Making money again

In June in Yanjing, the weather gradually became hotter.

Lin Weimin received a letter from Lu Yao, in which he talked about his recent move to a new home.

In the past few years, he had been living in a small bungalow provided by the Literary Association for his family of three. Until recently, because of his achievements in creation, or to be precise, because of the nationwide popularity of "Life", the literary

The Xie Xie assigned him a unit with two bedrooms and one living room of more than 50 square meters.

In this era, there was no public corruption in the area of ​​houses allocated by units. The area of ​​​​50 to 60 square meters was real, which was equivalent to more than 80 square meters of high-rise residential buildings in later generations. It would not be a problem to accommodate Lu Yao and his family. Nowadays, people

Not as pretentious as later generations.

Lu Yao mentioned in the letter that the biggest benefit of having a new home with two bedrooms and one living room is that he finally has a study room of his own.

He set up a single bed in the study room. When he was late reading or creating, he would rest in the study room.

Lin Weimin nodded frequently when he saw this. Comrade Lu Yao had made progress, and he was also happy for the improvement of Lu Yao's living conditions.

In addition, Lu Yao also mentioned that director Wu Tianming, who had treated him and Lin Weimin to dinner in Yanjing, had recently approached him and hoped to adapt "Life".

Wu Tianming represented Xiying Film Studio, and the two of them were fellow villagers, so Lu Yao was a little moved.

Han Zhuangzhuang put down his book and gave Qu Xiaowei a silly smile.

"For the people, get me some tickets for the premiere of "Farewell My Concubine"!"

Yan Wenjing looked at Lin Weimin with a wry smile, "You, you, you really never suffer."

After returning home and sorting out letters from readers and putting them on the bookshelf, Lin Weimin heard movement in the courtyard.

Lin Weimin remembered an interview he saw before traveling through time. When Wu Tianming was filming "Life", the head of the provincial etiquette department asked Wu Tianming if he would like to be the deputy director of an art factory.

Wu Tianming joked that if he doesn't want to be the deputy, he should be the number one if he wants to.

Now that "Farewell My Concubine" is about to be released in a drama version, all readers who have watched "Farewell My Concubine" are naturally interested in it.

A writer whose name has never been heard of, from the far east China, writes a novel whose local readers are not familiar with the background of the era. The first printing of 30,000 copies is an adventure, and it is very likely that all the money will be lost.

When he got off work, Lin Weimin left the unit with a packet of letters from readers.

We did some calculations and found that a book in the United States costs about US$10, and the total sales revenue from the first printing of 30,000 copies is US$300,000. US$15,000 is exactly equivalent to paying you a 5% royalty.

As soon as Lin Weimin walked in and sat down, Yan Wenjing started talking like a machine gun. He must have been talking about this matter to Random House in the past few days.

I learned about it with the comrades in the WS department. The book pricing mechanism in the United States is similar to ours. The only difference is probably the labor cost paid to the author.

The only thing that can compare with it is "Life", which suddenly emerged in the second half of the year.

It is precisely because Xiying Film Studio has Wu Tianming as director that it has successively cultivated many famous talents for the domestic film industry in the following years, such as Yanying's 78-level Zhang Yimou.

Lin Weimin never thought that "Farewell My Concubine" would become a big hit in the American book market and jump onto the bestseller list. He asked this just in case.

But what troubled him was that the Shanghai Film Studio had been in close contact with him recently and offered very high conditions. He would personally lead the adaptation of the movie script, and the royalties would be extremely generous.

Lin Weimin glanced at Liu Haiyan who was standing next to him, and said helplessly: "I really can't get the premiere, I'll find another venue for you."

After replying to Lu Yao's letter, Lin Weimin continued working.

He continued: "We have also discussed this issue. Random House's opinion is that if you want to print more copies in the future, they are willing to give you an increase of 20% on the basis of the current royalties."

Qu Xiaowei and Liu Haiyan have been married for a month. They first spent a few days with their relatives in Yanjing, then traveled to Shanghai for a week, and then returned to Jinling to stay for a week. They just returned to Yanjing these two days.

But even if it only had an impact in Yanjing, it was enough to make "Farewell My Concubine" reach the level of living before it was performed.

"Stop saying such things."

In his impression, the movie "Life" was invested and filmed by Xiying Film Studio. The director was Wu Tianming, and the screenwriter was Lu Yao himself. The two worked closely together and became excellent friends.

Knowing this information in advance, Lin Weimin naturally wanted to persuade Lu Yao not to focus on immediate interests and hand over the adaptation rights of "Life" to Shanghai Film Studio.

We were in the same work unit, and after chatting with each other, they were invited to watch "Farewell My Concubine", but you had to stay at home that night. It would be embarrassing to talk about it. This is not a good position in the industry!

Even if you don’t really receive an invitation, you still have to get a ticket!

This directly made it difficult to get tickets for the premiere of "Farewell My Concubine", and even the director now dared not agree to give away tickets casually.

"I said you two can't start a gang? You spend all day messing around with each other. No one in Zheng State can be as good as you."

He walked out and saw Qu Xiaowei and his wife.

