We are all the same in the pursuit of our dreams

Chapter 4 Perseverance has invisible wings (3)
After thinking about it, he decided to challenge a publishing company that has higher requirements for the cover, and that publishing company must be engaged in youth literature, because youth literature has high requirements for the details of the cover design. If he can grasp the youth literature He can also redesign social science books from a different angle.

In fact, our company recruited Zheng Lai to design the cover of the social science book, because he had made great achievements in the design of the cover of the social science book.

However, when the cover of our youth book was difficult to produce, we asked him to try it out. Who knew that just such a try let us know his natural feeling for design.Later, the more he tried, the more he got used to it, and the more covers he made, gradually he became the queen designer of the youth literature god.

If it hadn't been for Tucao Zheng to reveal his heart to me, I wouldn't know that he came to our company to go straight to youth literature books.

He smiled and said: "It's still the same sentence, if you want to shoot, you must get the qualification to enter the field. You can only have a chance to shoot if you enter the field to play.

"I know that our company is good at youth literature, and I came here just to make youth book covers. But at the beginning, I couldn't say to entrust me with youth literature books. I haven't done this kind of book covers before, and neither do you. Trust me. But through the social science book cover I made for the company, the leaders will also see my ability, and then they will try to ask me to do the cover of the youth book, so that I can continue to dabble in the cover design of the youth book.”

However, it is not easy to design the cover for the book of White Horse Time. In the words of Tucao Zheng, in some companies, as long as the editor is satisfied with the cover design, it will be fine.But when it comes to White Horse Time, every cover must be refined, and the cover must not only be satisfied by the editor, but also by the strict boss, the author, the publisher, and even the readers.If the cover is posted on the Internet and there are a lot of complaints, the cover is likely to be overturned and redone.

Because of this, the process of designing the cover of each book is a nirvana, but the effect is very good, and it can stand out among similar books.

Everyone who has in-depth contact in life can become our teacher. What I learned from Tucao Zheng is——

If you want to shoot, you have to qualify for the pitch.You only have a chance to shoot if you come in and play.

If you want to step into a certain industry and engage in a certain profession, when you are not capable enough, you can start with the most basic work in this industry, and then achieve your goal step by step in a down-to-earth manner.

If you want to make money, don't just think about making money.If you want to do one thing well, you will naturally make money if you are capable.

When many people are looking for a job, or when a leader arranges a new job, the first thing they think about is not "can I do this job well", but how much money this job can make me?Making a living is important, but if you only focus on money every time you work, your horizons will never be broadened, and your abilities will never be improved.

At each stage, you have to jump out of yourself and analyze yourself rationally.

Some people will question: "I obviously suffered as much as others, why didn't I succeed?"

It may be that you don't know yourself well enough, and the direction of your efforts is wrong.

At this time, you need to jump out of yourself and look at yourself, find your own strengths and weaknesses, find what suits you to do, and find the direction of your efforts.In many cases, the direction of effort is more important than speed.

Persistent people have invisible wings
No matter how many winds and rains we have experienced, I believe that we who are persistent in our dreams have a pair of invisible wings, even if we fall to the bottom, we still have the power to fly again.

After APEC, the city of Beijing was gradually shrouded in smog, and the air pollution index was as high as 324.In the air full of PM2.5, even breathing feels uncomfortable.

I squeezed onto the bus and took off the mask. After a while, my throat started to itch and I couldn't help coughing.Looking around, I found that almost all the passengers in the car were armed with masks.

This scene reminded me of the scene in the movie "Interstellar": when a sandstorm hits, people put on masks and drove to their homes.The living environment of the earth is getting worse and worse, and they have no choice but to look for a new home in outer space.

Under the shroud of smog, tall buildings and moving vehicles became blurred and unrecognizable.

At this moment, I couldn't help thinking, why not choose a more livable city to live in?Obviously my hometown Jiangsu and BOB’s hometown Guizhou both have clean air and are close to their relatives. We don’t need a spacecraft to fly to outer space, we only need a ticket to get there.

If I were not in Beijing and not engaged in the publishing industry, I could be a freelance writer, and reading, writing, and traveling would become the main theme of my life, which is exciting enough just thinking about it.There is no need to endure smog, nor the pressure of a fast-paced life.It is really possible to achieve "from tomorrow, be a happy person, feed horses, chop firewood, and travel around the world".

However, I am afraid that when I go back, I will fall into deep self-blame. My departure not only failed the authors who trusted me, but also failed my dream.

Had I left publishing, I have no doubt that the authors I work with now would find new homes, however, I worry that others will not care as much about them as I do.

The reason why I have this confidence is not only because almost all the authors I signed grew up with me, but also because making a book is a dream for me and a part of my life.

