Chapter 385 Money Worship(1/2)
While Su Chen's expression was ugly, his eyes fell on Lin Chaoyang inadvertently, and then quickly moved away. It was difficult not to make Lin Chaoyang suspect that this matter had something to do with him.
At the end of the meeting, everyone stood up chatting. Lin Chaoyang deliberately lagged behind. When everyone arrived, they were almost gone, and sure enough, he saw Su Chen walking towards him.
"What happened?" Lin Chaoyang asked.
Su Chen sighed, "It's a matter of royalties. Our local media in Guangzhou got the news from somewhere and exposed your royalties."
Lin Chaoyang joked: "Li Tuo is in Yanjing and knew about this more than half a month ago. Your local media is only reporting it now. This is not very efficient!"
"We strictly enforce the confidentiality policy!"
"Is this how you keep it secret?"
Su Chen was speechless by Lin Chaoyang's rebuke, and finally said: "Don't be happy either. If I just report it truthfully, do I still need to tell you?"
"What's the meaning?"
"Hey?" Seeing Lin Chaoyang's cautious expression, Su Chen felt a little more happy. He pulled Lin Chaoyang to the office and handed him the newspaper that had been placed on the table.
It was not published again until 1980, and it was quickly welcomed by the people of Guangzhou again. Its circulation ranked first in GD Province, and its influence cannot be underestimated.
Lin Chaoyang flipped through the newspaper in his hand and soon found an article on the second page.
"Remuneration turns into royalties, and money worship rises in the literary world."
Good guy!
Just looking at the title, the attack power is a bit scary, and it is directly labeled as "money worship".
Lin Chaoyang continued reading. The article was not long, about 1,800 words.
The main content is almost the same as the title. It first talks about Lin Chaoyang’s recent extremely high royalties and royalties in the literary world, and then discusses the disadvantages of writers receiving high royalties and high royalties, and denounces this unhealthy trend.
"I am being treated as a target!" Lin Chaoyang did not show any anger or anger after reading the article. Instead, he smiled and said.
After saying this, he looked at Su Chen and said, "Old Su, your publishing house didn't leak this matter on purpose, right?"
Su Chen immediately defended hurriedly: "It doesn't matter, you don't want to be a good person. If we do this, what good will it do to ourselves?"
"Why not? Now the literary circles and people in Guangdong and even the Lingnan area know that your Huacheng Publishing House is not short of money and has a lot of money. From now on, all the heroes in the world will be in your Huacheng Publishing House."
"Impossible, how could our Huacheng Publishing House do such a shameless thing?
Chaoyang, you can’t accuse us wrongly!”
Lin Chaoyang smiled, "I just said it casually, you see you took it seriously."
Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief, "Don't make random jokes!"
Lin Chaoyang shook the newspaper again and said to Su Chen: "Lao Su, it's not me. It's okay for other local media to call me a 'money worshiper'. Why do you Guangdong media call me a 'money worshipper'?"
In terms of openness these days, there is no one in China as good as Guangdong, and even Shanghai is a step behind.
After all, it is at the forefront of reform and opening up, and it is adjacent to Hong Kong.
Su Chen said helplessly: "How did I know they were doing that? I suddenly became concerned about this kind of thing. It's really..."
He said with a hint of anger on his face, "However, the Yangcheng Evening News is only a regional newspaper after all, so it shouldn't have any big influence."
Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "You don't understand."
He looked at Su Chen and said, "You are an old publisher after all, and you don't have any sense of news? The spread of news does not depend on who reports it, but on how eye-catching it is. Why did the Yangcheng Evening News report on me?
What happened? Isn’t it because there is an audience?”
Su Chen thought it made sense. Lin Chaoyang has tens of millions of readers in China. He broke the domestic stereotype for decades and became the first writer to receive royalties since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such news will inevitably be taken away.
Come and discuss.
Especially in the literary world, the impact is certainly huge.
"Alas! Your publishing house reaps the benefits, but it's me who gets scolded." Lin Chaoyang sighed seemingly indignantly.
Su Chen also felt a little embarrassed after listening to his words. Judging from the discussion in the article "Remuneration turns into royalties, the rise of money worship in the literary world", Lin Chaoyang was portrayed as a villain who is greedy for profit and worships money.
Perhaps because they are both in Guangzhou, the "Yangcheng Evening News" was merciful to Huacheng Publishing House, pointing out that they were also victims of this royalty payment system.
Comparing the two, Su Chen also felt that he really felt sorry for Lin Chaoyang.
"I'll talk to the leaders of Yangcheng Evening News later."
"After the report has been published, can people still slap themselves in the face? This shit basin, I don't even want to wear it."
Lin Chaoyang's sigh made Su Chen feel even more embarrassed. He was just thinking about how to make amends when he heard Lin Chaoyang say:
"I'll hand over the next book to you. The royalties won't be less than 15%. Just treat it as my mental damages!"
