"Well—I haven't thought about it yet." Lin Chaoyang said,
Luan Walter looked slightly regretful when he heard this, "It doesn't matter, great works are always extremely difficult to gestate."
Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said, "There are still many difficult labors or miscarriages."
"Haha! It's possible for other writers, but you are different. You know, our company inspected your creative career back then, and your works are still on my bookshelf."
What Luan Walter is referring to is Lin Chaoyang's output. He has written 11 novels in the more than ten years since his debut, not counting a few short and medium stories.
Each of his novels Luanne Walter has been collected and available in various languages.
After all, Luan Walter has been working as an editor for almost twenty years, and he has never seen anyone as ruthless as Lin Chaoyang. He writes almost one novel a year.
His output is almost unrivaled in the field of pure literature.
Because most of the pure literary writers Luanne Walter has come into contact with may have never written 11 novels in their lifetime.
As for Lin Chaoyang, he is only 33 years old this year.
Horrible, absolutely terrible!
Moreover, at this age, he is full of energy. For pure literary writers, the peak is generally between forty and fifty.
Imagining Lin Chaoyang's works and literary achievements more than ten or twenty years later, Luan Walter could only feel amazed in his heart.
At a young age, he has already won such internationally influential literary awards as the Renaudeau Prize for Literature and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
The only thing Luan Walter is curious about now is at what age Lin Chaoyang will win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
He believes that this is also the curiosity of many literary people who follow Lin Chaoyang.
After thinking about it, Luann Walter expressed his sincerity, "To be honest, Lin, your novel is so popular in the United States, have you ever thought about writing a novel that is more in line with the tastes of American readers?"
Lin Chaoyang raised his eyebrows slightly, with doubt on his face.
, "What does it mean to be "more in line with the tastes of American readers"?"
"It's like "The Death of Van Gogh" with European and American culture as the background."
"Why do you have such an idea? If you ask a foreign writer to write a work with a European and American cultural background, are you overestimating my ability?
Luanne Walter explained: "Because I have read "The Death of Van Gogh", I think you are fully capable of handling works with different cultural backgrounds, and we all know the sales volume of this novel.
Many of my colleagues believe that you have an uncanny ability to find a delicate balance between literature and storytelling.
I think this is talent.
I guess this is why your works are so popular all over the world."
"Why do I feel like you have some blind trust in me?"
"! This is not blind trust, but full trust. Lin, I think you will feel a little tired after writing more than 10 novels based on Chinese culture, right?
Why not try to change your way of thinking and give yourself a brain change? Maybe it will work wonders!"
Luan Walter encouraged in a very seductive tone,
Lin Chaoyang pretended to think seriously, and Luan Walter was extremely surprised when he saw this scene. He originally just had the idea of ​​giving it a try, but he didn't expect that there seemed to be hope of persuading Lin Chaoyang.
"Lin, China is the land where you were born and raised. There is inexhaustible material for you there, but don't underestimate the United States.
This is also a vast land, with hundreds of millions of people, a mixture of many races and cultures, and an inexhaustible supply of useful materials.
Believe me, as long as you are willing to explore, the stories on this land will definitely surprise you!
And I, as your editor, will do my best to serve your creation!"
Luan Walter spoke with excitement and eloquence, and in the end he did not forget to add some value to Lin Chaoyang.
"Lin, you are such a talented writer, and you have millions of loyal readers in the United States.
Have you ever thought that all your works that your readers may see in this life are actually spread through the thoughts of translators, and many of the things you originally wanted to express have been distorted.
Don’t you want your readers to truly and authentically experience the spark of inspiration created by the collision of your thoughts and talents?”
Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang looked moved and had a wry smile on his face.
"Lu An, you are such an excellent lobbyist!"
Luan Walter looked proud, "Lin, it seems that we are all very discerning. If I hadn't chosen the wrong major in college, maybe I would be working on K Street in Washington now."
K Street, also known as "Lobbying Street," is a unique feature of American capitalism.
Lin Chaoyang sighed: "Creating novels based on American culture and language is not an easy task. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is as difficult as climbing to the sky."
