After leaving Xiamen University, the three of them talked and laughed, and were in a good mood.
Yu Hua also turned to look at the main gate of Xia University behind him and said with emotion: "The school spirit of this Xia University is really good, not like your Yan Normal University."
His words immediately offended both Yu Dong and Su Tong.
"Oh, look at what you said. How dare you evaluate a school's school spirit based on whether someone can recognize you, Yu Hua?" Su Tong said sarcastically.
Yu Dong also said: "I think you, you might as well stick to Xiamen's side from now on, and hang out at the door when you have nothing to do. It won't take long before all the teachers and students in the school will be able to recognize your face."
"Hey, let's take a look. If nothing else, is it true that you Yan Normal University students protect their shortcomings? That's all. After all, I am half a student of Yan Normal University."
Su Tong rolled his eyes and said: "This is strange. I have never heard you say that you are a student of Yan Normal University before. Why, now you have changed your gender?"
"Being with you two, I will have the appearance of a student from Yan Normal University, and you two will not be able to scold me."
After a tiring day, the three of them returned to the hotel and had a good sleep. Yu Hua left early the next day. His train was in the morning and he had to leave early. Yu Dong and the others' train was in the afternoon and they slept until
I don't get up until three o'clock in the morning.
After arriving at the school, although no one came to welcome him, a banner was hung on the avenue leading to the library from the school entrance: Warm congratulations to Teacher Yu Dong for winning the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award!
The guard, Uncle Zhou, said with a smile: "It was hung up yesterday, and there is another one hanging on the outer wall on the north side. Teacher Yu, I heard that the Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Award you won this time is very special, and the prize money is suitable for all ages."
"
It was inappropriate to ask about the bonus, but Du Dong didn't take it seriously and said with a smile: "It's not much, Uncle Zhou, do you have my letter?"
"Yes, I've packed them up for you." Uncle Zhou turned around and went into the communication room and took out a plastic bag: "You have a lot of letters now. More than a dozen letters have arrived in just a few days."
Yu Dong took the plastic bag and took a closer look. There were indeed quite a few.
Recently, he has received more and more letters, including letters of invitation from various magazines and letters from readers.
Now more and more people know that he teaches at Jinyi, so he sent the letter directly to the school.
Liu Xuemin told Yu Dong before that readers often send strange letters to the author, but Yu Dong is lucky and the letters he receives from readers are relatively normal and positive.
Occasionally, readers will make some comments, but they are relatively mild.
In the past, when there were not many letters, Yu Dong would open each letter and read it carefully. Now that there are more and more letters, he no longer has the time and energy. At most, he just picks out one or two letters and reads them.
Take the letter and go to the dormitory, and the students who see him along the way will take the initiative to say hello to him.
Nowadays, no matter whether they are freshmen or old students, Jin Yi basically has no students who don't know him. The school itself is not big, and the students can see Yu Dong's name every day, so they naturally know him every time they go there.
When he arrived at the dormitory and put down his bag, Yu Dong first took out the letters in the plastic bag and sorted them into categories.
Three letters were sent from magazines, one of which was from Reader's Digest.
After Yu Dong scolded them angrily last time, not only were they not angry, but they even wrote a letter of thanks.
"Thank you, Mr. Yu Dong, for your attention to our publication. After careful internal research of our publication, we feel that the title you gave is completely feasible, so we are going to solicit opinions from the society as a 'reader' in the next issue. If we get the readers' opinions,
For your extensive support, our company will use this journal name, and we will be grateful at that time."
Later, I wrote a lot of nonsense.
After Yu Dong read the letter, he couldn't help but praise "Reader's Digest".
These people are really good at beating snakes and hitting people with sticks, and they are a bit self-indulgent. But the more this happens, the less Yu Dong despises this magazine.
They think that having no position and having no temper are the "qualities" that a free journal should have, but they don't know that there is no person or organization in the world who has no position. What they call no position is just a kind of position.
However, Yu Dong will never reply to their letters again. It is not a good thing to involve them too much.