Hearing these words, the guilt in Su Chen's heart immediately disappeared without a trace, "Opening and shutting up is royalty, and you deserve to be scolded!"
After chatting with Su Chen for a while, Lin Chaoyang returned to his residence and was surrounded by people as soon as he came back.
The influence of "Yangcheng Evening News" in Guangzhou is huge. After a while, all the guests heard about the report.
There had been rumors in the literary world that Lin Chaoyang had received royalties, but those were just rumors and could only be used as talking points without confirmation.
This time is different. The credibility of the media these days is unquestionable. "Yangcheng Evening News" is one of the top newspapers in GD Province.
The evidence regarding royalties can be considered conclusive. People don't care whether Lin Chaoyang gets scolded or not, they only care about how much royalties he can get.
Not only young and middle-aged writers like Li Hangyu and Li Tuo, but also old comrades like Feng Mu and Tang Zhi are very concerned about it.
Writers all rely on manuscript fees to make a living.
A group of people who were already famous and had families after all were counting their fingers on how much money Lin Chaoyang could make by selling 10,000 books, and how much money he could make by selling 100,000 books...
After all the calculations, everyone is depressed.
According to the consistent sales volume of Lin Chaoyang's works, after collecting royalties, he can earn at least six figures in royalties from publishing a novel.
Six figures, while the vast majority of people across the country are still earning double-digit salaries, Lin Chaoyang is already receiving six-digit royalties.
Li Tuo said fiercely: "You should be scolded! If not, who are you scolding? Give me this money, don't let me get scolded, just get beaten!"
"You should really let the reporters from the Yangcheng Evening News see your face. I'm probably not included in the report."
"I didn't get any royalties."
Li Tuo's words were just a joke, and everyone lamented the preferential treatment given to writers by the royalty payment system.
With the royalty payment system, as long as the sales of works are not too bad, the income brought to the writer will definitely be much more than before.
“In this way, the publishing house will not suffer a loss, and the writers with good sales will not suffer. The only ones who will suffer are those writers with poor sales.”
"It's not bad, otherwise they would have only received basic royalties before, and they wouldn't have gotten a few dollars for each print run."
Feng Mu listened to everyone's discussion and finally concluded: "Chaoyang's move can be regarded as loosening the reins of Chinese writers!"
Feng Mu's comments made everyone sigh.
The royalties system was restored after 1977, but so far it has only just restored the royalties levels of the 1950s.
Now Lin Chaoyang has taken the lead in proposing a royalty payment system, which will definitely benefit the literary world and even all workers engaged in literary work.
"I think we colleagues should erect a monument for you in the future." Li Tuo said half-jokingly, half-seriously.
Regarding royalties, the media can scold Lin Chaoyang, and readers can also scold Lin Chaoyang, but people in the literary world cannot scold him. Not only can they not scold him, but they must also praise him.
In the near future, when domestic writers will live a comfortable life relying on royalties, all this is due to Lin Chaoyang.
The report in the "Yangcheng Evening News" has been published, and everyone can only discuss it.
A night of silence.
The work seminar is over, but everyone's schedule is not yet over. Huacheng Publishing House has also arranged a two-day collection activity for everyone.
It is said to be a collection of folk songs, but in fact it is just a sightseeing tour.
There is no such thing as traveling abroad at this time. When you come to Guangdong, you must go to the Special Administrative Region for a tour. For many people, this is almost the same as going abroad.
The emerging Shenzhen is welcoming people with beautiful scenery. Shekou Industrial Zone is the business card of reform and opening up, and it is also the focus of Lin Chaoyang's visit.
The person in charge of receiving Lin Chaoyang and his party was a deputy leader of the Shekou Industrial Zone. Everyone saw what it means to attract investment and what it means to "cross the river by feeling for the stones."
After spending most of the day in Shekou Industrial Zone, the group was arranged to go to Silver Lake Resort in the evening.
This is a resort that was just built in Shenzhen in the past two years. It meets international standards and is also a leisure place for Hong Kong businessmen who invest in the mainland.
The dinner was Cantonese cuisine, which tasted very good, but it didn’t quite suit Lin Chaoyang’s northern stomach and I always felt not full.
At night, Li Tuo couldn't help but drag Li Hangyu to the ballroom in the resort, while Lin Chaoyang and several old comrades walked along the lakeshore. The green trees, red flowers, and clear water in the south were still intoxicating even though it was night.
.
After returning to the room, Lin Chaoyang saw Li Tuo introducing everyone to the disco here.
The laser strobe lights are constantly changing, and combined with the bombing of strong rhythm electronic music, even if you stand still, it will turn you into a lively grasshopper. This is probably what Li Tuo described
scene.
After this day, the trip came to an end, and everyone reluctantly said goodbye.
Lin Chaoyang stayed in Shenzhen. He had promised Li Hanxiang to attend the Hong Kong Film Awards, so he had to go to Hong Kong.
However, there are still four or five days before the Academy Awards, and Lin Chaoyang has plenty of time. He plans to meet Er Matai.
To be continued...