Tian Geng really didn't expect that Lin Chaoyang and Huacheng Publishing House would have such an agreement, and he never expected that Huacheng Publishing House would have such great determination.

Isn’t this price gouging?

He complained in his heart, but when Tian Geng thought that the publishing rights of "The Master of Chess" would be taken away by Huacheng Publishing House in the future, he trembled with distress.

Why? It was obviously their Yanjing Publishing House that came first!

Moreover, "The Master of Chess" has been published for nearly three years and has sold more than three million copies, especially with the recent release of the movie "The Master of Chess" and the whirlwind of the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament. In less than three months, "The Master of Chess"

》The single volume sold nearly 700,000 copies.

At present, the movie viewing craze for "The Master" has gradually passed, but the wind of the Sino-Japanese Go competition is still blowing. During this period, the popularity of the domestic Go sport has become more and more intense.

As the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament continues, Go is likely to become the most popular competitive sport in recent years. By then, Go novels such as "The Master" may become a must-read for the majority of Go enthusiasts

work.

In a country like Japan with a population of more than 100 million, the number of Go enthusiasts exceeds 10 million. What if it is China?

Therefore, Tian Geng believes that the potential of "Chess Master" is far from being tapped.

Of course, he knew that such an idea must be idealistic, but even if it were 30% off the ideal situation, it would probably be a very scary number.

On the one hand, there is the risk that the implementation of the royalty payment system may be compromised, and on the other hand, the terrifying sales potential of "The Master of Chess" is weighed in Tian Geng's mind.

Observing his expression, Lin Chaoyang did not urge him, but chatted with Liu Xinwu for a while.

Liu Xinwu's main job is editing, part-time writing, and part-time research on Dream of Red Mansions, so he doesn't miss anything.

This year he just wrote "The Bell and Drum Towers", which was recently published in two issues in "Contemporary".

“Originally, I planned to give it to Harvest, but as a result, Harvest’s manuscript schedule was so full that it might take a new year to publish it in two issues.

You also understand that publishing it in multiple years will definitely have an impact on the response to the work, so I handed the manuscript to Mr. Qin."

Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "It's their loss that "Harvest" didn't get your manuscript. I've read the novel and it's quite good."

Liu Xinwu quickly said a few words of humility, letting others praise him, but he really didn't dare to accept Lin Chaoyang's praise.

The reading craze for "Crossing Guandong" spread from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. After its publication, the sales volume was soaring that it is unmatched.

The two were chatting about their respective works, and Liu Xinwu naturally turned the topic to the Mao Dun Literature Award.

Unconsciously, more than two years have passed, and the evaluation activities for the new Mao Dun Literature Award will be officially launched in the second half of this year.

Today's Mao Dun Literature Prize is awarded every three years, and the selected works range from novels published from 1982 to 1984.

In recent years, both the quantity and quality of novels published have made great progress compared with previous years. In the past three years alone, nearly 450 novels have been published.

Some time ago, Xie Yongwang of the Literary and Art Association took over the organization of the second Mao Dun Literary Award, and has issued a nationwide notice to recommend outstanding novels to provincial and municipal Writers Association branches, relevant publishing houses, and large literary journals.

As of March 1985, during this period, works recommended by various places have been submitted to the Mao Dun Literary Award Awards Office one after another.

According to this year's award rules, the word count for a novel is still based on 100,000 words. Following the first award method, multi-volume works, published or published during this period, and parts that can be turned into independent books can also be included in the competition.

According to this standard, "Shuttered Island", "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong" created by Lin Chaoyang in the past three years all meet the requirements for recommendation.

Among them, "Forbidden Island" was published by Yanjing Publishing House, and "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong" were published by Huacheng Publishing House.

Liu Xinwu mentioned the Mao Dun Literary Award, naturally because Yanjing Publishing House has decided to recommend "Shutter Island" to participate in the selection of this year's Mao Dun Literary Award.

Hearing what he said, Lin Chaoyang showed no emotion. Not only Yanjing Publishing House, but also Tianhuacheng Publishing House had submitted "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong" to the awards office a few days ago.

Liu Xinwu was not surprised at all when three works, "Shuttered Island", "Crossing the Boat" and "Enter Guandong", were recommended for selection at the same time. After all, the quality of these three works is resounding.

In particular, "Crossing Guandong", an extremely epic work, can be said to have reserved a seat for this year's Mao Dun Literary Award. This is a fact recognized by the literary world.

In the process of Liu Xinwu communicating with the editors, writers, and critics around him, everyone acquiesced in this situation.

In the Chinese literary world in 1984, who could compete with it?

Leaving aside "Crossing the Guandong", which is destined to win the award, Liu Xinwu believes that the standard of "Crossing the Boat" is better than "Shutter Island".

This cannot be said to say that the quality of "Shutter Island" is not high, or that the writing is poor. The most critical reason is that the style of "Shutter Island" focuses too much on story.

It is not weak compared to other general novels, but it is a bit unsatisfactory compared to "The Story of a Crossing Boat".

Based on Liu Xinwu's understanding of this kind of award-winning activity, works with strong artistic and philosophical qualities such as "The Story of the Crossing Boat" will undoubtedly be more popular with the judges.

He even felt that, purely from the perspective of his works, Lin Chaoyang had every reason to have two works win the award at the same time.

Of course, this is just his personal opinion.

For such an important award as the Mao Dun Literary Award, the probability of laying a double-yolked egg for the same writer is almost impossible.

