back to Xijing.

After returning home and taking a shower, when Song Tangtang came back from work, Fang Minghua told her about the trip to Chengdu.

When I heard Fang Minghua talk about the recent situation of Shang Zhongmin and others, and heard that they were all away from poetry, I couldn't help but sigh.

Poetry is really in decline.

"Hey, Minghua, speaking of poetry, the Red Army is still looking for you." Song Tangtang said suddenly.

"The Red Army is back from Hainan? What does he want to see me about?" Fang Minghua felt a little strange.

"It's still Wang Guozhen's poem. Come with me to the company tomorrow and let him tell you slowly."

"Ok."

The next morning, after the couple finished breakfast, Fang Minghua took Song Tangtang's car to Shengshi Group near the Duanlimen intersection.

Fang Minghua hadn't been to the company for a long time. The company's current scale was several times larger than before, and the third floor of the four-story building had been rented by the company. He followed Song Tangtang into the company. The employees coming and going were very respectful and kept calling him "Mr. Song, Mr. Song". Some people looked at Fang Minghua who was following behind curiously.

The women all wear OL suits and the men all wear suits and ties.

The group’s headquarters was on the third floor. Fang Minghua met Zhao Hongjun in the office where the chairman and general manager was located.

This guy, I haven’t seen him for a while. How come he has gained a lot of weight and become darker?

When Zhao Hongjun saw the couple come in, he immediately asked his female secretary to pour them some water.

Of course, the female secretary was not Liu Xue, who was pregnant and kept as a mistress by Zhao Hongjun in Hainan, but a newly hired one.

Fang Minghua took a look and found that she was also young, but not as pretty as Liu Xue, and her looks were only average.

"What's the matter?" Fang Minghua asked while sitting on the sofa.

"Take a look at this." Zhao Hongjun took out a book from the drawer and handed it to Fang Minghua.

Wang Guozhen’s poetry collection: "The Tide of Youth"!
Oops
This seems to be Wang Guozhen’s first collection of poems, right?

Fang Minghua flipped through the poetry collection catalog
"Surpass Myself", "Really Want", "Just Give Me a Smile", "Love Life".
Indeed it is!

There is no book number or publisher on the back cover, and it seems that the proofreading has not yet been published.

He immediately understood what Zhao Hongjun meant.

"Is Shengshi Books planning to publish it?" Fang Minghua asked as he returned the poetry collection to the other party.

"Yes, Shu Bin found this through a friend and was preparing to publish it, but there were a lot of people in the company who opposed it, including Dai Jiali, the vice president in charge of business, who strongly opposed it," Zhao Hongjun explained.

Fang Minghua certainly knew Dai Jiali, a girl who graduated from Yenching Foreign Language College and went to the South China Sea at a young age.

"Why are they objecting?"

“To say this is not poetry is purely ‘aphorism’, ‘collection of aphorisms’, ‘chicken soup for the soul’.”

oh.
Fang Minghua laughed and said, "If it was a publishing house like Harvest or Contemporary, this reason would still be valid, but Shengshi Books has published martial arts romance and Xue Mili series, so it's okay to publish this, right?"

"The problem is, although the Xue Mili series has little literary value, its commercial value is very high. The fact that the first book, "The Housewife," has sold 300 million copies alone is enough to illustrate this point, and this does not include those damn pirated copies." Song Tangtang, who was sitting on the sofa next to them, interrupted.

"But the literary level of Wang Guozhen's poetry collection is not very high. If the commercial value is not high, it is not worth publishing. Dai Jiali is mainly worried about the commercial value of this poetry collection and that it will not sell after publication."

It turned out to be the case.

"Then Shu Bin isn't worried about this problem?" Fang Minghua asked again.

