Chapter 197 Do you call this concession?
"It's actually in English. Mr. Li, are you good at English novels?"
Pei Wencong took Li Ye's manuscript and was stunned.
Although there have been literary greats like Lin Yutang and Gu Hongming among flower growers, they can conquer many Western literary media in English.
But not everyone is Gu Hongming or Lin Yutang, and Li Ye is obviously better at creating commercial literary works, which is not the same thing as those works by everyone.
For commercial literary works, the commercial value is first of all, and the literary value is only an accessory to it, and the reading groups it faces are also different.
In Pei Wencong’s opinion, if a person whose native language is not English wants to write a commercial literary work that can make readers in the English cultural circle pay for it, the difficulty may be more difficult than when mainlanders could explode nuclear weapons. Even more incredible.
But now that Li Ye has taken out the manuscript, Pei Wencong always wants to take a look. This is the minimum respect for an author.
Especially when the author has a special "personality".
Pei Wencong's native language is Cantonese, but the University of Hong Kong he once studied taught in English. As an honors student, his English is very good and he has no problem reading an English novel.
He looked at it carefully for twenty minutes, then turned back and started looking again, and then slowly frowned.
"Mr. Li, the story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is pretty good, but I think it may not be easy to succeed if you want to promote it to the whole world."
Pei Wencong expressed his views tactfully and found that Li Ye still looked calm and composed.
So Pei Wencong explained again: "Mr. Li, I have actually read many original English novels, and I feel that your work is similar to Mr. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings",
But that was a novel written thirty years ago, and the writing style of your work is too special and may not fit in with the reading habits of Western novel readers.”
Pei Wencong felt that he had said it very tactfully. If another author had submitted such a manuscript to his literary society, he would have turned into a Maxim machine gun and sprayed him all over his head and face.
【Is this a novel? What you are writing is a text, especially a middle school text. 】
Li Ye’s original translation requirement for Wen Leyu was to be “straightforward and accurate”. This also came from the experience of later generations. Many Chinese works that were successfully exported overseas in later generations pursued straightforward writing to facilitate translation. publishing.
If you write it in a flashy way, Waiguoren will be blinded by it. He knows what exactly you want to express?
A little deviation here, a little distortion there, and in the end the meaning is completely wrong when translated.
"Ha~, it's not possible, it definitely doesn't fit."
Li Ye smiled, and then he said calmly: "Mr. Pei doesn't need to be so tactful. I know the problems with this book, so I'm prepared too." There's a proper solution."
"A proper solution? Then I'm all ears."
Pei Wencong smiled, but he didn't think so.
Literary works are not industrial products, as long as they can achieve effectiveness, they are very subtle things,
Not to mention those crappy novels, even many excellent novels may take decades to suddenly become popular. Who dares to say "proper solution" before the work is on the market?
Li Yedao: "Mr. Pei, does your publishing house have the ability to solicit manuscripts from the English cultural circle?"
Pei Wencong was stunned for a moment and said: "Yes, Hong Kong Island is a member of the Commonwealth One of the 52 members, I have many colleagues from abroad, and sometimes I also adopt some translation manuscripts from abroad."
"That's good," Li Ye said confidently. : "I offer thirty thousand US dollars as a prize. You can find a way to publish a call for prize-winning manuscripts around the world, find someone to translate my manuscript for a second time, and select from readers after asking for their opinions and ratings. Several outstanding works will be published and put on the market, and the second round of market practice testing will be carried out. Finally, the winners will be selected and published according to market response."
Pei Wencong: "."
The plan mentioned by Li Ye actually adopts part of the screening mechanism of later Internet articles, weakens the review rights of book reviewers, greatly increases the proportion of readers' opinions, and finally combines the market response. Final draft,
One Whether a commercial literary work is good or not depends on the readers and the market.
To give an inappropriate example, such as Na Jin Mei, critics criticized it as a stubborn dregs of the old era. , it will also be passed down from generation to generation due to the support of readers.
As for many popular literary works, who will still read them dozens or hundreds of years later?
"Mr. Li, I think the method you mentioned is a great idea. I can immediately arrange for people to start making plans and implement them as soon as possible."
In fact, when Pei Wencong was halfway listening to what Li Ye said, He already understood what Li Ye meant, and even figured out a variety of subsequent operation plans.
Pei Wencong doesn't know whether Li Ye's novel will work, but this method is definitely feasible. The thirty thousand US dollars these days are definitely a powerful attraction for many authors.
Pei Wencong couldn't help but ask himself, am I still an insider in the publishing industry?
Why, as a graduate of the University of Hong Kong and still living in Hong Kong Island, an area with an extremely strong business atmosphere, why didn’t I think of the method Li Ye mentioned?
Li Ye nodded slightly and said: "Then, we need to talk about cooperation next."
Come, come, that familiar feeling comes again.