"Come on! Don't worry so much. Writers can't always stay in their comfort zone." Luan Walter used provocation again.
Then he changed his tone again and said sincerely: "Lin, I completely understand your worries. Don't worry, Random House and I will be your strongest support. We will solve any difficulties you have in creation."
I will do my best to help you solve it."
With the success of "The Truman Show" and "The Death of Van Gogh" in the U.S. market, Random House is unusually optimistic about Lin Chaoyang and has surpassed ordinary best-selling authors.
Luan Walter worked so hard to persuade Lin Chaoyang because of the company's instructions.
Random House believes that based on Lin Chaoyang's creative potential and his popularity in the United States, it is entirely possible that he will become a rare great writer in the second half of the twentieth century.
The most fundamental reason why they lobbied Lin Chaoyang to write novels with an American literary background was to create a super best-selling author of pure literature who had both a strong personality and sales volume.
Random House has been established for more than half a century and has won many Pulitzer Prizes and Nobel Prize winners. However, they publish many books by authors at a loss.
Lin Chaoyang is different. He is a rare example among pure literary writers whose works can be sold well in various countries. Such a writer deserves Random House's attention and support.
Although previous creations based on Chinese language and Chinese culture also had a certain market in the United States, there were still problems with cultural differences.
"Lin, you must not feel pressured by this. Whether you are writing in English or creating based on an American cultural background, this is just an attempt.
If you really can't write well, you can still write about your own nation and country.
But as long as you take this step, it will be a great attempt.
This is not only writing in different languages, but also proves that you are a great writer who can move between Eastern and Western cultures with ease!"
Lin Chaoyang made a "pause" gesture.
What a good guy, you can't say anything when you brag. You dare to talk even more than Li Tuo.
After the rainbow fart was stopped, Luan Walter did not speak anymore, but stared at Lin Chaoyang with burning eyes, looking forward to his answer.
After a while, Lin Chaoyang paid the price and made a reluctant gesture, "Then let me try it first!"
Hearing this, Luan Walter was overjoyed,
"Lin, I knew you were a pursuing and courageous writer!"
If you don't agree, you don't pursue it, and you don't have the courage, right?
The ecstatic Luan Walter ignored Lin Chaoyang's reaction and picked up the coffee cup on the table as a wine glass.
"Cut to death!"
After chatting with Luan Walter for half the afternoon, he took a night's rest. The next day, Lin Chaoyang walked around the city of Norman in the company of Davis Ondiano.
Norman is a small town with few outstanding attractions. The only thing worth visiting is Lake Norman Park.
May is a good time of the year, with pleasant weather, beautiful lakes and tree-lined woods, and it’s better to be close to nature.
After relaxing for a day, Lin Chaoyang and Luan Walter set off for New York.
The two set out from Norman and spent most of the day arriving in New York. It was already evening when they arrived. Luan Walter first arranged for Lin Chaoyang to go to the hotel before going home to rest.
Early the next morning, Luan Walter went to pick up Lin Chaoyang downstairs from the hotel and went to the Imperial Park Apartment.
The Empire Garden Apartments is a high-end residential building in New York City and the office building of Random House, located just above Broadway Avenue.
Today's New York is undoubtedly the most developed metropolis in the world, and its traffic jams are second to none.
The New York cattle and horses who were rushing to work early in the morning encountered a heavy traffic jam, and their behavior in the street was no different from that of Chinese people.
"The traffic in New York is like shit!" Luan Walter couldn't help complaining while sitting in the driver's seat.
His car was stuck between 42nd and 44th Streets, one of the most congested areas in Manhattan every morning.
Luan Walter kept complaining to Lin Chaoyang: "What's so good about New York? I really don't understand why so many people come here. I've been driving here for 10 years, which means I spend almost ten days every year."
They are all stuck on the road.
Moreover, the traffic is getting worse and worse. The number of cars on the road is increasing every year, but the road conditions have not improved at all.
That bullshit Federal Tax Service, where did they spend all the taxes I paid?”