What's more, Lin Chaoyang had already won the award during the first awards ceremony.

Speaking of this, Liu Xinwu couldn't help but sigh, "Why did we have such a monster like you in the Chinese literary world!"

This may sound like a curse, but it is a high compliment to Lin Chaoyang.

Among the group of writers, those who have a large output of works are not as high quality as Lin Chaoyang; those who are of high quality, are not as influential as Lin Chaoyang; those who have a wide influence are not as productive as Lin Chaoyang.

Writers like Lin Chaoyang, whose output is extremely high, whose quality is stable, and most importantly who can sustain high-intensity creation for many years, are even rarer in the contemporary literary world than rare protected animals.

While the two were chatting, Tian Geng finally came to his senses. He heard Liu Xinwu and Lin Chaoyang talking about "Shutter Island" and his heart tightened. This is also the pet peeve of Yanjing Publishing House!

In the past two years, "Shutter Island" has also sold more than 1.6 million copies.

According to the current development situation, it is inevitable that the future publishing contract of this novel will be converted into a royalty contract after it expires. This matter will not be transferred according to the will of Yanjing Publishing House.

Thinking of this, Tian Geng let out a heavy sigh in his heart.

The times are constantly moving forward, and economic reforms have begun to profoundly affect all walks of life. For Yanjing Publishing House, all they can do is follow the trend of the times.

"Chaoyang!" Tian Geng interrupted the chat between Lin Chaoyang and Liu Xinwu.

Lin Chaoyang looked over at him, and Tian Geng made up his mind and said: "We can agree to your terms of royalties and remuneration, and both "The Master of Chess" and "Shutter Island" must be left to us."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly, "The royalty rate given to me by Huacheng Publishing House is 12%."

Hearing this, Tian Geng's heart twitched.

What a grand gesture!

No wonder Lin Chaoyang received hundreds of thousands of royalties in one go.

Tian Geng also understands that if their publishing house wants to retain "The Master of Chess" and "Shutter Island", it must pay greater sincerity than Huacheng Publishing House.

"15%!" He only hesitated for two seconds before spitting out the number decisively.

Lin Chaoyang's calm face finally showed a bit of surprise. He didn't expect Tian Geng to be so decisive.

A 15% royalty rate, even in later generations, would be a treatment reserved only for first-tier best-selling authors.

However, "The Chess Master" and "Shutter Island" are also worthy of such treatment. Even though they were published two or three years ago, the sales of these two novels still exceed those of many newly published works.

Lin Chaoyang was about to agree to Tian Geng, but Tian Geng said, "But I have a condition!"

"What conditions?"

"We want the publishing rights to your new book."

Hearing Tian Geng's request, Lin Chaoyang was silent for a while and then said: "My cooperation with Huacheng Publishing House was quite pleasant before. The publication of the new book..."

Before Lin Chaoyang finished speaking, Tian Geng added: "We can compete fairly with Huacheng Publishing House. The conditions we offer must be more favorable than theirs, and the royalty rate should not be less than 15%."

Having said this, Tian Geng showed great sincerity, and Lin Chaoyang had no reason not to accept it.

There is not even a shadow of his next work, but two publishers are already willing to offer generous royalty contracts.

This is the confidence and strength that Lin Chaoyang has accumulated through the best-selling works over the years.

After talking about the matter, Lin Chaoyang was sending Tian Geng and Liu Xinwu away. Xiao Dongdong, who was playing happily in the yard, suddenly burst into tears.

Lin Chaoyang went over to take a look, and it turned out that the ice slide he made had only lasted for an hour or so and was showing signs of becoming civilized.

Although it's nine days now, there is enough sunshine during the day. It's fine when the sun doesn't fully rise in the morning, but it won't be fine when it's hit by the sun after noon.

"It's okay, it's okay, let's go under the verandah and build a new one."

Lin Chaoyang realized his problem and proposed to build an ice slide for Xiaodongdong. The temperature during the day has been low recently, so as long as it is not exposed to direct sunlight, it would be no problem to build an ice slide under the veranda for a few days.

But how could Xiao Dongdong understand this? He only knew that he could no longer play with the big toy that he had just played with for a while, and he cried endlessly.

Lin Chaoyang was so noisy by his son that he could not be coaxed no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he had to leave him to Tao Yumo, and his ears suddenly became quiet.

In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament started again.

In the fourth set, China and Japan changed places to play again. The Chinese player was still Jiang Zhujiu, while the Japanese player was replaced by Shuzo Awaji.

In the previous two games, Jiang Zhu had won consecutive victories for a long time, and now he faced his Japanese opponent again with great momentum.

After the fermentation of the first few games, the popularity of the first Sino-Japanese Go Tournament has surpassed that of ordinary Go games.

The attention group of the game has also gradually spread from the original Go community and Go enthusiasts to the general public.

In this game, Jiang Zhujiu still maintained his fiery touch and fierce fighting style in the first two games, suppressing Shuzo Awaji throughout the game, and finally won three consecutive victories with an advantage of 4 and a half eyes.

After the news came out, it goes without saying that the domestic Go community was in jubilation and the media was full of admiration.

Even many ordinary people who didn’t care about Go in the past know that China has a strong Go player, Jiang Zhujiu, who can actually defeat three Japanese national players in a row, which is really a glory for the country!

Faced with Japan, a long-standing grudge and enemy, Jiang Zhujiu's achievements are naturally worthy of celebration and joy by all Chinese people.
To be continued...