Lin Weimin muttered: "These old ricers are so clever that they won't suffer any loss at all."

But this means that for writers who have become famous and have a family, the lowest royalties for new writers can even be reduced to 3%. Normally, this amount is in the range of 5% to 10%.

Yan Wenjing said angrily: "Of course the increase is based on the fee for each word. Do you think I'm a fool? If he prints a million copies, will he increase your fee by 3,000 meters?"

Qu Xiaowei joked: "Hey, my eldest nephew is becoming more and more serious now!"

What they meant was that the price was set lower entirely because this was a Chinese novel, and publishing it in the United States was a risky endeavor for them, and Random House took the risk.

"I have no objection to this price..."

"What does this 20% increase mean? Is it based on the fee for each word, or is it only based on the fee for this time?"

Qu Xiaowei was not angry and grabbed Lin Weimin while Han Zhuangzhuang was going to the kitchen to cook.

As soon as the performance information of this play was released, it immediately aroused widespread attention and heated discussion among the media, critics and drama lovers in Yanjing.

"After we talked that day, I fully communicated with the comrades in the WS department and Random House.

"Don't bother me. I already promised Haiyan, you can't let me break my promise, right?" Qu Xiaowei begged.

After our hard arguments, Random House agreed to increase the manuscript fee to US$15,000, with an initial printing of 30,000 copies.

He is not well-known in the United States, and he doesn't expect others to treat him like a celebrity.

Lin Weimin mocked: "Do you think everyone is like you? You are ignorant and incompetent all day long."

But the words were ambiguous, and he needed to ask clearly.

As a result, just when the filming of "Life" was about to end, an order came down from above, and Wu Tianming directly became the director of Xiying Film Studio.

Lin Weimin was too lazy to listen to his nonsense and shouted into the room: "Zhuang Zhuang, let's cook!"

The next day, Lin Weimin was called to Yan Wenjing's office when he went to work.

The two of them were empty-handed, and it looked like they were just here to get some food.

It is a pity that there is little information these days and the influence of the drama is very limited. This kind of attention and heated discussion is now limited to the surrounding areas of Yanjing.

"Want to have sex for nothing again?"

Han Zhuangzhuang came out of the room holding a book with a serious look on his face.

He knew that Lu Yao was a person who regarded money as dirt at his core. He valued royalties solely to maintain his livelihood.

All he pursues is respect. Although he doesn't want to admit it, sometimes price represents respect.

The price is relatively reasonable.”

Now that the conversation has come to this point, Qu Xiaowei knows that Lin Weimin really can't get tickets for the premiere, so he can only agree to settle for the next best thing.

"Okay, I'll trouble you this time."

Renyi's "Farewell My Concubine" has been in preparation for nearly a year and has been scheduled to be performed later this month.

After understanding Lu Yao's entanglement in the letter, Lin Weimin wrote a reply to him.

"It's coming soon, it's coming soon, everything will be ready soon," Qu Xiaowei said.

Since "Farewell My Concubine" was published in "People's Literature" in April last year and published as a single volume in September, the cumulative sales of the publication's books have reached nearly three million copies, and its impact on readers across the country has been unprecedented.

of.

Under such circumstances, being an audience member at the premiere of "Farewell My Concubine" seems to have become a status symbol.

Lin Weimin broke free from Qu Xiaowei's hand, "I really can't get this."

If there is really a need for additional printing in the future, it proves that "Farewell My Concubine" has made money for Lao Mi. Naturally, people don't want to use royalties to share the money with him. A symbolic increase in the royalty price is an expression of sincerity.

"Here we come, uncle!"

There were almost no ordinary audiences for the first performance. A small group of cultural celebrities and media reporters. All the famous cultural figures in Yanjing City became the audience of the premiere of "Farewell My Concubine"

.

"This time I won't do it for free. If you pay me, you can get me some tickets for Farewell My Concubine."

If we put this in future generations, it would be basically equivalent to a trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

The film quality of "Life" is also very high. It won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Feature Film together with "Wreaths Under the Mountain" which was released that year. Wu Tianming, who was originally unknown, became famous for this film.

Yan Wenjing was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he received Lin Weimin's answer, when he heard him say again: "However, if we need to print more in the future, have we negotiated the price?"

The manuscript fee jumped directly from 5,000 US dollars to 15,000 US dollars. Lin Weimin was quite satisfied with the price, and he also understood that Random House's considerations made sense.

Our country currently implements a royalties system, which is basic royalties + royalties for the number of prints. Publishers in the United States pay royalties directly to authors, and royalties for famous writers can basically account for 10% to 15% of sales revenue.

According to the increase of 20% of the manuscript fee per word, it is equivalent to a 6% royalty price, which is somewhat sincere.

He smiled apologetically, "Don't be angry, leader, I was just asking casually. I knew that with you here, this matter couldn't be wrong, and it had to be you!"

As he spoke, he did not forget to give Yan Wenjing a thumbs up, with a flattering look on his face.

Yan Wenjing lost his temper completely because of his playful smile.

This monkey!

Day 6. Tomorrow we will continue to have 10,000 days. Please subscribe and vote monthly!
Chapter completed!