Pei Wencong seems to have seen the figure in Causeway Bay again. The sharp watermelon knife shines brightly in the sun. With one cut, a large piece of fat on your butt will be cut off.
"Mr. Li, this time, are you going to take away 20% of the publishing house's profits according to the partnership model?" Pei Wencong said with a smile: "I have to say that Mr. Li's condition is It’s not much better than those novels.”
In fact, the current cooperation model between Li Ye and Pei Wencong is that Li Ye takes a technical stake in "Shuofeng Feiyang" and earns 2% of Talang Literature Publishing House. Profit of ten,
When Li Ye proposed this model, Pei Wencong was almost unable to accept it, because according to the practice on Hong Kong Island, Li Ye wanted too much.
【Do you think you are Gu Liang Jin? 】
If Pei Wencong hadn't been desperate, he would never have accepted it.
But only a few months later, Pei Wencong felt that he had "earned money."
A small company like Talang Literature Publishing House has little strength but also little burden. A popular book can take it off and transform it into the ranks of medium-sized publishers.
What's more, after the name of "Seven Inch Blade" became famous, it became a cash cow!
Anyway, "Song of Ice and Fire" has not been serialized yet, and Li Ye still wants to take 20% of the profits. It doesn't matter if he takes advantage of this period to promote "A Song of Ice and Fire". If it fails, Li Ye The wild $30,000 is the starting point, and if you succeed, you will get 80%. No matter how you calculate it, it is appropriate.
More importantly, based on Pei Wencong’s understanding of Li Ye, he feels that it is impossible for him to accept lower cooperation conditions than those for "Flying in the Wind".
Sure enough, after listening to Pei Wencong's words, Li Ye shook his head slightly and said: "We didn't know each other last time, and we didn't know each other's strength very well.
Now I have proven that I strength, so I think 37 is more appropriate.”
"Sanqi?"
Pei Wencong said with a troubled face: "Mr. Li, I know you have confidence in your work, but my publishing house is also booming. You just provide one work, and that's it." Taking away 30% of the profit is really too high.”
“You. Misunderstanding," Li Ye waved his hand and said: "It's you three and seven."
"."
Pei Wencong stood up suddenly, stared and said urgently: "Mr. Li, are you here? Are you kidding me? You just produce a work and you want to be my boss?
The entire Hong Kong Island, no, the entire Yadong region does not have such a reason as you. You are simply joking. ”
If Pei Wencong hadn’t gained a new understanding of Li Ye on Zhongying Street, he might have impulsively shouted out curse words such as “I’m going to attack you” at this moment.
< br>You just brought a manuscript with an uncertain future and asked Sanqi to become the majority shareholder of Talang Literature Publishing House. Are you trying to beat up my rich man?
"Mr. Pei, please be patient." Of course we have to talk about cooperation. "
Looking at Pei Wencong who almost jumped, Li Ye said calmly: "Since Mr. Pei thinks this cooperation condition is unreasonable, then I will take a step back," "I don't want your publishing house's profits this time. , the operation of this book is calculated separately, you three and I seven, this is always okay, right? ”
You can be a ghost!
Is this what you call taking a step back? Except for your two books, the entire publishing house has not made much progress. How big a difference does it make whether you regress or not?
Pei Wencong tugged hard on his tie and unbuttoned a shirt, and then released the depression that was held in his heart.
The prize-winning draft plan that Li Ye just mentioned seems to be just a few words, but it is very cumbersome to implement and requires a lot of energy and connections.
All these tasks had to be coordinated and completed by Pei Wencong, but when it came time to share the profits, he actually got three? Let the author take seven?
Am I a capitalist or are you a capitalist?
In fact, Pei Wencong really wronged Li Ye.
Because based on his experience in writing online articles in later generations, the author fee sharing ratio for those great authors is as low as thirty-seven.
For example, for a certain site that occupies the leading position of domestic online articles, the subscription profit sharing ratio between ordinary authors and the platform is 50-50, while for great writers it is 30-70.
Although this is the share ratio after deducting operating expenses, it at least gives the author a "fair" feeling.
With Seven Inch Blade’s current status as a celebrity, is it too much to ask for a date with a great god?
Pei Wencong looked at Li Ye who was calm and composed, and his mood finally calmed down.
"Mr. Li, it is difficult to implement your proposal because my publishing house needs to pay a lot of hidden costs. It is difficult to calculate the profit of a certain book."
Li Ye is right, since it’s cooperation, let’s talk!
But after Pei Wencong finished speaking, Li Ye showed no intention of negotiating.
"Then let's visit the customs of Hong Kong Island first and then talk about it in two days."
After Li Ye finished speaking, he stood up and walked out. Pei Wencong hesitated to speak, so he had no choice but to Reluctantly, he followed.
