Literary Master 1978

Lin Chaoyang blocked Dong Qiao until he was speechless and looked embarrassed.

The royalty system is a commonly used royalties settlement method in various countries and regions around the world. Each country and region has different royalty rates based on its own circumstances.

In many countries with a large number of readers and considerable book sales, this proportion is usually between 5% and 15%.

However, the population of Xiangjiang is only a few million, and there are even fewer potential readers. Therefore, the royalty rate here is much higher than that in other countries and regions, usually 10% to 20%.

The 5% royalty is indeed low, but this is not the first time his boss has done this.

In the Hong Kong news and publishing circles, Ming Pao's reputation as a stingy newspaper has long been spread, and it has always been hated by everyone.

However, there are still many people who are willing to cooperate with it. The reason is the unique appeal of "Ming Pao" in the minds of readers.

For creators, having their work published or published in Ming Pao itself means a kind of recognition.

Especially for many young writers, it can be regarded as a shortcut to fame.

"Mr. Lin, Xiangjiang is not as good as the mainland. With a population of only a few million, the sales volume of literary works has never been very high, and it is not easy for publishing houses to operate..."

"Editor-in-Chief Dong, with all due respect, if this is the sincerity of your newspaper, it will be difficult for us to reach cooperation."

Lin Chaoyang did not give Dong Qiao a chance to speak again. They were all too embarrassed to bid, so Lin Chaoyang would not be embarrassed to refuse.

The price of books in Xiangjiang is generally around 20 to 30 Hong Kong dollars. According to a 5% royalty rate, he can get up to 1.5 Hong Kong dollars for every book sold, and only 15,000 Hong Kong dollars for selling 10,000 copies.

For the same printing of 10,000 copies, the original manuscript fee for 1,000 words from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press was 300 yuan for 1,000 words, totaling 66,000 yuan.

Of course there is a reason why the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press does not consider profits, but it is also true that the royalties paid by Ming Pao are low.

The co-author, Lao Cha, sent me a signed copy of the complete works of Jin Yong, just to defraud me of tens of thousands of royalties!

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's tough attitude, Dong Qiao couldn't help but blame his boss.

It is true that Jin Yong is stingy, but he is not convinced that Lin Chaoyang's novels are only worth 5% of the royalties.

He just asked Dong Qiao to try to negotiate a low price out of the businessman's instinct to spend every penny.

But after this trial, it was clear that Lin Chaoyang was not the kind of person who was easy to fool, and this showed that Ming Bao was a coward.

"What about Mr. Yilin's opinion..." Dong Qiao asked tentatively again.

"At least 15%." Lin Chaoyang said firmly.

Dong Qiao fell silent after hearing this figure. The price Lin Chaoyang wanted was already within the standard of famous artists in Xiangjiang, and was not something ordinary writers could get.

Lin Chaoyang is somewhat famous in the cultural circles of Xiangjiang, but it is only spread among small circles. The price is beyond the scope of Dong Qiao's decision.

He observed Lin Chaoyang's expression and tried to continue negotiating with Lin Chaoyang, but Lin Chaoyang refused to let go, which gave Dong Qiao a headache.

In the end, he had no choice but to say: "Then I'll go back and discuss it."

After Dong Qiao left, the delegation carried out activities as usual the next day. They stayed in Xiangjiang for a day, and then went to Haojiang next door.

One of the facilitators of this delegation's visit was Mr. Ma from Macau, so the trip to Haojiang was appropriate.

After spending three days in Haojiang, the delegation returned to Xiangjiang by boat on the morning of the fourth day. It was almost noon when they arrived at the hotel.

The official itinerary of this visit has also ended, and the delegation will fly back to the mainland tomorrow morning.

The remaining half of the day is everyone's free time. After everyone dropped off their luggage at the hotel, they went out directly, preparing to buy some gifts to take back.

Everyone didn't have enough foreign exchange, so they had to make some calculations to buy anything. Those who didn't have much money focused on food.

Gartonley's biscuits, colorful Swiss candies, triangular chocolate bars...