Less than 5 miles away, the two wasted nearly 40 minutes getting to the downstairs of the Empire Park Apartments.
The two entered Random House from the building entrance on 56th Street. Random House has hundreds of employees working in this building at the same time.
This number of employees may not sound like a lot, but it is already a very large scale for a publishing house.
"Lin, I will take you to meet my boss.
Luan Walter led Lin Chaoyang to the door of an office with the nameplate "Director of the Editorial Department" on it, knocked on the door, and pushed the door open before there was any movement inside.
"Jason, look who I brought to you!"
Luan Walter's tone was relaxed and cheerful, with a sense of showing off, without any nervousness about facing his boss. It was obvious that he had a very good relationship with him.
Sitting in the office was an elderly, fat man with silver hair. He was startled by Luan Walter's sudden opening of the door, and the coffee that had not reached his mouth spilled all over his shirt.
"Damn it! Lu An, look at the good things you did."
"I'm sorry." Luan Walter apologized insincerely, and then said: "Look at it!"
The fat man wiped his shirt twice and glanced up at Lin Chaoyang, smiled eagerly, stood up and walked forward.
"Mr. Lin, welcome to New York! I am Jason Epstein, editorial director of Random House."
It was him who arranged Luan Walter's business trip, and he brought an Asian face, so Lin Chaoyang's identity was naturally revealed.
Jason Epstein is a big figure in the American publishing industry. He once launched the "paperback revolution" in the American publishing industry and made great achievements for the Doubleday Publishing Company where he worked at the time.
He joined Random House in 1968 and has edited works by well-known writers such as Philip Roth, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer and E.L. Doctorow, and has written more than a hundred best-sellers in his lifetime.
At the same time, he is also the co-founder of the well-known American literary publication "The New York Review of Books".
Perhaps in order to make up for his rashness just now, Luann Walter gave Jason Epstein a lot of praise after entering the door.
"Come on, Lu An." Jason Epstein interrupted him and turned the topic to Lin Chaoyang.
Lin Chaoyang was asked about his experience attending the Neustadt Award and his feelings during the past two days.
"LuAnn told me on the phone about the welcome you received on Oklahoma's campus, which was unimaginable!
It seems like we should arrange more meet-and-greets and autograph sessions.”
After chatting for a while, Jason Epstein said again: "By the way, Lin, let me take you to meet my boss."
Before Lin Chaoyang made a statement, Luan Walter showed his fear first.
"Why bother with that difficult guy?"
Jason Epstein's performance is very consistent with the image of a kind and honest elder, "Keep your voice down, be careful not to let him hear your bad words."
Listening to the riddle-like conversation between the two, Lin Chaoyang's expression was slightly confused, and Luan Walter briefly explained a few words to him.
Random House was first founded by publisher Bennett Self. It was sold to Radio Corporation of America in 1965, and in the early 1980s it was sold to American media magnate Newhouse.
After Newhouse took over Random House, the first thing he did was to fire former president Robert Bernstein because the company's profits did not meet expectations.
Then he appointed Alberto Vitale, an Italian banker-turned-banker, whom Luan Walter called "the difficult guy."
Consistent with the abrasive style of his boss Newhouse, Alberto Vitale laid off Andre Sifrin, the president of Pantheon Books, a sub-brand of Random House, as soon as he took office.
It also demanded that Pantheon’s publishing projects be cut by two-thirds, leaving only one-third for the editor.
This unreasonable decision by Alberto Vitale caused an uproar within Random House at the time, and also triggered a rare protest in the history of American publishing.
Pantheon editors resigned en masse, and hundreds of authors terminated their contracts with Random House.
After finally stabilizing the morale of the military, Alberto Vitale began to implement the "single book accounting system" within Random House.
The so-called "single book accounting system" means that each book must have a profit and loss statement. It is clear at a glance whether a book makes money or not. Under this system, there is no need to publish books that lose money.
But the problem is that book publishing is very similar to movies. They are both industrialized production of literary and artistic works. First of all, it has artistic attributes.
Cannot be quantified.