…
The next day, Jimmy arrived in Jinling and reported to Yu Dong on the situation of "Resident Evil".
"Our first battle can be said to be a complete victory. Before I left the United States, I got the sales data for the first twenty days. The sales volume has reached 300,000 copies. If it were not because the first printing was too small at the beginning, I think
This number should increase by 50% and can definitely exceed 400,000 copies."
When talking about the sales of "Resident Evil", Jimmy looked excited.
Before he left, Bantam had decided to print an additional million copies, adding up to a total of 1.6 million copies.
Royalties are not settled based on sales, but based on printed copies. This means that as many copies as Bantam prints, Yu Dong will be paid royalties for as many copies as possible, regardless of whether they sell them or not.
Looking at it now, they have received at least 1.6 million copies in royalties.
However, Jimmy is not satisfied with this. His long-term hope is that this book can sell six to seven million copies in the United States and break the novel sales record in the United States.
Of course, this hope is not high at this stage, so Jimmy's temporary hope is to sell the 1.6 million copies as soon as possible, distribute the goods in other English-speaking areas as soon as possible, and strive to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide.
In this way, it will be easier to promote future series of works.
Thinking of the series, Jimmy asked Yu Dong again: "Dong, have you conceived the second part of this series? When will it be released?"
Yu Dong was speechless and said: "How can it be so fast? Let's wait until next year."
"Isn't it almost next year? There are still more than ten days left." Jimmy smiled, "As long as you have a plan, I think it will be fine. Oh, by the way, I saw the banner hanging at the door when I came in.
, you won the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award? How important is this award? What category is it in?"
"It's hard to say how big the prize is. The recent attention has been pretty good. However, there are quite a few winners in each session, and ours has 16 in this session. They are in the traditional literature category and are mainly awarded to young writers." Yu Dong said.
Jimmy nodded, feeling that this award had little room for manipulation and was not easy to create public opinion. The main reason was that it had no special features.
It would be great if Yu Dong could win an important foreign award, which would be very helpful to his marketing, but it seems there is no hope for the time being.
In fact, when he decided to take Yu Dong's works to the United States, Jimmy was mentally prepared. It is not easy for Chinese authors' works to win awards abroad.
"There is one more thing I want to tell you. I have already contacted the Niu Erfang you mentioned before. He is mainly interested in the science fiction writers I have signed, and hopes that he can use me in the future to make
These writers provide them with articles. In other words, they want to see if there is such a possibility."
Yu Dong frowned and said, "What do you mean? Please tell me specifically."
"They are really planning to create a science fiction magazine because they saw the momentum of science fiction in China and felt that just one science fiction magazine was not enough, so they also wanted to create a science fiction magazine."
"Well, I know this. Niu Erfang said it when he came last time." Yu Dong nodded.
Jimmy smiled and continued: "They actually really wanted to create a magazine like "Science Fiction World", but they were afraid of not being able to compete with each other, so they found me through you. They wanted to see if they could win me over.
If they go to their camp, as long as they win over the author and give "Science Fiction World" a boost, they will have confidence."
Yu Dong looked at Jimmy and probably knew the final result of the negotiation.
Jimmy is not a firm supporter of "Science Fiction World", so he doesn't care where the authors he signed submit their manuscripts, but he must see enough benefits.
Yu Dong could conclude that Niu Erfang and the others could not provide the benefits Jimmy requested.
"Don't you ask me if we have reached an agreement with them?" Jimmy asked.
Yu Dong smiled and said, "Do you still have to ask?"
"Hey, it's really boring to chat with you. It's true that we didn't reach an agreement. They are too greedy. They want the author but can't give me any tangible benefits, so they will make a big deal for me. You know how they persuade me
? They said that if their magazines can be supported, the living environment of domestic science fiction writers will be much better in the future, because more magazines will participate in the competition for authors."
At this point, Jimmy sneered: "They think too highly of themselves, why should I support them in such a thankless way? After hearing that I was reluctant to support them, they said they wanted to create a comic magazine.
.But this aspect has little to do with me, so I didn’t talk about it in depth.”