These snacks are exquisitely packaged, and the words on them are either in traditional Chinese or English. They give people a sense of class at first glance, and they are perfect to buy home as gifts.

Those who had a little more money focused on electrical appliances, such as radios, electronic watches, televisions, microwave ovens...

However, I still see more and buy less. The main reason is that everyone always feels that the money is a bit short.

Compared with other people's struggles and hesitations, Lin Chaoyang's shopping was much more enjoyable.

He originally took a fancy to a Commodore 64 at the store, which was considered the most successful home personal computer in the early to mid-1980s.

It comes with a 1541 single floppy disk drive, a C2N cassette tape drive, a keyboard and 7 software disks, with 64kb of accessible memory. The price in the United States is only $595. The main feature is that it is cheap.

The Internet era is still many years away, and Lin Chaoyang plans to buy this thing to try it out first.

He asked the salesperson. The Commodore 64 cost 4,500 Hong Kong dollars. He could afford it, but the software still cost money. Counting the software, he didn't have much money left. He couldn't buy gifts for his family. Think about it. Just forget it.

He walked around the electronics counter again and found two interesting gadgets. One was the Haoguang camera, which was highly praised by the literary youth in the future. This plastic-body camera looked like a toy, but it was surprisingly durable.

The other is a game\u0026watch with the Nintendo logo printed on it, and it also has a discount.

These two things are good to take back as children's toys.

Then I bought two pocket atomic radios made by Champagne Company. This kind of radio is smaller than an adult's palm. It can be listened to with No. 5 batteries and is easy to carry.

Both Tao's father and Lin's father have the habit of listening to the radio. Giving this thing to them will definitely make them the most handsome old men on the whole street when they go out.

Then Lin Chaoyang went to the watch counter again and bought a women's watch from Longines and Seiko respectively. This was bought for Tao Yushu and her sister.

Tao Yumo wanted a Citizen watch, but there was only a Seiko counter in the surrounding shopping malls. He was too lazy to bother, mainly because he didn't have enough time.

He ran around for an afternoon and bought more and more things. For convenience, he bought small items, but he couldn't stand the large number of things!

Except for the watch bought for Tao Yushu, which cost thousands of yuan, the rest of the things were mostly one or two hundred yuan, so he bought a large bag of things.

After he finished buying things and was waiting for the big guy, he found Jin Ying wandering around the electrical counter.

"What do you like?" he asked.

Jin Ying pointed to a rectangular box with a metallic texture on the shelf.

"I heard that this microwave oven can heat up rice in one minute. It's really good stuff, but it's too expensive!"

Lin Chaoyang took a look at the price tag. It was 2,200 Hong Kong dollars, which was indeed a bit expensive.

After he bought the things, he still had a few hundred dollars left. He wanted to do a favor, but unfortunately the things Jin Ying liked were too expensive.

Jin Ying said regretfully: "You should buy a microwave oven."

Lin Chaoyang blurted out, "Why buy that thing? It's for cows and horses."

"What is cows and horses?"

Lin Chaoyang realized his mistake and said, "I learned it from chatting with Hong Kong people. It's a self-deprecating term used by the working class here. Using this thing is for convenience. Everything that goes in it will change its taste."

Jin Ying looked at him strangely. I want convenience, so what's the point of pursuing taste?

She thought of Lin Chaoyang's cultural salon and his cooking skills that have always been well-known in the literary world, and complained in her heart, everyone is a writer, only you know how to live!

After a few words, Lin Chaoyang still contributed the remaining Hong Kong dollars in his hand.

Of course, this is not free, everyone has to give him the corresponding RMB.

The things that everyone wants to buy are all based on the money in their hands, but it is impossible to be exactly right. There is a little difference. If there is a surplus, it is okay, but if it is not enough, it will make people depressed.

Lin Chaoyang's few hundred yuan helped several people out of the siege, and everyone kept thanking him.

After everyone bought things and spent all the foreign exchange in their pockets, everyone went home.

