1987 My Era

Chapter 54, Royalties

After the 8th class, Li Heng rushed to his English teacher's house.

Chen Xiaomi and Zou Ping were already there. Wang Runwen helped them make tea and water and chatted with them.

Seeing him appear at the door, the three of them turned their heads in unison, and the living room, which had just been filled with conversation, instantly became quiet.

After changing his shoes, Li Heng walked over slowly, sat down and said apologetically: "The get out of class just ended. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

After the polite greetings, he got straight to the point without any hesitation and asked, "What do you two think about the royalties for the number of copies printed?"

Li Heng looked at Chen Xiaomi, who didn't say anything.

Zouping was happy, saying, "The publishing house said that the publishing agreement for the main journal must be based on 30 yuan per thousand words.

If the influence is great, the print royalties will be triggered only when the print run of a single novel exceeds 30 copies. "

30 copies of the single volume?
If the price of one book is 3 yuan, then I can earn 30 yuan from 4.5 copies.

hiss!
4.5 in the s!

It was such a terrifying amount of money, comparable to hundreds of millions in later generations, and it gave him a fright.

Although he didn't understand the literary market of that era and it seemed a bit difficult for a single volume to exceed 30, the rewards it brought were real.

However, Li Heng felt that "Harvest" had taken good care of him. After all, the contract for the regular publication still stipulated that he would be paid 30 yuan per thousand words. This provided a guarantee for his royalties and there was no risk of gambling.

Hearing Zou Ping's words, Chen Xiaomi frowned secretly, finding it unbelievable. She didn't expect that "Shouhuo" magazine would really make an opening for a new writer.

Even though the news was semi-conservative in nature, Li Heng was not treated unfairly. He was paid the highest fee in the industry.

You should know that when she reported the situation here to the editor-in-chief, there was silence for a while on the other end, and then he hung up the phone directly, and there was no further response.

Seeing Zouping's expectant look, Li Heng agreed without much hesitation.

The next thing was the much-anticipated matter of signing the publishing contract. Li Heng was a businessman, so after he read the contract carefully and found no problems, he signed it and put his fingerprints on it.

"Teacher Li, welcome to join our Harvest family. The 4050 yuan manuscript fee will be in your hands within a week.

If there are any manuscripts later, I hope you will give us priority."

The moment the agreement was signed, Zou Ping breathed a sigh of relief and shook hands with him enthusiastically and proactively.

"Everything is fine, thank you Editor Zou!" Li Heng also stretched out his hand and shook hands with the other party.

He said this sincerely, without any perfunctory meaning.

After all, Harvest thinks highly of me and gives me privileges without embezzling my royalties.

Just for these two points of generosity and righteousness, he will remember them for the rest of his life.

In fact, what he didn't know was that the reason why "Harvest" magazine was so tolerant towards him was that Mr. Ba saw that he could write such a high level of "To Live" at such a young age and was inspired by his talent.

Although the 30 yuan fee for "To Live" seems like a lot based on the standard of 4050 yuan per thousand words, for a large magazine like "Harvest", it is just a small amount of money that does not hurt anything.

Of course, "Harvest" is not naive, it also has a account.

If the influence of "To Live" is big enough to support the publication of a single volume, and the number of copies can exceed 30, the income brought to the magazine will be millions, and paying him that little money is not too much. This is a win-win situation.

The question is, can "To Live" have such a big impact?
Is Li Heng unsure about this?

Is Harvest magazine also feeling unsure?
Everything is unknown, we can only wait...!
Zouping returned with a full load and left happily.

At the school gate, Li Heng looked at the other person's back as he left, muttering in his heart: Damn it! 5% of the royalties is still too little.

But he knew that this matter could not be rushed, and it was a great favor that others could make an exception for him.

When I write a good second novel and feel more confident, I will raise the price with them. Ever since Zouping agreed to the royalties based on the number of copies printed, Chen Xiaomi knew that she had no chance at all.

But she did not leave immediately. Instead, she watched the absurd things happen with curiosity.

Yes, in her eyes, royalties were something extremely unorthodox and absurd. No one mentioned it in the past, and no one dared to mention it.

And now...

What surprised and made her even more incredible was that the fledgling Li Heng, who was ignorant of the immensity of the world, not only proposed it, but Mr. Ba actually agreed.

All this is almost unimaginable!

If this matter were to be exposed, I don’t know how big a stir it would cause.

The reason why she could accurately guess what Mr. Ba meant was because of what he said later.

Because, relying only on the title of editor-in-chief of Harvest magazine, he would not have the courage to do this, after all, it would affect the interests of all publishing houses. Only a transcendent person like Mr. Ba would not be afraid.

At this moment, Chen Xiaomi looked at Li Heng with unprecedented complexity in her mood.

A thought even suddenly popped up in my mind: If I had known earlier that he had such extraordinary talent, instead of breaking up the couple last summer, I would probably have persuaded my sister-in-law to accept Aunt Run'e's proposal.

Aunt Run'e...this is really an old name. I haven't called you that for a long time.

Seeing Li Heng looking over, Chen Xiaomi calmed down and said to him inexplicably:
"You are amazing. Everyone misjudged you."

The "everyone" she was referring to was not only the Chen family, but also those gossipy women in the village who watched the show.

She couldn't even imagine what a sensation it would cause if the news that Li Heng had become a great writer spread to the village.

What kind of dramatic change would there be in the villagers’ attitude?
It is estimated that the Li family’s doorstep, which used to be deserted, will become lively again.

after all…

After all, there are only a few people in the country who can write works comparable to "To Live".

Chen Xiaomi didn't know why she had the urge to praise him just now, but the words were out and she couldn't take them back, so she could only keep a calm face.

Li Heng was also a little stunned and thought he was hallucinating.

Ha! This woman is praising herself to her face?

Is this an international joke?

You know, this is the first time in my life that this woman has said something good about me. It's really like the sun is rising in the west!
Li Heng wanted to say thank you, but instinctively just nodded.

The two sides looked at each other and said nothing more. After Chen Xiaomi politely thanked the English teacher, she walked away indifferently without looking back.

When the motorcycle Chen Xiaomi was riding disappeared on the road, Wang Runwen said jokingly: "Not bad, I conquered an enemy."

Where is this?

It's not so easy to completely conquer that woman from the Chen family.

The English teacher is quite big.

Li Heng took a subconscious glance and quickly turned around and walked into the school gate.

Wang Runwen crossed his arms over his chest and stared at him coldly from behind.

I almost burst out cursing: Are all people from Shangwan Village sick? Women are like this, men are like this too.

(End of this chapter)