Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 699 Online literature appears!
"American publishing houses are divided into for-profit and non-profit ones. I stayed in the United States for more than 20 days and visited three cities with relatively developed publishing industries, namely New York, Washington and San Francisco. I also visited Time Publishing and Simon & Schuster and talked with leaders of relevant departments of the companies. I benefited a lot from it," said Su Bin.

"Generally speaking, the competition in the US publishing industry is very fierce, and mergers are also very intense. Big fish eat small fish often. I heard from the head of the public relations department of West Alliance that there were as many as 111 large-scale mergers in the country last year, with a transaction value of up to billion US dollars. These mergers were often between US and European publishing companies. Giant publishing groups keep appearing one after another, and West Alliance feels a lot of pressure."

"Ximeng Company feels a lot of pressure, so other small and medium-sized publishing companies must be having an even harder time, right?" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Yes, when I was in San Francisco, I visited a small publishing house with only about 1942 employees. Although it is small, it has a long history. It was established in , the golden age of American literature. It mainly publishes poetry and serious novels. But now the American pure literature market is shrinking, so it is about to face bankruptcy." Su Bin said.

"What's the name of that publishing house?" Fang Minghua suddenly asked.

“Ashley press, I call it Ashley Press, is not far from the San Francisco State University campus.”

"Oh." Fang Minghua remembered the name, and suddenly thought of something: "Su Bin, do you use the Internet in the United States? It's called Internet in English."

Su Bin became excited upon hearing this.

"I went online and it was a magical world! It had everything, news, BBS, search engines. Oh, and I also saw an electronic publication in Chinese on the Internet called "Huaxia Digest"!
"In Chinese? Who did it? What's written on it?" Zhao Hongjun was very curious.

"It was run by several Chinese students, Ruopeng, Liang Luping, and Xiong Bo! Their names were on the website, and an original essay was published on it. I still remember the name was "Legend of the Sun Column", and a poem by Shu Ting, "Loneliness When Reading Magazines" was also published!"

"Oh my God. This Internet can actually publish literary works." Zhao Hongjun was stunned.

He knew that his literary level was not high, so he seldom asked about the business of Shengshi Books. The report that Su Bin brought back from his inspection trip to the United States last year mainly wrote about the publishing industry and did not mention this matter, so he was very surprised to hear it today.

Dai Jiali was not surprised. Su Bin had discussed these situations with her a long time ago. When Fang Minghua asked about it today, she added:

"Not only abroad, but also in our country, Tsinghua University recently established an internal campus Bulletin Board System, which means Internet forum in Chinese, or BBS for short. They gave it a special name, Shuimu Tsinghua."

"I went to Tsinghua University on a business trip to Yanjing some time ago, and found a friend and logged into their BBS, which also contained novels and poems written by Tsinghua students."

After hearing the two people's narration, Fang Minghua nodded and said, "Have you ever thought about a question after seeing these? What impact will the emergence of these online literature have on literature and book publishing?"

"Teacher Fang, I think it is subversive!" Dai Jiali answered first: "Think about it, these prose novels on the Internet have completely changed and subverted the history of literature existing in the form of "books". The Internet has become the carrier of literature. There is no need for books at all. Everyone can just read them online."

"According to you, no one will buy books in the future?" Zhao Hongjun interrupted.

"It's very possible!"

"I think Jiali is a bit alarmist." Su Bin expressed a different opinion.

"Oh? What did you say?" Fang Minghua watched the two people arguing with great interest.

"The paper book has a unique texture and book fragrance, which makes it easier for readers to immerse themselves in it and truly feel the joy of reading. To be honest, although I saw Shu Ting's poem on the Internet, it doesn't feel the same as holding a real book. It feels like something is missing."

"Although it is convenient to read books on the Internet, the Internet is not popular even in the United States, let alone in China. How many people know about the Internet now?" Su Bin finally said. "What if computer networks are popular in a few years? What if every family has a computer and can access the Internet?!" Dai Jiali asked in return.

"I don't know how many years you mean by a certain number of years." Su Bin immediately retorted: "Even if the Internet and computers become popular in the future, it is impossible to read books anytime and anywhere, right? We can carry books with us, go on outings, on planes, or on ships. Even now, we can take out a book and read it. How can online books be used?!"

"Ah? This..." Dai Jiali was stunned.

Reading online is convenient, but at least you need a computer and internet access.

Fang Minghua laughed secretly in his heart.

Problems that seem unsolvable in this era may not be problems at all in a few years!
"There is another reason! Although novels and essays can be published on the Internet, I cannot say that their literary quality is good. After all, our books are all checked by editors, but who is the editor of novels and essays published online? Even if there is someone to check, the literary quality is definitely not as good as that of physical books."

Dai Jiali fell into deep thought.

Zhao Hongjun felt a little dizzy after hearing this.

He felt a bit overwhelmed by the names like Internet, network, and BBS.

He couldn't help but look at Fang Minghua, who had been silent the whole time: "Minghua, after hearing so much, tell me what you think."

"I agree with Jiali's opinion. The emergence of the Internet and online literature has indeed had a subversive impact on literature itself and book publishing. I hope the top management of Shengshi Books will pay close attention to this." Fang Minghua looked serious.

Dai Jiali smiled immediately. It was a good thing to get Fang Minghua's recognition.

"As for the reasons given by Lao Su, I think they make sense to a certain extent," Fang Minghua continued.

Of course he had to give Su Bin face.

"After all, online literature is a new thing. Compared with traditional books, which I will call traditional literature, it has its shortcomings and deficiencies. But we cannot deny it because of these shortcomings and deficiencies, and we cannot ignore it because it is still in its infancy."

"Lao Su, Jiali, I suggest that Shengshi Books set up an online literature department to pay close attention to the development of online literature in China and prepare for a rainy day."

"Okay." Su Bin nodded, and then smiled and said to Jiali, "You will be in charge of this department yourself."

"Okay, but our company must quickly apply for Internet access. How can we read books online if we only have a computer but cannot access the Internet?" Dai Jiali said.

"Okay, let's have a meeting later to discuss the technology and budget and then make a decision."

Fang Minghua naturally would not worry about these internal affairs of the company. The direction has been pointed out, and it depends on the abilities of these people.

(End of this chapter)