The last time I accompanied Gu Xijue to Changsha to sign a sale, I was fortunate enough to see the author, whom I have long been friends with, walk freely.When we had dinner together, she said to me: "You are different from other publishers. I have worked with other publishers, and they are also very responsible and dedicated. But they are a bystander and an outsider. But you are different. You will regard the author's affairs as your own affairs, and you will always consider from the author's point of view."

These words of walking freely made me feel very relieved, and almost brought tears to my eyes.It is said that making a book is making a wedding dress for others, but I treat every book as if I were my own child. Perhaps because of this, I will polish and struggle with the content and cover of each book for a long time, even if not every book gets The satisfaction of readers and the recognition of the market, but I did my best for each book.

Why did I embark on this road of publishing?Sometimes I can't help but look back.

In July 2005, I graduated from university and came to Beijing, an unfamiliar place.When I was a student, I published many articles in major magazines and newspapers across the country, and once served as a special editor for a certain magazine, so I took it for granted that my job search target was a magazine editor.

While I was looking for a job, I was looking for a publisher for my manuscript.At that time, several friends who wrote articles around me had published books one after another, and it was impossible to say that I was not envious.After all, everyone who writes has a literary dream in his heart.

At that time, the media platform was far less open and developed than it is now. There was no Weibo or WeChat, only under the banyan tree and red sleeves, and it was more difficult to publish a work.

After the manuscript was ruthlessly rejected by at least five publishers, my enthusiasm for publishing a book was almost wiped out.I comforted myself, it’s okay, it’s because you didn’t write well enough, and you still have room for improvement.When you write well enough, Bole will always find you.

Until one day I met a girl named Shen Wenting. I first met her because of her personal column on a certain literary website.Her fresh and meaningful words moved me, and along the trail of words, I found her contact information.Her first greeting made me very warm: "I like your writing very much, and I want to make your book." I couldn't believe it, and almost instinctively asked her why she wanted to publish a book for me.She said that your novels are humorous, plain and moving, and the stories are close to life, which is different from the so-called youth literature that groans and plays flower guns without illness.

It's as if the rainy sky suddenly cleared up, as if the road covered with thorns was full of flowers, as if the sailor on the night sailed saw the lighthouse, my whole world brightened up.

It is estimated that Shen Wenting at that time did not expect that she not only gave me confidence in writing, but also changed the trajectory of my life.

In the process of publishing the book, she would let me participate in some details.She once said to me, "You're such a good copywriter that you're a natural book editor."

Sometimes, because of a word from others, we change our choices, change our understanding of ourselves, and thus change our entire life.

It was precisely because of Shen Wenting's words that I changed the direction of job hunting.I stopped looking for a job as a magazine editor and started sending my resume to major book publishing companies.

It's just that this road is not as easy as I imagined. The resumes I submitted were like mud cows, and there was no news.Not reconciled, I added the information of several books to be published on my resume, and then resent the perfect resume to the mailbox of the book publishing company.It can be said that at that time, the recruitment mailboxes of all book publishing companies in Beijing were harassed by my resume.However, the effect was minimal. Only a few companies asked me to go for an interview, and after the interview, nothing happened. "I just graduated and have no relevant work experience. I am not from the Chinese Department. Book editors often need to sit quietly for a day while reading manuscripts. You seem too lively to be qualified for this job..." These are the reasons why they rejected me.

Many times I also doubt whether I have found the wrong job search direction. Is it because I want to be a book editor because of my impulse?
I spent a week thinking hard about this question: Why on earth should I be a book editor?Is it just because of Wen Ting's unintentional words, or did she ignite the dream in my heart?After I calmed down, my inner voice told me a real answer—I want to find a way to persist in writing for those who love writing as much as I do.Writing is a lonely thing. When writing, you only face yourself. After writing, you long for encouragement and recognition. It is not easy for new authors to publish a book.And I especially want to find a way to publish books for those authors who have writing talents but are not appreciated for the time being.

Once I become obsessed with something, I will stick to it.I revised my resume again, and at Wen Ting's suggestion, I added my cover copywriting experience into it.In this way, I sent out my resume for the third time.

Mayday sang in "Crazy World": "Youth is irretrievable water. It disappears in the fingers in a blink of an eye, waste it hard, and then regret it hard." But I feel that youth who have never worked hard for it and have not done their best are all It was in vain.After all, there is only one youth. If you don’t try your best for youth once, it will be too late to regret in the future.

In September of that year, on the eve of the National Day holiday, I received an interview notice from a large publishing company.Fortunately, I passed the interview smoothly.Although the position is not a book editor, but a marketing planning assistant.Even so, I still have a belief: as long as I have one foot on the publishing stage, I will try my best to release my energy.