"What do you think of their idea of ​​creating a comic magazine?"
Jimmy thought for a while and said: "It is indeed a good idea, and it takes no effort. But the key problem is that based on my understanding of Chinese comics, this kind of painter is probably not easy to find. Experienced old painters will definitely not take it.
In their job, the skills of inexperienced students are definitely not enough to support such a comic magazine. And when I chatted with Niu Erfang, I found that he didn’t understand comics at all and was just a layman.”
Yu Dong nodded, and Jimmy got to the point.
In the past two years, foreign comics have gradually become popular in China. This is indeed a fact. However, Niu Erfang and others have many difficulties in setting up their own science fiction comic magazine, and the biggest difficulty is the professional issue mentioned by Jimmy.
"In my opinion," Jimmy continued, "either we need to recruit talents in this field from abroad, or we should be mentally prepared to suffer losses in the past few years and spend time and money to train some painters ourselves."
"Don't bother with this matter for now. During this time, you should focus more on the writers you signed. Especially Wang Jingkang and Han Song, you can keep in touch with them." Yu Dong said.
Jimmy scratched the back of his head and said, "Speaking of Wang Jingkang, I'm still quite surprised as to why you have to sign him. I've watched "Seven Shells" and it's really good. It's a bit like an extended popular version of "Prison No. 7". But
He is different from He Hongwei and others. He is too old and it is difficult for him to develop further. Especially in the field of feature films, it is very difficult for him to write feature films at his age."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter even if it's a short or medium story, and his potential cannot be measured by his age."
In fact, the appearance of Wang Jingkang also surprised Yu Dong, because I had the impression that his "Seven Shells" would not be released until a long time later, and his debut should be "The Return of Adam".
Now "Adam Returns" has not come out, but "Seven Shells" has appeared first.
Yu Dong guessed that this was another change caused by his return.
When he saw the name at that time, Yu Dong immediately asked Jimmy to sign Wang Jingkang. According to Jimmy, when he found Wang Jingkang, Wang Jingkang was very surprised. He did not expect that anyone would come to sign a cooperation with him.
He even thought Jimmy was a liar at one point.
And Wang Jingkang doesn’t understand what a writer’s agent is at all.
"He's just a senior engineer who studies technology."
This is a summary of Jimmy’s impression of Wang Jingkang.
In addition, Wang Jingkang is indeed not young. He is already in his forties this year. For a science fiction writer, it is really very late to publish his debut novel at this age.
Yu Dong's judgment of Wang Jingkang was not entirely based on his own foresight, but also based on his works. Just like he believed that Hu Changqing also has the hope of becoming a well-known science fiction writer.
People like Wang Jingkang and Hu Changqing have the talent to write science fiction novels, but they just entered this path a little later.
Hu Changqing also signed a contract with Jimmy, but he didn't know that the boss behind Jimmy's "Deep Space Co., Ltd." was Yu Dong. He thought that Yu Dong was just like him and just signed a writer's agent contract with Jimmy.
In addition to signing some science fiction writers, the company has recently begun preparing to sign some traditional literature writers.
Yu Dong gave Jimmy a list of writers he thought could be signed and asked him to negotiate.
The list written by Yu Dong is basically composed of young writers who are not yet famous or have just been famous for a few years, such as Yu Hua, Bi Feiyu and others.
In fact, Jimmy thought that signing traditional literary writers was not very cost-effective, but based on his understanding of Dong, he knew that it would be useless to say this, so after getting the list, he did not raise any objections, but just patted his chest and promised to complete the task.
Again, even if you don't make money by signing these writers, it won't damage the company's foundation, and it can make Yu Dong happy, so why not?
The writer of Jimmy's first guide is Bi Feiyu.
Yu Dong ran out of the room and shouted in the direction of Bi Feiyu on the second floor.
"Feiyu, someone is looking for you."
Bi Feiyu walked out lazily, "Who is it again?"
Jimmy also ran out and greeted Bi Feiyu, "Mr. Bi, it's me."
