Chapter 138: Does the little prince still need to settle down?
“President Jian is so shameless in order to promote “The Little Prince”.” Yu Xinyao was filled with emotion.
“Because the current book market is like this, if the author and the work do not have enough hype, it is easy to be drowned in the sea of books.” President Jian said.
“Does President Jian think the market will get better in the future?” Yu Xinyao asked casually.
“With the emergence of the Internet, it will only become more and more deformed,” President Jian said, “Last year I valued a book very much...”
"'Desolate Man'?" Yu Xinyao answered.
President Jian nodded silently. "Desolate Man" tells the story of several children living on a desert island and trying to survive.
"If you lose face once, you can give a good book a chance, why not?" President Jian changed the subject, "Lao Yu, you know why I invited you to tea this time, right? ?”
The unattractive man in front of President Jian is a famous book reviewer and literary researcher.
Many people feel that the job of literary critics is to find faults, which has no effect on literature at all.
If there is no level, that is true, but if there is level it is different. On a larger scale, it can promote the development of literature; on a smaller scale, it can give a book a new look.
For example, why many later generations of writers believe that Wu Song is the best hero of the Water Margin, because Jin Shengtan commented that Wu Song is a man of nature, with the broadness of Lu Da, the poison of Lin Chong, and the integrity of Yang Zhi... …
The key point in Jin Shengtan’s evaluation is that literature and humor coexist. In some places, readers will even feel as if they are watching barrage comments. Therefore, reading Water Margin and reading Jin Shengtan’s annotated version of Water Margin are completely different books.
Yu Xinyao's level is not as exaggerated as that of Jin Shengtan, but he is indeed a leader among domestic contemporary literary critics.
As long as I write, my articles can basically be published in the core literary journal "Literary Review". Especially the research on Tao Yuanming's poetry collection and Auerbach's theory of imitation are in a unique state.
"Old Jian, you should know that most of the time I write literary reviews with a critical tone." Yu Xinyao's name changed, which was a clear explanation.
“As for "The Deserted Man" that you were optimistic about earlier, Old Jane, in my opinion, it is a despicable imitation of the Nobel Prize-winning work "Lord of the Flies". Some plot units and the emotional changes of the characters are almost the same, but All of Golding’s profound connotations were thrown away and replaced with childish and unreal elements,” Yu Xinyao’s final words were, “a second-rate work”
“I still thought it was second-rate? You can speak third-rate, but it seems that you still saved some face for me." President Jian said, his language became serious, "Lao Yu, I know the power of your mouth and this pen, but for "The Little Prince". Said, this is exactly what is needed."
When Yu Xinyao heard this, it was as if a car suddenly rear-ended him on the highway. His originally calm facial features were a little uncontrollable. So confident?
He is pretty sure of his influence. Perhaps most readers don’t know “Yu Xinyao”. Think carefully about passers-by, readers, and netizens. How many people would pay attention to a literary critic? Not realistic.
But... many media and portal websites will quote it.
To put it more intuitively, Yu Xinyao's evaluation is written for secondary communicators. If he gives a negative review, it will definitely cause a devastating blow to the newly grown saplings.
"Old Jane, you have said so, so I won't be polite."
"Of course I am personally looking forward to your evaluation. Although I said that I am sending three messages in a row to help with publicity, but This is the best fairy tale novel in recent years, but I really mean it.”
Yu Xinyao’s eyes rolled, and there was no doubt that he was interested.
But... no matter how interested I am, I still have to drink tea, even if Yu Xin and Yao's thoughts are no longer on the tea leaves.
"President Jian said so, then at least it won't be worse than "Desolate Man"..." Yu Xinyao thought, sipping tea.
Something was wrong. Yu Xinyao raised his head and saw President Jian frowning. He suddenly understood that it was not an illusion. The quality of the winter tea in this tea house had deteriorated this year.
The moment their eyes met, Yu Xinyao and President Jian decided not to come here next time.
Is it possible to taste good things only if you drink too much? Anyway, Gu Lu's thoughts on the contents of the cup are - Hui Gan?
Where is the sweet aftertaste that Director Hu mentioned? From the corner of his eye, Gu Lu noticed that Director Hu's eyes were narrowed.
"How is Mr. Gu Lu thinking?" Director Hu asked.
"I became a contracted writer for "Youth Digest" and I published "The Little Prince". These are two things. The school's support for the publication is one thing!" Gu Lu entered Bargaining mode.
Putting down the tea cup, Director Hu said, "The Journal Club is a newly established club, and there are only two members so far. The school has approved the first-level club budget. It is very reasonable to exchange two things for it. Right? "
"But if "Eight Kinds" produced by the publication company becomes the No. 1 high school magazine in Wudu, it will also be a good publicity for the school's own image. "Gu Lu started to paint a picture.
Unfortunately, what he faced was Director Hu, a small-eyed warrior, a mandarin superman, and a privilege exchange NPC.
“In fact, Principal Liu does not agree with the establishment of the publication club, just because Gu Lu, as a student writer, can bring greater publicity to the school’s literary and artistic education.” Director Hu said, “And It takes energy and time to run a club, and many students have declined because of the decline in their club performance. Our consensus with the instructors of each club is that if a club member's performance falls behind significantly, he will be advised to put aside the club affairs temporarily. "There is something in the words, to sum up. "Gu Lu, you are different from others. Don't waste your time on studying and participating in clubs."
