Looking at the street with light rain outside, Mo Yan was also very depressed. Before coming, he had thought very well and was ready to experience the exotic scenery with Yu Dong and others.
He delayed reporting to his work unit and came to Europe.
But after arriving, I realized that it would be better to steal cucumbers and eat them in Jinling.
Moreover, Yu Dong and the three of them all brought their family members with them, and he was the only one. Against this background, he seemed particularly lonely.
If Yu Dong and the others hadn't brought their family, at least the four of them could have had a table of eggs at night, and it wouldn't have been too boring.
"Let's go to Paris tomorrow."
Seeing that everyone was not satisfied with the weather in London, Yu Dong suggested that he go to Paris tomorrow.
In fact, they didn't plan to stay in the UK for long, and there was nothing special to do here. They had also met Rowling, so it didn't matter if they left one day earlier or later.
Yu Dong's proposal was quickly approved unanimously, and everyone else also hoped to go to Paris as soon as possible.
Originally, Yu Dong planned to leave in the afternoon and go to Paris for dinner, but Mo Yan and the others insisted not to waste time, so everyone got on the car to Paris early in the morning.
At noon, they arrived at the hotel.
Summer in Paris is also not hot, and the sun is still in the sky and it doesn't rain, making it much more comfortable than London.
In fact, there are many rainy days in Paris, but it seems that they were lucky, and they encountered a sunny day just after arriving.
The hotel they stayed in was located next to the Seine River.
After having lunch at the hotel, several female relatives took Yu Haiguo to bask in the sun on the large balcony of the hotel. Standing on the balcony, you can see the boats passing by on the Seine River and the sparkling water. When you look up, you can see not far away.
The Eiffel Tower stands everywhere.
This large iron tower, disliked by countless literary figures, is less than one kilometer away from the hotel. Sitting on the balcony, it feels like it is right in front of you.
Yu Dong and the other men did not have time to enjoy the beautiful scenery with the women, so they rushed to Actes Sud Publishing House after lunch.
Editor-in-chief He Biyu was very happy when he met Yu Dong and others.
"I originally said I would have to wait a few days to see you, but I didn't expect you to come early." As she said that, she looked at Mo Yan again, "When you came last year, you said you would bring Mo Yan with you, but you didn't expect this year.
Really brought it.”
He Biyu excitedly found chairs for Yu Dong and the others, and poured a cup of tea for each of them. After finishing her work, she sat down in front of the three of them, "The tea here is definitely not as good as China's, so you can just drink it."
Yu Dong took a sip and said with a smile, "This tea is very good."
"It's really good." Mo Yan also nodded.
"Thank you for the compliment, but I don't believe it, haha." He Biyu smiled heartily, stood up and took out a few books from the table.
Yu Dong and the others did not understand French, but they still roughly recognized what these books were.
"Alive" is the most recognizable because it features Gong Li on the cover.
Followed by "Red Sorghum", the cover is also Gong Li.
Publishers are very interested in movies. As long as it is a book about a movie, they like to use the movie stills as the cover of the book, hoping to gain higher sales by leveraging the influence of the movie.
He Biyu held the book and smiled and said: "This is the design of the new edition of the book series. It has not been finalized yet. You guys happened to come over and take a look and give your opinions."
Yu Dong and the others took the book with some difficulty. Because they didn't understand French, they couldn't read anything except the painting on the cover.
Therefore, Yu Dong and the others soon returned the books.
"We can't tell anything." Yu Hua shrugged his shoulders, "I don't think there's much change from before."
"Forget it, it's no use showing it to you." He Biyu put the book back on the desk with a smile.
In fact, she never thought about what opinions Yu Dong and the others would put forward. Although the design of this new series of books has not been completely finalized, it was almost there. Even if Yu Dong and the others put forward any opinions, it would not be easy to modify it.
The reason why I took out the book to show them is to show them that the publisher attaches great importance to their works.
In fact, Actes sud really values ​​this series of books.
