Regarding the development of Sahara Publishing House, Yang Yi also came up with the idea from Xi Xi's children's books. Although he could write some good stories for Xi Xi, they were still too long and would not be easy for children to read. Moreover, with his own efforts, he could not change the current situation of the lack of children's books in China!
"Old Lu, do you know who writes fairy tales for children overseas?" Yang Yi asked Lu Benjie.
Lu Benjie shook his head. He originally did not know much about children's literature. It was only in the past one or two years that Lu Benjie got involved in this field when Yang Yi published fairy tales. However, if he were to talk about the situation of children's literature in China, he would be at a loss if he were to talk about children's literature abroad.
"In foreign countries, most of the people who write fairy tales for children are young parents, not professional children's literature writers!" Yang Yi said.
This was true. Take the classic Swedish children's literature works, Pippi Longstocking, Emil the Naughty Boy, for example. When their author, Granny Lindgren, wrote Pippi Longstocking, it was inspired when she told stories to her sick seven-year-old daughter, Karin! (Note 1)
When JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter, although she did not get the creative inspiration from telling stories to her daughter, Jessica, she often brought Jessica along when she wrote in the cafes in Edinburgh. On the title page of Sorcerer's Stone, Rowling also wrote, "I dedicate this book to Jessica. She likes this story …"
"The vast group of parents are also the creators with the most potential in the field of children's literature. They have their own children. In the process of interacting with their children and racking their brains to tell stories to their children, there are actually many wonderful bursts of inspiration!" Yang Yi said to Lu Benjie, "It's just that very few people think of expanding these fragmented inspirations and publishing them into books."
Lu Benjie understood and asked, "You mean, we should look for this type of author?"
"Yes, we should not only look for them, but also support them and give them creative support! Especially those mothers who have the ability to write but are worried that they won't be able to earn money from writing. We should give them some confidence in the early stages of writing! "Yang Yi said.
After that, Yang Yi talked to Lu Benjie about his idea of setting up a children's book creation fund. With a non-adult perspective as the basic benchmark, he encouraged young parents or authors who had yet to find a direction to create children's books for children aged 0 to 8 years old.
"Based on their outline and the content of the first three chapters of the story, they can apply for creative funding from our fund. For example, there was a mother who wanted to earn some money for milk powder for her children. She had a good story and promised to write it into a book and authorize our Sahara Publishing House to publish it. Depending on how good the story was, we would give her a subsidy of 5,000 to 50,000 yuan. Of course, the distribution of the book sales can be carried out according to our normal contract. We won't deprive the other party of the benefits they deserve, "Yang Yi said to Lu Benjie.
"We should also give her a limited time to write. She can't just take the money and not write it," Lu Benjie said.
"You can discuss and perfect these details later!" Yang Yi nodded, smiled and said, "I'll invest 10 million yuan as the first installment of funds. When it's used up later, I'll replenish it according to the situation."
Lu Benjie nodded excitedly. Yang Yi's words had indeed pointed him in the right direction. If it was really as Yang Yi said, it could stimulate the creative desire of the majority of parents and change the status quo in the field of children's literature. Then, even if Sahara Publishing House could not become the leader of the publishing house, it could still become a benchmark in the field of children's literature publishing!
"One more thing. I want the publishing house to add a picture book department and recruit a group of comic artists with high salaries. We don't need people who have the ability to create their own comics. We don't need cartoonists who can produce their own comic books. These people, especially those who have drawn children's comics, are the ones we want to recruit, "Yang Yi said to Lu Benjie.
"You want them to draw children's books?" Lu Benjie suddenly understood Yang Yi's idea.
"That's right!" Yang Yi snapped his fingers and smiled. "In the early days, their task was to draw different stories according to my previous children's books and make small picture books suitable for children of a younger age."
Of course, it was not a problem for Yang Yi to draw, but where would he have the time to draw and color the drafts one by one? There was a professional team with experience in drawing comics to help with the design of the shots, the distribution of the plot of each drawing, and the final draft of the drawing. Yang Yi only needed to design the prototype of the characters. This was much simpler, and the progress of the book would be much faster.