Director Hu himself didn't believe Gu Lu and the other student, what's their name? What's the name? unimportant! I don’t believe that the two of them can actually publish a school magazine that has an impact that breaks through the campus.
Why? There are more than 20 kinds of clubs in No. 8 Middle School, including Shuren Literature Club, National Flag Guard of Honor and Volleyball Club, which are famous throughout the foggy city. The first two are strongly supported by the school (the media for the reportage club last year was hired by the principal), while the volleyball club It came from playing games. Wudu Middle School ranked first in the volleyball competition and represented Wudu in the National Middle School Games.
To sum up, the publication club cannot compete and has no publicity support from the school, so the chance of rising is zero. But thinking this way, Director Hu didn't throw cold water on Gu Lu.
Feeling that he could not defeat Director Hu in principle, Gu Lu fell into thinking. Let alone self-study in the evening, but I really want to avoid studying with Gu Lu in the morning! Students should all know that it’s hard to go to school in the winter when it’s still dark in the morning.
"Student Gu Lu, let's do this!" Director Hu seemed to have made up his mind, "You know there is a small warehouse next to our school library, right?"
No. 8 Middle School has more than 10,000 It takes a lot of space to put down books and more than 40 kinds of publications... Also because the No. 8 Middle School in Sha District is an old campus and a library was not considered when it was built, the school connected four classrooms in a row.
The four rooms were a bit too big, so the last room was divided into two rooms of about thirty square meters.
"We can give a 30-square-meter room to your publication club as a place for club activities." Director Hu said, "This is a special treatment."
It is indeed special. As mentioned before, the No. 8 Middle School club model is all in All students left the classroom during the first and second classes on Wednesday afternoon to participate in activities, and then used the classroom as an activity point. There was no separate activity point including Time Radio, Model United Nations, and National Flag Honor Guard.
"Isn't it already the most special cub before we even start recruiting new ones?" Gu Lu thought for a while, then looked at Director Hu, "Okay, I'll change it!"
Anyway After "The Little Prince", "Mr. Holmes" and a collection of short stories will also be on the daily schedule. At worst, we will have to wait.
"Okay, okay, no problem, the budget of the publication club will be at the same level as the Shuren Literature Club." Director Hu said.
There are more than twenty clubs, and the one with the highest budget is the volleyball club. After all, they have to play games and can also produce results. The literary club and basketball club have first-class budgets, which are pretty good.
"It will be distributed once every semester at the beginning and mid-term. Student Gu Lu, please give me your account and I will transfer the money directly to you." Director Hu saw Gu Lu's confusion and explained, "It's from the club. The funds are all released to the instructors, but our school has absolute confidence in you, Gu Lu, so I will directly guide you.”
“After receiving the activity funds, I will directly transfer part of it to you. Just give me a list of how to spend it every month," Director Hu said. In fact, the school didn't take it seriously and didn't want to hire an instructor, and Director Hu was also busy and wanted to be the hands-off shopkeeper.
“Okay, no problem.”
As a result, the most unique club in No. 8 Middle School was born. It has an exclusive activity room, no instructor (on the surface), and an extraordinary amount of money. high!
If I don't really make any achievements this time, I'm sorry for this lineup, Gu Lu thought in his heart.
"Oh, by the way, this is the book." Director Hu held "The Little Prince" in his hand, "How much is the sales volume?"
"It was only put on sale nationwide today. If you want data, It won't be until tomorrow," Gu Lu said.
“Oh oh oh, I’m worried, but it doesn’t matter, our No. 8 Middle School will order 100 copies.” Director Hu said, indicating that the school has not forgotten the promise made during enrollment.
There are indeed many libraries with a hundred books, but every semester the school has to reward three outstanding students. In the past, I bought books from the required reading subjects for high school students. Now I just give "The Little Prince" as a gift. It doesn't make any difference anyway. .
The sales volume of one hundred more copies is a lot!
The name "Gu Lu" may still be somewhat famous in the reasoning circle, but it has not spread to the field of fairy tale novels. Therefore, the popularity at the beginning of "The Little Prince" was really given by President Jian.
The next day, Gu Lu learned that the first-day sales volume was 5,019 copies. Compared with Earth, which shocked Europe as soon as it was released, there was a huge gap, but Gu Lu thought it was normal.
Why did "The Little Prince" become so popular as soon as it was released? Because Saint-Exupéry was already a famous writer at that time, having published three works: "Wind, Sand and Stars", "Southern Mail" and "Night Flight".
"Five thousand copies is also a victory. I remember that Mao Sanxiong's "The Missing Element" sold only a few thousand copies on the first day, right? Then it sold 80,000 copies in the first month." Gu Lu could afford to wait, He is only a freshman in high school now. Even if "The Little Prince" takes three or four years to ferment before it explodes with energy, he has not yet graduated from college at that time.
Just as he was thinking this, President Jian called.
President Jian comforted her as soon as she opened her mouth, "Don't be discouraged. Give "The Little Prince" time to settle, at most a week, and you will have different results."
The previous words, Gu Lu No problem, he is ready to settle down, but what does the last sentence mean? Gu Lu asked, but President Jian was a riddle man, "We will know it when the time comes. It makes no sense to say it now."
President Jian’s comments include, first of all, the first batch of readers who bought it because he strongly recommended it. Most of them are from the publishing circle and writers. The feedback from this group of people is quite important.
Secondly, Yu Xinyao’s feedback is very important.
At this moment, Yu Xinyao has obtained "The Little Prince"...
(End of this chapter)