Back to the hotel, Lin Chaoyang just put down the things and received a call from the front desk, saying that there was an external call.

After the transfer, it turned out to be Dong Qiao.

After the last breakdown of the talks, Lin Chaoyang thought that the publication of "The Death of Van Gogh" would have no results, but he didn't expect Dong Qiao to contact him again.

"Mr. Lin, it's really hard to contact you!"

The delegation went to Haojiang these days, so Dong Qiao naturally couldn't contact him. Fortunately, Lin Chaoyang and his friends stayed in the same hotel after returning to Hong Kong.

The two chatted for a few words, and Dong Qiao got straight to the point and said on the phone: "We have discussed it here these two days, and the royalties can be raised to 12%. This is our greatest sincerity. What do you think?"

Listening to Dong Qiao's words, Lin Chaoyang was silent. This price actually met his psychological expectations.

He knew very well that as a mainland writer, he was not very famous in Hong Kong. It was almost impossible to get the top royalties or manuscript fees here. It was already very good to get a medium-level royalty.

Dong Qiao on the other end of the phone saw that he didn't move, thinking that he was still not satisfied, and said helplessly: "Mr. Lin, this price is already the standard of many powerful writers. After all, this is our first cooperation, and there is a long way to go!"

His implication is that they can talk about cooperation again in the future. Lin Chaoyang didn't believe these words, but the 12% royalties are indeed not low.

An extra income is always good, and no matter what, it is much more than the mainland publishing.

"Okay, I agree."

Hearing Lin Chaoyang's affirmative answer, Dong Qiao was very happy and planned to find Lin Chaoyang to sign the publishing contract tomorrow, but Lin Chaoyang said: "You'd better come tonight, our delegation will go back tomorrow."

When Dong Qiao heard it, he immediately prepared the contract and rushed to the hotel to sign the contract with Lin Chaoyang.

After Lin Chaoyang signed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Death of Van Gogh" is just a novel, and it is reasonable not to trouble Jin Yong, the boss, and him, the editor-in-chief.

This is mainly because of some ideas of the boss Jin Yong. On the one hand, Jin Yong wants to take the opportunity of publishing "The Death of Van Gogh" to show goodwill to the mainland cultural circle.

On the other hand, it is also because "The Death of Van Gogh" has a very good reputation in the Hong Kong cultural circle. If Ming Pao Publishing House can publish this novel, it will also help to enhance the influence of the publishing house.

It's just that his boss is too shrewd. He wants to take advantage, but doesn't want to spend money. He has been tossing around for a few days. It's better to give an ideal price early.

Although he complained in his heart, Dong Qiao still looked gentle and modest.

"Mr. Lin, happy cooperation!"

"Happy cooperation!"

He put away the contract and said goodbye to Lin Chaoyang again and again before leaving the hotel.

There was no conversation all night.

The next morning, the delegation flew back to the mainland. After getting off the plane, it was a hassle to enter the customs.

Everyone brought a lot of things back from Hong Kong. There was nothing else, but publications had to be checked. Everyone received some gifts more or less during the exchanges in the past few days, many of which were books.

Fortunately, these publications were reported to the WS staff in advance, so there would definitely be no mistakes. It was just a formality.

When they got out of the passage, there were still reporters surrounding them.

The mainland writers' delegation's visit to Hong Kong was considered a relatively large-scale cultural exchange between the two countries in recent years. The visitors were the mainstream official media such as the People's Daily, China Youth Daily, and Literary Daily.

After dealing with the interviews with the reporters, the delegation disbanded on the spot.

These days, taking a taxi is a privilege for foreign guests. There are only taxis outside the airport and foreign-related hotels. Everyone waited for a bus that traveled between the airport and the city and got on the bus.

It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when Lin Chaoyang got home.

When he appeared in the yard with his luggage, Tao Yumo was strolling at the door with Xiao Dongdong in her arms. When she saw him, her face was filled with excitement and joy, as if her lover had waited for her lover to return.

"You are back!"

This sentence was so sincere that Lin Chaoyang almost mistook her for Tao Yushu.