Even though there are many trivial matters, I have not forgotten the original intention of publishing a book for the author. My enthusiasm for choosing topics is even stronger than that of some planning editors.That company has very strict requirements on the topic selection, and the topics I applied for are very likely to fail.Even so, during the first half year of marketing, I successfully planned and published two books.

As we all know, the rent in Beijing is very high. As a newcomer, my salary at that time was almost the lowest in the whole company.The busy and tedious work has not allowed me to calm down to write, and I can only rely on the manuscript fees of published books to support myself.Unfortunately, something happened to the company after Shen Wenting resigned, and the manuscript fees for two books were delayed.I have called and negotiated with the boss of the company many times, and they have promised well every time, but there is always no follow-up.In desperation, I planned to find a lawyer for assistance, but the lawyer asked me to pay the lawyer's fee first, which was almost half of the manuscript fee, so I had to give up after weighing it.

It was at that moment that I deeply felt the author's helplessness.Even for the legitimate rights and interests of the author, I must be an excellent publisher, so that I will have a certain say in safeguarding the interests of the author.

Perhaps, it is this kind of belief that has supported me until now. I have never given up in the most difficult and desperate times, and I have never thought about changing careers when the publishing market economy is sluggish.

Today, I have been in the book publishing industry for nearly ten years, and I have gained the trust of many authors and helped them move to higher and higher platforms.I always remember my original intention of stepping into the publishing industry: I came here to let more people realize their dream of being a writer.

Writing a book may be just a job to others, but to me it is a dream and the deepest desire in my heart.

I have always admired this sentence in "The First Dream" - "If the dream has never fallen off the cliff, how can you know that the persistent person has invisible wings?"

No matter how many winds and rains we have experienced, I believe that we who are persistent in our dreams have a pair of invisible wings, even if we fall to the bottom, we still have the power to fly again.

On the way to pursue our dreams, we are all the same.With me by your side, you are not alone.

The world is vast, we always have a dream come true
"Knowing what you like is the top priority." A friend wrote this on the title page of the book that he gave me.People often ask me what my dream is and how to find my own dream.In my opinion, dreams are not some unfathomable topics, dreams are not untouchable white clouds, and dreams are not following the success of others.A dream is the thing you love to do the most, a dream is the deepest desire in your heart, and a dream is something you can do whatever you can to achieve it.

Wenzi often thinks he is fat and has small eyes.If he puts a group photo of him and Hao Sen on Moments, he either opens his eyes wider, or simply puts a big eye sticker on his own eyes, and then notes "Now no one says my eyes are small."As for being fat, he doesn't mind his friends calling him "fat", and even wrote in the book "If there is a hug meeting, I will lose weight first, so that my stomach is too big and I can't hear your whispers." ".

Choosing to take a photo with a handsome guy like Hao Sen who is handsome and has a superb figure, Wen Zi can only act as a green leaf.But what makes him feel a little unfair is that he is the same age as Hao Sen, why do people call him Grandpa Wen and Hao Sen Brother Hao Sen?Seniority is so confusing!
In fact, without Haosen as a foil, looking at Wenzi alone, he is definitely a high-quality handsome guy.The first time I saw him was on a winter afternoon in Beijing. The afternoon sun shone in through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of a coffee shop in Wudaoying and projected on Wenzi’s smiling face. The cafes are warm.He was wrapped in a long black coat, not as fat as imagined, and full of literary and artistic atmosphere.The legendary small eyes are hidden behind black-rimmed glasses, even if he is not smiling, it seems that he is smiling.His eyes are naturally smiling, adding a bit of affinity.

Before meeting Wenzi, we had already interacted frequently online and had a close relationship.Every time he posts a photo in Moments, I must like the most positive one, even if he said that he had a pimple on his face because he stayed up late, I would like it without hesitation.Sometimes he would pretend to be angrily and reply: "I don't understand what kind of psychology the people who like it have." I pretended I didn't see this sentence and slipped away.

Even though I am so unkind, every time I need photos for illustration, when the author needs a makeup artist for a book signing, or when the author needs to take promotional photos, he will always help me.He is such a warm-hearted person, he should be regarded as a popular warm man now.

We have only known each other for two years, but we already regard each other as old friends.In fact, if you are the same kind of person, you don't care how long you have known each other.

I always believe that there is a huge magnetic field in the vast sea of ​​people, which will attract similar people with similar personalities and ideas.

Wen Zi said: "I don't want to spend time and energy recording too many regrets, because only good things are worth keeping in my memory." I am also like this, except for writing some inspiring setbacks, most of the time I'm all about recording the good things in life.I think that the records are much better, and my heart will naturally be filled with sunshine.

(End of this chapter)