Trying to make money for every book often ends up making no money for every book.
After Alberto Vitale took office, he worked hard and invested huge sums of money to create "blockbuster" best-sellers. As a result, in more than a year, he did not publish a blockbuster book. Instead, he lost money on many more books than before.
.
His radical moves directly caused Random House's profits to plummet to 4% in the past year from an average of 10% to 15% when Robert Bernstein was in office.
Listening to Luan Walter's narration, Lin Chaoyang thought to himself, this is another typical example of a layman guiding an expert.
"Do you know why he, a president, wants to see you?" Luan Walter asked.
Lin Chaoyang vaguely guessed the answer.
"Every best-selling book is the most important asset of the publishing house. The sales of several of your novels are amazing. They are not only best-sellers, but also have the potential to become long-selling books.
You are that guy's life-saving straw now." Luan Walter said.
The so-called long-selling book is a different concept from the best-selling book.
Bestsellers in the book market are often works that become popular in a short period of time due to marketing and publicity, but may quickly lose their popularity.
Long-selling books are books that maintain high sales volume after being sold for a long time, and usually have high market recognition and reader base.
Lin Chaoyang's "The Truman Show" and "The Death of Van Gogh" have been published in the United States for three years, and their cumulative sales have exceeded 1.6 million copies.
To date, it has generated nearly $30 million in revenue for Random House.
This figure is not large for Random House, which has an annual revenue of 800 million US dollars, but don’t forget that this is just the amount created by two books.
As a behemoth in the American publishing industry, Random House publishes thousands of books every year. In fact, the revenue generated by most books does not exceed 1 million yuan, and most of them lose money.
Even though "The Truman Show" and "The Death of Van Gogh" are now on the New York Times bestseller list, they can still guarantee stable sales of one or two thousand copies per week, making them standard long-selling books.
Not only does it sell well, but it also sells for a long time. This is the treasure of the publishing house.
This is especially valuable now that Alberto Vitale's radical strategy initially failed.
The sales of two consecutive novels have allowed Lin Chaoyang to establish a very good reputation among American readers.
In the future, his novels will continue to be published in the United States and are likely to maintain good sales.
As the sales and reputation of these works continue to accumulate, Lin Chaoyang's importance in Random House will become more and more prominent.
After chatting for a while, Jason Epstein dragged Lin Chaoyang upstairs to Alberto Vitale’s office.
Alberto Vitale studied finance and spent his career in banking. He was not interested in the publishing industry at all, but he was still very happy to see Lin Chaoyang.
A writer whose works have sold more than one million copies deserves to be greeted with a smile and treated with enthusiasm.
Lin Chaoyang is not too interested in Alberto Vitale's American hypocrisy. Of course, his indifference may be related to his first impression.
As soon as he entered the other party's office, what he saw was not bookshelves and books, but a huge yacht painting hanging on the wall.
It can be seen from this that Alberto Vitale is a pure businessman who cannot be more pure.
After chatting and laughing with Lin Chaoyang for a while, Alberto Vitale extended a lunch invitation to Lin Chaoyang to express his friendship as a landlord.
If you don't hit the smiling person, Lin Chaoyang will naturally not refuse if he invites you.
After lunch, Lin Chaoyang returned to Jason Epstein's office, and Luan Walter took the initiative to talk to Jason Epstein about the creation of his new book.
Jason Epstein was very happy to hear that Luann Walter had persuaded Lin Chaoyang to write a novel based on American literature.
He also stated that he would go all out to help Lin Chaoyang.
After staying at Random House for most of the day, Jason Epstein and Luanne Walter treated Lin Chaoyang to dinner in the evening, and then strolled to McSorley's Bar not far from the restaurant.
It is the oldest bar on Seventh Street on the Upper East Side and is said to be the oldest bar in New York City.
"Of course, this statement is still controversial. After all, New Yorkers will have disputes about everything."
Luan Walter's American humor did not earn Lin Chaoyang a knowing smile, and he expressed his disappointment.