Bi Feiyu knew Jimmy and replied with a smile: "It's you, Mr. Jimmy. I heard what Yu Dong meant and thought it was another magazine editor who came over."
As he spoke, Bi Feiyu had already walked downstairs, "Mr. Jimmy, what do you want from me?"
Jimmy got straight to the point: "I hope to be Mr. Bi's agent. I don't know if Mr. Bi is willing."
Bi Feiyu looked surprised. He first looked at Yu Dong, and when Yu Dong nodded with him, he looked at Jimmy again.
He knew that Jimmy was Yu Dong's agent, but in his opinion, the reason why Jimmy wanted to be Yu Dong's agent was entirely because of Yu Dong's achievements in science fiction and had nothing to do with the traditional literary field.
"Mr. Jimmy, I can't write science fiction novels." Bi Feiyu said with a smile.
Jimmy also smiled, "I know you don't write science fiction, but your achievements in traditional literature are obvious to all..."
"No, no, no -" Bi Feiyu waved his hands repeatedly, "Mr. Jimmy, this is not the first time we have met, so you don't need to put a high hat on me. I know my situation myself, and I really don't need an agent.
Man, look at the few works I have in hand, I don’t have much to deal with, and I won’t be able to bring you any profit if you sign them.”
Bi Feiyu's meaning was very clear. He didn't have many things at hand right now, and he could handle them all by himself. There was no need to hire a broker to share his money, and he didn't have much money in the first place.
Of course Jimmy could hear what Bi Feiyu meant, but he was not in a hurry. He smiled and said to Bi Feiyu: "Don't refuse in a hurry. Let's go inside first and chat slowly."
Bi Feiyu nodded and followed Jimmy and the others into Yu Dong's room.
Jimmy took the initiative to pour a cup of tea for Bi Feiyu, and took out two handfuls of melon seeds from Yu Dong's grain bag and gave them to Bi Feiyu, as if he regarded Yu Dong's place as his own home.
He did this deliberately to show Bi Feiyu, wanting Bi Feiyu to know that his relationship with Yu Dong was unusual, so as to dispel Bi Feiyu's concerns.
After the tea and melon seeds were served, Jimmy slowly said: "Mr. Bi, I understand your concerns, but what I am going to say can completely dispel all your concerns. If my agent's commission is twelve
At this point, you need to give me 12% of the income from your works. However, please pay attention to this. However, the commission agreement between us can set a trigger condition, that is, if your income from your works within a year does not reach 50,000,
, this agreement will not be triggered, all income belongs to you, once your annual income exceeds 50,000, then I will take a commission from the 50,000."
Bi Feiyu was also thinking while listening to Jimmy's words.
Jimmy's proposal is indeed very tempting. The figure of annual income of 50,000 yuan is still a bit far away for Bi Feiyu now. He does not think that he can earn more than 50,000 yuan in income from writing in a year.
If Jimmy can make him earn more than 50,000 a year, then it seems reasonable to give him a commission.
"Moreover." Seeing Bi Feiyu's hesitation, Jimmy continued: "This 50,000 yuan only includes royalties, royalties, licensing fees, etc. If your work wins an award, the bonus will not be included in the 50,000 yuan.
"
Jimmy didn't discuss this proposal with Yu Dong. He came up with it on his own. Because in his opinion, if you can't earn more than 50,000 yuan a year, there is no point in getting such a commission. It's just a few thousand dollars.
, it would be better to just do a favor and give it to the writer himself.
Bi Feiyu did not reply immediately, but thought about it while drinking water from the cup.
Jimmy didn't rush him, he just grabbed a handful of melon seeds and started eating them.
After Bi Feiyu finished his cup of tea, he still couldn't think of a reason to reject the proposal, so he said, "I think it's okay."
Hearing Bi Feiyu's answer, Jimmy quickly put down the melon seeds in his hand and said with a smile: "If you think it's okay, then I'll go back and draw up a contract for you to take a look at. If there's no problem, we'll settle the matter.
"
Bi Feiyu nodded, and then said with some confusion: "Mr. Jimmy, I have a question, why do you want to sign me?"
Chapter completed!