It was He Biyu who decided to publish this series of books. The reason why the upper management agreed to publish this series of books at that time was that He Biyu had just arrived, so he could not let her down and give her some support. Secondly, because Yu Dong,
After all, Yu Dong was already very well-known in France at that time.
But they didn't expect that this set of books would sell so well, which completely exceeded their expectations.
Especially "Alive" and "Going West", these two books are often ranked at the top of the sales list.
The sales of "Going West" were within their expectations. After all, Yu Dong was famous there. As long as the fans of "Resident Evil" and "Second World" changed slightly, the sales volume would be huge.
And "Alive" far exceeded their imagination.
Even though the novel has been published in France for more than a year, "Alive" still sold hundreds of thousands of copies last month.
The sales of "Panic Fingers" and "Red Sorghum" are slightly weaker, but their performance is not bad. These two books are still selling tens of thousands of copies every month.
Sometimes "Red Sorghum" explodes and can sell 40,000 to 50,000 copies in a month, which is higher than the sales of many new books.
So overall, the sales volume of this Chinese literature series is very impressive. As a result, the publishing house naturally pays more attention to this series of books, and they plan to publish more than ten books in this series within the next year.
For example, Yu Dong's "The Crowd" and Yu Hua's "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood" are already in the plan, and the French versions are also being translated and will be out soon.
"When I come to Paris this time, I want to have a good time for a few more days. Do you want me to accompany you around?" He Biyu said with a smile.
Yu Hua waved his hands repeatedly: "How can I bother you with this matter? The publishing house is so busy, you can't leave."
"I'm not too busy..." After thinking about it, He Biyu asked again, "How long will you stay in Paris?"
"Not sure yet, it depends on the situation. This time when we come to Europe, we will mainly go to Rome. When Rome is almost ready, we will go there." Yu Dong said.
"I know, it's about the movie. I heard from people at Deep Space Company that you wrote a script for Giuseppe." He Biyu nodded: "If you can stay here until a week later, you can
Consider attending a literary exchange.”
"Literary exchange meeting?" Bi Feiyu was a little surprised, "Now is not the time for a literary festival. What kind of exchange meeting is it? Is it big?"
Most of the cultural activities in Europe are concentrated in spring, like March and May.
For example, at the Saint-Malo Literary Festival in May, the organizer invited Yu Dong and others, but they were busy with the Deep Space Short Film Competition at the time and were about to graduate, so they declined because they had no time to come.
For example, well-known events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Paris Book Fair are also held in spring.
"It's not a large literary exchange meeting, and there aren't many people participating. It's mainly writers and publishers from Paris and Oslo. Do you know Jostan Judd?"
"Of course I know him, the author of "Sophie's World"," Yu Dong said.
"Well, he will also be present at this exchange meeting. I heard that he is preparing to set up a foundation. They have already held one in Oslo. Of course, this exchange meeting is not specially opened for his foundation.
There is no special topic, if you are interested in chatting, I will tell them." He Biyu said.
Yu Dong looked at Yu Hua and the others, and they all shrugged and expressed no objection.
"Let's see. It depends on the situation. If there is nothing else at that time, we can go over and have a look. How about that?"
"No problem, just go there when the time comes. Actually..."
He Biyu wanted to continue talking, but there was a knock on the office door.
Everyone turned around and saw a middle-aged man with brown hair.
He was also surprised to see Yu Dong and the others, "Editor-in-Chief, you have a guest here."
He Biyu smiled and said to him: "Andrew, you're here just in time, let me introduce you..."
Later, He Biyu first introduced Yu Dong and others to Andrew in French.
When he heard that it was Yu Dong and Yu Hua, Andrew showed a surprised expression. The Chinese literature series was the main plan of their publishing house in the near future. Of course he knew the authors of the series. He had always wanted to meet Yu Dong and the others before.
Today I finally have this opportunity.
He Biyu had told him that Yu Dong and the others were coming a few days ago, but the date mentioned at that time would still be a few days away. Andrew did not expect that Yu Dong and the others would come today.
"Hello, hello, nice to meet you."
