Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 35 The heroes compete for the throne
At this time, Qian Ying also saw Shan Yingqi and discovered that she was walking out of the school. Her face immediately became flustered and anxious.

Shan Yingqi was more considerate and spoke first, "Don't worry, Zhang Chao hasn't agreed to give me the book."

Qian Ying finally breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a little embarrassed and said, "I thought I had come here for nothing."

Shan Yingqi smiled and said, "That boy is very smart. He's in class now, so it's useless for you to go up now. Why don't we go outside and talk. I haven't had lunch yet."

Qian Ying touched her stomach and said, "Okay. Actually, I didn't have time to eat. I took a taxi here right after I got off the plane."

Although Shan Yingqi and Qian Ying were only nodding acquaintances, they were in the same industry and both were women, so they were naturally close to each other.

The No. 3 Middle School is located in a remote area, and there are only grocery stores and small restaurants on the first floor of a row of self-built houses nearby. The two did not walk far, and found a small shop nearby and ordered two fried noodles and two bottles of drinks.

After a quick meal, Shan Yingqi told Qian Ying about what happened at noon. Although she didn't tell Qian Ying about Chunfeng Society's offer, she told her the two numbers written by Zhang Chao.

Qian Ying's heart skipped a beat after hearing this. The offer she brought this time started at 8% royalties and a first print run of 8 copies. The publishing house gave her some room for upward movement, but compared with that unknown private publishing company, it was still far from the target.

Qian Ying complained: "Young writers' appetites have been enlarged by these private companies. Back then, Han Han only took 8%. Now everyone starts with 10%, or even 12%. I don't know where they get the confidence from."

Shan Yingqi said, "It's because of sales. It's because it's so hard to sell books by old writers nowadays. So what if you win the Mao Dun Literature Prize? What's the point if readers don't like to read it?"

Qian Ying sighed, "Who made us so burdened? We have to shoulder so many unprofitable publishing tasks every year. If you don't publish, it will be a problem. If you do publish, it will just pile up in the warehouse. After a few years, it will be turned into pulp anyway."

Shan Yingqi said: "These young men and women think that our publishing house has made a lot of money. In fact, the little money that the publishing house makes is thrown into these bottomless pits."

At this time, they both saw a red taxi rushing past the snack bar, raising a cloud of dust. It seemed to be heading straight for the gate of No. 3 Middle School.

Shan Yingqi and Qian Ying looked at each other, and in tacit understanding, they immediately stood up to pay the bill and hurried to the school gate in small steps.

The person who came was indeed a colleague named Wang Qiaoshan, who worked for the 21st Century Publishing House and was also a young editor specializing in youth literature.

The three of them greeted each other politely but awkwardly at the school gate and went to the administration building together. Director Zhou in the office was overwhelmed when he saw two new guests, but he had to receive them.

He asked the clerk Xiao Zheng to make tea for each guest and said politely: "Several editors want to talk to Zhang Chao. We understand their feelings. But Zhang Chao is still a student after all, and his studies are the most important..."

Among the few people, Wang Qiaoshan was the youngest and had the most lively personality. He burst out laughing when he heard the words, which made Director Zhou quite embarrassed.

It was Qian Ying who smoothed things over, saying, "Of course academics are important, but Zhang Chao's focus right now should be on writing. If he can successfully publish a book this time, it will surely be very helpful to the school's reputation."

Upon hearing this, Director Zhou picked up a notepad from his desk and passed it to them for circulation. He then explained, "This is the publishing house that called the school a few days ago and wanted to meet with Zhang Chao. The three of you came relatively early, but they should be here soon. If we meet with them one by one, it will probably have a big impact on the normal teaching order of the school."

The three editors looked at the records in the notebook. Including the three of them, there were a total of twelve publishing houses that had arrived at the school. Among them were well-known national and local publishing houses such as Sanlian Press, CITIC Press, and Huacheng Press, as well as emerging private publishing companies such as Beirong Culture and Zhongnan Boji.

All three of them felt a great deal of pressure. It is no wonder that these publishing houses are so active, the reason is simply that the books are selling well.

The sales of Han Han's "Three Congmen" are beyond the combined sales of many famous old writers' lifetime books. Guo Xiaosi's "Fantasy City" is likely to break this record.

Other youth literature writers, such as Haruki Haruki and Jiang Fangzhuo, although not so exaggerated, can basically maintain sales of more than 10 copies of each book. In an era when a book is considered a bestseller if it has an initial print run of 3 copies and annual sales of 5 copies, it can be regarded as the jewel in the crown of the publishing house.

Therefore, being able to grab a youth literature writer who is highly talked about and has high-quality works is equivalent to grabbing a money printing machine with stable output.

Director Zhou saw that the three people were silent, so he kindly made a suggestion: "How about this, let's gather together at a time, and let our school provide a venue for Zhang Chao to communicate with everyone about publishing matters."

The three of them looked at each other, somewhat hesitant.

At this time, the clerk Xiao Zheng quietly pushed open the door and said to Director Zhou: "Director, another editor came. His last name is Lu. He said he called you before..."

Hearing this, Wang Qiaoshan stood up without hesitation, shook Director Zhou's hand, and said, "Good idea, let's do as you say!"

After class in the afternoon, Zhang Chao realized that so many publishers had approached him to buy copyrights, and he was surprised because he had previously estimated that there would be at most five or six. It seemed that he had underestimated the publishers' enthusiasm for best-selling books.

But this is more to his liking, but the quotation in his plan needs to be changed.

He said to Director Zhou, "Thank you for your support. Let's schedule it for the night after tomorrow. We'll try to finalize it before the first and second year students return to school."

Director Zhou asked, "Do you want me to notify your parents?"

Zhang Chao hesitated for a moment and said, "Forget it. I can negotiate it myself. Besides, I am an adult and can sign the contract myself."

Director Zhou nodded in agreement. It is better to have less trouble than more. As a purely administrative cadre, Zhang Chao's work pressure has increased a lot since he became famous. He often receives calls from various units, institutions and even individuals he has never heard of, and his reception work has also increased a lot.

We can't offend any of them, either newspapers or magazines, or publishing houses like today. Principal Wu said that this is related to the reputation of the school and cannot be neglected.

After Director Zhou got the confirmation, he reported it to the principal. The principal smiled and said, "Then let's use that small conference room. It's almost become Zhang Chao's exclusive conference room, and he uses it more frequently than I do. In addition, you have to be prepared..."

Director Zhou called back all the publishing houses that had left their phone numbers that evening, informed them of the school's arrangements, and asked them to send someone over as soon as possible.

The publishers immediately became anxious when they heard this. In the past, they had only one-on-one discussions with authors about publishing. How could this be possible? It was like an auction house. However, Zhang Chao and the school had very good reasons and they could not refute them. They had to make special arrangements.

Therefore, each company held a meeting overnight to discuss countermeasures, and finally they could not resist the temptation and sent their best troops to fly to Fuhai to compete for Zhang Chao's original copyright.

(End of this chapter)