So he decided to give Lin Chaoyang some more knowledge, "Did you know about John Sloan? He painted a painting of "McSorley's Back Room"
, right here.”
Lin Chaoyang looked in a certain direction across the bar and shook his head honestly. Luan Walter was immediately proud.
"Holly is also the one who wrote "The Death of Van Gogh". You don't even know about John Sloan?"
After saying this, he started showing off.
"John Sloan is a very famous painter. He painted a series of paintings with McSorley as the theme, such as "McSorley's Bar", "McSorley's House" and "McSorley's Cat".
Each of these paintings has the same warm atmosphere of the city. While he was talking incessantly, a burst of laughter with a thick phlegm sound came from the opposite side of the bar, from the direction where Lin Chaoyang's eyes had just been.
The other party seemed to have heard some funny joke and kept laughing until he coughed in the end, but he did not forget to laugh with a slightly ironic tone.
Luan Walter's showoff stopped as soon as the other party started laughing. Although the other party did not speak, he could clearly feel that the other party was coming towards him.
He saw what the other person looked like, a fat old man with a red neck!
Luanne Walter looked angry, "Man, what are you laughing at?"
The red neck coughed a few times, then recovered and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing."
Seeing that the other party's attitude was gentle, Luan Walter was reluctant to question him any more and turned around to continue talking to Lin Chaoyang.
"Sloan's love for McSorley was obvious—"
"Ha ha!"
The harsh laughter came again, Luan Walter was furious, are you laughing at you?
He stopped talking and looked at the other side with cold eyes, trying to suppress the other side with his momentum.
After a while, seeing that the other party had stopped laughing, Luan Walter was about to speak, but unexpectedly, the other party burst out laughing as if he couldn't hold it in.
The anger in Luan Walter's heart was gradually replaced by doubt. He really didn't understand what the other party was laughing at.
When people are laughed at, they tend to become less confident. This is what he is like now. He has completely lost the ease with which he showed off his knowledge just now.
"Why is he laughing?" Luan Walter's voice was not loud, as if he was asking himself or Lin Chaoyang.
"I don't know, maybe I heard something funny.
After saying this, Lin Chaoyang felt that Luan Walter's eyes were filled with resentment.
He was the only one talking around just now, and Lin Chaoyang's words sounded like he was sarcastic.
Lin Chaoyang smiled helplessly, "You know John Sloan so well, you must like painting, right? Don't you know him?"
Lin Chaoyang said and pursed his lips towards the opposite side.
The little knowledge about painting that Luan Walter had in his head was limited to the pretentiousness of literary youths and could not be studied in detail. He looked confused when listening to Lin Chaoyang's question.
Should I know him?
Lin Chaoyang whispered: "Robert Rauschenberg."
Hearing this name, Luan Walter suddenly realized that this name belonged to a person he had never seen before, but he must have heard of it.
Robert Rauschenberg is a representative figure of modern American Pop Art and a well-known figure in the American art world.
Luan Walter reacted and asked Lin Chaoyang: "How do you know him? You don't even know John Sloan!"
Lin Chaoyang replied funny: "You should ask, how come I don't know him."
In 1985, Robert Rauschenberg held a solo exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, which caused a sensation in the Chinese art world and directly influenced a generation of Chinese painters.
The so-called "85 New Art Wave" created by the people of the Star Art Exhibition in the Chinese art world was most influenced by him, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the ancestor of that group of people.
In the past two years, Rauschenberg's face would appear in various domestic printed matter from time to time, and Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but recognize it.
After listening to Lin Chaoyang's explanation, Luan Walter realized what was going on. He thought of his previous conversation with Robert Rauschenberg.
I felt a little ashamed, but also very curious, "Tell me, why is he laughing at me?"
"How do I know? It's probably because you look funny!"
"Lin!" Lin Chaoyang's joke made Luan Walter very dissatisfied.
He was about to tell Lin Chaoyang how funny he was when Robert Rauschenberg, who was sitting across from him, stood up and walked in the direction of him and Lin Chaoyang.
Luanne Walter became nervous and unsure of herself.
Chapter completed!