Although Xiao Yunhai had countless fans in music and wuxia novels, he didn't have the slightest bit of fame in movies and TV series. He had filmed a few movies and TV dramas, but none of them had been released yet.
Therefore, people were much more interested in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer than The Legend of Empresses in the Palace. This made Xiao Yunhai speechless.
Compared to the wuxia fans, the publishing houses were more interested in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
The crazy sales of The Legend of Chu Liuxiang and Xiao Li's Flying Dagger made all the publishing houses in Hua Xia jealous. So far, the sales of the two books had reached 40 million copies, and the profits were in the hundreds of millions, making Minsheng Publishing House a lot of money.
Now, seeing that Xiao Yunhai's "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" had been completed, the major publishing houses naturally could not hold back. They called Xiao Yunhai one after another through various connections, hoping that he could hand over "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" to them to publish. There were even some small publishing houses that opened at 8: 2.
After Xiao Yunhai sent the message, he discussed with Su Yingxue and told her his bottom line. Then, he handed all the matters related to the publication of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer to Su Yingxue.
Therefore, over the phone, Xiao Yunhai told these publishing houses that if they wanted the publishing rights of the novel, they should look for Su Yingxue.
The only thing that surprised Xiao Yunhai was that Minsheng Publishing House didn't call. This made him very puzzled. "Did something happen to Zhang Liye?"
Xiao Yunhai's guess was right. There was indeed a problem inside Minsheng Publishing House.
When Xiao Yunhai published The Smiling, Proud Wanderer on the homepage, Zhang Liye quickly found out. Without saying anything, he quickly went to find the president.
The previous president, Yan Qingfeng, was old and not in good health, so he reported to his superiors that he was sick and retired. The person who replaced him was the original vice president, Ma Wenfa.
Originally, Zhang Liye thought that with the huge sales of Xiao Yunhai's two martial arts novels, Ma Wenfa would definitely agree, but he didn't expect that Ma Wenfa didn't give an answer on the spot. Instead, he called some high-level officials to have a meeting.
At the meeting, Zhang Liye stood up first and said, "Dear leaders and colleagues, today Xiao Yunhai, also known as Alien Guest, posted a message on his personal homepage. He said that his new work, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, has been finished. As everyone knows, his first two novels have brought great profits to our publishing house. This has made the other publishing houses very jealous. I heard that many of them have already contacted Xiao Yunhai. Since we've worked together twice, our relationship is also very good. So as long as we have sincerity, we have the highest chance of getting the publishing rights of 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer'. "
The newly appointed Vice President, Li Wenjun, asked, "Teacher Zhang, what kind of conditions would be considered as sincerity?"
Li Wenjun was a middle-aged man in his forties. He had a round face and a bald head. When he smiled, his eyes narrowed into slits, giving people a feeling of femininity.
He and Ma Wenfa had always been very good friends, so the first thing Ma Wenfa did when he took office was to promote Li Wenjun.
Zhang Liye frowned and replied, "I estimate that the profit ratio is at least 6: 4. Xiao Yunhai will take the biggest share, so we have a chance of getting the publishing rights."
Zhang Liye had always disliked Li Wenjun's character of hiding a knife behind a smile, so he usually didn't have a good relationship with Li Wenjun.
Li Wenjun laughed and said, "Teacher Zhang, don't you think that your joke is a bit too big? I've been working in the publishing house for almost 20 years. I can be considered as an old man here, but I've never heard of an author getting 60%. It's simply a fantasy. "
"What if the sales of 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' exceed 20 million copies? Vice President Li, will you still think that he's not worth this price? "Zhang Liye argued.
"I've also seriously read Xiao Yunhai's novels. I have to say, he's creatively combined wuxia and detective, creating a strange and unpredictable Jianghu. It's very creative. If he were to write a similar novel this time, I naturally wouldn't have any objections. But I heard that he changed his style this time, and even said that he could open up a new format. Hur hur, Teacher Hu, to be honest, I don't really believe it. "
The head of the publicity department, Sun Qingxing, nodded and said, "I also agree with Vice President Li's opinion. However, Xiao Yunhai has tens of millions of hardcore fans. Even if he suffered a setback this time, it's still possible to sell a few million copies. So I think that Teacher Zhang should still go and negotiate, but this bottom line needs everyone to study together. "
The head of the finance department, Fan Xiaoyu, said, "From the perspective of our finance department, I definitely don't agree with Teacher Zhang's opinion. Everyone should know that even if Xiao Yunhai succeeds this time, 60% profit is too high. What would the other outstanding authors think? You should know that among the authors we've signed, Teacher Wang Ping, the highest is only 32%. Once the news of Xiao Yunhai getting 60% of the profit is spread, the other authors will probably ask for a price increase. This will shake the foundation of our publishing house. "
The heads of the various departments expressed their opinions one by one, and all of them agreed with Li Wenjun's opinion. Some of the more radical colleagues even attacked Zhang Liye, saying that he valued Xiao Yunhai too much and neglected the other outstanding authors.