When Li Ye and Pei Wencong went downstairs, they discovered that Hao Jian and Jin Peng, who had just come out to "hang around", had not gone far at all. They were standing "at attention" not far away, like sentinels. Be alert to the situation around the hotel.
This time three people came to Hong Kong Island. They were very clear about their position, which was to take good care of Li Ye.
Li Ye did not say why he gave the invitation letters to Hao Jian and Jin Peng, but they felt that it was not just because they were the best in Cantonese.
This is a kind of trust.
Seeing Pei Wencong coming down, Amin, who was in a tea restaurant nearby, hurried over and whispered something to Pei Wencong.
Pei Wencong nodded slightly, and then asked Li Ye: "Mr. Li, where are we going to visit?"
Pei Wencong still remembers the first time he talked to Li Ye. I said that in addition to visiting Victoria Bay, I also wanted to visit Sanlian Bookstore and other publishing houses.
Pei Wencong was really conflicted at this moment. He didn't want to lose Li Ye's brand name. A long-term cooperative relationship between Talang Literary Society and Seven Inch Blade would be a win-win situation.
But Li Ye’s proposal was too much, and it was difficult for Pei Wencong to accept it for a while.
However, Li Ye did not propose to visit any publishing house, but said: "Do you know where there is a fashion store that makes clothes? I would like to customize some clothes."
Li Yeye Afraid that Pei Wencong would not understand, he added: "Try to be as fashionable as possible, and everyone's budget is within 10,000."
"There are some," Pei Wencong said immediately: "I know there is a store, the owner goes to Europe I studied fashion design and opened a store not far away when I came back.”
Amin drove the car over and drove several people to a small street.
This is a standard Hong Kong Island-style small street. The street is very narrow, with tall buildings on both sides. There are a row of shops along the street, and the door decorations are pretty good.
"Mr. Li, don't look at the small size of the shop here. It is very famous on Hong Kong Island. Many movie stars come here to customize their clothes. It can be said to be the most fashionable clothing store."
Pei Wencong's side Introducing to Li Ye, he led Li Ye past several shops, turned into an alley next to the small street, and arrived in front of a small clothing store.
“Ahem~”
Facing Li Ye's expression of "Are you a shill?", Pei Wencong coughed twice and said in a low voice: "Mr. Li, the shop owner here is one of my junior sisters, but I have absolutely no other intentions, and you Maybe they don’t know much about Hong Kong, and many people have misunderstandings about mainlanders.”
“I know, you are afraid that they won’t welcome us, right?”
Li Ye smiled, He opened the door and walked in.
The clothing store is not large, but the decoration is OK. There is a young woman in her twenties, who is reading a children's picture book with a little boy.
The woman stood up quickly, and before she could say anything, she heard Li Ye ask in smooth Mandarin: "Hello, we want to make some clothes, is it convenient for the reception?"
< br>
Not to mention 1983, even thirty or forty years later, there are still some people in Hong Kong who don’t want to see mainland guests! You speak Mandarin to him, he speaks Cantonese to you, you speak Cantonese to him, and he asks you if you know English.
Some people from Guangdong Province angrily yelled: "Since you speak Cantonese, why don't you recognize your ancestors?"
So Li Ye didn't wait for Pei Wencong's introduction and spoke in Mandarin. , if you don’t want to do it, just say so, don’t embarrass yourself in Pei Wencong’s face.
"Of course it's convenient! How can you open the door for business and not receive guests, let alone Senior Brother Pei's friend."
The young woman in the store actually spoke good Mandarin, This made Li Ye feel a lot better.
Pei Wencong stepped forward and said: "Aling, these gentlemen are going to make some fashionable clothes. Can you recommend them."
"Okay, what are the requirements of these gentlemen? Look at these pictures. Book, what kind of style do you like?”
The shop owner named A Ling was not overly enthusiastic, nor did he show any neglect. He called out a girl to come and measure Li Ye and others, and took out the clothes. A stack of albums for Li Ye and others to choose from.
In fact, Pengcheng Factory No. 7 has its own clothing master, and Li Ye has been wearing customized styles in the past six months.
But after all, there is a forty-year difference in vision. Sometimes, several old masters who have retired from state-owned factories cannot understand Li Ye's requests.
Li Ye was not sure whether it was the master's problem or his own thinking that was too forward-thinking, so he came to Hong Kong Island this time to verify it.
It turns out that there are both reasons.
The few old masters who have retired and returned to employment are indeed limited by the development level of the garment industry in the mainland, and their vision is somewhat insufficient.
But Li Ye’s fashion thinking is indeed a bit avant-garde.
Li Ye picked out a few models from the album provided by Aling, and then asked to change some details. Aling quickly understood Li Ye's intention and was able to hand-draw new ones easily. Sample diagram.
However, looking at the surprised look in Aling's eyes, it is obvious that she, a "turtle designer", cannot escape the limitations of the times.
(End of this chapter)