A month of writing finally ended. Xia Qiu had a thick stack of manuscripts in his bag. He had learned about the current novel industry in Gang City some time ago. Of course, no one could afford Jin Ming's royalties. Besides, he was not writing anymore. Miming's current price was 70 yuan per 1,000 words. Other novelists were also around the same price. In the 1980s, famous authors would reach more than 100 yuan.
Xia Qiu's first target was Ming Pao, but he didn't have much hope. Firstly, Jin Ming was stingy. The remuneration he gave would definitely not meet his requirements. Secondly, their newspaper was more serious in nature, and there were more dirty things in his book. It was very likely that they would refuse to serialize it. The newspaper with the most hope was the Oriental Daily News. It was a newspaper run by the Ma brothers, the drug dealers. In a few years, the two brothers would be chased to Wancheng. Because they were not from a decent family, their newspapers were not decent either. They would publish anything that attracted attention, and they dared to publish anything. In the first few years, they even pirated Jin Ming's novels. Jin Ming was so angry that he went to Hawaii for a vacation and stopped updating his novels. In the end, he worried the old book fans. He went to the Oriental Daily to block the entrance every day.
All these years, in order to compete for the position of the newspaper boss, he had been fighting to the death with Jin Ming. If he didn't want these two, he could still go to Sing Tao Daily. Anyway, there were many newspapers in Gang City. He could always find a buyer. It was just a matter of price. In the city center of Gangcheng, in front of the Ming Pao building, all kinds of people rushed past. Xia Qiu carried a satchel and walked slowly towards the Ming Pao building like a civil servant collecting electricity bills in the countryside in the 1980s.
"Hey, young man, who are you looking for?”The security guard at the gate stopped him. In fact, he had already noticed this young man. He was dressed very neatly and carried a briefcase. He looked like a leader.
"I'm looking for Old Master Jin." Xia Qiu's tone was as if she was saying 'I'm very familiar with him' on her face.
"Are you very familiar with Mr. Cha?" The security guard didn't understand whose young man this was. Perhaps he was Jin Ming's relative.
"Why would I come here if I'm not familiar with him? Is Elder Jin inside?”He couldn't let the security guard ask any more questions.
"Yes, hey, why are you looking for Mr. Cha?”
"Of course I have something to do. It's a family matter." After saying that, she walked inside without looking back.
The security guard wanted to stop them, but when he heard that it was a family matter, he guessed that it had something to do with Jin Ming. Moreover, Xia Qiu looked calm. After some hesitation, Xia Qiu had already entered the building.
"Sister, where does Elder Jin work?”Xia Qiu stopped a bespectacled girl and asked 'naive'.
"You're looking for Mr. Cha." The bespectacled girl asked suspiciously.
"Yes, I am."
"You're here to submit a manuscript, right?"
"You can see that too. You're really smart. Um, sister, can you tell me where Mr. Cha's office is?”
"Actually, I noticed you when you were at the door. Which young man is as calm as you? You're dressed so neatly, and you're even carrying a big briefcase. I can tell at a glance that you're out on an errand. Moreover, you came looking for Mr. Cha. If you're really close to Mr. Cha, someone will come to pick you up with a phone call. However, you're so young, and you make people very uncertain. I didn't expect you to guess correctly.”
The bespectacled girl looked smug. She then patted Xia Qiu's head and said,""Little brother, you're still too inexperienced."
Xia Qiu's face was red, and she wanted to find a hole to hide in. She didn't expect her lie to be seen through so quickly."Then, beautiful sister, since you know why I'm here, can you be a good person for once and tell me which room Elder Jin is in?”
The bespectacled girl was a little doubtful. She could not possibly write a novel at such a young age." I can tell you, but what kind of novel are you writing? Don't tell me it's children's literature. We don't have a column in this field. And you're so young. Are you the one who wrote the novel?" I promised Grandpa Mao that this novel was definitely written by me. As for the genre, this is not a children's novel, but a transmigration novel that is suitable for all ages.”
At this moment, a middle-aged man stood beside Xia Qiu and said to her expressionlessly,""Time travel novel? What kind of novel is that? I've never heard of it. Ming Pao isn't Dongfang Daily, where we can publish all kinds of nonsense. Moreover, our novel column is already serializing Mi Ming's novel. We can't change it to anything else.”
Xia Qiu was taken aback. How could a businessman do business like this? He didn't even look at the things and was already chasing people out."Sister, who is this stoic uncle? What's going on with Ming Bao? How can a random person make such a decision?”I'm the chief editor here, not some stoic uncle. I can tell you very clearly now that your novel is too childish. Ming Pao is not interested in such rubbish.