This made Zhang Liye suddenly feel a sense of loneliness that he had never felt before. It was as if the publishing house that he was familiar with had completely changed overnight, becoming so unfamiliar.
Just as he was about to stand up and debate with everyone, his old friend, Wang Wenxuan, tugged at his clothes and said softly, "Old Hu, don't make any more useless arguments. It's useless, the atmosphere of the publishing house has changed. "
Looking at Zhang Liye's pale face, Li Wenjun felt very proud in his heart. "Old man, you're always pretending to be noble and virtuous. You dare to ignore me. See how I'll deal with you."
Seeing that everyone had finished speaking, Ma Wenfa, who had been silent all this time, took a sip of tea leisurely and said calmly, "Old Zhang, I'm afraid we can't agree to your suggestion. Let alone 60%, we can't even give you 40% of the profit. Otherwise, the other authors will rebel. "
"I just received a call from Teacher Zhang Ping. His' Prosperous Qing Dynasty 'has been finished and he's ready to hand it over to us for publication. With Teacher Zhang's influence in the literary field, I think we should focus on this. As for Mr. Xiao Yunhai's' The Smiling, Proud Wanderer ', Teacher Zhang can continue to follow up, but at most 30%. This is our bottom line. Otherwise, we can't explain to Teacher Zhang. "
When Zhang Liye heard Ma Wenfa make the final decision, he knew that he couldn't fight for it. He suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion from head to toe, and said with some interest: "President Ma, forget it. Mr. Xiao Yunhai definitely won't agree to 30% profit. Sigh, age is unforgiving. I'm old and my health is not good, so I want to apply for retirement. I hope President Ma can agree. "
Ma Wenfa's eyes lit up, but he said, "Teacher Zhang, why are you in such a hurry to retire? Our publishing house still needs a veteran like you to guide us. "
How could Zhang Liye not hear the hypocrisy in Ma Wenfa's words? He was even more discouraged. He waved his hand and said, "President Ma, you don't need to persuade me anymore. It's settled. I'll ask someone to hand the retirement application to you tomorrow morning. After working for a lifetime, it's time to enjoy life. Colleagues, I hope you can run Minsheng Publishing House better and better. Goodbye. "
Zhang Liye returned to his office. Seeing the place where he had worked for so many years, a trace of reluctance and sadness welled up in his heart.
But there was no other way. Although he had a straightforward temper, he was not blind. The current Minsheng Publishing House could no longer accommodate him.
Just as he was packing up, his old friend Wang Wenxuan suddenly came to his office with a cardboard box. He smiled and said, "Old Zhang, wait for me. Let's go together."
Zhang Liye asked in surprise, "Old Wang, why are you leaving?"
Wang Wenxuan smiled and said, "Why can't you see it? As the saying goes, a new emperor brings new ministers. The two of us have become a thorn in their side. Instead of being angered by them in the future, it's better to leave directly. "
Zhang Liye nodded and said, "Yes, we're in their way. It's a pity that Minsheng Publishing House has been ruined by these people. "
Wang Wenxuan said, "Don't worry about it. I already have a new place to go. Do you want to go with me? "
"New place? Where is it? "
"It's the newly established Sunshine Publishing House this summer. The president is called Hua Mingquan. He's a very bold man with strong assets. After half a year of hard work, he has spread his business all over the country. He just lacks experienced editors and influential works. Old Zhang, I just mentioned you to Mr. Hua. He really hopes that you can go with him. You'll still be the director of the Wuxia Editing Room. What do you think? "
Zhang Liye laughed and pointed at Wang Wenxuan. He said, "I didn't expect you to be a pimp. But I'm not a fool. I'm afraid that Mr. Hua is not interested in me, but in the works of Stranger Sky. He knows that I'm friends with Mr. Xiao, so he wants to get the publishing rights of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer through me. Am I right? "
Wang Wenxuan heard this and shook his head. He smiled bitterly and said, "The one who said you were a fool is the real fool. That's right. Mr. Hua really wants the publishing rights of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. He's willing to pay any price, even if it's a loss. His purpose is very simple. He wants to make Sunshine Publishing House famous. "
"Haha, I knew it. Old Wang, you're eight years younger than me. You can work there for at least another ten years. I'm almost sixty years old. I really don't want to work there anymore. Anyway, Minsheng Publishing House can't get the publishing rights. I'll call Mr. Xiao and ask him to come out. But he's not the same as he used to be. He's a big star now. I'm not sure if he'll do me this favor. "
Wang Wenxuan said happily, "You're really my old buddy. I knew you'd help me. Whether he'll come out or not, I owe you this time. "
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