"Shu Bin believes that this collection of poems has high commercial value for the following reasons:" Zhao Hongjun's thinking is also very clear:
"In the past two years, obscure poetry has obviously declined, but the third generation of poets such as Han Dong, Yu Jian, and Xu Jingya are too colloquial, vulgar, and vulgar, causing discomfort to many readers, while Wang Guozhen's poetry style is easy to understand, simple and straightforward, and positive, which just meets the needs of current readers." "And according to surveys, Wang Guozhen's poetry has begun to become popular in universities such as Yenching University and Guangdong Province, so he believes that now is the right time to publish this collection of poems."

Fang Minghua secretly praised after hearing this.

Shu Bin really has a unique vision.

Just as Zhao Hongjun said just now, the poetry world in the late 80s and early 90s was called the "vacuum era". Due to the mutual constraints between literature and the system, the excitement and pleasure that the early "poetry craze" brought to readers was greatly weakened.

Wang Guozhen, on the other hand, stood out from the crowd with his easy-to-understand, simple, straightforward and positive poetry style, and successfully took advantage of the vacuum in the poetry world of the time.

In history, this book, "The Tide of Youth", which seems to have low literary value, has been printed and sold 600,000 copies, which exceeds any other contemporary poetry collection!
Thinking of this, Fang Minghua smiled and said, "Shu Bin is the general manager of Shengshi Books. He can make the decision himself. Why does he need to ask for my opinion?"

"Shengshi Group has an unwritten rule: If you have any questions about internal affairs, you can ask Minghua." Zhao Hongjun had a serious expression.

"What about foreign affairs?"

"Ask Minghua if you have any questions about foreign affairs."

Fang Minghua couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "Come on, stop flattering me."

"Hehe, it's just a joke, Minghua, what is your attitude towards this matter?" Zhao Hongjun also laughed.

"I think Shu Bin has a good vision. If I were the editor-in-chief of Yanhe, I might not publish the poem, but if I were the boss of Shengshi Books, I would publish it."

"OK, then I'll call Shu Bin now." Zhao Hongjun picked up the phone on the desk and was about to dial the number when he was stopped by Fang Minghua.

"Wait, how many copies of this poetry collection Shengshi Books plans to print?"

"I heard Shu Bin said that he planned to print about 15 copies for the first time to see how the market responds, and then do a second print run," Zhao Hongjun replied.

Fang Minghua shook his head after hearing this:

"Don't wait until the book becomes popular before printing it again. It will be too late! You all know the speed of piracy nowadays. It is much faster than the speed of genuine products."

"Then what do you mean?"

“Why not just print 50 copies at a time!”

50 copies of a poetry collection? !
This is unprecedented!

After all, this is poetry, not popular fiction.

Zhao Hongjun was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Okay, 50 copies means 50 copies. The bolder the people, the more productive the land! I'll tell Shu Bin."

At this time, Shu Bin was in his office in Haikou, anxiously waiting for Zhao Hongjun's call.

He obtained this collection of poems by Wang Guozhen through seizure.

It was when he went to Yenching University not long ago that he met Wang Guozhen, then deputy director of the editorial department of the "China Literature and Art Yearbook", by chance through a friend.

At this time, Wang Guozhen had already become somewhat famous and served as a columnist for "Liaoning Youth", "China Youth" and "Girlfriend".

This collection of poems, "The Young Tide", was originally submitted to Yenching Academy Press for publication. After seeing it, Shu Bin immediately realized the huge commercial value hidden behind it and asked Wang Guozhen to give it to Shengshi Books for publication.

In order to get Wang Guozhen's agreement as soon as possible, Shu Bin used his trump card - royalties!
Instead of paying you for your work, I will give you royalties! 6% of the royalties!
In this era when most publishing houses still pay writers for their works, this tactic is always effective, and Wang Guozhen immediately agreed.

After returning from Yanjing, Shu Bin immediately asked the relevant departments of the company to start proofreading and typesetting, so as to publish it as soon as possible. However, he did not expect that many people in the company strongly opposed it.

As a last resort, Shu Bin asked Zhao Hongjun who was in Haikou to bring the collection of poems back to Xijing. He knew that there was a hidden boss behind Shengshi Group.

(End of this chapter)