After Andrew shook hands with Yu Dong and the others one by one, He Biyu introduced Yu Dong and the others in Chinese: "This is the new deputy editor-in-chief of our publishing house, Andrew. He was my colleague before and taught at the Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Cultures in Paris.
. He is also very interested in Chinese culture. After he comes to the club this time, the Chinese literature series will be given full responsibility to him."
When they heard that Andrew was the new deputy editor, Yu Dong and the others all smiled knowingly.
They still remember that when they came to see He Biyu last year, a deputy editor came over. At that time, the deputy editor had a very cold attitude and seemed to have a conflict with He Biyu.
Now it seems that in the struggle between the two, He Biyu won, otherwise there would not have been a new deputy editor, and he was from the Paris Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Cultures.
For Dong and others, it is of course a good thing to have a professional who understands Eastern culture to be solely responsible for the Chinese literature series.
…
A few people sat in He Biyu's office for about an hour, then got up and left.
After leaving the publishing house, they talked about the literary exchange meeting.
Mo Yan didn't know much about Jostan Judd, so he asked Yu Dong: "What kind of book is "Sophie's World" you just mentioned? Has it been published in China?"
"It has been published." Bi Feiyu answered helpfully: "But it was not long after it was published. I only saw this book in the bookstore at the end of June. It was published by Writers Publishing House."
"That's no wonder, I haven't seen it. It seems to be sold well abroad, otherwise the Writers' Publishing House wouldn't help publish it," Mo Yan said.
"It's indeed selling well." Yu Dong nodded, "As far as I know, millions of copies have been sold."
Yu Hua scratched his head, "I wonder if I have heard too much about Yu Dong's sales. Now I hear about millions of copies, but I don't feel anything at all. Don't several of Yu Dong's books have sales of millions of copies?"
Yu Dong smiled and said nothing. The current best-selling road of "Sophie's World" has actually just begun. It has strong stamina. More than 20 years later, it still often appears on the best-seller list.
Rumor has it that the novel sold hundreds of millions of copies.
This data is very watery, but there must be tens of millions of copies.
It is not impossible for Yu Dong's novels to surpass "Sophie's World", but it is still very difficult.
Speaking of sales, there are two writers in Norway who impressed Yu Dong deeply. One is Jostan Judd, and the other is Yo Nesbo, the author of "The Snowman".
Compared with Jostan Judd, Yo Nesbo's experience was more dramatic.
Yu Dong had also studied Yu Nesbo's resume before and found it very interesting.
When this guy first wanted to be a professional football player, he joined a team in the Norwegian First Division and planned to play in the Premier League. However, he had to give up this dream due to injuries.
Later, because he missed school every day to play football, his grades were not good and he did not get his high school diploma, so he went to serve in the military.
During his military service, he reviewed high school courses and finally obtained his high school diploma with honors. He then applied for the economics and management major at the University of Norway and successfully passed it. After graduating from university, he engaged in finance.
Later, he felt that finance was boring, so he formed a band and debuted.
In terms of his music experience, he is somewhat similar to Dan Brown, but the difference is that Yo Nesbo became famous as soon as he debuted. It only took him a few years to become a pop music superstar, and he is very popular in Norway.
Welcome, concert tickets are sold out soon after they come out.
After becoming famous, he felt that being a star was boring, so he decided to take a long vacation. He wrote a novel on the plane flying to Australia and started his creative career. Then, without any accident, he became a best-selling author.
, all of his books have been on the Norwegian bestseller list.
This is probably the winner in life.
This guy is probably still giving concerts here and there and hasn't started writing novels.
Yu Dong was thinking about Yu Nesbo, while Yu Hua said at the side: "I saw the book "Sophie's World" in the bookstore before, but I didn't read it at the time. After hearing what you said, I will have to look for it later.
Let’s read this book.”
Bi Feiyu smiled and said: "This book is related to philosophy, you may look tired."
"No, no, no." Yu Hua waved his hand, "I'm not good at literature, but I still know a little bit about philosophy."
Chapter completed!