Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 44: Print 30 more pages?
Zhu Yanling has been under a lot of pressure in the editorial department recently.

Although they have obtained the copyright of "Youth Like You", the price is very high. As a relatively traditional publishing house, Huacheng Publishing House was "forced" to hype the book this time. In fact, some editors in the publishing house still have different opinions.

What’s more, “Better Days” has not been published yet, and no one has seen the real money yet.

After Zhu Yanling signed the contract this time, she shelved a novella written by senior editor Wang Hongzhao and postponed its publication for another issue.

Although Zhu Yanling is the editor-in-chief of Huacheng, she is not the editor-in-chief or executive editor after all. Naturally, the suppression of manuscripts caused dissatisfaction.

The editors of literary magazines are a rather special group. Although there is a hierarchical relationship, they are all literati after all, and the noble and aloof nature of their nature cannot be changed.

What’s more, Wang Hongzhao was a senior editor. He quit at that time and put pressure on Zhu Yanling:
"I have already promised Mr. Zhao Dahe that his "The North Wind Howls All Afternoon" will be the first novella in the next issue. How do you want me to explain it?"

Zhao Dahe is a famous novelist from Zhongyuan Province. He graduated from Yenching University. He has been famous for a long time and has won numerous awards.

"It's not that I won't publish it, but I'll wait a little longer. It will definitely be in the next issue."

“Wait for that little kid with no hair on his face to write a pure literary work?” Wang Hongzhao sneered.

Zhu Yanling was actually unsure because although Zhang Chao was now famous, his literary ability was not recognized.

In terms of subject matter and style, "Better Days" clearly belongs to the category of genre fiction and has a clear audience group. It can also be called a popular novel or a commercial novel.

It is generally believed that there is an insurmountable gap between popular fiction writers and pure literature writers, starting from their creative concepts, which is basically equivalent to the difference between Edison and Einstein.

Huacheng is a magazine that focuses on pure literature and likes to publish works by young writers, especially those with avant-garde colors. However, there is no such young writer as Zhang Chao.

Zhu Yanling said, "Wait a little longer. Zhang Chao's manuscript will be finished in the next two weeks. If the quality is not up to standard, then we'll let Teacher Zhao's novel go first."

Wang Hongzhao said, "Are you really betting everything on him? Well, even if the lawsuit is brought to Editor-in-Chief Xiao, I won't be afraid!"

After saying that, he left angrily.

Zhu Yanling rubbed her temples and suddenly felt that her recent emotions were actually being stirred up by Zhang Chao, a young man who was less than 20 years old. She couldn't help but laugh at herself.

But a week later, the novel that Zhang Chao promised was not sent.

Zhu Yanling couldn't sit still anymore and wanted to call Zhang Chao, but she controlled her urge to urge him to submit the manuscript. It was natural for the editor to urge him to submit the manuscript, but considering Zhang Chao's recent creative pressure, Zhu Yanling didn't want to let him down.

Wang Hongzhao was naturally very proud, and took the printed manuscript of "The North Wind Howled All Afternoon" and put it in front of Zhu Yanling, asking her to sign it. Zhu Yanling knew that she was in the wrong, so she had to sign her name.

"Zhang Chao, Zhang Chao, why did you suddenly lose your temper?"

But a few days later, Zhu Yanling suddenly found a familiar name in her mailbox, Zhang Chao. Along with the name, there was a word document attachment with the file name: "Young Babylon".

Zhu Yanling downloaded it immediately, opened it, and read it carefully.

Zhu Yanling spent more than two hours reading the novella of more than 3 words, which was a very long process for an editor with her experience.

After reading it, Zhu Yanling breathed a sigh of relief. The quality of Zhang Chao's novel was far beyond her imagination. However, she had already signed "The North Wind Howled All Afternoon" and could not withdraw it. The authors of the other two novellas were more famous and well-known, and the quality was also very high. She could not suppress them at this time.

The works in other columns cannot be removed either. We can't remove two or three short stories or essays at once just to match the length of "Young Babylon", right?

But it is a pity to give up Zhang Chao's novel in the March issue. If it is put in the May issue, it is likely to miss the golden sales period of "Youth Like You".

Zhu Yanling was unsure, so she printed out "Young Babylon" and prepared to send it to the editor-in-chief Xiao Jianguo to let him make the decision.

The editorial department of Huacheng used a large Ricoh all-in-one printer to print manuscripts. So when Zhu Yanling printed out the manuscript, it also attracted the attention of others. Wang Hongzhao paid the most attention and stepped forward to take a look, saying sarcastically:

"The genius boy finally came up with a treasure?"

Zhu Yanling ignored him and went to the editor-in-chief's office with the manuscript. Unexpectedly, not only was editor-in-chief Xiao Jianguo there, but also Tian Ying, director of the cultural editorial department. The two were old partners, and when they saw Zhu Yanling coming in with the manuscript, they both looked at her.

Zhu Yanling explained the whole story and handed "Young Babylon" to Xiao Jianguo.

Xiao Jianguo said: "Let's read the manuscript first. Everything is centered on the quality of the manuscript! Lao Tian, ​​you can also help me check it."

In this way, Xiao Jianguo looked at a page and handed it to Tian Ying. The two of them read the manuscript faster than Zhu Yanling, and they finished flipping through more than 30 pages of printed paper in more than an hour.

After watching it, Xiao Jianguo pondered for a long time, and occasionally reviewed some clips before he spoke and asked Tian Ying: "Old Tian, ​​what do you think?"

Tian Ying answered without hesitation: "Excellent work!"

Xiao Jianguo nodded and said, "Although there are still some immature details in the treatment of the text, such as the switching between several memories, which is a bit abrupt and lacks transition. But from the subject matter, style and the overall effect presented, I have never seen any other 20-year-old writer with this level of skill."

Tian Ying added: "The most valuable thing about Young Babylon is the subject matter. Zhang Chao took us to see an unfamiliar field that few people had noticed in the past. With this, even if he didn't write well enough, it was worth publishing. What's more, he wrote well enough."

Zhu Yanling was delighted, but she still asked cautiously: "But, but the quota for next month's novella is full..."

Editor-in-chief Xiao Jianguo is calm, honest, and meticulous. He is unwilling to give up the opportunity for "Young Babylon" to meet readers in "Huacheng" as soon as possible, but he also does not want to offend old writers like Zhao Changhe, with whom he has collaborated many times.

Tian Ying was from Hunan Province. He was carefree and domineering. He said generously, "Don't worry. I'll talk to Lao Zhao. At worst, I'll toast him and apologize next time I go to Zhongyuan."

Xiao Jianguo thought for a while and said, "Don't suppress anyone's manuscripts. We should also publish Zhang Chao's novel. So, we can print 30 more pages in the next issue of the magazine and publish "Young Babylon"."

Zhu Yanling was surprised: "Print... 30 more pages?"

You should know that a single issue of Huacheng magazine has 244 pages and the retail price is only 9.9 yuan. In addition, the sales of pure literature have been sluggish in recent years, so after adding the labor cost and the royalties paid to the authors, it is basically close to the cost line and not profitable at all.

Although printing 30 pages is not expensive from the perspective of printing costs, it is almost a loss-making operation considering the sales of the existing magazine. So it takes courage to make this decision for a newcomer like Zhang Chao.

Xiao Jianguo waved his hand and said, "It's settled! Hurry up and sort out the revision suggestions and send them to Zhang Chao to finalize it as soon as possible."

Zhu Yanling nodded gratefully.

(End of this chapter)