Chapter 330: Increase the quantity without increasing the price!
It was Liu Cixin who wrote to tell him that the Hugo Award jury had sent an invitation to Liu Ci and hoped that he could attend the World Science Fiction Convention awards ceremony to be held in New York in December this year.
Liu Cixin said that he couldn't go there himself. You have a friend in Chicago, USA, who hopes to attend the ceremony. If he wins, entrust him to collect it.
Fang Minghua readily agreed and wrote back a letter to Liu Cixin to express his congratulations. He also wrote to Sun Lizhe in the United States to tell him that "The Wandering Earth" had been nominated for a Hugo Award.
"Li Zhe, don't forget, let me tell you, that "The Wandering Earth" will definitely win the award!" Fang Minghua wrote in the letter.
It’s just.
If Liu, no, Xiao Liu wins the award, will this novel be noticed by Hollywood directors and made into a movie?
If it is adapted by Hollywood, will it be made into the "Wandering Earth" series for future generations?
Probably not.
At the core of this novel, ordinary people are like "The Crowd" written by the French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon.
Emotional, unobjectionable and low IQ. It is completely different from what was shown in the movie "The Wandering Earth".
But this is not something I have to worry about.
At the same time, he also received another letter, written by Yang Xiao from the editorial department of "Science and Literature", mainly because he wrote the novel "Our Journey is the Stars and the Sea" and won the second Galaxy Award. Special Award, inviting him to attend the second Galaxy Awards ceremony held in Chengdu in December.
Fang Minghua would definitely refuse any other Jury Grand Prix, but for the Galaxy Award, Fang Minghua decided to go there anyway. It was close to Chengdu anyway, and it only took two or three days to go back and forth. Then he would go and help Yang Xiao. Support the scene.
This morning, "Yanhe" Publishing House held a middle-level leadership meeting in the conference room on the third floor. It mainly discussed the issue of magazine distribution in 1987. Every year from November to December, various units and individuals place orders. Time for newspapers and magazines next year.
The host was President Huang. He said: "Comrades, after last year's hard work, especially after the selection of editorial leaders, under the leadership of Comrade Fang Minghua, the quality of the magazine has been significantly improved, and the circulation has also increased month by month. According to According to the latest statistics, the circulation of "Yanhe" magazine in October has reached 220,000, which has almost doubled compared with the beginning of the year! For this, on behalf of the leadership team of the agency, I would like to commend the comrades in the editorial department, especially the comrades in the editorial department. Comrade Fang Minghua!”
Pa bang bang. The people present burst into applause.
Whether you like Fang Minghua or not, and whether you appreciate the articles published in the revised "Yanhe" magazine or not, you have to admit one fact: the magazine's sales have indeed increased! If you don’t like to watch, there are many people who do.
More importantly, with the increase in circulation, unit efficiency has also been greatly improved, and everyone’s monthly bonuses are more than ten yuan more than usual.
Don’t underestimate the extra ten yuan a month, you can buy 10 kilograms of pork! 80 pounds of rice! Go to Luoma Market to buy a pair of decent leather shoes!
Of course, editors in the newsroom publish more.
At this point, President Huang changed the subject: "Of course, the achievements are hard-won, and we must also see the difficulties we face. Prices continue to rise, costs increase, and competition for newspaper and magazine subscriptions is becoming increasingly fierce. In order to To increase the number of subscriptions, major magazines are almost trying to show their magical powers. What can you do? "
"This depends on the editorial department led by Editor Fang. As long as it can publish good articles, there is no need to worry. No one subscribes?”
The person speaking was Director Zhang from the office.
Fang Minghua, who was sitting next to President Huang, had an expressionless face, and Bai Miao was so angry that he just wanted to roll his eyes.
The immortal is stern.
It seems like this matter is our editorial family’s business?
However, Director Zhang also put forward his own opinion. In order to improve efficiency, he suggested that the magazine price increase.
His proposal immediately received support from many middle-level leaders, including the chief of the finance department.
Director Zhang is not just talking casually, the current price rise is too sharp. After entering the 1980s, prices were on the rise. Especially in 1985 and 1986, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the inflation rate exceeded 6%, with an average annual increase of 7.37%.
The prices of various commodities are increasing, and the increase in the unit price of magazines is also a general trend.
At this time, Section Chief Liu of the Finance Department stood up and said: "Now the retail price of each issue of our "Yanhe" is 48 cents. I have calculated that because the quality of printing paper has been improved today, if it is thrown away Excluding advertising, the net profit is only 6 cents, accounting for 12.5% of the gross revenue, which is far lower than the profit of the magazine in the same period, and even lower than the 15% gross profit of "Chang'an". Therefore, I suggest raising the price to 6 cents per copy. ”
Holy shit!
Improved by 12 cents all of a sudden?
Is it too harsh?
Everyone present started talking again.
"Listen to me. While we increase the unit price, we can continue to improve the quality of the magazine, such as increasing the number of pages and publishing more articles. This will also be good for readers."
He This suggestion immediately gained the opinions of most people present. Anyway, major magazines are increasing their prices, so it doesn’t matter if they increase more.
Seeing that Huang Minghua had not spoken, President Huang asked, "Minghua, what do you think?"
Fang Minghua was silent for a moment and then said: "I agree with half of Director Zhang's opinions. We will increase the quantity but not the price!"
Increase the quantity but not the price!
As soon as everyone heard this, there was a lot of discussion in the conference room.
Section Chief Liu couldn't help but stood up and said: "Editor Fang, according to your opinion, wouldn't the profit of this magazine be lower? Maybe it will even lose money!"
"Yes. Ah. Doesn’t it mean that the more you sell, the more you lose?”
Fang Minghua was very calm. He waited for everyone to calm down before continuing: "First of all, our "Yanhe" magazine is now in an expansion period and must occupy the market at a relatively low price. Therefore, if others increase the price, we will not increase it. I think it is pure profit. Excluding advertising, just keep it at 3 cents a book.”
The net profit has been reduced by half!
“There are two ways to make up for the smaller part of the profit. First, increase the amount of advertising. I have decided to publish ads on the back pages of the magazine starting next year. They are the same as the title pages but the unit price can be lowered; in addition, It is to expand the number of subscriptions. "
"Subscriptions are the key. Only with subscriptions can manufacturers be willing to advertise. If the number of subscriptions can reach 300,000 copies next year, the profits will be huge. "
300,000 copies? !
I'm a god
The latest issue of the magazine only retails 220,000 copies with subscriptions, and now the subscriptions will reach 300,000 copies!
Everyone was shocked that the competition commitment was completed in less than a year.
"Editor Fang, are you crazy?"
Director Zhang swallowed his words hard.
Although he is young, he is the dignified vice-chairman of the Writers Association, and his rank is higher than President Huang.
Fang Minghua ignored him and said to President Huang: "The editorial department is still responsible for this year's magazine distribution, but how about leaving the advertising to other departments?"
One sentence You can't let me do all the work alone.
(End of this chapter)