Back to 80: My Literary Life

"How is this possible? It must be published by Xiangjiang, the traditional Chinese version!"

"Since we are publishing in Xiangjiang, how can we use our mainland author's remuneration system? You are implementing a royalty system!"

"Mr. Fang, you are kidding me. Why do you use a royalty system for books published by mainlanders?"

"Really?" Fang Minghua took out a thick stack of information from the drawer and placed it on the desk.

"This is your Hong Kong version of the publishing regulations. It clearly states the issue of publication royalties, regardless of regional and nationality. If Mr. Chen is not familiar with simplified Chinese, can I help you read it?!"

ah? this?

Chen Jiawei was a little dumbfounded, looking at the thick pile of information. Except for people in the publishing industry who knew this stuff well, ordinary Xiangjiang residents themselves couldn't figure it out. How did he know such details?

How did he know that the young man in front of him had a beautiful girlfriend and an aunt working in Pengcheng.

"Mr. Chen." Fang Minghua's face became serious: "Since you want to publish, you have to show enough sincerity, right? At least you must follow the rules!"

"This. I have to communicate with the magazine about this." Chen Jiawei had no choice but to say.

"Please."

Chen Jiawei left in a hurry.

Fang Minghua sat on a chair and drank tea leisurely.

This Chen Jiawei is really stingy!

It's probably not Chen Jiawei, it's their boss. Mr. Jin is stingy, right?

It is said that his good friend Ni Kuang said of him: "He is a first-rate friend, and a first-rate stingy as a boss."

At that time, Lin Yanni, the "talented girl from Hong Kong", volunteered and was the first to find Jin Yong and asked for an increase in manuscript fees, but Jin Yong declined with a smile:

"What's the extra? You love spending money so much. Even if you add extra, you'll spend it all! How about this? I'll take you to dinner with friends tonight and I'll pay for it."

After hearing this, Lin Yanni could only smile awkwardly, and she must have scolded Jin Yong a thousand times in her heart.

Not only is there no way to get a salary increase, but you also have to have a drink with the boss. Isn’t this putting yourself in trouble? !

Later, it was not possible for Yi Shu to participate in the battle. It was his old friend Ni Kuang who personally took the initiative, but the royalties only increased by 5%, which shows that he is stingy.

But that was in the 1960s and 1970s, and now it's the 1980s. Besides, I'm not serializing it in a newspaper, but publishing a book directly!

Let everything be done in accordance with the law.

In the afternoon, Song Tangtang came over specially, and she was also concerned about this matter.

Fang Minghua told her what happened in detail.

"Minghua, do you think they will agree?"

Song Tangtang asked.

"Definitely! Although I can earn more if you give me the copyright, they still make a big profit from publishing! That old man Jin is not only a scholar, but also a businessman!" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

Sure enough, two days later, Chen Jiawei found Fang Minghua again and was willing to discuss the royalty issue in detail.

After some further bargaining, Fang Minghua will finally receive 11% of the price of "The Legend of Wukong" to calculate the royalties.

This royalty is not high. According to the information provided by Song Tangtang's aunt, the royalty in the Xiangjiang area generally ranges from 10% to 20%. Of course, the better the book and the more famous the writer, the higher the royalty will naturally be.

11% is only 1% higher than the lowest level, which Fang Minghua won based on his reasonable efforts.

It seems that everyone at Ming Pao is as stingy as Mr. Cha.

But that's it.

If I publish books in Hong Kong again, this tax rate will never be possible.

Take your time and take your time.

The two formally signed the contract, and of course they had to wait for Chen Jiawei to return to Hong Kong and stamp the newspaper's seal to make it official.

Chen Jiawei left in a hurry, and Song Tangtang came again in the evening.

The girl has been going to the magazine office almost every day in the past two days.

After hearing Fang Minghua talk about signing a contract with Chen Jiawei during the day, he immediately said to him: "Minghua, go and lend me an abacus."

"abacus?"