"F ** k, pui. I don't like the Ming Pao, but I don't like you. There's not much else in Gang City, but there are plenty of newspapers. I'll go find someone else."”
Xia Qiu spat on the ground and walked out with a briefcase.
"You…have no manners." The editor-in-chief looked at the large pool of saliva on his shoe and was so angry that he was trembling. He did not know where this lousy young man came from. Which author came to Ming Pao to be so polite? He originally wanted to depreciate the novel first. If it was really a good thing, he could fiercely lower the price. Didn't Ming Pao always do this? Why didn't this young man understand? Besides, what kind of novel could a young man write? Do you want Ming Pao to publish his essay? Therefore, she chased him away without hesitation.
Xia Qiu went straight to the Oriental Daily and said that she was here to submit a manuscript. In the end, she saw an editor-in-chief with the surname Xia. His full name was Xia Jingfa. He was a polite host who welcomed her with a smile and looked at the manuscript of the story. Half an hour later, Chief Editor Xia put down the manuscript in her hand and said,""Xiao Xia, I didn't expect you to write such a novel. Our novel column now has authors who serialize novels, and the market response is very good. However, your novel is not bad. If Xia Qiu wants to serialize it, he doesn't care when he has a column. It's fine as long as he can serialize it. What he cares about now is how much money he can get. The Jiang coins in his pocket can only be used for about ten days. If he doesn't have money by then, he'll be out of food." Next month is next month, but Chief Editor Xia, how much is my royalties?”
Chief Editor Xia thought for a moment before saying,"20 yuan for 1,000 words."
Xia Qiu was speechless when she heard the price." 20 yuan for 1,000 words? Can't you go any higher?"”
"You're an unknown newcomer. It's very fair for a newcomer to get such a price. If other news agencies knew that we published a young man's essay, we would be laughed at by our peers. Besides, it's still unknown whether the readers will accept your story. We'll take a risk to serialize your novel, so we can't go any higher than 20 yuan.”
When Xia Qiu heard him say that, she picked up a piece and stuffed it into her bag."Chief Editor Xia, there are plenty of cabbages on the street that you want to buy. Twenty yuan can let you eat for a month.”
"You…30 yuan. This is the price, not a single cent more.”
" 60 yuan. An additional tens of thousands of yuan can increase the sales of your Oriental Daily by a large margin and make you the boss of the newspaper industry in Gangcheng. Do you dare to take the gamble? Besides, if my novel really sold well, you can use my age to hype it up. At that time, people won't laugh at you and will only praise your good taste."
Chief Editor Xia waved her hand and said to Xia Qiu,""Go out of the gate and turn left for 50 meters and then turn right for 150 meters. There are gambling stalls over there. You can go there to gamble. Remember to close the door when you go out.”
" F * ck," Xia Qiu cursed under her breath before slamming the door and leaving.
" Arrogant, hmph."
I really didn't look at the almanac when I went out today. I met all the lunatics. Xia Qiu didn't believe that there wouldn't be a single person in the entire Gang City newspaper industry who knew about this novel.
At the headquarters of Sing Tao Daily, Xia Qiu was sitting in front of another editor-in-chief, Xu Jianfu. Xia Qiu went straight to the point."Chief Editor Xu, how is it? It's been an hour. Can you give me an answer? If not, I'll go look for another shop.”
Chief Editor Xu looked at Xia Qiu and asked,""Did you really write this novel? Could it be that your parents wrote it?”
" I'm 100% sure that I wrote it myself. Chief Editor Xu, is it alright or not? Just give me a straight answer. If it's alright, we'll sign the contract today. It's a total of 1.6 million words and the manuscript is all in my bag. If it's not alright, I'll leave immediately. No one will delay the other." Xia Qiu didn't want to waste any more time. She wanted to get it done quickly.
"Hehe, yes, of course. It can be serialised next week.”
"Then, how much is the royalties?"
"Thirty yuan for a thousand words."
Xia Qiu shook her head and said,""It's too low. Mi Ming is 70 yuan for a thousand words. I can't even reach half his price. 60 yuan for a thousand words.”
"Mi Ming is a famous author, and he already has a large group of readers. You are a newcomer, and your novel is a new genre. It is very risky to serialize your novel. 60 yuan for 1,000 words. No matter which newspaper you go to, you won't be able to get this price.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。