Lu Benjie nodded as he recorded.
"Later, they will also communicate with the children's book authors we support and be responsible for drawing illustrations for them and even the subsequent adaptation of the picture book," Yang Yi said.
"This will form a complete industry chain!" Lu Benjie clenched his fists and said excitedly, "The picture books we publish are suitable for children between the ages of zero to six. They can read these picture books with a small amount of words and a large amount of colorful pictures in the company of their parents. As for literature with more words and fewer pictures, it can be provided for older children to read after they become literate!"
Yang Yi's idea was indeed so!
Of course, he would earn less money in the process because he had invested a lot of support funds in the early days to support a large number of authors with ideas. Most of the authors' works would not sell for much money, and Yang Yi might even lose money. After all, the market competition was very fierce. He did not set up this fund for the purpose of exploiting the interests of the authors. Even if it was an adaptation of a picture book, most of the money earned would be distributed to the original authors and the artists in the comics department.
But even if it did not earn much money, it was still meaningful. Yang Yi's children, Xi Xi and Chenchen, would have more exciting stories to listen to and more interesting picture books to read in the future.
…
Yang Yi was only responsible for providing ideas and funds. The rest of the actual operation was, of course, left to Lu Benjie and the people in the publishing house.
After leaving Sahara Publishing House, Yang Yi went to the coffee shop. Yang Huan happened to have no classes in the afternoon, so she helped Ding Xiang in the coffee shop.
"Ah! Brother, why are you here? "Seeing Yang Yi suddenly appear, Yang Huan, who had a guilty conscience, was shocked and said guiltily.
"I can't come?" Yang Yi asked with a smile, "Don't tell me you have a secret boyfriend and don't dare to let me know?"
Yang Yi was still teasing Yang Huan. He deliberately turned to Ding Xiang and said, "Ding Xiang, tell me, which daring brat is it? I'll break his legs!"
Ding Xiang covered her mouth and laughed, not saying a word.
Yang Huan rolled her eyes. But at this time, she felt guilty and did not have the courage to talk back. She just said with a smile, "Why would I have a secret boyfriend? My ideal boyfriend is an indomitable hero. I don't even know where he is now! "
Hearing Yang Huan's words, Yang Yi thought of the classic dialogue in A Chinese Odyssey. He wanted to say, "Do you want him to wear golden armor and walk on colorful clouds to marry you?"
Of course, Yang Yi did not say it. He just shook his head and patted Yang Huan's head, saying, "I have something to do today, so I stopped by the coffee shop. Let me tell you, tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. Remember to come home early if you don't have classes. Mom and Dad said that it's a rare opportunity for the whole family to celebrate the Winter Solstice together, so we have to come home for dinner."
"Winter Solstice! Is mom going to make pumpkin pies again? "Yang Huan said excitedly," Mom's pumpkin pies are the best! "
"In the past, we always had food," Yang Yi said with a smile.
"Oh, Ding Xiang, if you don't have anything to do, come with Huanhuan!" Yang Yi turned to Ding Xiang and said.
Ding Xiang was stunned. She waved her hand and said, "It's okay. I have classes tomorrow!"
Actually, Ding Xiang did not want to disturb Yang Yi's family dinner. After all, she was an outsider! How could she have the nerve to ask for a free meal during the festival?
Yang Huan tried to persuade Ding Xiang for a while, but Ding Xiang did not agree.
"Okay. I'll bring you pumpkin pies tomorrow night!" Yang Huan said regretfully, "Let me tell you, my mom's pumpkin pies are delicious!"
"You have to stay home with mom and dad tomorrow night. You can go home the day after tomorrow morning." Yang Yi smiled, "But it's okay. Not to mention pumpkin pies, I'll leave you a portion of other delicious food. I'll bring it back the day after tomorrow to eat with Ding Xiang."
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