"We have a preliminary estimate of your income." The girl said.

Oh, that's right too.

Of course Fang Minghua's dormitory didn't have such a thing, so he simply rode home and brought the old-fashioned abacus from his home.

Song Tangtang took the abacus and said: "I asked my aunt, the local price in Hong Kong for a literary book with about 200,000 words like yours is about 20 to 30 Hong Kong dollars. If calculated at 20 yuan, the sales of 100,000 copies would be 200 Ten thousand Hong Kong dollars, an 11% royalty is equivalent to 220,000 Hong Kong dollars."

Song Tangtang typed a number on the abacus with his slender fingers, and then said:

"I asked my aunt again. The current exchange rate of Hong Kong dollars to RMB is 100 Hong Kong dollars to 27.36 RMB. Let's calculate it as 27 yuan."

Song Tangtang held the abacus and crackled for a while, and finally came up with a number: 59,400 yuan.

"Of course you have to pay personal income tax, and you will end up earning about 47,520 yuan." Song Tangtang finally said.

Not much.

Fang Minghua sighed after hearing this.

Damn exchange rate

The RMB is so strong now!

Of course this is the official price, not the black market.

"Isn't your aunt in Pengcheng? Ask me how much the black market price of Hong Kong dollars is. It must be more than this." Fang Minghua said suddenly.

"Ah?! You want black market transactions?!" The girl looked at her with wide beautiful eyes, looking incredulous.

Is this strange?

never mind.

The other party was born in the new society, grew up under the red flag, and received the most orthodox education.

Change slowly.

"I'm just asking casually, and I'm also a law-abiding citizen." Fang Minghua said with dignity.

The girl looked at him suspiciously, but said nothing.

Hey, we really can’t trade on the black market. How about going to the Friendship Store in Huacheng or Yanjing to exchange part of the foreign exchange vouchers to buy some electrical appliances?

I heard it's very cost-effective.

Of course this is something to consider later.

After the publishing rights of "The Legend of Wukong" in Xiangjiang were handed over to Ming Pao, Fang Minghua called Xiao Dai in Shanghai to express his gratitude.

After all, they are the threads and needles in it, and it seems that they don't get much benefit.

Xiao Dai smiled on the phone and replied that you're welcome: "As a veteran editor of the magazine, I hope that more writers can go beyond the mainland and publish their works in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and even abroad!"

Look how high the quality of the older generation is.

Fang Minghua sighed secretly.

On the phone, Xiao Dai continued: "Xiao Fang, after your article "Roadside Picnic" was published, the response was pretty good. We received a lot of letters from readers, and we also published one in the "Harvest" reader letters column. ,Did you see it?"

"Thank you, Editor Xiao, I saw it."

Fang Minghua really saw this letter from a reader, titled "A Fantasy and Poetic Appointment in the Subtropical Rainy Season" and it was very beautifully written:

Rain, moss, dead wood, stone roads, humid and warm subtropical climate, the customs and customs of Qiannan.

At first there were a few fragmented passages that left me a little confused, but slowly the whole story came together like a puzzle. The audience thought it was about pursuit and return, but in fact it has a deeper meaning.

I think Dr. Chen Sheng, who can write poetry, is not pursuing others, but himself.

Some people say that his fragmentary poems are related to the life of literary lovers, while others say they are the ravings of middle-aged men. However, in fact, they may also be the author's own feelings given to the protagonist.

The connection between nouns and nouns constitutes some very vague scenes, just like Chen Sheng's dream.

What impressed me most was Chen Sheng’s fantastic encounter in Dangmai.

Through clever narration, the author transforms the original time into "the same time and space". People and events in the past, as well as Chen Sheng's own memories, all appeared in one picture.

It was also here that Chen Sheng found a way to reconcile with the past. The train passing by outside the window had a clock painted by Wei Wei on it, and time was flowing backwards.

It's raining in late spring now, let's look at poems like rain again.

The author is a student at Yan Normal University, his name is Su Tong.